Warren Hastings Capstone Andrae Alexander 1 May 2020 Final
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Warren Hastings Capstone Andrae Alexander 1 May 2020 Final Capstone Summary Drag: Live Event’s Emerging Juggernaut GE/Music Elective 4 Units, satisfies A&G GEs Learning Objectives (15 weeks) 1. 1.1: Understanding what drag is and where it comes from. a. Queer Theory b. Drag Queens vs. Transgender Women c. Origins of drag i. 80s ballroom culture in NYC ii. Paris is burning 2. 1.2: Iconic Drag figures and drag media a. Divine b. RuPaul c. the desert movie drag queen d. look up more examples 3. 1.3: How drag has recently broken through into the mainstream a. RuPaul’s Drag Race / rise of reality television b. gay rights movement c. commodication of queer identity d. the rise of MUA and makeup e. screening of one episode of rupaul’s drag race i. ensure that the class has an understanding of what drag race is ii. fun 4. 1.4: Understanding the drag beyond rupaul a. what is the drag scene like b. Bring a drag queen to class c. the daily life of a touring drag queen d. understanding, in-depth, the rigor of a drag performers life e. homework i. go to a drag show 5. (split over 2 weeks)Market potential a. DragCon: 9million dollars, 40,000 attendees b. Various successful drag queen tours i. del rio wembley ii. trixie c. Instagram success i. millions of followers d. Youtube success i. Trixie Mattel & Katya, Review with a jew e. queens make thousands of dollars per gig, specialty gig f. makeup brands i. trixie cosmetics g. netflix deals i. trixie mattel documentary ii. Drag race h. blockbuster movies i. a star is born (shangela and william) 6. Drag and the music industry a. the relationship between music and drag i. lip-sync b. The success of drag music i. millions of views on youtube ii. the release of songs and videos corresponding to drag race c. queens singing/performing live at shows i. trixie, monet d. Successful drag musicians i. trixie ii. adore iii. etc 7. Marketing for drag a. companies that specialize in marketing to queer audiences: karpel group b. marketing for drag performers will often be collaborative because events host multiple queens c. brand partnerships in the past i. crest ii. jet blue d. if you’re not queer, how to rspect the community while being involved 8. Managing a drag artist a. Producer Entertainment Group i. manages a lot of the most successful RuPaul queens ii. the structure of the deal b. case study: adore delano sued Producer Entertainment Group for allegedly stealing from her i. within 3 years Adore had made over 2.5 million dollars and she alleged that PEG was stealing from her ii. she has since moved on and manages herself, but many queens have stayed c. partnerships with brands d. a drag artist is multifaceted i. theatre ii. acting 9. International drag potential a. drag race in UK, Australia, Thailand b. defying/battling homophobia abroad i. Pablo Vittar case study 10. The money being made in the drag industry a. Rupaul’s drag race 11. Building connections in a straight, white male dominated industry, how do you connect yourself? Appropriate ways to create a queer and ally community. a. How to foster and build a queer friendly work environment. From intern to CEO, we will cover how and why making the workplace an undeniably queer friendly space. 12. Discrimination in the drag world a. sources of discrimination and why b. how to combat the discrimination and support marginalized artists 13. Market potential of live events in general 14. Drag--it’s more than just queens! a. exploration of drag kings, AFAB and more b. Dragula Assignments 1. Case studies - revenue streams - merch - sponsorships - marketing campaigns - case study on karpel group - learning about queer companies that do marketing specific to queer communities - management deals - Producer entertainment group - Adore Delano suing producer entertainment group 2. Mandatory screenings a. RuPaul’s Drag Race b. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert c. Paris is Burning 3. Attend at least 1 drag show and write a reflection of 500 words Summary of Research After websites like Napster and subsequent streaming services toppled the traditional music consumption of purchasing physical records, the music industry was left in shambles, desperately in need of some reorganization. Since then, npr reports that MIDiA Research found that streaming revenue is the "the engine room of growth" in the music industry and Julia Hartz of LinkedIn reports that more people, especially millennials and gen z, are preferring lived experiences over material things. These factors have contributed to a rebirth of the music industry as a whole, but most notably in the live event sector. In tandem with this reshaping of the music industry, the queer