A message of thanks, and an appeal for help
Please, would you consider helping us promote independent artists in New Orleans?
Hi y’all,
First of all, our next speed dating event is on Wed 7th August at 8pm at The Domino!
Secondly, I have a community favor to ask. It involves everyone getting a gift.
Some of you know me, some don’t, but my name is Paul and in 2014, I founded the New Orleans chapter of Kinky Salon. I didn’t make it what is it by myself of course - I was lucky to immediately find great people and the party’s decade-long success is down to our current core team, our lovely volunteers and most importantly, all of y’all. It’s a community and organization that I’m incredibly proud of, and to have it last this long and still be going strong is incredible. So, thank you for helping to make us what we are.
Sadly, I’m having to relocate to the UK for a time. My dad is very sick and my elderly mum needs help. I’m happy to do this, of course, but I’m sad to be away from New Orleans, where my found family and community is.
If you’ve enjoyed the spaces and events of KS over the last decade, or whenever it is you found us, I’d sincerely appreciate your considering helping me.
I run two online publications: Out All Day: New Orleans and Up All Night: New Orleans. They exist mainly to uplift independent artists, hospitality workers, creators and show producers and performers in our city. This kind of coverage is disappearing in local media, and I really want to do as much as I can to promote the cool stuff that people in New Orleans are doing, from burlesque and drag to kitchen pop-ups to plays and art exhibitions.
I’ll be in the UK, but I want to employ a diverse collection of writers for one year so that these weekly magazines can continue. It will also really help me to feel connected to home while I’m going through a crappy situation. I’m interested in all voices and all experiences, and of course I want to pay them (or YOU!) for their (or YOUR) time and talents.
I can run both Out All Day and Up All Night for one year with a freelance budget of around $5,000. I’m asking for $5 to help me do this. If I can raise $3,000, I’ll top it up to $5,000 with my own money. I’m currently at around $1,200. $5 will get you a gift no matter what (I have original art, books, travel amenity kits, general swag, lots of options, all worth at least $5). Here are some options:
You can simply donate $5 or any amount you like to @shandypockets on Venmo (https://venmo.com/shandypockets), or paul.oswell@gmail.com on PayPal - I’ll deliver a gift to your door to say thanks or if you have a business or anything online, I can offer free advertising - the combined readership is around 6,000 people weekly.
Buy a ticket for the Up All Night show Godless: A Cabaret, at 11pm on Sat Aug 10th and I will also give you five (5) free raffle tickets for the draw on August 1st. You can buy tickets here and I’ll email you to set up your raffle tickets. It’s going to be a great night, with Trombone Squirty, Laveau Contraire, Simone del Mar, Xena Zeit-Geist, Pinky de Ville, Lauren Malara, Laura Sanders and Jeff de Rouen performing.
Thank you for reading this far, and thank you so much for your consideration. Thanks for helping make Kinky Salon New Orleans what it is today, and thank you for being the incredible community members that you are. I can’t wait to see you all in person when I come home, and in the meantime, I hope I can continue to be part of things here from a few time zones away.
Sincerely, much love to you all.
Paul O