Adon Cooper MA ’22

Pride Travels is a nonprofit organization that exclusively affords black and Latine LGBTQIA+ high school students in New York City the opportunity to travel abroad and take art-focused classes taught by self-ide ntified queer professionals. This effort is to combat the discrimination that LGBT people experience while traveling internationally and tackle public school students’ lack of exposure to high-end curated art and culture.

Pride Travels will give New York City high school students an opportunity to travel beyond their neighborhoods, which is something they often don’t do. Every summer, queer students interested in the Arts embark on an international journey to meet queer artists in their respective disciplines. Each annual trip will be five (5) to ten (10) days to an international country. Students will travel to the designated country and likely other cities, taking classes delivered by Queer leaders. They will also visit museums, partake in different cultural activities, build a community amongst queer people, and create an international network of support.

Before each international trip, students participate in a month-long orientation of destination-focused workshops. Through community partners and Pride Travels donation system, participants will have access to travel necessities that they are not typically afforded, like support securing a passport, luggage, toiletries, and Pride Travels branded swag.

The vision of Pride Travels is to create an international community of queer like-minded creatives and empower young people to step into their whole selves and become the change-makers of their generation.