1:45

Hello returning happies and new listeners.

1:48

This is Steve Bennet- Martin,

1:49

and this is Stephen Martin-Bennet.

1:51

And welcome to a lifetime of happiness

1:53

on the Suncoast, the podcast,

1:55

where we take you on our journey. As we search

1:57

for the secret to living a happy life on the Suncoast,

1:59

while hopefully helping make your life better along

2:02

the way.

2:02

And today we'll be talking to the founder of the

2:04

Harvey milk festival and local

2:06

activist. Shannon Fortner.

2:08

Yes, but first my love of what has been

2:10

making you happy this week?

2:12

Well, this past weekend I

2:14

took a four day weekend

2:16

from work and it

2:19

gave me a chance to

2:21

rest and rejuvenate and

2:23

get myself all refreshed. And

2:26

I think it was exactly what

2:28

my mind, body and soul needed. So that

2:31

helped me be happier in general. Self

2:33

care is always important.

2:35

Yes. And taking those extra days to yourself

2:37

as important as well.

2:38

What about you? My darling, what is making you happy?

2:40

Right.

2:41

Well, sometimes it's the little things. And

2:43

while I touched on the topic in general,

2:45

more in my senior living podcast, it

2:47

is national assisted living week. And

2:50

part of that for me at work this week is that I'm

2:52

dressing in different decades for each day.

2:54

And today I dressed as the Fonzie. Yeah,

2:59

just so everyone knows he does

3:02

the world's worst Fonz

3:04

impersonation, and it's mainly

3:06

to get a laugh out of me and it works G

3:09

E I'm the phone. I

3:14

wish you guys can see. It's

3:17

fun too, because I like when people

3:19

take pictures or like they see me instantly, they can

3:21

relate to it with the way that I did my hair and everything, but

3:23

what made me happy? Was looking at the

3:25

picture of me and two 2016, we're

3:27

in the same exact outfit as now. And I feel like I look

3:29

even better now than I did back then.

3:31

So you look younger

3:33

now. I know. So I'm like fine

3:35

wine, getting better with age. And that made me

3:37

feel happy and

3:41

happy news. We actually have

3:43

an update from Florida studio

3:45

theater on what's been keeping them busy during

3:47

the. COVID-19 pandemic and

3:49

how they've adjusted.

3:51

What is that? Because Florida studio theater is

3:53

fantastic and I feel bad for all

3:56

of our friends in the arts and

3:58

the ones that are gig workers that haven't

4:00

been able. To earn a living

4:03

recently. So what is Florida studio theater doing?

4:05

Well, the

4:08

Florida city of theater, director of education. Josh

4:10

Ford agrees with you because he leads the entire

4:12

thing with saying, you know, the job of a theater,

4:15

its primary mission is to put a whole bunch of people in

4:17

a room together. So everything's

4:19

changed recently, but their

4:21

wellness, the scholarship program is branching out to serve

4:23

even more artists. so

4:25

they do have need based scholarships and they are

4:27

continuing to do classes, both in

4:30

person and online now. So

4:32

they are doing in person following the

4:34

CDC and socially distant protocols

4:37

to have in classes once more at a smaller

4:39

scale, but they also were able

4:41

to do online courses for these students

4:44

as well, making it more accessible.

4:46

Which I think is very important because

4:48

having the arts in your life is

4:51

very important for all kids growing

4:53

up. It helps them to be more well

4:55

rounded open-minded and

4:58

critical thinkers.

4:59

Yes. And after the holidays, but during

5:01

this winter, they also said that you can expect

5:03

their winter Mainstage and a winter cabaret

5:06

series. So things for us

5:08

to look forward to.

5:08

That's fantastic. Thank you, Florida studio.

5:11

Yes. And thank

5:13

you. My love for helping set up

5:15

the interview for this week. Okay.

5:17

Well, you are most welcome. So let's head

5:19

on over there and talk to Shannon.

5:21

Alrighty.

