Got $5? Be a hero!

Last month, someone told me I was her hero. I had gone to her small college and performed, and afterwards her classmates had begun to speak positively about queer and trans folks. For the first time, she felt she could come out - and did.

Organizations and institutions that are queer- and trans-inclusive have the resources to invite me to participate in their conversations. The places where the administration is intolerant, where the culture is conservative, or where our issues are not given priority end up starving for it.

I am dedicated to meeting that need. I am committed to taking education, awareness, openness, and the great joy of my outlaw tribe wherever anyone will have me. I go where I'm asked, whenever I'm able, and perform or teach or lecture for free. I love it.

Here's the problem - I can't always go. Even when I can work for free, I can't travel for free (and I can rarely afford to pay for it myself). So sometimes I have to say no, and I really don't want to.

Here's the solution - be a hero with me. If you can spare just $5 per month, over the course of a year you can help me work with hundreds of students. None of us has very much money, I know, but if you can afford $5 every month you can make a huge difference. You can make it possible for at least a dozen organizations or institutions every year to have programming they really need.

Now I'll share with you my goal: for 100 people to sign up, right here, for a recurring donation of $5 per month or more. I am not going to make any insulting comparisons regarding what theoretically "minor" thing you could give up to do this - I'm just going to ask you to choose an amount that won't hurt, and commit it to queer and trans education every month. I'm also going to ask you to forward this to friend, repost it in your blogs, and generally help spread the word where you feel it might be welcome.

(A recurring donation, rather than a larger one-time gift, means that I can plan for future performances and residencies. By all means feel free to donate more than $5 per month, but a recurring monthly donation of any size is ideal for this process.)

This money will only ever be used for expenses, and I am always accountable to the Fund For Women Artists as it gets used, but more than that I promise - I will make it count.

Thank you. Thank you, thank you. People you will never meet are grateful beyond words.

with love,
Bear Bergman

PS - be sure to earmark your recurring $5-per-month donation to S. Bear Bergman, or it will go into the general fund.

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