If you’re in Orlando and you haven’t fallen into a trail of Blue Star’s sparkles, then you really haven’t left your house. For nearly 17 years, the Atlanta transplant has been shaking and making Orlando’s dance and arts scene flourish. Her venue, fittingly called The Venue, has given her even more room to grow, as has her newfound presence on Pride Radio. She’s everywhere, all the time. Why?
“The arts community, really; the growth of the arts community,” she says. “I know that it wasn’t nonexistent before I was here, so I want to choose my words carefully. But I feel like people became unafraid to express themselves in the art that they knew that they were meant to create.”
That ‘safe place’ mantra coincides clearly with the development of The Venue, which presently hosts an incredible amount of events, including weddings.
Blue has also been recognized and lauded for her attempts to raise funds for cancer victims, her ability to show up at any time for anyone and her talent. She also knows the power of arts to heal in times of crisis and heartache.
“They’re way more tangible and I feel that the city and the people are more open to accepting emotion and traveling through that emotion and feeling that emotion and then healing with that emotion,” she says. “I think people are becoming less afraid of their process, as artists and as a community, because they’re walking hand in hand right now.”
