NHPC Exposed
June 16, 2022 – July
6:00p (EST)
Get to know the people behind the scenes as we showcase the art of the Pride Center Staff! The show features a variety of mediums, including leather work, painting, spoken word, photography, and more! Most art work is for sale, so you can bring a piece of the Center back home with you!
In the news:
“In Summer Show, New Haven Pride Center Looks Inward,” by Lucy Gellman
Photos by Lucy Gellman
Meet the Curators
Juancarlos Soto (he/him)
Acting Executive Director
Patrick J. Dunn (he/him)
Meet the Artists
Aron Alber, Marketing & Development Coordinator
Aron (he/him) moved to New Haven, CT to pursue a Ph.D. in German Literature, which he earned from Yale University in 2020. As a freelance writing consultant and editor, he has spent the last several years helping scholars translate their research into clear and compelling narratives for various audiences. Now, as he builds a career in non-profit communications and development, he aims to use his skills to help LGBTQ+ individuals tell their stories and build communities where queer and trans people from all backgrounds can thrive and be themselves. In addition to his work at the Pride Center, he is passionate about creating and promoting authentic and inclusive portrayals of transgender experience. He is the author of FTM Transgender and Transmasculine Identities, an educational resource for trans and questioning youth forthcoming in 2022 from Mason Crest.
Laura Boccadoro, Marketing & Development Manager
Laura (she/they) strives to create a community where everyone is safe, secure and supported. The New Haven queer community is where she came out, figured out who she was, and found her purpose again. She moved to the New Haven area in 2015 to pressure a degree in Political Science at Quinnipiac University. She has currently been residing in New Haven for 3 years, and has enjoyed every minute of it. Coming from a conservative small town in CT, she never knew how diverse the state could actually be, and she is happy to say her new home is New Haven. This adds to her drive to create a thriving environment for the LGBTQ+ community in New Haven and greater CT.
Laura’s past has also shaped who she is as a person today. Her passion for this work is driven by her past experiences with mental health challenges, addiction, unemployment, and houselessness. They are an advocate for sobriety, gender diversity, homelessness, and providing a safe space for queer folks. She prides herself in her ability to connect to others, listen, and not judge. She wants to continue to build a space for queer folks to be able to obtain the resources they need to live a full life.
Alyssa Marie Cajigas Rivera Ortiz, Producer
Alyssa (she/her), prior to coming to the New Haven Pride Center, was the Director of Organizing for the Citywide Youth Coalition Inc. Alyssa is a Strategy Council Member for the Perrin Family Foundation. She has also previously interned for Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, with them they successfully launched the state’s first queer camp specifically for youth of color. For Alyssa the camp is more than just a program, it’s providing a space she always wished to have offered to her. Alyssa has been a community organizer for the past seven years she has worked on issues like LGBTQ+ rights, juvenile justice reform and the miseducation of our education system, among many other issues. In total, Alyssa is a true organizer and leader in the state of Connecticut who exudes the spirit of a new generation of youth that are politically conscious and personally committed to improving the community for the better.
Joe DiMaggio, Director of Development
Joseph (he/him), a New Haven resident for the past ten years, has spent his entire professional career leading non-profits to success through innovative fundraising and marketing techniques, with a focus on brand management. Prior to the New Haven Pride Center, he has been a fundraiser and advocate for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, CT Fund for the Environment/Save the Sound, United Way, and other local and national organizations. He holds a BFA degree from Central Connecticut State University. A skilled event planner, Joseph loves creating fun opportunities that engage the community and financially support the social issues he is passionate about.
In his spare time, Joseph sits on the board for the Friends of Edgewood Park, and is an actor, part-time DJ, event and development consultant, and environmental advocate.
Patrick Dunn
Patrick (he/him) moved to Connecticut in 2003 from Ankara, Turkey to attend the University of Hartford. He holds a bachelor’s degree in nonprofit management with additional studies in creative writing and theatre. His advocacy for the LGBTQ+ and HIV+ communities started while he was a student at UofH, serving on the Board of LGBTQ+ student-led organizations and getting involved with community groups such as Love Makes a Family, Connecticut AIDS Coalition (now Connecticut AIDS), and the Hartford Gay and Lesbian Health Collective.
Patrick has worked professionally in the nonprofit sector for over fifteen years, spending time at Hartford Stage, the National Steinbeck Museum, and the International Festival of Arts & Ideas before coming to the New Haven Pride Center in 2017. During this time, in addition to his professional work, Patrick has helped fundraise for many organizations including the Imperial Sovereign Court of All Connecticut, the New Haven Free Public Library and Y2Y New Haven. Patrick has also helped organize and produce major public events including the Wooster Square Cherry Blossom Festival and Mayor Toni Harp’s Inaugural Ball.
