Dreams of Hope is a queer arts organization centering queer youth and empowering them through various art forms. Through the power of the arts, Dreams of Hope provides the region’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual, and allied (LGBTQIA+) youth a welcoming environment to grow in confidence, express themselves, and develop as leaders.
In 2003, Susan Haugh, now an emeritus board member, founded the organization after recognizing the need for creative outlets and positive queer role models for the youth of Pittsburgh. She invited youth to choose a name and for 23 years, Dreams of Hope has been providing a welcoming, creative environment for queer and Trans young people.
Dreams of Hope first started as a performing arts ensemble with eight young people ages 13 to 21 and four supporting artists, including Haugh. The young members wrote their own theatrical works, songs, poems, and performed for community members, friends, and family. For over two decades, their performing arts ensemble, now known as theatriQ, has been nurturing and celebrating the creativity of queer and trans youth.
Since then, Dreams of Hope has expanded, developing programs such as Qamp, speaQ, sQool, and their Queer Youth Advisory Council (QYAC) and has partnered with Kelly Strayhorn Theater to establish a physical space to call home. In the first decade, they didn’t have a physical space and moved many times to various rehearsal and office locations.
speaQ is an intergenerational space for queer and trans creatives to honor their inner voice through exploring, creating, and sharing with community members.
sQool is designed to provide youth visibility and community through queers arts programming. Youth and adults are engaged in schooling environments, community centers, and other education venues throughout the region.
Queerness & Nature (Queerness is Nature) is an artist residency inspired by an understanding of land as a friend and teacher, centering queerness and kinship with nature.
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Malakai Koehler (she/they) joined Dreams of Hope as a Programming Assistant in August 2022. Kai is now currently the Marketing & Outreach Steward, but still works heavily with programming as she says, “in the nonprofit world, you wear many hats.”
Kai came to Pittsburgh in 2020 during the pandemic while working with AmeriCorps. After serving a couple years, Kai began to look for a steady job and discovered Dreams of Hope through Nonprofit Talent and was immediately drawn to their values.
“You don’t always see protecting young people from harm and honoring our lineages on a nonprofit website or in a job description, so I said yes, sign me up!”
Another draw for Kai was theatriQ being one of the main programs because she did theatre for over a decade in her youth. Kai says she didn’t know she was queer when she was young and isn’t sure if being in a program such as Dreams of Hope would have helped her come out sooner but it is definitely something she wished existed in her younger years.
A lot of her theater experience was very cliquey, and there was favoritism even in the community theater, which is supposed to be open to everyone. “Dreams of Hope is just so different. It’s a collective process, everyone is working together and there’s a lot of collaboration and it’s really beautiful.”
Win Nunley (all pronouns) started theatriQ when they were 14 years old because they were a young queer person and didn’t know how to meet other young queer people as there’s not much out there for queer youth to get involved with. Win’s mother knew Bekezela Mguni who recommended that Win check out Dreams of Hope and Win has been part of the ensemble for nine years now. Win also served on the Queer Youth Advisory Council, was a delegate at the International Congress of Youth Voices, as well as briefly serving on the board as a youth member.
Win believes Dreams of Hope is a very important space within the city. “I definitely think it shaped me a lot as a young teen because they really model what community can and should be like. It shows a lot of healthy behaviors, a lot of checking in with each other and communication happening on both the side of adults who are facilitating as well as the ensemble members. It provides a healthy space and a lot of genuine care, and the care extends outside of just the programming as well. You’re welcomed in and even outside of this, they’re always rooting for you, always looking to help you.”
Both Kai and Win praise their community programs for being intergenerational. “It’s invaluable to have intergenerational relationships so lessons can be passed on, but also so queer youth have people to talk to who are older and surviving and thriving and doing things they may want to also do in the future,” said Win.
Before 2021, the youth programs primarily served ages 13-21. It is now ages 13-26 as young people, especially queer young people, need as much support and involvement within the community as possible.
Bekezela Mguni (she/they) is the Artistic Director at Dreams of Hope, where she’s been employed since 2017, but has been involved with the community programs since 2003, making her ”an OG at Dreams of Hope,” she joked. She was first invited to Dreams of Hope by Adil Mansoor, one of their previous Artistic Directors, to attend their open mic/writing circle and be a guest poet.
That open mic/writing circle grew to be a vibrant space for queer and trans performers who wanted to share, and became what is now known as speaQ. From that place, Bekezela and Adil shared ideas for shaping Dreams of Hope. They collaborated to create an apprenticeship program for their school, which paired established teaching artists with emerging teaching artists to add a mentorship component to the work. That led to a few different school partnerships and a semester of classes and residencies through the pilot program. A year later, Bekezela became one of the Programming Directors at Dreams of Hope.
Bekezela says it’s necessary for queer art history and culture to be a focal point in curriculum. “It’s a false curriculum if it doesn’t include the contributions of queer and trans people. It also creates a level of erasure for all children and young people in schools because it doesn’t reflect people who have contributed to their legacies and communities. We provide opportunities for critical thinking and for expansive histories to be learned. We always want to have conversations with young people about what is important to them at that moment in time, and we want to provide a safe space for them to express and be themselves.”
As for how Dreams of Hope is received, Bekezela said, “We know that the work we do in schools and in the community is necessary because of the response that we receive from LGBTQ young people. We are often sought out by supportive educators or caregivers and parents who are looking to support young people in their lives.”
Of course, there have been challenging experiences and folks who may not feel so welcoming to having queer and trans educators in classrooms, but overall Bekezela says it’s been a positive experience. She also says there’s been a shift on their part, as well as the culture of community, on how folks engage.
“We have tolerance in our mission, and we have this idea that we have to help people accept LGBTQ people, but I think we’ve come to understand that it’s important that we accept and love and celebrate ourselves and really look for the people who want to be in deep solidarity and real solidarity with us.”
One of Kai’s wishes for the future is that people consider supporting arts programming because it’s not being funded as much as it once was.
“Art is such an important tool when it comes to advocacy, and organizing, and the resistance, the fight for liberation. I think it’s so important because sometimes what we’re dealing with feels unbearable, and the art makes it a little more bearable.”