NYC Pride’s The Conference is an annual symposium led by transformative changemakers in the queer community. Focusing on developing new ideas and approaches to activism and community, this event is back predominantly in person. After 2 years of hosting The Conference virtually, we are very excited to bring the experience back in person with firm Covid-19 prevention protocols. This year's one day conference will consist of powerful conversations, networking opportunities, interactive workshops, an amazing keynote session and a special cocktail reception to end the evening. The conference will return in a HYBRID format, meaning conference participants will be able to engage with a limited selection of content during the event. 

Mainstage Premium Experience (All Access):

• Breakfast, lunch, coffee & networking throughout the day


• Access to all panels, workshops, lectures and roundtable discussions


• Access to all live streamed content during the event 


• Access to the opening plenary


• Access to an engaging cocktail reception to end the day


• Access to the Mainstage including the Keynote session

9:00AM – 9:45AM | Networking, Coffee/Tea + Breakfast

Auditorium and Grand Gallery

10:00AM – 10:45AM | Opening Plenary

Auditorium

• NYC Pride Welcome: Sandra Pérez, NYC Pride Executive Director


• New York Law School Welcome: Dean of NYLS


• Opening Performance: keiyaA


• Opening Plenary Keynote Speaker: Chase Strangio

11:00AM – 11:45AM | Session #1 

Auditorium | The Storytelling Lab With Film Fatale | Short Films 

• How Not to Date While Trans directed by Nyala Moon


• Light in Dark Places directed by Lagueria Davis


• The Young King directed by Larin Sullivan


• To The Future With Love directed by Shaleece Haas

W300 | Three Key Strategies to Set Your Organization Up for Success with On-Ramps

• Imani Doyle (she/hers)


• Sarah Grayson (she/hers)


• Shanna Masdea (she/hers)

The On-Ramps team break down why structuring an equitable search process, investing in your staff, and rigorously assessing your organization's culture are essential to a strong team and give you an actionable roadmap to success.

Main Stage Events Center | Youth for Youth

• Sage Dolan-Sandrino


• Jared/Ocean Ruiz


• Monet Umana


• Zach Koung


• Moderated by: Dr. David Johns

It is important to center the experts in conversations about what young people need to feel safe and thrive, which is why this session features youth experts in conversation with one another about what thriving looks like, how they are supporting one another, and the role for caring and concerned adults to play in ensuring that they are safe, happy, healthy, and whole.

Main Stage Events Center | Northwell Health Mental Health Panel

• Dr. Shervin Shadianloo, MD (He/Him)


• Dr. Vera Feuer (She/Her)


• Dr. Eric Ascher, DO (He/Him)


• Carmine DeSena, CRC, LMHC (He/Him)


• Maliq Mendez, MBA Candidate (He/Him)

Northwell Health will be participating in a mental health panel with interdisciplinary professionals, representing the Freidman Transgender Center in Manhattan, and Zucker Hillside Hospital, a large mental health facility and psychiatric center in Long Island. This group will discuss mental health outcomes as it relates to the pandemic, barriers experienced by LGBTQIA+ communities, available resources from Northwell Health, best practices around caring for others, and navigating mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

W320 | If These Ovaries Could Talk

• Live Podcast

12:00PM – 12:45PM | Session #2 

Auditorium | The Storytelling Lab with Carmen Carrera

• Carmen Carrera


• Moderator: Meredith Clark (The Independent)

The Fashion and Beauty industries have long been held up by the members of the queer community, but changemakers like Carmen Carrera have gone the extra mile to fight for inclusivity, visibility and success.

W300 | Unapologetic Creative

• Moderator: David A. Correa


• Panelist: Julie Stahl (Owner/Founder)

Discussing the creative process through the lens of the NYC Pride visual Campaign. Blonde & Co. is the woman owned business that brought the 2022 theme, Unapologetically Us,to life.

Main Stage Events Center | Serving Body

• Mainstage


• Kidd Kenn with Victor Jackson

Rapper Kidd Kenn sits down with Artist & Creative Director, Victor Jackson to discuss his new single 'Body', navigating the industry as Black queer artists, and finding the confidence to own your truth on every stage.

