House of Diggs is a party for the Queer community, by the Queer community

Saturday 06. June

It’s no secret house music is rooted in the Chicago underground of the 1970’s and 80s, born from primarily Black and queer DJs, who were creating an inclusive world inside clubs for those who needed an escape from the world outside.

It’s also no secret house music has since evolved, spreading all over the world, becoming increasingly white, increasingly cis, and increasingly financially fruitful as major labels have become involved.

Now, as the genre exists in present day, a dance floor that feels connected to its roots is truly sacred, and we observe more and more growing platforms setting out to not only reclaim its Queer past, but continue to evolve house music for a more inclusive present and future. 

Enter House of Diggs: a party created by the Queer community for the Queer community, founded by PR resident, Dee Diggs, with the mission of creating a safe, welcoming environment both on the dance floor and behind the booth. The platform began in February of 2020, as Diggs, a rapidly growing artist in the Brooklyn scene and now internationally, decided to gather her LGBTQIA+ friends and artists she wanted to bring to the spotlight with her, and in effect, perpetuating the “safe-to-express-oneself” type of environment a dance floor should be. 

Diggs discovered the DJ’s power to curate community when, after years of playlisting for her college radio station and a fateful fire in the station’s building forced her—in a meant-to-be sort of way, she claims—to play for crowds. 

“On the dance floor, it’s like everyone’s sort of making space for each other, and there’s just this kind of joy that you’re not trying to gate keep. It’s a sort of warmth that you want other people to be a part of,” says Diggs. “There are these moments on a dance floor when a mixed crowd becomes a community,  bridging that gap of comfort for everyone to just dance how they want to dance and be how they want to be.” 

When the idea for House of Diggs first sprouted, it was built on creating that energy—a musical conversation, so to speak—one where an entire dance floor can share in joyous moments and be fully themselves, while building up the Queer DJs who create them. 

“I didn’t come from nothing. I have a lot of peers and mentors in this game, so I like the idea of this as a platform, where I could curate artists that illustrate the thread of legacy in this space.”

Saturday, 6.29, House of Diggs takes over Public Records, inviting a special blend of artists into all three club rooms for a night centered around house, but also including a range of musical stylings from live performance, ballroom, soulful beats, and even some techno. 

The lineup includes names like rising star, Kilopatrah Jones, known for a vivacious energy behind the booth, Michael Cignarale, a triple DJ/producer/singer threat, and Varsha, DJ and freestyle dancer bringing vibrancy to the house dance community and ballroom scenes. 

“I invite people—whether it’s people who are really foundational to me, peers of mine, or who live across the country—that I’m in some sort of sonic synergy with or who I find inspiring. I’m hoping that people are coming here to be open to the guests I’ve chosen to highlight, and maybe learn something or find a new favorite.”

This marks the platform’s third Pride weekend at 233 Butler St., each year with a different focus.

“I think this party really is about local heroes this year and making sure they’re getting their flowers…So many people start popping off at Queer parties before the rest of the world is like, ‘Oh, wow, like you’re actually really fab.’  But I actually know that because my community has been telling me that for years. I really feel like Pride is about just cracking that door open and inviting everyone else to come and see what we see. Put on those rainbow glasses.”

The party kicks off starting at 11 p.m. across three rooms, with a b2b set from Dee Diggs and Kilopatrah Jones in the Sound Room, followed by live vocals from Michael Cignarale, and a techno set from Aeon. Then Kilopatrah Jones will close the Sound Room solo, while host, Diggs, keeps the Atrium rocking until 4 a.m.

“Pride has definitely gotten very corporate heavy, but at the base of it, if we don’t celebrate us, the spark in each other, then the rest of the world is not going to validate it either. Having this lineup is me honing in on that idea. I really want people who are outspoken, gay 365, that we’re highlighting, that we’re paying, and that we’re pushing forward.”

 
&nsbp;