Community Organizer-In- Residence

Applications for 2025-26 are due April 7, 2025.

The Queer and Trans Research Lab (QTRL) is pleased to invite applications for its Community Leadership Residency Program. The program will provide 1-2  year-long residencies to community leaders and activists working on social and political problems affecting LGBTQ2S+ and BIPOC lives and communities.  The residents will work on a project of their choice that addresses social inequality in LGBTQ2S+ QTBIPOC communities. This can be a project they are already working on in their communities. Successful applicants will also actively participate in a variety of events, such as presentations, class visits, workshops, panels, and meetings at the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies.

Community Leaders in Residence will receive a stipend of $15,000. In addition, the Bonham Centre will provide up to $5,000 in support for project resources, subject to university policies and guidelines. The residency will take place from September 2025 – June 2026. This residency does not include benefits and cannot provide donations to any charitable organization.

Successful applicants are expected to be residents of the Greater Toronto Area or interested in relocating here during the time of their residency. During the period of their award, they will join the faculty and students who make up the QTRL and participate in the Bonham Centre’s activities. They will be given office space and access to the faculty resources, archives, and library collections available at the University of Toronto and the Bonham Centre. To get a sense of the wide range of the Bonham Centre’s community and academic offerings, please consult our website at http://sds.utoronto.ca.

The Bonham Centre Community Residence Leadership Program is designed for individuals who have demonstrated leadership in community-serving and non-profit organizations and have experience with grassroots organizing and practice. While we understand that many who participate in community building projects are also employed by academic institutions, priority will be given to applicants who do not have full-time academic positions in the global north.

Interested Applicants Should:

  • Be 18 years or older
  • In residence in the GTA during the period of the award
  • Be available during the residency period for activities such as QTRL meetings, classroom visits, and other scheduled events (approx. 4 hrs/week)
  • Demonstrate a record of working for social justice
  • Demonstrate a commitment to building a cross-disciplinary network of community leaders, activists, students, artists, and researchers 
  • Indicate what they hope to gain from a fellowship at the Bonham Centre, including the issues they plan to explore and how Bonham Centre students, staff, and faculty can contribute to these aims. 

To apply, submit all materials as one PDF file to qtrl.sds@utoronto.ca.  Please provide us with the following:

  1. A Personal statement (750 words) – Why are you applying for this residency? Specify the work you plan to do while in residence. What do you hope to gain from the experience, or what questions do you hope to explore? How is your background relevant to your goals? We are also interested in learning your plans on sharing any work produced during the residency that fulfills a community outreach and/or public scholarship/education agenda.
  2. Resume/CV
  3. Short biography (250 words)
  4. Contact details of 2 references (name/title/email/relationship to applicant)

Applications due: April 7, 2025

Community-Leadership-Residency-2025-26

About the Community Organizer-In-Residence

The QTRL Community Organizer-In- Residence is designed for individuals who have demonstrated leadership in community-serving and non-profit organizations and have experience with grassroots organizing and practice. The program will provide 1-2 year-long residencies to community leaders and activists working on social and political problems affecting LGBTQ2S+ and BIPOC lives and communities. The residents will work on a project of their choice that addresses social inequality in LGBTQ2S+ QTBIPOC communities. Successful applicants will also actively participate in a variety of events, such as presentations, class visits, workshops, panels, and meetings at the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies. While we understand that many who participate in community building projects are also employed by academic institutions, priority will be given to applicants who do not have full-time academic positions in the global north.

Goals of the Community Organizer-In- Residence

  • Provide activists and community leaders the opportunity to sustain their work and help strengthen the infrastructure of social transformation by providing leaders/activists with the time and space to improve the lives of people in their/our communities.
  • Support the development of grassroots organizing
  • Encourage mutual learning between activists, students, and scholars to create new models of public scholarship and engagement..

2024-25


Shaun Brodie (he/him) is a classically trained trumpet player with a performance degree from the University of Victoria, and extensive experience as a session and freelance musician. Performing live and in-studio with many of Canada’s top indie acts, Shaun has toured internationally and appeared on a wide spectrum of stages including The Late Show with David Letterman and the Glastonbury Festival. In 2014 Shaun founded the Queer Songbook Orchestra (QSO), a formidable 14-piece chamber pop ensemble dedicated to expressing and uplifting 2SLGBTQ+ narratives. In recent years this project has expanded to now include the Queer Songbook Youth Orchestra, an ensemble providing performance opportunities and mentorship to queer, trans, questioning and allied youth; as well as QSO Kids, which offers programming designed to nurture inclusivity and acceptance for elementary school classrooms. A highly collaborative, community-based project, the QSO have worked with 200+ collaborators and toured extensively throughout Canada and were longlisted for the 2018 Polaris Prize for their collaborative album with Vivek Shraya. While with the Queer and Trans Research Lab, Brodie will focus his time on finding ways to expand on the foundation the QSO has built since 2014 and grappling with questions such as: How can we continue to cultivate an effective and ongoing space for a 2SLGBTQ+ youth focused program to flourish? How can we further develop programming for a k – 6 demographic which balances entertainment and education in meaningful and insightful ways? How can we better connect with a broader spectrum of the community and facilitate an even wider selection of experiences being brought to light? How can the QSO address these and other big picture questions in a shifting political environment which is posing more and more obstacles for genuine queer and trans representation?



Yasmeen Persad is a passionate community leader, advocating for the rights of and providing programming for trans and gender diverse people, particularly trans people of color, trans people living with and/or affected by HIV, trans newcomers, and trans women who are sex workers. As creator of the Trans Women HIV Research Initiative (TWIRI) at Women’s College Hospital, Persad has extensive experience conducting community-based participatory research with trans and gender diverse communities. Yasmeen has worked for more than 15 years with trans people of intersecting identities and experiences to create opportunities, reduce barriers, and increase access to health and social services across the province, country, and internationally. During her year with the QTRL, she plans to create a series of brief, strengths-based videos that aim to empower and encourage trans women of color to discuss their sexual health and speak about HIV in a positive light. The videos will discuss pre-exposure and post-exposure prophylaxis (Prep and PEP), which, while widely available, are not accessible and inclusive of trans women’s voices. The videos will debunk myths around HIV and gender-affirming care, share information about HIV among trans women, and work to decrease social isolation in our community. The overarching goal of these videos will be to reduce both internalized shame and stigma among trans women of color, including trans women who are sex workers, who are often left behind in these conversations. Additionally, these videos can be shared with service providers to help reduce the stigma they may perpetuate.


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Previous Artists-in-Residence

2023-24: Christopher Nkambwe

2022-23: Alphonso King Jr., (AKA Jade Elektra or DJ Relentless) and Ellie Ade Kur 

2021-22: Tatiana Ferguson and Abdi Osman