5:23

Today we have the honor of speaking with the founder

5:25

of Harvey milk festival and Moxie

5:27

productions, as well as the creator of

5:29

the fabulous independent film festival.

5:32

Not to mention the front lady for

5:34

kick ass band meteorites, Shannon

5:36

Fortner. Welcome Shannon. Thank you so

5:38

much for taking time to speak with us.

5:40

Thank you for having me on the show

5:43

and thank you for all the kindness.

5:44

You're most welcome. I saw

5:46

that you are originally from

5:49

Covington, Kentucky, and I spent

5:51

10 years in Cincinnati. How

5:53

did you end up down here?

5:56

Oh, I actually moved here with

5:58

my family, when I was much younger.

6:00

and then just stayed then, you

6:03

know, homeowner downtown

6:05

Sarasota, you know,

6:08

What is it? That's kept you on

6:10

here in Sarasota, do you think? well

6:14

I'm a musician and promoter organizer

6:16

and, and, you know, I

6:18

have worked really, really,

6:20

really, really hard to, to build,

6:23

you know, affiliated, I booked the

6:25

bands for the Ringling underground. So working with the

6:27

Ringler museum, just

6:29

had our 11th year apartment milk festival.

6:31

so I guess just that, that passion

6:33

and drive of, of what's

6:36

next for the community, you really

6:39

made, yeah. You've

6:41

really made the city your own. Yeah.

6:45

Just trying to, you know, bring things and get

6:47

folks to come through this way. Especially musicians,

6:50

otherwise would never even. You know,

6:52

come to Sarah said, I've heard about it. Cause grandma or

6:54

grandpa or their cousin visited

6:56

or something, that seems to be the going

6:59

story of it. But yeah, I mean, especially

7:01

since you've been in this community so long, I know that

7:03

we've seen the LGBTQ

7:07

plus community grow and change. Even over the nine

7:09

to 10 years, we've been down here. How

7:11

has it changed in your opinion, since

7:13

you've grown up. I

7:16

definitely feel, you know, the

7:18

city is supportive.

7:21

I feel like there's a lot more visibility.

7:23

believe it or not. I think there was a, a

7:25

gay bar opening up downtown that

7:28

downtown, which is, and possibly

7:30

talks of another one. So, you

7:32

know, it's interesting. Cause

7:34

you talked about like coming to. I went back

7:36

to see my mother recently and

7:39

went to Cincinnati with

7:41

some drag show and it was, it

7:43

was blew my mind. I was like,

7:45

wow. Which

7:48

out of curiosity, do you know what bar you went

7:51

to when you were up there? No, I'd

7:53

have to ask my cousin. I was going to say the

7:55

one. My favorite up there was

7:57

the cabaret at below zero. And.

8:02

stage upstairs. Yeah. Okay.

8:05

So you answer, hang out downstairs.

8:07

So then you have to wait for them to open the doors.

8:09

That's it? That's the drag

8:12

bar I've ever been to. It's

8:14

okay. It's just a high quality show

8:16

with great emcees and I

8:18

was blown away. Yeah.

8:21

I've always said we need a below zero and a

8:23

cabaret here in Sarah. So I was gonna say this past weekend,

8:26

he was even being like, if we win the lottery, like

8:28

that's what he's doing with the money is making

8:30

a below zero down here. Oh.

8:34

And you know, we just don't have

8:36

that type of space,

8:38

but we need it, you

8:40

know, you know, As far as for Harvey milk

8:42

festival. My, my goal was

8:45

to open up a performing arts center.

8:47

and just because of all the plot

8:50

on the festivals that we have on her, about the fabulous

8:55

three to, Harvey milk festival, and

8:57

we're at a drag strip festival,

8:59

which was scheduled for the fall of 2021,

9:02

you actually are starting to cut in and out

9:04

a little bit more. Would you mind kind of. It

9:07

find finding a better space

9:09

where you might sound better and then we can redo that

9:11

part. Yeah. Yeah. Better

9:17

almost. It was slightly better. Oh

9:20

man, let

9:23

me unplug it. Maybe it'd be better. Is that better?

