The House of Serenissima is Venice's drag collective, an artistic project to bring the drag art of queer people living in Venice to stages and public places.
Founded in 2022 from a rib of the Queer We Go collective following the sinking of the Zan DDL to fight against homolesbobitransphobia, the House of Serenissima takes up the concept of communities of drag performers who identify with a shared artistic project.
The House of Serenissima is a militant art group that aims to:Â
- Giving a space to people who want to try drag art
- Proposing an alternative to Venice's leisure offer, beyond spritz - finger food, big events for tourists and private parties for big wallets
- Giving a voice to queer people
- Creating shows related to current affairs and society issues
House is mainly produced on stages in the Veneto region. It also offers turnkey or collaboratively written shows together with cultural organisations and the nightclubs that host them.
Variety in every sense
House actions include drag shows, indoors or outdoors, but also make-up workshops, debates and other cultural activities that educate queer and allied people about integration and the development of civic consciousness.
The House welcomes drag performers of all kinds, from classic drag queens to king and non-binary performers.
The company is characterised by the fact that it combines art and current affairs, without renouncing its taste for comedy and passion for the drama...
Why Venice?
The House of Serenissima could not exist if not in Venice. An open project in a closed city.
Venice is a closed city because it is inaccessible to its own inhabitants. Residents who leave are replaced by tourists, who do not contribute to the creation of human relations and the development of the social fabric.Â
The House of Serenissima is primarily aimed at students and residents looking for meaningful activities to invest their free time in.
The House's connection with its territory, i.e. Venice and its surroundings, is a hallmark.Â
The reduced cultural offer for the inhabitants of the lagoon city has created gaps in the availability of leisure and meeting places that go beyond the experience of stalls, drinking and eating.
For this reason, we identified the need to create a project that could, on the one hand, satisfy the demand of queer people to experience drag art by producing on stage and, on the other hand, enrich the cultural offer for people living in or passing through the city.
