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New York City is one of the world’s drag capitals. And while you may stumble upon your favorite drag queen performing any given night of the week, planning to see drag isn’t always the easiest, even as the performance art becomes mainstream.
Responding to this challenge, a new website, See the Queens, helps New Yorkers and visitors discover drag shows, fostering community and creating a regular roster of drag performances, so they can hit up a show whenever they’re in the mood.
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See The Queens is a social media-style community that gives drag artists the ability to connect directly with their audience. Performers and venues create profiles and upload their events. Users can then search events by date, by neighborhood and even by category. Users can favorite performers and receive event recommendations based on their preferences. The platform allows users to book artists directly for private parties and corporate events as well.
“STQ will expose audiences to a whole new world of drag performers, beyond what they see on RuPaul’s Drag Race,” See The Queens founder Scott Adam says. “This city, and every city, has incredible local queens, kings and things, and having a place to easily sort and easily find events by neighborhood or category, truly allows audiences to experience the most exciting and vibrant entertainment like never before.”
Following a dark period during the pandemic quarantine, Adam found that when the world started opening up, live drag entertainment was what started to help him with his mental health. “With each show, with each lip sync and shablam and hair flip, I found my joy returning,” Adam says. “I literally got my life back because of local drag.”
The only problem: Adam wanted efficiency when finding drag shows. For a self-admitted “cranky” 40-plus-year-old, ease was most important when scheduling when to see drag.
“I was already looking to redirect my life, I thought of the name See The Queens and I checked to see if the domain was available, and it was,” Adam says of the site’s origins. He hopes the online community helps others gain as much joy.
More than ever, Scott feels that it's essential to support drag performers in New York City and beyond.
“Queer artists, trans artists, POC artists are all under attack right now from the highest reaches of power in our country,” Scott says. “One of the best things we can do to support these local artists is to go to their shows. Tip them generously. Tag and promote them, and support the queer spaces they perform in. Drag is about spreading joy—and drag saves lives.”