Rainbow Serpent

09/05/2026

Thank you Opportunity Fund and Jake Goodman for this incredible statement on . We are so proud to have you as one of our partners! Friends and colleagues, please take a moment to read and share their statement "Why We Fund the Arts." Just one of many highlights are below:

"Across the funding landscape there seems to be an impulse to ask what art does for us and to measure the worth of creativity. Perhaps this urge stems from a desire to rationalize allocating any funds to the arts when so many other urgent and material needs are present. While arts advocates have offered answers to these inquiries, from revenue generation to neurological benefits and public safety, these factors are not our motivation for funding the arts. We know that the value of art lies far beyond the quantifiable and we do not ask art to justify itself.

As arts funders we have three goals:

1. Nurture the conditions that free artists to push the boundaries of their creative practices and fields, as they strive to develop their work over a period of time;

2. Resource organizations to function as thriving culture houses for the production, presentation, and experience of art at the vanguard; and

3. Activate people to develop their own passionate habits of art-chasing and art-going.

In our efforts to realize these goals, we remain vigilant of the tendency for funders to impose control and restrictions on artists, however well-meaning our intentions may be. If we truly wish to support artistic freedom and free expression, we cannot mandate that artists be justice workers, social commentators, or world-fixers, nor can we ask them to hide their political beliefs at the risk of offending their funders. We must not force artists to contort themselves to fit into ever-changing themes and initiatives.

As arts funders we have the power to steer the momentum of culture. We have historically wielded this power inequitably, systematically building white culture while leaving all other culture to sustain itself or wither in the shade. How much richer would our culture be if, for example, Black, Latine, or q***r artists and arts organizations in Pittsburgh had received equitable investment since the industrial boom years? How much richer would American culture be if this had taken place nationally? We have long reflected on these questions and consider them in our practice of arts funding."

Read more below:

By opportunity-fund August 26, 2026 Arts,Opportunity Fund by Jake Goodman, Executive Director At Opportunity Fund we value artistic expression and champion artistic freedom. We partner with small-to-midsize arts organizations to support the work that inspires their passion and the ideas they are mos...

08/21/2026

Georgia friends! Tomorrow, Friday, Aug 21 @ 5:45pm, we will be screening our film "Miracles: The Redd Family Collection of Black Art" at the Macon Film Festival. Please join us at the Museum of Arts and Sciences for a screening and panel featuring Mel Redd and Marquita Sams from the Redd Family.

Learn More about the film here: https://www.therainbowserpent.org/projects/film/miracles-the-redd-family-collection

08/14/2026

Online Talk with Philosophical Research Society. Tomorrow, Sat, Aug 15 @ 2pm EST. Register here: https://lnkd.in/gS_Ec3nx

07/27/2026

Register: https://tinyurl.com/marques-prs

Saturday August 15, 11am PDT/2pm EST! Join us for an online talk sponsored by The Philosophical Research Society.

“Bringing the Gods Back to Life: Black Q***r Cosmologies in Sculpture, Ritual, and Film”

What does it mean to revive ancient Egyptian cosmology as a living, embodied practice centered on Black q***r life? In this online class, Dr. Marques Redd shares the vision behind Myth‑Science of the Gatekeepers, a project of the collective Rainbow Serpent (which advances Black LGBTQ culture through emerging tech, multimedia art, and traditional African knowledge systems). The project’s core is a set of sixteen life‑size glass busts of Black q***r people, each cast in the form of a reimagined Egyptian deity – Amun, Khonsu, Ra, and others.

These sculptures are potent ritual objects at the heart of a rapidly growing artistic and spiritual universe, inspiring additional works produced by Redd such as (1) Blackstar Sanctuary, a VR film featuring a virtual temple dedicated to the sixteen deities; (2) Opening the Mouth, a live performance, inspired by the ancient Egyptian Opening of the Mouth ritual, designed to ritually enliven the statues; (3) This is the Body of the Sun, an eight‑foot, cast aluminum sculpture of Ra; and (4) May We See Thy Beauties, a forthcoming feature film with fourteen members of the Sun Ra Arkestra.

Redd will situate this work within three interwoven histories: the complex metaphysics of ancient Egyptian artmaking; the African American tradition of engaging ancient Egypt (beginning with the 19th‑century scholar, journalist, and abolitionist Martin Delany); and the long, often overlooked lineage of Black q***r artists who have activated Egyptian myth as a source of liberation.

04/18/2026

What a day for celebration! A few hours ago, Rainbow Serpent unveiled our first monumental public sculpture: “This Is the Body of the Sun.” This 8ft cast aluminum sculpture with gold gilding is our reinterpretation of the Ancient Egyptian deity of the sun, Ra. For us, this figure symbolizes leadership, sovereignty, and inner heroism.

We pray that this work will serve as a solar and spiritual beacon for Arts Landing, the City of Pittsburgh, and all who encounter it. May we all shine as brightly as we can, inspire each other with ethical clarity, and use our talents in the service of communal uplift.

The collar features a hieroglyphic hymn to Ra from the Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead. Each glyph is meticulously sculpted onto the 12 lines of the collar. An excerpt is below:

“Ascribe praise to Ra, the Lord of Heaven; the Prince of Life, Strength, and Health; Creator of the Gods. Adore ye Him in His beautiful presence in His rising in the atet boat. The House of the Prince is in festival, the sound of those that rejoice is in the mighty dwelling. The Gods are rejoicing when they see Ra in His rising; His beams flood with light the countries. Mayest Thou be at peace with me, may I see Thy beauties.”

First, a big thank you to Emerald Kane who served as the model for the sculpture and is a daily embodiment of Ra’s luminous virtues. Thanks to Kendra Whitlock Ingram, Anastasia James, and the team at the The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust for supporting the work in its incarnation journey. Also many thanks to Heather McElwee and Pittsburgh Glass Center for supporting our first iteration of this work, “Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers,” where we brought Ra to life alongside 15 other deities as glass sculptures in 2024. We are grateful as always to our arts community in Pittsburgh for all of your support. Thank you for providing us with the space to bring African cosmologies into public space, from our “Three Sisters” light installation on the Sister Bridges, to our 1200 sq ft installation “Playing the Cosmic Strings” which is still on view down the street from Arts Landing at Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.