Stephanie Coleman, a seasoned videographer and realtor in Chicago, has a unique and inspiring background in the arts.
Her film, Having A Ball! With the House of Avant Garde, was shown on Sunday, November 17, 2024, at 12 noon as part of the prestigious Black Harvest Film Festival.
Coleman’s journey from owning the Wholesome Roc Gallery & Café and a tax and accounting business in the 1980s to meeting the House of Avant-Garde is truly remarkable. She honed her documentary filming skills and became a respected figure in the LGBTQ+ community, inspiring many with her remarkable evolution.
Established in the 1980s, the House of Avant Garde was the first Chicago ballroom house. It served as a safe haven for predominantly Black LGBTQ+ youth and fostered a vibrant community where they could fully express themselves. Having A Ball! With the House of Avant Garde offers an immersive and thrilling experience into Chicago’s vibrant Black LGBTQ+ ballroom scene. The documentary showcases footage from the Unity Ball (1991) and the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre Ball (1992), providing a unique and thrilling opportunity for the audience to step into the historical balls hosted by the House of Avant-Garde.
PrideIndex interviewed Stephanie Coleman a few days before the screening of her film.
PrideIndex: I’ll start by asking you to introduce yourself and give us a brief overview of your background and how it has led you to where you are today.
Stephanie Coleman: I am Stephanie Coleman. I’m currently a realtor in Chicago, always looking for clients and referrals. I have a background in owning small businesses. In the 1980s, I owned Wholesome Roc Gallery & Café as well as a tax and accounting business. Through the cafe, my partner and I met Robert Ford, Trenton Atkins, and Larry Warren from THING magazine.
THING magazine was a small Black LGBTQ+ quarterly zine that was self-published out of Robert Ford’s apartment from 1989 to 1993 and reached a circulation of about 3,000 people. They ran four issues per year and published a total of ten issues. Because they ran THING magazine, Robert, Trenton, and Larry had a lot of prestige at the time in Chicago, and they put us in contact with Aaron Pierre Brown, also known as Aaron Avant Garde, who had started presenting balls as Ball Coordinator for Chicago’s House of Avant-Garde.
I was also videotaping for the gallery and Aaron wanted to make video tapes of the balls. As a videographer, I had my own small videography company; I would do videos for nonprofits and artists’ presentations.
PI: Let’s talk about this film, Having a Ball! with the House of Avant Garde, being entered into the Black Harvest Film Festival. How did that happen?
SC: That happened through Media Burn Archive. Media Burn primarily pulled that information together. They wanted to do something with the film during gay pride, but they thought gay pride might overshadow a 30-minute film, and it would get lost in the shuffle. Then they decided they would do it outside in the summer at another nonprofit venue, but I guess that plan fell through. I was really surprised when they said it would be at Black Harvest because I know they typically like current films. Yeah. That was a big surprise, but I’m really happy that the film is screening there, but that was all due to Media Burn Archive.
Read the full article at www.prideindex.com/stephanie-coleman-the-black-harvest-of-the-house-of-avant-garde.
Media Burn Archive is a Chicago-based nonprofit that collects, restores, and distributes documentary videos created by artists, activists, and community groups. Watch Having a Ball! with the House of Avant Garde at mediaburn.org/video/having-a-ball-with-the-house-of-avant-garde.
