One of 2023’s many glowing highlights was the addition of three incredible new Board members! Queer|Art is proud to announce Fran Tirado, Bee Davis, and Lucila Moctezuma have joined our dedicated Board of Directors, which now has 12 active members. These leaders' collective expertise provides an invaluable spectrum of fundraising experience, financial planning expertise, community organizing leadership, non-profit know-how, and a deep understanding of the needs shaping LGBTQ+ artists’ lives and careers.
As our board, our staff, and our community grows, we grow stronger—together! Below you can find introductions for each of our new board members. Please join us in welcoming them to Queer|Art!
Fran Tirado is a writer, podcaster, and filmmaker in Brooklyn. After leading editorial strategy for magazines like Out and Hello Mr., and ad agencies like Chandelier Creative, most recently Fran was at Netflix managing LGBTQ+ audience engagement strategy and creating shows like “I Like to Watch.” She’s also created and hosted four queer podcasts, currently Like a Virgin with Rose Dommu. Fran has been working in queer media for almost thirteen years. As an organizer, Fran’s work has won her the Stonewall Vision Award, Brooklyn’s 30 Under 30, and MTV’s inaugural Logo Legends honor. She’s spoken at institutions like Yale, Juilliard, Harvard, Northwestern, and NYU and worked with brands like Google, HBO, Instagram, and Nike. Fran’s work has been featured on Vogue, The Washington Post, USA Today, People, TIME, NBC, BBC, PBS, NPR, Newsweek, New York Magazine, Buzzfeed, W, Interview, Elle, The Cut, Glamour, InStyle, Refinery29, GQ, Vox, Vulture, VICE, AV Club, The Rachel Maddow Show, Adweek, Good Morning America, and New York Magazine’s Encyclopedia of New York. The New York Times called Fran a "Queer Champion."
Lucila Moctezuma is a consultant to documentary filmmakers and media organizations in the US and internationally, and programmer with international festivals. Her work with filmmakers focuses on story and creative authorship, and consults with media organizations in program design, program implementation, and as facilitator of story workshops. Currently she is Senior Consultant of Artist Programs at Points North Institute where she co-leads the Diane Weyermann Fellowship, International Programmer for Hot Docs in Canada, and a member of the documentary programming committee at the Morelia International Film Festival in Mexico. Other consulting organizations have included the Sundance Documentary Film Program, Brown Girls Doc Mafia, Multitude Films, and story workshops with the Bronx Documentary Center and BAVC. Previously, she held senior positions at high-profile organizations such as Chicken & Egg Pictures, UnionDocs, Women Make Movies, the Media Arts Fellowships for The Rockefeller Foundation, and founded the TFI Latin America Fund for Tribeca Film Institute. She is member of the Board for Artshack, a non-profit ceramics studio in Brooklyn; member of the Executive Board of Cine Qua Non Lab, a residency for international fiction filmmakers in Michoacán, Mexico; member of the Industry Advisory Council for UFO (Untitled Filmmaker Organization); and was Vice-President of the Board of Trustees of The Flaherty. She is Producer of the feature-length documentary, She Wrestles (in development, by award-winning director and wrestling state champion, Charles Fairbanks). Her work as Associate Producer has included the documentary series The New Americans for Kartemquin Films, and Shocking and Awful for Deep Dish TV, which was part of the 2006 Whitney Biennial. Lucila is based in Brooklyn, NY, and is originally from Mexico City. She holds a degree in Philosophy at Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico and is a frequent guest participant at film forums, panels and juries in the US and internationally. Lucila is a 2019 JustFilms Ford Foundation / Rockwood Leadership Institute Fellow and a member of the Documentary Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences since 2021.
From a young age, Bee Davis was destined for extraordinary achievements. Tested for a staggering IQ of 191 as a child, she skipped two grades and self-taught herself programming languages like BASIC and PASCAL. By deconstructing an Apple IIc and a Commodore 64, 12-year-old Bee ignited a lifelong passion for technology. Concurrently, her artistic talents blossomed as she learned to sew and oil paint, even launching her own clothing brand by the age of 14. This dual love for technology and art set the stage for Bee's groundbreaking career. Starting at E*TRADE in Menlo Park, she swiftly rose through the ranks of the tech industry, leading the teams that built the HBO and MBUSA websites before moving on to become one of the pioneering engineers at Pandora Music. There, she used machine learning to create Pandora's first profitable ad platform. Her career trajectory then skyrocketed into intelligence work, developing crucial applications for Naval Intelligence, Army Intelligence, DISA, and the NSA's Archangel Project. Following that, Bee took on the monumental task of architecting NASA's cloud infrastructure across its campuses, including Kennedy, Johnson, and Ames Research Centers. After earning a Master's degree in Cybersecurity from Brown University, Bee held pivotal roles at emerging cybersecurity startups like LiftEd, Eaze, Aetion, and Spruce. However, her life took a turn when she transitioned. As a black trans woman, she found herself pushed out of her cybersecurity roles. Undeterred, Bee refocused her unparalleled skillset on healthcare and data equity for trans and marginalized communities. At Humana, she authored a landmark 30-page document setting the standards for the ethical treatment and analysis of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) and race/ethnicity data. Her work garnered her the Apex Award and the Center of Excellence Award from Humana. In the art world, Bee is just as transformative. She pioneered "The Acrylic Underground," a live painting practice featuring collaborations with musicians and storytellers. She also founded the Lux Quaubas Modern Art Gallery and owns Beeline Studio in Sacramento, a haven focused on the BIPOC queer community's physical and mental well-being. With a life story as unique and impactful as hers, Bee Davis is not just a trailblazer but a beacon of inspiration. Her journey serves as an indelible example of how talent, resilience, and a commitment to social justice can pave the way for meaningful change.
Meet the rest of our incredible Board of Directors here.