NEWS
Gala Festival 2024
GALA Choruses gathers LGBTQ+ choruses from all over North America and the world. Festival is five days of singing, connecting, and creating. It’s wall-to-wall concerts, workshops, social events, joy and pride. It’s the largest LGBTQ choral event in the world. It’s you with thousands of your peers taking over a city and filling it with song.
A Queerly Joyful Noise
A Queerly Joyful Noise examines how choral singing can be both personally transformative and politically impactful. As they blend their different voices to create something beautiful, LGBTQ singers stand together and make themselves heard.
“Balén’s book sweeps you into the life of LGBTQ choral music. As a conductor in the GALA network for 30 years, it is a joy to see it so beautifully described in this important book. Balén is able to take the reader on a beautiful journey and educate us all along the path. Every person – gay or straight – who loves music should read this book.”
Dr. Timothy Seelig ― Artistic Director, San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus
Consulting & Workshops
Based on over 30 years of working with community organizations and research on queer choral musicking, Dr. Balén offers tailored workshops, strategic planning, and diversity trainings to boards and choral groups to strengthen their social justice practices.
About Jules
Julia “Jules” Balén is a recently retired Professor of English and Faculty Development Director at California State University Channel Islands (the newest of the CSU campuses) where ze has served on the President’s Commission for Human Relations, Equity, and Diversity, on the committees to develop majors in Chicana/o Transborder Studies, Africana/Black Studies, Philosophy, and a brand new major—Freedom and Justice Studies. As Faculty Development Director, ze helped build leadership and capacity for a more inclusive campus.
