Jonathan Valelly

Background

About Jonathan Valelly

I am a principled queer/harm reduction activist, a walking kitchen of collaborative media writing and publishing, and a promiscuous project seeker. My work history is a patchwork of partnership contracts, successful stints, independent projects, saucy pursuits, and small or part-time collaborations. The result is an odd melange of unique areas of expertise: harm reduction, mutual aid and grassroots community struggles, queer sexuality and health education, anti-oppression, print media, anti-carceral activism, the ballroom scene, arts education and programming, advanced writing/editing, various languages, and culturally attuned resource development. Read more below- I'm a writer, print artist, sex & health worker and local community organizer. I nourish creative spaces where artists, non-artists and communities can flourish and transform in the face of immaediate and complex challenges. I prefer to work on a constellation projects that bring together social justice values and creative collaboration. Recently I enthusiastically bounced around print, specializing in commercial large format printing and finishing while furnishing a special interest in obsolete and DIY printing and duplication tech and subcultures - ask me about mimeographs, RISO and Letraset! My professional writing and editing focuses on independent artists, small press and DIY creators, and alternative and political arts practices. As an editor, book reviewer, and arts journalist, I have covered dozens of artists, events, and trends in the North American art scene. I've also acted as a content writer and grant writer, specializing in collaborative and consultative writing about complex issues such as substance use, harm reduction, HIV/sexual health, anti-oppression and neighbourhood change. As a community leader and artist, I have facilitated hundreds of workshops and helped lead dozens of artistic projects, from bookmaking and parade building in Parkdale to holding high energy vogue/ballroom events with the Toronto Kiki Ballroom Alliance. I share my love of zines through workshops and collaborative projects with various community partners, and bring my deep expertise about queer health to every space of knowledge exchange. At indie and underground arts festivals across Canada/Europe, I have organized and overseen zine fairs, readings, performances, workshops, venue management and more. With a passion for zines and comics and all forms of the LGBTQ+ underground press, I thrive behind the scenes of festivals and other gatherings for creators and their audiences. See you there.