W301 | Ensuring Our Babies Thrive (For caring and concerned adults)

• Moderator: Dr. David Johns


• Melanie Willingham-Jaggers


• Dr. Kiara Butler


• JR Ford

After youth experts inform understandings of and approaches to ensuring that diverse queer youth thrive, practitioners responsible for supporting the learning and development of queer youth will discuss promising and proven strategies.

W320 | Voguing Then and Now: Puerto Rican Legacies in Ballroom

• Luna Ortiz (GMHC)


• Dominican Cesar Valentino


• Edrimael Delgado


• Moderated by Celiany Rivera-Velázquez

This panel reflects on voguing then (1980s to 2000s) and voguing now (2000s to 2020’s). Emerging from Harlem, ballroom culture has expanded quickly throughout the world in the last decades. Latin America and the Caribbean countries have not been the exception. Kiki scenes have been traced in Mexico, Brazil, Chile, and Colombia since 2013. Also, despite the apparent historical disconnection with their diasporas, the Spanish-speaking Caribbean has also seen the emergence of vibrant ballroom scenes and families in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico since 2017 and 2018. Across all these spaces, ballroom has kept a consistent theme: to challenge the “marginalization of LGBTQ BIPOC lives that make up ball culture” (Tucker, 2021, p. xiii).

Lunch & Networking | Rooftop 1:00PM – 2:00PM

2:15PM – 3:00PM | SESSION #3

W320 | Building Relationships with Audiences

• David Lauterstein - Founder/CEO, Nasty Pig Incorporated


• Bradley Miller - Creative Director, Phluid Project


• Kiyanna Stewart and Jannah Handy, BLK MKT Vintage


• Moderated by: Jose Ramos

In a world where so many of us are tied to our screens and our go-to purchases are just a few clicks away, how do brands stand out? What are some marketing strategies that new business owners can leverage to build their audiences? What social media tactics have a proven success record? Come hear from experts that have cracked the code!

Main Stage Events Center | Maddy-Festing with Ts Madison

Everyone is manifesting these days, but hear from someone who created their destiny through the power of positive thinking and let's get Maddy-Festing!

Rooftop | From Lavoe to “The Ha”: Movement Dialogue with Ricans who Vogue (Open Movement Session)

• Luna Ortiz (GMHC)


• Dominican Cesar Valentino


• Edrimael Delgado


• Moderated by Celiany Rivera-Velázquez

3:15PM – 4:00PM | SESSION #4

Auditorium | Fireside Chat | Inclusive Hospitality: Beyond the exclusivity of the velvet ropes.

• Prince A. Sanders


• Moderated by: David Correa 

W300 | Disclosure: The urgent issues surround the film’s topics

• Sam Feder, Film Maker


• Hope Giselle

Main Stage Events Center |  For the community, by the community: How brands can deliver authentic Pride all year long

• Moderated by: Randall Tucker – Chief Inclusion Officer, Mastercard


• Shanée Benjamin -  Art Director and Illustration Artist 


• Sandra Pérez - Executive Director, NYC Pride 


• Peppermint - Actress, Singer, Songwriter, TV Personality, Drag Queen, and 
  Activist

W301 | The State of LGBT Pride Organizations

• Julian Sanjivan, Interpride 


• Sue Doster, NYC Pride 


• Kate Wickett, Sydney WorldPride

W320 | Film screening & talk back | Showing PORNO MELODRAMA (2011)

• Romas Zabarauskas

From the Berlinale debut of his short PORNO MELODRAMA (2011) to his third feature THE LAWYER (2020) – selected for 30+ festivals, including 7 opening, centerpiece or closing ceremonies – Romas Zabarauskas is an inspiring queer success from the New East. This Baltic enfant terrible introduced diversity to Lithuanian screens, delivering genre-bending films and reflecting on the (im)possibility of meaningful political action. Based in Vilnius with his fiancé Kornelijus, Romas gives back to the LGBT+ community through his activism, recognized with the Harvey Milk Foundation’s LGBTQ Champion Award in 2021.

4:15PM – 5:15PM

Main Stage Events Center | Keynote | Brandon Wolf

5:30PM – 7:00PM

Rooftop | Happy Hour Networking 

Open Bar and hors d'oeuvres