A Vancouver philanthropic organization has chosen a queer performing arts company to donate to during a time period fraught with some of the biggest challenges to those in the arts.

This month, 100 Gay Men for a Cause Vancouver voted on which charity should receive its first $10,000 donation.

The organization consists of 100 men who donate $100 each. Each quarter of the year, members decide which charity should be a recipient of a $10,000 donation.

The theme for this quarter was the arts sector, which has had to resort to new ways to connect with audiences during pandemic restrictions.

Members of the organization voted that Zee Zee Theatre was this quarter’s recipient for continuing “to bring the stories of marginalized voices into people’s homes virtually, with a focus on amplifying the stories of LGBTQ2S+ individuals”.

Zee Zee Theatre was founded in 2008 and its productions have included Elbow Room Café: The Musical, My Funny Valentine, Virtual Humanity, and Home is a Drag (on virtual tour).

Artistic and executive director Cameron Mackenzie states in a message on the theatre company’s website: “Our question for this, our 13th season, in the midst of a pandemic and a revolution dismantling white supremacy is, ‘How do we share our humanity now?’ ”

But that’s not all that 100 Gay Men had to give.

Short-listed charities also receive donations—the organization made donations of $1,000 each to the Vancouver Men’s Chorus and the Vancouver Queer Film Festival (which is run by Out on Screen).

100 Gay Men for a Cause YVR, which was inspired by 100 Women Who Care and began in 2019 with an endowment from the Vancouver Foundation, will next meet on July 29. The 100 Who Care Alliance, which supports over 650 chapters around the world, also helped establish the Vancouver chapter.