A Broward-based arts society that seeks to end racism and is “committed to nurturing the emotional, mental, & spiritual well-being of all people,” according to its website, will soon shine its cultural light on LGBTQ rights and history.
On Sept. 19 and 20, GENVAS, the Venetian Arts Society, presents PRIDE in Progress: Shaping America's Legacy – Past, Present, and Future! with events in Fort Lauderdale and Wilton Manors.
“United we stand in all the rights that we've achieved, and the progress we have made,” says William “Willie” Riddle, GENVAS’ founder and president.
“And we’re not going to allow things to be erased, and we're not going to stand back and allow this to be diminished in any way, shape or form,” Riddle adds. “But it has to be done in a dignified way that commands the respect of people and shows the best of this community – which is pretty fantastic and awesome.”
Riddle envisions PRIDE in Progress as “a presentation that honors the civil and human rights that have already been established and are part of our society.”
The program will feature a Friday night opening reception at ArtServe in Fort Lauderdale with entertainment by South Florida-based singing star Karina Iglesias (a contestant on “The Voice”); a daytime discussion Saturday at Stonewall National Museum, Archives & Library in Fort Lauderdale with journalist Robert Fieseler of New Orleans and the museum’s executive director, Robert Kesten; and Los Angeles-based married tenors Sam Tsui & Casey Breves, who’ll perform Saturday night in concert at Hagen Park’s community room in Wilton Manors.
“Any time I get to perform with my community, it’s always super important to me and super close to my heart. I’ve been blessed enough to do this for a living. It's never lost on me that music brings people together,” says Iglesias, a divorced lesbian who grew up in Miami and now lives with her 9-year-old son in Port St. Lucie.
Iglesias says, “Because of music, I have been able to meet people that I don't always necessarily agree with. But I've been treated with respect and people come to see me all the time. I have steady followers up here at different spots that I play. It’s been really cool to watch just how music brings people together. That’s the one thing I know we will always have in common, despite our differences.
“The more we have our allies with us, the more our platform expands, and the more we're able to reach and change people's minds about our community.”
That’s the exact sentiment Riddle wants to share.
“This message shouldn't be for the LGBT audience, it should be for other audiences – the allies or the people who are not their allies,” says Riddle, 64, who grew up gay in the mountains of western North Carolina. “A hillbilly, you know.”
One of his neighbors back then was a famed Hungarian pianist named Lili Kraus, “who took me under her wing when I was about 8 years old.”
A Mozart specialist, Kraus taught young Riddle how to read music and appreciate classical compositions.
An opera singer in his young adulthood, Riddle came out to his family in 1989 at age 28. He says his life changed for the better when he relocated to South Florida four years later.
After singing professionally for 12 years, Riddle launched a large design and construction business. In 2010, he opened Inspired Interiors of Fort Lauderdale.
“It was an art gallery ‘slash’ interior showroom for a line of hand-painted furniture that I was working on,” he says. “I had a lot of clients at that time and I was involved heavily in the local cultural arts scenes. In order to get people into our shop – because we were a block off Las Olas – I decided to do these art salons in the evening, maybe once a month, and invite people to come.”
Riddle founded the Venetian Arts Society, choosing the name because at the time his business was located at Venezia Las Olas condominium. The ground-floor gallery had 2,000 square feet of space inside and a large outdoor patio for performances at Southeast Eighth Avenue and the Himmarshee Canal.
“I drew on my education and my early career as an opera singer to build these things. Rather quickly, the art salon concept itself became a hit with 50 to 60 people at a time being able to, in a leisurely way, sit and discuss all forms of art,” Riddle says. “We had every type of art discipline you can imagine. Of course, there was food and wine. It became sort of like a party … but it was truly an art salon.”
Riddle says that when Venetian Arts Society began in 2011, the organization’s mission statement “was to celebrate the multicultural diversity of the community through all the visual and performing arts, in an intimate, interactive setting.”
His friend George Hanbury, then the president of Nova Southeastern University, later urged Riddle to apply for not-for-profit 501c3 status.
In 2020, during the Covid pandemic, Riddle “rebranded” Venetian Arts Society and launched GENVAS, an arts, culture and humanities nonprofit.
Jill Kaplan, GENVAS’ director of administration and marketing, has worked with Riddle since December 2019.
“I’m drawn to the fact that Willie doesn't program anything that doesn't include a message about love and hope and acceptance and inclusion. And that he does so in such a way that it's so intimate and interactive, that the person maybe doesn't realize they're learning something – not just seeing wonderful world-class artists,” says Kaplan, GENVAS’ director of administration and public relations.
“I'm not artistic in terms of entertainment, I'm artistic in terms of business. I can find a way to help with that,” she says.
Major PRIDE in Progress sponsors include Warten Foundation, Our Fund Foundation, OutSFL news and Broward County Cultural Division.
In 2024, Broward County Cultural Division announced a new $1 million fund called the Arts & Cultural Festival and Special Event Sponsorship Program, for both nonprofit and for-profit organizations.
GENVAS applied and “we fully funded their application,” says Phillip Dunlap, the cultural division’s director.
The nonprofit received $25,000, one of 36 funded applications in fiscal year 2025. “We’ve awarded $873,250 in sponsorships,” Dunlap says.
“In our community, LGBTQ history is interwoven with every aspect of who this community is,” Dunlap says. “That's why it's important to support this event and any other event that's similar, whether it's Hispanic Heritage Month, or Caribbean Heritage Month, or it's celebrating Black History Month.”
This year’s GENVAS Icon of the Arts will be singer-composer Melissa Manchester, who’ll perform in concert 7:30 p.m. Saturday Nov. 8 at Lauderhill Performing Arts Center.
Most GENVAS events are recorded and archived online at Eye On Channel and on YouTube.
Riddle is particularly moved to be presenting PRIDE in Progress.
“As a gay man, I have never marched in any pride parade. I've never done any of those kinds of things or put a pride sticker on my bumper. Not that there's anything wrong with it. It's just that I don't consider that my defining feature, being a gay man,” he says.
The Saturday afternoon PRIDE in Progress event at Stonewall Museum will focus on Florida’s past. Journalist Robert Fieseler will read from his current book, “American Scare, Florida's Hidden Cold War on Black and Queer Lives.”
“It's a historic account of a largely forgotten inquisition in Florida during the McCarthy era,” Fieseler says.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: PRIDE in Progress: Shaping America's Legacy...past, present, and future!
WHERE: ArtServe Main Gallery, 1300 E. Sunrise Blvd., Fort Lauderdale
WHEN: Friday, September 19; 6 to 8 p.m.
ADMISSION: $40 single event, $75 for all events
WHERE: Stonewall National Museum, Archives & Library, 1300 E. Sunrise Blvd., Fort Lauderdale
WHEN: Saturday, September 20; 1 to 3:30 p.m.
ADMISSION: Free for single event, $75 for all events
The Promise salon concert featuring tenors Sam Tsui & Casey Breves
WHERE: Hagen Park Community Room, 2020 Wilton Dr., Wilton Manors
WHEN: Saturday, September 20, 6 to 9 p.m.
ADMISSION: $50 single event, $75 for all events
This story was produced by Broward Arts Journalism Alliance (BAJA), an independent journalism program of the Broward County Cultural Division. Visit ArtsCalendar.com for more stories about the arts in South Florida.
