If you’re in Los Angeles this Sunday, downtown LA is THE PLACE to be for the very first ever DTLA Proud Festival! Many WOWlebrities and friends of World of Wonder will be participating in the day-long celebration on Sunday, August 7 starting at noon and going all the way until 10PM when DJs Chris Bowen & Victor Rodriguez close out the night (See full schedule). I interviewed the emcees the Boulet Brothers the other day, and now I have quotes from several of the performers and people appearing at the festival!

“I am looking forward to DJ-ing alongside some of the best DJs in LA, premiering a new track I’m working on with DJ Josh Peace and getting on a water slide in my new bikini!” – DJ Ellis Miah

“I’ll be DJ-ing the Salad Saturdays at the Bar Mattachine segment of the festival. I’m really looking forward to seeing how many people turn up to the event. I think this festival really shows how far LA has progressed in the past few years. I’m really excited that there is a platform to showcase all of the queer happenings in downtown! And I can’t wait for everyone to see it all!” – DJ Ambrosia Salad

“Within a year three gay bars opened up in DTLA and you know what? They all get along! It’s only logical that a DTLA Pride event would follow. I am so thrilled to be a part of the first ever DTLA Proud event! What an incredible line up of fabulous entertainers who have brought life to the downtown LGBT scene. This is only the beginning!” – Pandora Boxx

“The DTLA Proud Fest is where local LGBTIQ and allies gather its residents, clubs, businesses, and organizations together to express who we are as proud DTLA Angelinos, proud LGBTIQ folks, proud allies and buinesses and organizations that are proud to represent us. It’s a celebration of love, the first of it’s kind in these parts, and I for one am proud to be a part of it.” – Barbie Q

“What I am most excited about is seeing the future take root and realizing the change and possibilities of what we can do as a community.” – Thor Stephens, Precinct

“I can’t wait to christen the DTLA Pride stage with my fellow rainbow unicorns of glittertopia.” – Glen Alen

“Being that I have had a deep connection with DT, from getting my start djing warehouse parties there in the 80’s to being part of it’s revival 8 years ago with Chris Bowen for our Shits & Giggles party, we could not be more proud to be part of the very first DTLA Pride festival, history in the making.” – DJ Victor Rodriguez

“I’m looking forward to having actual gay performers & drag queens on the stage unlike that other festival!  And it’s downtown and downtown rocks!” – Love Connie

“I’m most looking forward to seeing the queer community of DTLA come together and create something memorable. I’m the co-creator and ringleader of ATM Art.Talent.Music a queer art night in DTLA.” – Valentine Anger

“I was on my own when I moved to Los Angeles two years ago. Never in a million years did I think I’d be performing in clubs only a year later, let alone be invited to take the stage at DTLA’s first-ever pride celebration. The DTLA family welcomed me with open arms and has given me the space to grow not only as an artist, but as a person and a friend. At a time when our country is seeing so much darkness, this community has given me strength and hope. I truly believe it’s up to us gays to lead by example and show the world how to rise up in the face of fear. At a time when we are experiencing so much divisive anger and hate, I look forward to delivering a performance that will inspire love, acceptance, and togetherness. I can’t wait to show them how we do it in Downtown!!” – Tito Soto

“As an LA native, I navigated the streets of downtown as a child. It’s amazing to see this area come back to life and become beautifully inclusive! I’m honored to hit the main stage in DTLA Prides inaugural year, representing a small part of our big colorful rainbow community! KINGS can reign just as fierce as Queens!” – Landon Cider

“In more than twenty years of being out in the LGBT community, if it was at all possible, I’ve always said “YES” to any opportunity to participate in celebrating our culture and making our voices heard. We’ll always need the lawyers and lawmakers, but I’m glad I can show a face from our artistic side, too. I never want the movement to forget that transgender people have played a very important part in getting us to where we are now, and we still have a big part to play.” – Calpernia Addams

“I grew up being taught that the 60’s movement was the closest thing we’ve come to an actual revolution in this country. And of course the two aspects of that era that I find most inspiring is how music and the arts, and getting people together in one place to experience both, played such a key role in how people of like-minds were able to connect and commune. So obviously when I look at what’s happening with the DTLA Proud Festival, I’m like ‘OK, now we’re getting somewhere!’ This is the festival I’ve always dreamed of… a Queerachella, if you will. I mean, WeHo Pride is great… you know, in the same way that the Super Bowl is great. It’s shiny, familiar and whimsically commercial. But it adheres to a conventional aesthetic that isn’t reflected in what’s happening in DTLA – where the focus here is always on what’s next. And if you play it safe or familiar you disappear. I think that’s what makes the concept behind the Proud Festival so cool. Here we have an entire queer movement, with its own unique identity, putting on one of the biggest gay events LA has ever seen. Basically, Woodstock for queens. Queen stock? As a DJ, I always like to keep it almost alarmingly queer. If someone hears one of my sets and thinks I might be straight, I’m doing something wrong. I’m not interested in breaking into mainstream DJ culture or using the gay DTLA venues as a means to gaining a wider audience. For me, once you’re working with artists like The Boulet Brothers and spinning at Precinct, you’ve reached the height of the this movement. And that’s another reason the Proud Festival is offering something fresh and exciting – this is a showcase of the most popular misfits, provocateurs and renegades in DTLA. We don’t love Kesha, we Love Connie. Besides, all my heroes died in obscurity.” DJ Mateo Segade