Every fall around Halloween, posters advertising the New Delta Review’s annual Drag Ball line the hallways in Allen Hall.
The event has become a tradition for the University’s master of fine arts students, who put on the ball every year as a fundraiser for the Delta Literary Festival and funding for the New Delta Review. It’s a chance for students and the Baton Rouge community to come together to have a good time and celebrate their differences in a safe place, said festival co-chair Raquel Thompson.
“It is important that we do fundraisers so we can put on the Delta Literary Festival free of charge for attendees,” Thompson said.
The Delta Literary Festival is a festival put on by the MFA program where fiction and nonfiction writers, as well as poets, come to Baton Rouge to read and share their work. The event is free to the public as a result of fundraisers put on throughout the year, like the Drag Ball.
The festival took a break last spring because of the impact of the August 2016 floods. In April it will return in full force, thanks to events like the Drag Ball.
In addition to the tangible benefits from the Ball, the Ball is an indescribable night of self-expression, said New Delta Review editor in chief Justin Green.
“The queens come and put on a great show,” Green said. “Then we just let the music play and people have a good time in a safe space to be themselves.”
This year, three drag queens participated and put on a show to the theme of “Apocalypse.” Other forms of entertainment, like a tarot card booth and poetry booth, proved to be successful as well, Green said.
Guests are welcome to come to the Ball in drag, and that contributes to the fun atmosphere. For the latest ball, Green dressed in what he calls “garbage bag drag” — a trash bag with solo cups and various items glued on.
“It was a trashcan meets a frat lawn after a party,” Green said.
A New York City native, the second year MFA student said he felt the effects of culture shock when he arrived in the South for the first time about a year ago. Being a part of the New Delta Review last year inspired him to lead the journal this year as editor in chief.
People who aren’t part of the MFA program or the New Delta Review circle should take the chance and attend the next Drag Ball to experience it in full swing, Green said.
“It’s the first thing they talk about when you enter the MFA program,” he said. “Everyone is so excited for the Ballm and that’s all they can talk about, so as a new person you don’t get it until you go.”
Students and community members should attend regardless of their level of involvement and familiarity with the MFA program, Thompson said.
“It is a safe space for people to branch out and do something different for a night,” Thompson said. “It’s a chance for the queer community to be able to express themselves in a safe and fun environment and a chance to raise money for the Delta Literary Festival in the spring.”