A Republican Congressional Candidate Cancelled an ArtPrize Showcase of Drag Performers With Down Syndrome, Saying He Fears a ‘Spectacle’

A Michigan Republican running for
Congress has found himself at the center of controversy after
barring a collective of drag performers with Down syndrome from
performing in a new arts and culture center he
owns. 

Drag Syndrome, a London-based troupe that
includes members with disabilities, was scheduled to perform next
week on the opening night of Project 1, a series of public art commissions in
Grand Rapids, Michigan, connected to the city’s much-attended
ArtPrize festival (the latter used to be held every year, but has
shifted to a biannual format, with curated programs of public art
in the off years). The event was canceled after Peter Meijer, the
owner of the building where the event was scheduled, learned of
Drag Syndrome’s inclusion. 

“The differently abled are among
the most special souls in our community, and I believe they, like
children and other vulnerable populations, should be protected,”
Meijer wrote
in a letter to ArtPrize’s executive
director. 

The performance was organized
by DisArt, a local production company that promotes art
made by artists with disabilities.

“It didn’t matter that these
Artists have long-standing, successful, internationally acclaimed
careers,” DisArt said
in a collective
statement decrying the
cancellation. “It didn’t
matter that the artists are also accomplished actors and
filmmakers, painters, dancers, singers and most important of all,
human beings. None of that mattered in the decision to exclude
their performance. All that mattered was their
disability…. Exclusion is discrimination, it is
self-preservation, it is exploitation for political
gain.  It is not protection.”

Meijer is the son of a
billionaire businessman who
runs the supermarket chain boasting the family’s surname. The
company, estimated to be worth over $8 billion, operates
more than 200 branches across the
Midwest. Meijer, who claims to have no association with the
business other than having stocked shelves as a teen, announced his
candidacy for congress in a YouTube video last
month. 

“It has been a frustrating
week—I’ve been called a bigot, an ableist, a homophobe, a
transphobe, and more,” Meijer told artnet News in an email,
explaining that he believes that the “underlying ethical concern
[…] regarding the confluence of charged cultural performance and
developmental disability and the potential for exploitation in
actuality or perception” has largely gone unaddressed by
opponents. 

Meijer initially approved the
event, but did not learn of Drag Syndrome’s involvement in it until
last week. He says he consulted with “parents of the
differently-abled” and “members of the LGBTQ and artist community”
before making his decision. 

“The overwhelming view of members
of the local disability advocacy community and parents of
children—adult and minor—with Down syndrome was that this
performance did not further their goals for greater inclusion and
belonging, and risked harkening back to spectacles that put
individuals with disability on display,” he added.

There has been support for Drag Syndrome from other acts
scheduled for the lineup at Meijer’s Tanglefoot venue.
The Curiosity Theatre was supposed to perform its
play Tiny Beautiful Things as part of the event, but
has now pulled out. “We didn’t want to perform on the same
stage where someone else had the mic taken away from them,” Jessie
Congleton, a member of the theater, told WZZM.

Despite being barred from
Meijer’s building, DisArt still plans to mount Drag Syndrome’s
performance on the 7th. The organization is in the process of
securing a new venue. 

The post A Republican Congressional Candidate Cancelled an
ArtPrize Showcase of Drag Performers With Down Syndrome, Saying He
Fears a ‘Spectacle’ appeared first on artnet News.