Before you delve into what Ten, Tiny, Talks means for sociopolitical representation and visibility, founder Zeloszelos Marchandt would remind you that the new hybrid artist residency and multi-disciplinary festival—with its roster of more than a dozen local and national Black and Indigenous artists who are transgender, nonbinary, or queer—is about honoring artists’ labors with beneficial exposure and respectful compensation.
“Yes, we’re disrupting things, but at the end of the day, we’re human, we deserve to make money from our arts, and to be seen and heard. It’s to everyone’s benefit,” Marchandt told the Mercury.
Ten, Tiny, Talks (TTT) began in May, and concludes in early November. TTT’s programming has already featured a drag show from D&D Productions, a visual art show and artist talk with the painter a.c. ramírez de arellaño, an outdoor Black Trans Pride party, the circus show, Change, by aerialist Belinda Rose, and the virtual play, I Turned It Over, by comedian and Mercury contributor Mx. Dahlia Belle.
Despite having “tiny” in its name, TTT is expansive, using the number ten as a goal rather than a cutoff. Marchandt didn’t place any limitations on which mediums artists use, prompting artists to tell whatever stories they wanted, however they wanted.
“I want it to be storytelling-centered because that is one thing that is pretty unified across countless diasporas in the Black and Indigenous world, but I want to leave the door open for all those experiences,” Marchandt said. “If we’re really going to allow an artist to make art, we’re going to let them speak clearly and feely, without much hindering beyond just positive critique, and support when it comes to getting their work off the ground or installed.”