9:25

So much better. Okay. Okay.

9:29

The whole time. I'm just kidding now.

9:32

if you'd give me a second and I'll lead

9:34

you in with something. Okay. Cool.

9:36

Thank you. So

9:39

the Harvey milk festival is a big deal here

9:41

in Sarasota.

9:42

Can you tell us how that came to be?

9:45

So for the first year of the Harvey milk

9:47

festival, we had about three weeks.

9:50

so put together, my first large

9:52

festival, the first year we had about

9:54

1500 folks from the community,

9:56

came out to the festival,

9:59

to support, it

10:01

was a really beautiful

10:03

pop down and Rosemary district. for

10:06

those remember, back in the day,

10:08

apartment, the festival. Taking

10:10

place in the Rosemary. I really wanted the Rosemary

10:12

to be something that we grew into, because

10:15

it reminded me kind of, you

10:17

know, like the other downtown, like

10:19

as if you were in Castro or something like this

10:21

smaller cooler spot, which

10:23

had now, finally is growing into,

10:27

yeah, it's really changed in such a beautiful

10:29

way. Yeah, except

10:31

there are no green spaces, the throw a festival,

10:34

but yeah,

10:37

but I do like you the way

10:39

it's a more than urban design

10:41

and, and it's, it's a walkable

10:44

really beautiful. I live right up the street, so I'm always grateful,

10:46

but, but yeah, so the Rosemary district,

10:49

in a Sandy loss folks, remember,

10:51

and we'd have the art show and one of the

10:53

historic, buildings there. And

10:56

we would use the coffee shop across the way

10:58

to have like acoustic singer

11:00

songwriters and an art show. so

11:03

yeah, it was a really cool and unique.

11:05

we stayed there for the first few years

11:08

and then we moved over to a five points

11:10

park, which for me was like the

11:12

heart of downtown. And

11:14

just allowed us to have more visibility. I

11:17

think that was my first year going. the

11:19

music was right there in five points in the art

11:21

show was at ivory, I believe. Yes,

11:24

it was one year. Yes, yes. Yep.

11:28

And I was amazed

11:31

from the first thing with it. Like the

11:33

music was really eclectic and

11:36

so was the audience like

11:38

it drew in. Such

11:40

a wide variety of people and the art was

11:42

so good. And that was within

11:44

my first year of being here. And I was like,

11:46

Oh, this city is going to be okay

11:49

to be here. Like your festival

11:51

helped reassure me

11:54

that Sarasota was

11:56

going to be a place I could call home. Well,

11:58

thank you for that because I like him here.

12:02

Oh, see, I got a little call ahead of time.

12:05

Yeah. And

12:07

speaking about the music, tell

12:09

us about meteor rise. Oh,

12:12

here it is. basically we're

12:14

all three best friends and we played, they

12:17

are very supportive allies of the community

12:20

and have supported, my activism

12:22

and, counting from the room. You

12:26

know, I'm queer and just being

12:28

really super supportive. but it's a

12:30

electric pump bands, all

12:32

originals record for about 10 years.

12:35

and we took a break

12:37

for about three years, kind of

12:39

refocus our passions and, I

12:42

focused a little bit more on Harvey milk festival

12:44

and extending that. And we

12:46

got back together a couple of years ago and. Are

12:49

about to release a record and

12:51

a bunch of new singles and doing

12:54

some pretty cool stuff and, really loving,

12:57

you know, just reconnecting with people level.

13:00

okay. We don't for like throwing really,

13:03

really cool. how stows and

13:05

just having that like super D instance, whenever

13:09

we perform. but we have performs,

13:11

at Harvey milk festival, several times

13:14

just because of the political activism

13:16

and really music is my foundation. and

13:18

everything's built from that. So, and

13:21

like you were saying, you are a very well respected

13:24

activist in our community. What

13:26

drives your passion for this? Making

13:30

sure that people feel safe, that they feel

13:33

seen? visibility's crucial,

13:35

but. Also making sure that folks

13:37

feel like they have a place, to, to

13:39

be able to call home or, or feel

13:42

safe. and you know,

13:44

like I grew up in Kentucky, it was a

13:46

very different world and moving to Florida

13:49

was even more unique.

