Rainbow Serpent is a non-profit organization based in Pittsburgh, PA, that seeks to advance Black LGBTQ+ culture through the exploration and integration of multimedia art, emerging technologies, traditional African cosmologies, and innovative healing practices.

We sponsor the creation of artwork in a range of media (including live performance, film, photography, sculpture, music, public installation, literature, and extended reality); offer a range of educational programming and workshops; organize retreats that promote healing through art and indigenous African modalities; and curate events that showcase a diversity of cultural expression.

Rainbow Serpent’s innovative work expands the boundaries of traditional performance, technology, and immersive visual arts. Recent works include: The Four World Ages, which drew on Nigerian-Igbo myth to tell the history of humanity and featured four dancers adorned with body paint and dynamic projections that incorporated spatial augmented reality components; and Opening the Mouth, an immersive audience participatory performance including a cast of 19 performers, 16 life-size glass statues of queer African deities, and a 7 channel virtual reality film.

Rainbow Serpent harnesses the power of emerging technologies and multimedia performance to advance Black LGBTQ culture and revive traditional African knowledge systems.