Whitney Jones is the founder of Slow Drag, an event she curates annually. She wanted a place that could cater to her needs, so she created one. She soon found out that others were craving a similar space and soon she started throwing Slow Drag events around the city of Atlanta and even hosted her first one in New Orleans. Whitney Jones took A Seat At The Table to tell us all about Slow Drag and event curating.
Black intimacy and cultural preservation, why are these two aspects important to you?
As a single Black woman, I think that it’s really important to recenter the conversations about what it means to be a single Black woman, a single Black man. You know, I think that there’s a lot of conversation happening on the internet where it seems like there’s a lot of aggression and Black folks, you know, really being combative with each other. And I want to see more of us being soft with each other, being vulnerable and being intimate. And I think that there needs to be spaces that cater to those type of experiences.
Why New Orleans for the first event outside of Atlanta?
The first reason is because that’s my birthplace. So I was born in New Orleans. I grew up in Atlanta, but my family is there. My dad is originally from New Orleans, born and raised. So I’m in New Orleans once or twice times a year. So I’m there often, and also because slow drag. The origins of slow drag of the term is slow drag of the dance, slow drag is actually born from New Orleans. And so it made sense to when it was time to start expanding, to take it back to its birthplace. I mean, its birthplace and my birthplace, so New Orleans, and we were very well received. I mean, I think that once we start to move around the country, it’ll have that same type of reception, because Black people, honestly are really kind of yearning for spaces, for intimacy, to be Black and happy.
What goes into curating the perfect playlist?
Oh, that’s a great question. I would say the feelings. It’s like, it’s how the music makes you feel. So like, when I’m putting together a playlist for me, like I think about myself as the listener first. I know that some people probably like to move in a way of, what do other people want to hear? But for me, I go off of my vibes, like, what do I want to hear? What makes me happy, what feels good for me? So the very first thing is figure what my mood is. And so when I create, like, slow drag playlists, I think about how I want to feel when I’m listening to it. They are so many 70’s slow jams, you know, so it’s really just kind of mining through it all.
