Crystal Mason (they/them) is an artist, culture tender, and community strategist rooted in Black, queer, fat, feminist, and liberatory traditions. Born and raised in Richmond, VA and shaped by time in San Francisco and Berlin, Crystal makes art to tell stories that often go unheard—stories of anger and love, grief and joy, danger and creation. Their work says: Here is a piece of me. For Crystal, art is both a declaration and a tool—against erasure, for memory, and toward a freer world.

 

With over 30 years of experience, Crystal has cultivated spaces where QTBIPOC voices are centered and celebrated. They co-founded and served as Artistic Director of Luna Sea Women’s Performance Project, led the Jon Sims Center for the Arts as Executive Director, and worked as Administrative Director at Queer Rebels Productions, an intergenerational QTBIPOC arts platform.

 

Crystal is also the co-creator of the Tree of Change, a visionary network with Jason Wyman (aka Queerly Complex) that supports collective liberation, culture shift, and deep systems change. Their work moves across sectors and communities, always with an eye toward inclusion, imagination, and transformation.

 

Crystal believes that what we create is a tribute—to our existence, to our resistance, and to the world we are building together.