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Student hosts benefit gig to support LGBTQ+ community

The fight for equality continues for one North Vancouver university student.
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The fight for equality continues for one North Vancouver university student.

Reese Findler will carry on with what she started last year when she hosts another iteration of Perform for Pride at Deep Cove Shaw Theatre next month, a benefit show slated to support Vancouver’s LGBTQ+ community.

“It was so much fun doing it last year and bringing everyone together and seeing the audience’s response, and then in the end having money to donate to Rainbow Refugee. It was just all around a really successful event and it was really rewarding to organize and to be a part of,” Findler tells the North Shore News.

This year’s version of the popular performance-cabaret-concert hybrid will support Qmunity, a non-profit community centre and resource centre in Vancouver that works to improve the lives and support queer, transgender and two-spirited people.

Last year’s inaugural Perform for Pride, which raised approximately $2,500, benefited Rainbow Refugee, a group that helps LGBTQ+ refugees who are seeking protection in Canada.

“I knew pretty much as soon as it was over that it was something that I wanted to do again,” says Findler, who is currently finishing up her first semester at Simon Fraser University. “(Qmunity’s) really great because they’re a community and resource centre, so they offer stuff from free counselling to peer groups and events and volunteer opportunities. It’s quite a range of things and I knew that giving them a donation would help them to keep creating a community for LGBTQ+ people to be a part of.”

Findler is hoping to fill the house for the performance, which currently has 17 different acts booked – dancing and singing and everything in between.

“It’s quite a range of events and it’s all youth performers from around the Lower Mainland,” says Findler. “There are quite a few returning acts. … But there are new faces too. It’s a good mix.”

The Seycove Seniors Jazz Choir will be performing, as will a tap dancer, a contemporary dance duo, in addition to many youth solo performers who will accompany themselves on piano or guitar.

Findler, who is a seasoned performer herself having spent much of her youth acting in shows, pantomimes and playing music, will also be singing a song during Perform for Pride – but her main venture will be back stage.

“I’ll be keeping everything in check,” she says, adding that she recently took a course on stage management at SFU as she continues to hone her behind-the-scenes chops.

“We have a group number at the end – that’s the full cast and the Seycove choir, who takes on the harmonies and leads it – and that’s always really exciting, just to get everyone together at the end to sing one final song.”

And while Findler touts the exciting finale of Perform for Pride, she hopes it’s just the beginning when it comes to her putting on these charitable performances.

“Creating awareness is really important and just the fight for equality,” she says. “We’ve definitely made strides to where we are now but there’s still a long way to go in making sure everyone is treated respectfully and just accepted for who they are.”

For the former co-president of Seycove Secondary’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance, it’s all she can ask for, noting that she misses working with the group when she was still in high school but still plans to continue the fight going forward. “They’re still going and they’re doing good things,” she says of the alliance.

Perform for Pride is taking place at Deep Cove Shaw Theatre on Jan. 12, 2019 starting at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $15, with proceeds earmarked to support Qmunity. A donation box will also be available on site for those inclined to donate more.

Visit brownpapertickets.com/event/3744801 for tickets or more information.