13:52

I went to Venice high and then, moved

13:54

to Sarasota. but it hasn't always

13:56

been like that. It's not, you know, an instant

13:58

everything's safe. so I think it's

14:00

just important. Being able to work with other nonprofits

14:02

in town that have the same focus

14:04

and mission, for the community and

14:07

just really giving that, you

14:10

know, helping folks that don't feel like they're

14:12

being seen or heard. And

14:14

Harvey mold festival, I've used that as a platform,

14:17

for folks to be the keynote speaker and

14:19

often it's someone else that really doesn't, you

14:21

know, that really needs that platform to,

14:24

to be able to speak to the community and.

14:27

Wonderful opportunity to allow folks

14:29

to, you know, have that, is that space

14:31

where folks can realize if there's an

14:33

initiative or something, maybe

14:36

that's, you know, on

14:38

its way up and they need support and

14:40

more than signing a petition

14:42

online. but yeah, working

14:44

with equality, Florida, and just several

14:47

other organizations, trying to make sure that.

14:52

Trans visibility because folks

14:54

are aware of what's going on. and

14:57

recently we took a

14:59

stance on really giving more

15:01

visibility to our cutesy BiPAP

15:03

folks in the community and

15:05

around the country, to really just help,

15:07

amplify. So

15:10

for our listeners, can you, tell

15:12

them what buy pocket is please?

15:15

BiPAP is paused,

15:19

sorry. It's a black

15:21

indigenous and people of color. Okay.

15:24

Yeah. It's, it's a word that is used a

15:26

lot these days, but I know that

15:28

not everybody actually knows what

15:31

it all stands for. And it's

15:34

one of the things we like to do with the podcast is

15:36

also educate people. In

15:39

areas they may not be familiar with. Yeah.

15:43

That was actually something I was getting a lot

15:45

with. with folks when I started first

15:47

boasting that we were amplifying cutesy, BiPAP

15:49

voices, a lot of people

15:51

were like, what does this mean? but yeah,

15:53

it's just an opportunity that we can educate one

15:56

another. And, really,

15:58

you know, when, when folks in the community are

16:00

really just, you know, need that. That

16:03

support. I need to be lifted up. I

16:05

feel like it's, it's something

16:07

that we need to, to, to respect

16:10

and, and to make sure that we're,

16:12

supporting one another and the community. And

16:14

so that was a really great opportunity for

16:16

our organization, to work with.

16:19

We have bloggers that were sharing

16:21

their stories. Which also helps

16:23

educate folks. and then we also had

16:25

an art exhibition that we did, that

16:27

was both virtual. And then we had a few artists

16:29

that were actually at a gallery sound.

16:33

but during, you know, during the past,

16:36

I don't even know how many months it's been since March. it's

16:39

just been really different. And unique on

16:41

her trying to stick. Yeah. It's

16:43

a whole new world. So whole

16:45

new world also has opened up some

16:48

really interesting ways

16:50

that we can be connected that maybe we overlooked,

16:53

or I honestly don't mind these

16:55

online meetings instead of having to drive

16:57

like an hour East

16:59

or something, you know?

17:01

So, but I think, I think. Especially

17:04

our community. It's really important

17:06

to, you know, make sure that we

17:08

reach out true that folks are doing

17:11

self care and, and staying

17:13

connected, at least talking to folks, you

17:16

know, there was, an app that I got on and

17:18

started reconnecting with a lot of folks that's called free.

17:21

and you know, like meeting, you guys actually did a

17:23

dance party. The Sarasota library

17:26

actually like hired us to do a dance party.

17:28

Which was pretty fun. so just lots of

17:30

interesting opportunities, for

17:33

us to stay. We have the fabulous,

17:35

independent film festival coming up. Tell

17:37

us more about that, please. Sure.

