As debates over transgender rights intensify across the United States, with executive actions from the White House and more than 100 state laws affecting transgender people enacted since 2020, organizations serving the community say their work is more critical than ever.
Enter Black Trans Femmes in the Arts Collective. The group, known as BTFA, is a nonprofit serving Black trans young artists worldwide, with a strong presence in Brooklyn.
Jordyn Jay, founder and executive director of BTFA, holds a master’s degree in Art Politics from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She told Brooklyn Paper that after finishing her degree, she wanted to connect with other Black trans femme artists and learn how to build a network and infrastructure to support her community.
She laid the groundwork at the first Black trans femme artists meet-up in August 2019, where artists shared barriers they faced and brainstormed how legislation and allies could better support the community.
Some barriers, Jay said, were as straightforward as access to arts education, safe rehearsal or recording spaces for musicians, and funding for art projects.
“We have several hip hop artists in our collective. And hip hop is a very male-dominated, very heteronormative space, and so finding producers and recording booths where artists feel safe to record, it’s a challenge,” Jay said. “There’s a large funding disparity when it comes to work that supports black, trans femme artists, and usually the funding that does go to supporting black, trans femme artists is one-time project-based support.”
More serious barriers include access to housing, employment and health care. According to GLAAD, a nonprofit focused on LGBTQ advocacy, 41% of Black transgender people have experienced homelessness or housing instability due to discrimination, and 34% live in extreme poverty, earning less than $10,000 per year.
“Artists cannot create at their full potential if they are unable to have a safe place to be housed; if they’re unable to meet their medical needs, and if they aren’t able to make any other income to support themselves, and especially if they’re starting from a place where they’re already being abandoned by their family,” Jay said.
In November 2019, during an open-mic night featuring Black trans femme artists, the name BTFA was born. The organization expanded its collective through social media and Zoom meet-ups during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, spotlighting artists from around the world.
BTFA solidified its advocacy role during the Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020, when Jay became increasingly concerned about the safety of Black transgender protesters.
She reached out to other Black trans organizations — For the Gworls, the Okra Project and the Black Trans Travel Fund — and together they launched the Black Trans Protesters Emergency Fund to support Black trans people with resources such as bail money and medical care.
“BTFA was able to raise $1 Million in one week. So we went from an organization that wasn’t even really an organization, that was a project that was self-funded, to quickly find a fiscal sponsor and integrate into an official structure,” Jay said. “So we started to build an organization; we built our programming; we, at the end of 2020, signed a lease on a physical space, and from there, we just continued to build iteratively based on what it is that our community is asking for.”
In 2022, the organization opened BTFA Studios, a 2,100-square-foot space in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The facility includes a photo and video studio, a visual arts studio, a meeting room, a lounge and a co-writing space.
The studio’s work centers on five pillars: internal programming focused on artistic skill development and community-building through lectures, discussions and workshops on topics such as production, social media marketing, contract review and grant writing; an art visits program offering access to cultural events across New York City; public and Trans Day visibility programming to showcase Black trans femme artists; community aid for health care, housing, food and legal needs; and an artist residency program.
The residency has supported new and mid-career artists such as Kiyan Williams, whose work has been exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum and in a solo show at the Hammer Museum, and Obie Award-winning actress N’Yomi Allure Stewart for her Off-Broadway performance in “Prince Faggot.”
Jay said she is particularly proud of the residency program, which provides mentoring, career development and production grants.
“That’s become one of our largest programs. We’ve given out in just 2025 alone, almost $200,000 in production grants to support artists,” Jay said.
Amid what Jay described as continued attacks on transgender rights by the Trump administration, she said it has been a difficult year, with an increase in requests for community aid as transgender people lose access to medical care and social safety nets in parts of the country.
“BTFA is not just an organization that serves black trans people, it’s an organization that’s run by black trans people. So it’s not just about showing up for our community, but it’s about checking in with our staff and making sure that we have the capacity to continue this work while we’re also under attack,” Jay said.
Jay said that while BTFA had a strong relationship with Brooklyn Org, she was not confident the organization would receive the Spark Prize.
“It was a major surprise. It’s really great to know that folks who are not necessarily part of the trans community, but are part of the Brooklyn community, understand the value of what it is that we contribute and what it is that we do, and understand that we need to be supported and uplifted. And I think that that is really crucial in this moment,” Jay said.
This story is part of a Brooklyn Paper series highlighting the winners of this year’s Spark Prize. This year’s recipients — named for Brooklyn Org’s mission to spark lasting social change in Brooklyn — are the Asiyah Women’s Center, Back Trans Femmes in the Arts (BTFA), the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.), The B.R.O. Experience Foundation and YVote Brooklyn Org. They will be honored at the 2026 Brooklyn Spark Breakfast on March 3 at Barclays Center.
