On June 25th, ADAPT Community Network held its 5th Radical Joy Ball at The Whitney Museum, an annual community event hosted by ADAPT’s fabulous people supported and staff to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community and Disability Pride. ADAPT brought the house down as our people supported, staff, and guests strutted down the runway serving face, fashion, and fantasy.

This year’s theme, “Tell Your Tale! Tell Our Tales!”, invited everyone to step into the world of fables and fairytales, letting their imaginations shine. The event encouraged attendees to reimagine their life stories as fables, adventures, myths, and legends, and to come together as “SHEroes, THEYroes, and Heroes of our own fantastic journeys”, as said by this year’s emcee, Alicia Angevine. 

The theme also sought to highlight the importance of adapting to difficult situations, discovering new ways of caring for one another, and embracing new ways of experiencing collective joy.    

Guests were also treated with the presence of drag queens Magenta, who delivered an incredible dance performance, and Harmonica Sunbeam, who delighted the audience with a reading of “Mary Had a Little Glam.”  To close out the evening, audience members were invited to strut the runway, bringing together community members, staff, and our people supported. 

ADAPT also celebrated pride with an exhibit at Positive Exposure featuring photos from past Radical Joy Ball celebrations. The exhibit ran concurrently with “Heroes Within”, where international artists worked with LGBTQIA+ youth to create superhero portraits. Several ADAPT artists and advocates featured in this year’s Radical Joy Ball Exhibition gathered to celebrate their contributions. To tie into both exhibition themes, attendees got to design their own superhero or fantasy personas, and were delighted to see themselves and their friends soar through collaborative art.  

As an inclusive organization, we strive to create joyful and expressive experiences for LGBTQIA+ members of the ADAPT community. We would like to thank everyone involved in the Radical Joy Ball, including the Whitney team, our own Community Outreach team, emcee Alicia Angevine, special guests Magenta and Harmonica Sunbeam, the models/designers/performers, and every member of the community who showed up and showed out for the Ball.