17:41

we have that coming up on

17:43

the 24th through the October

17:46

3rd. so September

17:48

24th to October 3rd, we have a virtual

17:50

festival. where you can

17:52

purchase a pass, if you would like

17:55

to explore all the wonderful films, we have 11

17:57

features and then we have 10 shorts.

18:00

so in front of 10 of the

18:02

films, there'll be 10 shorts.

18:05

and these are like 20 minutes. I mean, these are shorts

18:07

that, we have, we do an open submission and

18:09

then I also work with a few, artists that I

18:11

met during the year, the cutesy BiPAP

18:13

art exhibition. someone from,

18:16

where are they? They're from Canada. And

18:18

so they had some really interesting and queer

18:20

films and I thought, Oh, this would be

18:22

so wonderful. And I was like, how ironic

18:25

that doing this? I, I meet

18:27

this really interesting, filmmaker. So

18:30

I'm super excited about the films. this is

18:32

my first year actually programming.

18:34

The film festival. Majida Duare

18:37

is the original founder

18:39

of Felix independent film festival. she

18:41

gifted me the, the festival

18:44

back in 2016. and

18:46

she stayed on as a programmer until

18:49

this year. my first time programming,

18:51

also a unique one because it's,

18:55

Lot of just the industry itself is

18:57

just really. And

18:59

speaking to a lot of filmmakers,

19:01

it's just been a really bizarre

19:03

time, you know, caring about

19:05

them, they're filming or

19:08

just it's, it's just

19:10

a very unique experience, I think, for the

19:12

filmmakers and also, you know, for releasing

19:15

films right now, you know, a lot of

19:17

films are skipping straight to go to a

19:19

streaming platforms. and then a lot

19:21

that no one respects. the

19:23

festival circuit or are sticking around and

19:25

staying in the festival circuit. but

19:28

yeah, so it was, it was interesting. I got to meet,

19:30

a lot of really wonderful filmmakers

19:33

and have films for next

19:35

year that they're currently working on.

19:37

And, yeah, it was

19:39

a really fun, I'm sorry,

19:43

just. Doing all the hustle. I got to

19:45

do the fun part, you know, so

19:50

I'll go ahead. I was gonna say, speaking of fun parts,

19:53

what are some of your favorite fun things

19:55

to do in our area? well

19:58

that would be to go to the drive

20:00

in on October 2nd, to

20:03

see drama, drama,

20:05

drama, drama at the player's theater

20:07

there last weekend in

20:11

that space. We're going to celebrate,

20:13

we partnered up with them. so it's going

20:15

to be our, our, our only

20:17

driving experience that we have during the

20:19

fabulous independent film festival, with,

20:22

with the, various theatrical

20:24

Fest, Bian, very appropriate

20:27

where we're doing something to the players, it's

20:30

gonna be awesome. We're going to have to get our passes

20:33

soon because I

20:36

love a good drive. Yeah,

20:38

I know. And we don't have one here.

20:40

I think you have to go to Ruskin. So you have to go up to

20:42

Ruskin yet, but the Ruskin one's really

20:45

good. Yeah. I haven't

20:47

gone on to have to go. I'm going to have to check it

20:49

out so bizarre. I've lived here so long

20:51

and I've never been in

20:53

your personal life. What are things

20:55

that are bringing you joy?

20:58

Like what makes you happy on a daily basis?

21:02

music, music and.

21:06

And doing things like, you know, the

21:08

phone festival and, you know,

21:10

getting excited about sharing things with

21:12

the community. my beautiful, gorgeous

21:15

partner, grace quarterly, you

21:17

too. Do you make a wonderfully

21:19

beautiful couple by the way. Thank

21:22

you. Thank you. As

21:24

I'm looking, I guess looking forward to a lot of the vendor's

21:26

shoes went back to winter park, so that

21:28

just means. Be hanging

21:30

out in her apartment, winter park. Okay.