rights movement has made substantial advancements in the pursuit of equality. In 2015, same-sex marriage was declared legal by the United Sates federal governement and nationwide consciousness has also begun to include queer stories and protections, with more and more queer artists, like Troye Sivan or Kehlani, rising to global prominence and selling out large tours. During the music industry’s most recent revolution, the recognition of queer equality has largely been established as a societal necessity as well. RuPaul’s Drag Race has positioned itself as one of television's most engaging programs. The premiere of season 10 attracted over 1 million viewers on VH1 and its twelfth season premiered in February 2020 with a fifth season of All Stars slated for the week after season 12’s finale. Clearly the show is in high demand. Most importantly however, it has generated a wealth of income for past contestants, essentially creating its own economy. BBC reports that queens from Rupaul’s Drag Race regularly make 5,000 to 10,000 dollars per gig as they tour post drag race and net annual incomes in the six figure range. Additionally, Rupaul’s Dragcon has since emerged as another high profile drag event hosted in both LA and New York City, with future iterations in other cities in development. These conventions have been huge successes. In 2017, over 40,000 people attended Dragcon in Los Angeles alone, with ticket prices around the $40 mark and merchandise sales in excess of 9 million dollars (BBC). Because of these three developments, I believe that touring drag queens are one of the most exciting and lucrative emerging markets in the music industry. Many scholarly analyses of RuPaul’s Drag Race focus on the impact it is having on drag in general, wondering about its detriment to drag’s authenticity and possible over commodification. However, I will be focusing on the positive impact of the show and the ability it has given to former contestants and winners to have successful touring careers, creating hugely successful brands. Before delving into the success of drag queens post RuPaul’s Drag Race, I want to first describe what drag is. Drag in the way that we know it today originated in ball culture in the 80s in NYC, but drag has been used as a term since the 19th century in theatre productions and was first recognized as an art form by primarily gay cisgender men in the 1950s (them.). People unfamiliar with drag often get confused about the difference between drag queens and trans women. In order to better present my argument for the potential of the emerging drag touring market, I want to elaborate on the distinctions between drag queens and trans women. Drag queens are typically cisgender gay men who dress up as women and perform, playing with the idea of gender as a whole. Drag queens are not the only form of drag artists however, there are also kings, qwings, creatures and so much more yet to be discovered as the landscape adapts and transforms (them.). A helpful way to understand how people play with gender in this way can be found in Judith Butler’s queer theory. In a much longer, in-depth analysis Butler outlines the performativity of gender. Performativity is the idea that gender is not inherent to sex. Instead it proposes that gender is something assigned to us at birth, often times even before birth at events like gender reveal parties, and people grow up doing their best to perform the gender they are told that they are or society expects them to be. Performances of gender include but are not limited to: clothing, haircut, pronouns, and the notion of gendered responsibilities such as women being caregivers and men being providers. This leads to terms for people who do not conform to these stereotypes, with girls commonly referred to as “tomboys” and more offensive terms for boys like “sissy boy”. People who do not align with or do not want to perform the gender they have been assigned often fail to meet society's expectations and often are conflated with being transgender, which actually has little to do with performance of gender but rather internal sense of self which is invisible to the outside world. Gender expression is how people often signal to the world their gender, but ultimately gender expression does not indicate someone’s gender identity. Thus, drag is the intentional performance of gender and costume that is removed off stage, unlike transgender people for whom their gender is consistent on and off stage, engaging in drag or not. Frequently, drag bends our understanding of gender completely, with many artists refusing to be stagnated by the gender binary. Contrastly, trans people are people who do not identify with the sex they were assigned at birth and they live their lives as their true gender 24/7.