Nightlife is, for many, an escape from reality, a place to commune and dream outside the confines of the chained-to-capitalism ultramodern lifestyle. For others, stepping into a warehouse at night and re-emerging into a cold sunrise is an entire life: an art, a practice, an income, a career. And while nightlife continues to thrive in major metro areas like New York City, the people making these hot, sweaty outings possible — artists, bouncers, bartenders, technicians, the list goes on — are often left out of the social guardrails and services made available to the 9-to-5 crowd, especially if they’re queer. In a 2018 study by NYC’s Office of Nightlife, more than half of respondents cited a lack of benefits as a major obstacle to working in nightlife; this number jumps to 80% for artists and entertainers.
The Queer Nightlife Community Center (QNCC, colloquially pronounced “kink”) seeks to fill in these gaps. Now open in Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhood, the QNCC is exactly what it sounds like: a nonprofit dedicated to serving queer and trans artists and nightlife workers. QNCC is at once a physical space, a creative organization, and an ethos. Its physical home is a sprawling 15,000-square-foot, two-story warehouse in East New York, a space ripe with potential.