Text and image by Nia Engrassi.
The first edition of Abode, a performance and arts showcase for queer, trans, Black, Indigenous and POC creatives launched recently at BOYFRIEND , a co-op in Brooklyn.
Abode began with a flyer and a determined passion.
Before the showcase took place, Tendani Musengwa, 23, spent months talking to vendors, networking within the arts scene and making noise in the spaces they wanted to enter.
Everything about Abode was intentional because, above all, Tendani was looking for connection. It’s even in the name, born as an ode to New York’s house and ballroom culture, where in the 1970s queer people found chosen families and refuge in the spaces created by “houses.”
Tendani’s Abode breathes in performance, art and expression, and breathes out belonging.
For Tendani, something about all of this seems to feel predestined.
“I often say that rejection is redirection,” they say.
And while reframing rejection into redirection can sound naive or overtly optimistic, Tendani sees proof of it in the way that life has unfolded for them.
In 2023, Tendani was a student at Florida International University in Miami but unexpected circumstances found them returning home to St. Petersburg, 270 miles away from the life they felt they were beginning to build.
Eventually, they did what they say comes naturally to them: they found people. Tendani immersed in the local queer and trans spaces, building relationships that later led them to organizing Futurity, an event originally hosted by a queer couple who were unable to attend that edition because of a trip.
The experience gave Tendani the first real glimpse of what they were capable of building.
They later brought those skills into an internship that moved them to New York City, where they had always wanted to live. But here, Tendani found parts of the queer scene could feel fragmented and individualistic. So, on their own terms, they launched Abode.
The turnout? Around 60 people. The lineup? Handpicked musicians whose work aligned with Tendani’s values, like Queen Goddess Lilac, Jamee, Corrine Jasmin and Tendani themself. The night ended with a DJ set by Planet QTS, because Tendani wanted a showcase, but they also wanted a dance.
The success of the night was measured on their own terms. They were able to pay the musicians and stylist, made back their investment and even had enough left over to begin funding the next edition of Abode.
For Tendani, Abode is proof that passion projects, when rooted in care, can become something real.
Dreams Are Made Of 
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