Even as mainstream children’s shows like PBS Kids’ Arthur are starting to show LGBTQ characters, independent efforts are still striving to provide quality LGBTQ-inclusive content for kids. One new effort is All Together Now!, a queer animated kid’s show about “a community of people with different gender identities, body types, abilities, family structures, and cultural backgrounds.”
Filmmaker Molly Allis was motivated to create All Together Now! and launch a Kickstarter because of her own experiences as a child. “As a queer, gender non-conforming person,” she explains, “I realize that being a kid could have been easier if I’d been able to watch a children’s show that was entertaining, educational, and had characters living outside of a gender binary. This could’ve helped me a lot as I tried to figure out who I was.”
Allis, a Los Angeles-based artist, educator, filmmaker and musician, brings professional skills to the task. She studied directing and design for theater at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, with a focus in puppetry and received her MFA from California Institute of the Arts, with a focus in Integrated Media. She has created animations that have won awards internationally, including at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Madrid Experimental Film Festival, and the Linoleum Festival in Moscow. She has also created interactive interactive installations at Occidental College, the City of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs, and Kidspace Children’s Museum, among other places.
For All Together Now!, she’s imagined a cast of characters who learn from each others’ experiences related to gender, family, and other topics. There’s Frankie, a gender creative ten-year-old; their best friend Jesse, who lives down the street with his two dads and likes to wear jewelry and skirts; Frankie’s Grandma Dolores, who founded a community hardware store; Janice, an 18-year-old high school student who makes zines and runs a mobile pop-up library; Lily, a trans elder woman who started a community garden and “might become the mayor”; Carl, who runs a space for kids to write, produce, and record their own songs; and DJ Rebel Grrl, who has a radio show and throws a monthly all-ages dance party. Clearly, all of the characters are creators in some way and the show will feature them sharing skills and resources as they make a variety of projects. “Characters teach each other how to sew costumes, write songs, build toys, cook yummy food, and perform shows in their neighborhood. Through making, they come together, share stories, and discover the power of their imaginations,” Allis says.
Have a look at the promotional video below, in which Allis shares more of her vision for the project.
Other independent efforts to make LGBTQ-inclusive kids’ shows include:
- Queer Kid Stuff (now in its fourth season; about which more here)
- Sez Me (about which more here)
- Family Restaurant (about which more here)
- And the slightly older Dottie’s Magic Pockets (about which more here) and BuddyG: My Two Moms and Me (no longer available except as used DVDs; my earlier piece on it here)
This post is one of an occasional series I’ll do on crowdfunded efforts to increase LGBTQ representation in kids’ media. These aren’t endorsements or requests that you send them money; only you can make that decision. I think it’s exciting and important, however, to see some of the wonderful, creative projects that people like Allis are doing to help all kids’ see positive images of themselves and the people around them. If you are launching such a project yourself, please let me know.)
https://vimeo.com/335273097