21:34

Kitty. But, you know, it gets a different

21:37

scenery change, change of pace, I guess,

21:40

many vacations I kinda liked to

21:42

call them. but yeah, I guess I'm

21:44

exploring, I, I do miss Storium

21:47

at the band. That was one of my favorite

21:49

things. It was like justifying a vacation

21:51

for myself. I'm

21:53

going on tour with be here. So

21:57

I'm hoping after COVID the, that's

21:59

something that we we've tossed around. And just

22:01

in, literally at this point are like, we should

22:03

go on vacation. I mean, slashed or, so

22:06

yeah, just, you know, an exploring, I, I,

22:08

it's been interesting, random

22:10

kind of start exploring, I guess, the Springs

22:13

and stuff like that. you know, we live in

22:15

such a beautiful. Beautiful

22:18

state. And I know that a lot of

22:20

folks have, have started to explore a little

22:22

bit more. I feel like this summer is

22:24

really unique because we actually are like out

22:27

of the house, even if it's blazing hot,

22:29

just because it's an opportunity to get up to the house.

22:32

But, but yeah, so that's,

22:34

yeah, I mean, it's a little different with this

22:37

year for sure. but yeah, I guess

22:39

just reconnecting and, staying

22:41

in touch and check in on folks. Yeah. Been

22:44

definitely important. Yeah.

22:47

Yeah. We get so busy and I think

22:50

this, this time is really like, kind

22:52

of brought that to focus a little bit

22:54

that it's, it's nice to

22:57

be checked in on, you know, or to check

22:59

in on folks and just, you know,

23:01

see how things are. Cause you

23:03

never know if that's just a moment that really

23:05

makes someone's day. Absolutely.

23:08

100%. One last

23:10

question for you. If

23:13

there was a way that

23:15

you would like to see the Suncoast

23:18

grow and evolve and change

23:20

over the next period of time, what

23:23

would you like to see? I

23:26

love to see, community,

23:29

LGBTQ plus community center

23:31

slash performing arts center.

23:34

but just to have more visibility in a space

23:36

for the community, and

23:39

kind of working more like I've been trying to, I

23:42

have a board member in st. Pete, so trying to do more

23:45

up that way and kind of like, you

23:47

know, really working

23:49

across the bridge and kind of bringing that community

23:52

every year. Timing, timing.

23:55

Yeah. You know, trying to get more folks involved

23:58

and each other community, Yeah,

24:00

I guess just trying to, yeah,

24:03

I think that's very, that's a good goal to

24:05

have in, I mean, all of us, like

24:07

those things in theory, but you actively every

24:09

day are making choices to pursue and make

24:11

that dream a reality. So thank you for

24:13

all you do for the community. You're working

24:16

to make the queer community

24:18

better here in Sarasota. And

24:20

we can't. Thank you enough for that. thank

24:22

you so much for joining us and taking

24:24

time out of your schedule. And thank

24:26

you for having me.

24:28

And we're

24:28

back we're back. Thank you, Shannon. And

24:30

we really appreciate you taking the time to talk with us.

24:32

Yes. Thank you so much. And to

24:35

the audience, I do apologize about some possible

24:37

audio technical difficulties you might have heard

24:39

during the interview. However, I feel like

24:41

it was just such a joy getting to speak with Shannon.

24:43

I didn't want you to miss out on any bits of the audio

24:46

that might've not been the best audio quality.

24:49

100%.

24:51

And thank you to all of our fans

24:53

for listening to this episode and for

24:55

subscribing. So you get new episodes released

24:58

every single Wednesday,

25:00

and if you have the time and

25:02

you enjoyed yourself, make sure you head

25:04

over to Apple podcasts. And

25:07

leave us a nice review. You

25:09

can also like us on Facebook, engage

25:11

with our posts or at us

25:14

on Twitter at happy

25:16

life pod.

25:17

Yes. And also a reminder that if you know of

25:19

a local entertainer business or service,

25:22

that's bringing happiness to others on the Suncoast.

25:25

Suggest them to be in a future episode by

25:27

emailing [email protected].

25:31

And until next time everyone stay

25:34

happy.