cyber D I S T A N C I N G

Cyber Distancing is the world’s first online drag festival, created by Tarah Cards and myself.

On Friday, March 13th, when all of our gigs were being cancelled due to the pandemic, Tarah and I casually joked about “going digital” at what turned out to be our last gig with a live in-person audience. We had lunch the next day (my last time inside a restaurant😢) to discuss the possibilities and what we could do to stay afloat considering the fact that most of our creative outlets & sources of income require human interaction.

We had seen performers take to the internet and do live shows individually via facebook and instagram but, at that point, we didn’t see anyone working together to create something bigger. We created a mission statement to guide us on our journey and set out to provide as much relief for our community of drag and burlesque performers as possible. At the end of our lunch date, we had a name, a logo, and (most importantly) a plan.

It was important to me to keep creating as a means to keep hope alive during the pandemic. I feel like i’m at my best when i’m dreaming up dreams and making art and I wanted to give my fellow creators that same opportunity if they, too, needed something to take their minds off of the state of the world.

We just wrapped our fifth iteration of the show and it has been a mind-blowing experience so far. Our first show got the attention of Rolling Stone, NOLA.com, Kings & Queens in Quarantine Podcast, Answered by Vox, and a few other publications. We even had a spin-off called “Cyber Distancing Digest” that featured pre-quarantine performances recorded at our home-bar “The Allways Lounge”. We’ve learned SO much about technology, the internet, social media marketing, and ourselves throughout this process and I’m so grateful for it.

I’m even more grateful for my co-producer and newfound bestie, Tarah. Before the pandemic, we worked together often, were (and still are) both members of Make Up: Improv + Drag. I always saw her as this brilliant drag queen musician goddess witch, but I’m so glad i’ve gotten to know her better throughout this process. We have talked almost every day since the pandemic started and been through a lot together but we’ve never had a single issue in our relationship. Everything just works so effortlessly. We host the festival in coordinating looks and, a lot of times, it’s the product of a loose theme and coincidental magic. I guess it’s meant to be!

The 6th Cyber Distancing Festival just happens to fall in October, and we decided to make the theme “666”! The festival dates are 10/23-10/24 and we can’t wait to see what our ghoulish friends come up with for Halloween. Stay tuned to @cyberdistancing on Facebook and Instagram or cyberdistancing.net for updates.