• Arts
  • Creative Work Fund

Alphabet Rockers Kaitlin McGaw and Tommy Shepherd Jr. are collaborating with Our Family Coalition to create From A to Ze (working title), a youth-focused hip-hop album exploring contemporary gender issues and LGBTQ identity. The project will culminate in a 10-song album and Bay Area tour, with a premier at Freight and Salvage theater in November 2019. For more than 20 years, Our Family Coalition has advanced equity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer families with children through support, education, and advocacy. It builds partnerships with allies to ensure that all LGBTQ families with children may thrive in schools, institutions, and communities. Using the language and experience of Our Family Coalition, Alphabet Rockers will create a hip-hop album that playfully centers on the gender-neutral pronoun “ze,” and that centralizes the experiences of nonbinary youth, resulting in age appropriate media that can spark intergenerational conversations in support of queer, trans, and nonbinary people. Since 2007, Kaitlin McGaw and Tommy Shepard Jr. of Alphabet Rockers have created cutting-edge social justice content for young audiences, using the popularity of hip-hop. Since founding Alphabet Rockers, they have written and recorded four full-length albums, conducted three national tours, and created 20 music videos. In 2017 they were nominated for a GRAMMY Award for Best Children’s Album.