Meet the activist teaching LGBTQ+ youth of color the value of their art

In New York City, the Kiki scene is more than culture — it’s an investment.

Colby King, a graduate of Columbia University, is one of this year’s recipients of the David Prize, a $200,000 no-strings-attached grant. The funds will be used to financially support queer youth of color through the Kiki Arts Collaborative, which aims to connect these youth to economic opportunity.

“Being a Black LGBT person, there often weren’t many spaces that I felt seen or accepted,” King says. “I’m from Texas. Coming from a much more restricted state and then being at Columbia, obviously I wasn’t necessarily represented there either. So coming into the Kiki scene has just given me a way to be around people that are actually like me.”

In addition to art exhibitions, shows, and performances, King says the funds will be put toward a nine-month residency for one established artist in the Kiki scene (a ballroom subculture led by young LGBTQ+ people of color) as well as a six-month Creative Career Development Fellowship for four emerging artists. The programs seek to “make sure that they have the skills necessary to take their talent and actually apply it to wider audiences,” King says.

“The goal is to use these different programs to advance the careers of artists in the Kiki scene and to think about how they can take the talents that they’ve cultivated within the scene and apply them to career fields outside,” King says.

The David Prize is an annual grant given to five individuals across the five New York City boroughs, with submissions open to any resident during the fall. It aims to provide mental and financial bandwidth to those with the “conviction to change the future of our city,” according to its site.

While King says he’s “really grateful to be a winner,” he’s also “not a person that necessarily likes the spotlight.” He emphasizes that this grant isn’t about him but building up his community and “highlighting the scene at large by using whatever visibility that comes with it.”

“While I am the person that won this prize, there’s a lot of people that are already doing pretty good work to support LGBT youth, particularly in the Kiki scene,” he says. “I’m going to be adding to a wide network of people that are already doing good work and wanting to uplift the scene as a whole.”

This article is part of The Advocate's Nov/Dec 2025 issue, on newsstands now. Support queer media and subscribe — or download the issue through Apple News, Zinio, Nook, or PressReader.