We are working on new membership levels that will include exciting additional events with Outfest. Details will be announced in the next several weeks. Current NewFest memberships are still valid.

What if I want to submit my film this year? 

Submissions to this year’s festival are closed.  There will be no new call for entries. If you submitted your film to Outfest it will also be considered for NewFest. Submission guidelines for next year’s festival will be announced at the end of 2012.

Are you still accepting tax-deductible donations?

YES. Donations are especially important at this critical threshold, as strong finances are key to forming an exciting national partnership with Outfest. Please donate here.

What about publicity and press inquiries?

All inquiries should be directed to Mark Pogachefsky at  mpogachefsky@mprm.com or Guido Gotz at  ggotz@mprm.com.at MPRM Communications. Their phone number is  323 933 3399.

I wish to volunteer. Who should I contact? 

A call for volunteers will happen in May. We look forward to an exciting festival this year, appreciate your participation.  Details will be posted here.

When will it happen? What about tickets?

NewFest is scheduled for July 27-31st. Tickets will go on sale in June.

Where will it be?

Newfest is in negotiations with a venue to house the festival. An announcement will be made shortly.

Outfest, which is celebrating its 30^th anniversary this year, will be responsible for programming this year’s edition of NewFest which will take place July 27 – 30, 2012 at a venue to be announced.

“Extending the reach of Outfest as a national organization and ensuring that Outfest continues to be a leader in bringing stories of the LGBT community to audiences is a great way to celebrate our 30^th anniversary milestone,” said Outfest board Co-Presidents Jon Larson and Laura Ivey. “We look forward to working with the team at NewFest on their festival this year and on future initiatives,” added Kirsten Schaffer, Executive Director of Outfest.

NewFest Board Co-President Steve Mendelsohn said, “Outfest brings a wealth of knowledge and wide-ranging capabilities to NewFest and will enable us to enhance our annual festival and expand our year-round programming. The potential benefit for NewFest and New York’s LGBT film community as a whole is something we’re very excited about.”

CHECK BACK HERE FOR  EXCITING DETAILS IN THE COMING WEEKS!

When you support NewFest with your membership dollars, at any level, you are expressing LGBT pride in a very important way — because you are helping to give greater visibility to films that tell our truths. At a time when corporations are pulling back from sponsorship, your membership dollars make the crucial difference in our ability to bring you the very best in LGBT film, and our ability to support filmmakers who take risks. We’re not only grateful for your support, it comes with benefits!

Click here to become a part of NewFest today.

Last week in the heart of Chelsea, in New York City, Joan Rivers got a standing ovation from her adoring gay and lesbian fans after the screening of a documentary about her life, “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work.” The sold-out event at NewFest, New York’s premiere LGBT film festival, attracted a well-educated, professional (and good-looking) crowd of New Yorkers, most of whom were gay, and all of whom are prime targets for many of today’s brands from Heineken to American Express, and yet mainstream sponsors like these two (who, by the way, underwrote the Tribeca Film Festival in April) were nowhere to be found.

NewFest was made possible this year thanks to the generosity, primarily, of the fashion designer Marc Jacobs, with additional sponsorships from Showtime’s “The Real L Word,” Mitchell Gold & Bob Williams, TekServe, Grand Marnier, IFP, The Gem Hotel, Viña Casablanca, Chilean wines Santa Carolina and NYC’s Gay & Lesbian Center, among others. Some of these sponsors are certainly big, mainstream brands, but what is interesting to me is that the top three are either owned by gay men or, in the case of Showtime, do programming specifically oriented to the gay and lesbian community. So I scratch my head, wondering if major brands simply don’t care about advertising to the LGBT community anymore.

The screening for ‘Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work’ received many sponsors, but none of the big guns.

“When brands actually create campaigns specifically targeting the LGBT community, they get comparatively stronger ROI,” says Bob Witeck, CEO, Witeck Combs Communications, a marketing communications and strategic consulting firm working in the LGBT market for over 17 years. According to Witeck, the key to tapping into this market is authenticity, consistency and durability. For brands like Orbitz, American Airlines and Kimpton Hotels, to name a few, marketing to the LGBT community has consistently paid off.

Hmm, that sounds a lot like what happens when marketers commit to marketing to Hispanics. In fact, there are a lot of similarities between these two markets. Both are racially and socio-economically diverse; both are trend-setting, technologically savvy, early adopters and heavy influencers; both are highly concentrated in the top ten DMAs of the country; both get the short end of advertising budgets, and yet both are fiercely loyal to brands that make an effort to reach them in relevant ways. Of course, it’s the LGBT market that gets the brunt of the hate mongering from conservative right-wingers, although lately I’d say Hispanics are certainly feeling the hate too, need I mention … Arizona?

But I digress. This month is gay pride month, and all across the nation, cities large and small will be hosting events to celebrate their lesbian and gay communities. According to Richard Florida, a professor of business and creativity at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, gay men and lesbians are a critical part of the so-called “creative class” that help cities become economically more competitive by making them more attractive to the intellectual classes that, in turn, help develop cultural and technological innovation, which foments the growth of our nation’s economy.

Research also shows that, even in tough economic times, LGBT communities tend to have more disposable income. So again, I scratch my head and wonder what the heck is going on.

“Gay-inclusive storytelling is what is suffering,” says Witeck. “Budgets are shifting to mainstream agencies who claim to have the LGBT competency in-house, but in reality assign the job to someone on staff who just happens to be gay.” And then, there’s also the issue around push-back from objectors like Bill O’Reilly and interest groups who are anti-gay. “Brands have a hard time navigating what they consider a cultural dialogue or debate, even though public opinion has changed, and acceptance is stronger,” says Witeck.

Specialized shops like Witeck-Combs, Prime Access and Target10 continue to do an excellent job for their clients, but the sad reality is that over the past two years, half a dozen gay advertising shops have closed, including the legendary Double Platinum, run by Stephanie Blackwood and Arthur Korant.

It seems like we are at a tipping point where it is tempting to want to bring minority groups into the fold and advertise with a one-size-fits-all message. But we all know that, in this post-advertising era where consumers are in control, it’s all about the long tail. NewFest closed last night with a sneak preview of CNN’s documentary “Gary & Tony Have Baby,” which airs nationwide on June 24th at 8 p.m. After ten fun-filled days of movies and parties, NewFest officials estimate that over 20,000 New Yorkers (who can sometimes be a tough crowd to please) watched, laughed and cried at 100 different stories of our community. What a missed opportunity for those brands who want real consumer engagement!

About the author: Chiqui Cartagena is the senior VP of multicultural marketing at Story Worldwide. She is also the author of Latino Boom!: Everything You Need to Know to Grow Your Business in the U.S. Hispanic Market.

Photographer Scott Pasfield’s portraits for NewFest are also available on our Facebook page.