Patrick currently sits on the board of directors for the New Haven Free Public Library Foundation, is Vice-President of the board of the Imperial Sovereign Court of All Connecticut, and is an Advisory Board Member of Y2Y New Haven. He is also one of the Co-Chairs of the Greater New Haven Regional Alliance to End Homelessness, an appointed member and Chair of the Connecticut LGBTQ+ Health and Human Services Network, a state subcommittee of the Connecticut Commission on Women, Children and Seniors, and a Commissioner for the City of New Haven’s Cultural Affairs Commission.
In addition to his nonprofit work, Patrick spends part of his time as professional drag artist Kiki Lucia.
Finn Lockwood
Finn (they/them) is a trans and non-binary artist, activist, and lifelong resident of Connecticut. Having lived and worked all over the state, you may know them from their work as a hairstylist, tattoo artist, and/or event coordinator. Since diving into the New Haven arts community in 2018, Finn has found a passion for bringing people together and creating uplifting and inclusive environments all over the state.
Ala Ochumare, Director of Youth Services
ala’s first and most beloved label is that of mother. ala (shey/they) describes herself as a change-making, hood healing, liberation seeking, divination practicing person committed to creating Black Centered Spaces of liberation and joy, who wakes up every day and chooses to be a pro black, pro nap, pro-queer community co-creator. ala is one of the founding members and Principal Organizer of New Haven’s chapter of Black Lives Matter. She is also one of the creators and facilitators of Marsha P. Johnson Black and Brown Queer Camp also created and facilitated by Alyssa Marie Cajigas Rivera Ortiz. In addition to her work at the New Haven Pride Center, ala is an anti-bias and anti- racist Life Coach, Consultant, and founder of Liberating Us. Liberating Us has a central focus on healing, decolonization, abolition, and transformational justice. Part of that work was the creation and community offering of “ABAR 4 you,” a series of abolitionist, anti-bias, and anti-racist workshops, trainings, and consultation guides that shed light on our socialization into the systemic institutions of Racism, Capitalism, Patriarchy, Anti- blackness, and most importantly to ala, our collective transformation out of and the undoing of these systems.
ala is a graduate of the 2018 BOLD AMANDLA cohort, the CEIO Organizer’s Path, The City of New Haven Democracy School, and the Yale University and Southern Connecticut State University’s C.A.R.E. New Haven Health Leader program. ala is a recipient of the 2021 New Haven Pride Center’s Lion Award for service to her community, The 2021 Southern Connecticut State University Women and Gender Studies Conference’s Ingrid Washinawatok El-Issa Service Award, and The 2021 Southern Connecticut State University President’s Medal.
Suyane Oliveira, Women's Program Curator
Suyane (she/they) is a queer, hard-femme dyke originally from Brazil. She moved to the States with her family when she was 6 and grew up in Danbury, CT surrounded by diverse cultures and people. As soon as they found feminism in high school, Suyane’s life began to quickly develop into the person they are today. Their interest in Intersectional Feminism promptly led them towards Queer Liberation and Class Struggle. Shortly after starting college, Suyane moved to New York City where they continued to work in the coffee industry until they got the opportunity to work as a sex educator for the queer sex shop, Babeland. Living in the city allowed Suyane to get involved in more organizing such as the 2019 NYC Dyke March where they rallied volunteers to marshall the city’s only permit-free march.
Since moving to New Haven in 2020, Suyane has taken up leatherworking, paying homage to leatherqueers, and frequently vends in the area. She enjoys spending time with her community, chosen family, dog, and, of course, plants! You can find her on the road riding their bicycle or in the kitchen baking vegan treats. With her new position as the Women’s Program Curator, Suyane hopes to continue to develop a diverse, unified, and accessable queer culture in New Haven.
Juancarlos Soto, Deputy Director
Freddie Swindal, Manager of Support Services
Freddie (they/them) earned their bachelor’s degree from Fordham University majoring in both theology and Spanish. One of their proudest accomplishments as an undergrad was co-founding the Queer Spirit Community, a spiritual group for LGBT students. Since graduating, Freddie has been active in both social services and community organizing in Boston. They served as a Care Navigator with the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, where they connected patients with food, housing and legal resources. They also worked at the Massachusetts Voter Table as a Community Organizing Fellow and Field Coordinator, supporting grassroots organizations across the state with civic engagement initiatives. Freddie’s goal in both their career and life is to help create a safe and loving space for LGBT folks wherever they go.