Past Work

Trans Bloom has seved 500 people through artist residencies, retreats, camps, and cultural events focused on creativity, embodied healing, and connection. Across our programs, artists and movement leaders find space to rest, create, build relationships, and imagine new possibilities together..

Past Events

Stronger Together: Growing Rural Pride Across Northern CA

May & June 2026

Honestly, we often feel skeptical of Pride. Too many celebrations have become commercialized and commodified. Too many businesses conflate so-called allyship with marketing opportunities while abandoning us when real opportunities to advocate for justice emerge. But participating in rural Pride celebrations took us back to the roots of what Pride was about in the first place. For rural trans and queer people, gathering openly can be life-affirming. Many of us face hostility, isolation, or the daily pressure to hide parts of ourselves. Creating spaces where we can be visible, celebrated, and surrounded by community is not just joyful. It is a form of safety, resistance, and care. 

Last year, Trans Bloom helped organize the San Francisco Trans March. This year, we brought that experience home to Ukiah, joining a coalition of organizers who revived Mendocino Pride after the local celebration had fizzled out. We each brought essential knowledge, labor, and community connections. As the coalition’s only trans and BIPOC leader, Trans Bloom contributed political education centering Indigenous and Latine perspectives and helped broaden the cultures and experiences represented at Pride.

Together, we created five connected events with different ways for elders, youth, immigrants, artists, and families to participate. We were proud to support Mendocino Pride’s first bilingual performances, featuring an all-Latine drag troupe. Trans Bloom hosted an artist in residence, Belovette Jenkins, for a week of art-making sessions including one leading up to pride with local trans artists. One long-time residents shared that she, "has lived here over 20 years and never imagined trans people could have our own organization."  Trans Bloom hosted the community’s first Pride after-party, which brought together over 100 folks over the course of the night. Another resident commented, "I remember when I got kicked out of [the venue] for being gay. It means a lot to see how the community is changing."

For the second year, Trans Bloom also showed up at Pacifica Pride to support our partners at GenderJust CA. This year was especially meaningful because GenderJust CA was honored as the Grand Marshal. Their work shows what is possible when trans leadership is rooted in racial justice, community care, and real relationships. We were proud to share a float with them and celebrate everything they continue to grow.

For those who have spent decades without access to queer and trans community, these gatherings can also be deeply healing. Rural Prides showed us what becomes possible when people who have been starved for connection finally have a place to find one another, share their stories, and experience the simple but powerful feeling of belonging.

Trans Creator Camp: Making Art, Making Magic

9/3/25 -9/8/25

We launched our very first Trans Creator Camp, a radically participatory outdoor art gathering, and we were blown away by the response—75 people registered within days, even though we had initially planned to host just 30. We stretched to welcome 40 artists, 80% of whom were BIPOC, to co-create something truly magical.

We held the container—and the community brought it to life. Over the course of a few days, artists offered Indian food, archery lessons, a rap concert, an aerial silks burlesque performance, a workshop on impact play for folks with chronic pain, and so much more. One attendee sent us a poem they wrote the following week about how it felt to finally experience trans joy—real, embodied, shared.

This isn’t a curated showcase. It’s a collective experiment in dreaming and doing. We believe that when trans and BIPOC artists are given space, nourishment, and trust, what emerges is beyond anything we could plan alone. Come make the next one with us.

Photos by Jovan Wolfe courtesy of GenderJustCA

 

Trans & Queer Land Stewardship Weekend: Erosion

4/12/25 - 4/13/25

We spent the weekend learning about erosion and restoration from a habitat specialist and getting our hands dirty building beaver dam analogs to help slow water flow and protect the land. Willits showed up in full force, and y’all brought the skills and the sparkle.

We took a lopper-themed dance break mid-uprooting of a giant juniper bush that was threatening the house.

We shimmered in the sun, swapped stories under the stars, and ended each day smelling like campfire and kinship. Oh—and the fashion moments? Unmatched. Queers in work boots and eyeliner forever. This is what mutual aid can look like: joy, sweat, land care, and chosen family coming together to build something lasting.

Huge thanks to everyone who joined us—and if you missed out this time, you can still register for our next Land Stewardship Weekends:

5/9-5/11 Wildfire Resilience

6/6-6/8 Infrastructure

 

 Mx. Artist: Alchemy of Resistance

3/27/25

On the eve of Trans Day of Visibility, Trans Bloom and Queer Rebel Fest conjured our second interdisciplinary BIPOC and Trans artist mixer. Held in the heart of SF’s Mission District, the night shimmered with ritual, performance, and collaboration. Aartists shared stories of transformation, channeling grief and joy into vision.

Our interactive apothecary overflowed with handmade salves, inks, and dyes—crafted by Trans Bloom organizers from plants foraged at Tranifest Ranch and Mendocino faerie farms. Guests are still reaching out, raving about the tenderness in each detail. We co-created the Book of Trans Vivification, casting a collective spell, sending love to future generations of trans creators.

More than an event, Mx. Artist: Alchemy of Resistance was a portal—a space where queer ecology met cultural resistance, where trans visibility meant beauty, care, and co-creation in the face of erasure and collapse. We left nourished, inspired, and ready to dream into what’s next. Stay tuned for our upcoming Summer Creator Camp—the magic continues.

“I remember being incredibly suicidal before the election… I am still fearful, but I am also definitely wanting to fight this. There are beautiful aspects of this life. I felt more present in my body than I have in a long time.

I truly believe [this community] is saving my life.”

– Mx. Artist Participant

 Mx. Artist, Our Oakland Launch

11/06/24

We welcomed 60 community members for an interdisciplinary BIPOC and Trans mixer at our launch event at Place, a BIPOC-run live/work community in Oakland. CA. Still reeling from the election, we came together to share stories, make art, connect, and support each other.