OUR MISSION
ART in CommUNITY
Established in 2025, LA LGBTQ+ Arts & Culture Coalition is a regional alliance of artists, arts professionals and cultural institutions committed to uplifting LGBTQ+ voices dedicated to collective defense, public visibility, creative resistance, and building power across the art and culture sectors of Los Angeles County.
OUR VISION
We envision a world where LGBTQ+ people live and create without fear where full self-expression is met not with erasure, discrimination, and violence, but with recognition, celebration, and material support from the broader cultural landscape.
GET INVOLVED
VIEW PROJECTS →2026 LA ART & CULTURE COMMUNITY SURVEY
Helping shape the future of LGBTQ+ arts in LA. Undertaken with Arts for LA and Los Angeles County, this survey identifies the critical needs of our communities and drives real advocacy. Register on our Contact Page to receive updates about this initiative scheduled for release in late Summer 2026.
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
BRIAN SONIA-WALLACE
Poet Laureate, City of Los Angeles
Founding Member · Steering Committee
“I bring language to the margins — creating space for queer voices, working-class stories, and radical imagination across Los Angeles.”
— Brian Sonia-Wallace, Poet Laureate, City of Los Angeles
In April, during the 30th Anniversary of National Poetry Month, Mayor Karen Bass, in partnership with the Los Angeles Public Library and the Department of Cultural Affairs, announced Brian Sonia-Wallace as Los Angeles' Poet Laureate, marking a new chapter in one of the City's most distinguished literary programs. A nationally-recognized poet, Sonia-Wallace is known for composing spontaneous poems on his 1938 Remington typewriter for passersby, transforming everyday spaces into sites of creativity and connection.
Recognized for his work as a RENT Poet and through the UCLA Extension Writers' Program and Get Lit – Words Ignite, Brian brings language to the margins — creating space for queer voices, working-class stories, and radical imagination across Los Angeles. His appointment as Poet Laureate marks a historic recognition of LGBTQ+ cultural leadership in the city.
The City of Los Angeles Poet Laureate serves as a creative leader and cultural ambassador, advancing the civic importance of poetry, literature, and the spoken word across Los Angeles. In partnership with the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) and the Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA), the Poet Laureate engages communities through public programming, workshops, and performances that reflect the city's cultural richness and diverse voices.
On view through June 15, his site-specific public art installation, If These Stalls Could Talk is on view at the Music Center. Presented within restroom stalls, Brian's poetry and selected works by other trans and queer writers are engraved in metal that cover the doors. Transforming a politicized site into an archive of lived experience, their words take on permanence, authority, and memorialization. To learn more visit the LA County Arts page.
Brian is a founding member of the LA LGBTQ+ Arts & Culture Coalition and serves on the Coalition's Steering Committee and Communications SubCommittee — helping shape the coalition's voice, communications strategy, and public presence.