Acacia DëQueer is an intimacy coordinator, choreographer, author, filmmaker, educator, inventor, and multidisciplinary artist. Fae have explored intersectional topics including gender, sexuality, disability, mental health, and identity through the arts for the past 12 years. They have directed films such as My Queer Questions and My Problem with Trichotillomania. Performed and taught neo-burlesque as a tool for self-exploration. Intimacy coordinated several films including Perfectly Good Moment, The Robosexual, As The Winter Turns To Fall (winner Best Acting Duo and Best LGBTQ Film at the 2021 Independent Short Awards), and Apophenia. Acacia has also lectured on intimacy for both the stage and screen at multiple colleges and universities including the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema, Marymount Manhattan College, and Vassar College.
Acacia believes in creating an inclusive environment through example; leading conversations about intersectionality, accessibility, and accountability at every level of the arts and entertainment world from the classroom, to the set, to the editors room, and beyond. One of the ways they are doing this is through their free educational content on their Instagram @intimacycoordinating which aims to help people at all stages of their career in all positions from cast and crew to understand how to safely create scenes of intimacy.
Acacia received faer BA in International Studies from Vassar College in 2019 with an emphasis in Women and Queer studies and anti-colonial History and a minor in Film. They also completed the SIT International Honors Program, Human Rights: Foundations, Challenges, and Advocacy which studied issues including human trafficking, women’s rights, refugee rights, indigenous rights, & LGBTQIA+ rights in a multicultural context through visits with NGOs, indigenous groups, and local advocacy groups in Nepal, Jordan, and Chile. Since graduating, they have studies with intimacy organizations from around the world including Intimacy Directors and Coordinators, Intimacy for Stage and Screen, Theatrical Intimacy Education, The National Society of Intimacy Professionals, and Moving Body Arts. Fae frequently work in the film industry in the unceded lands of the Wappinger, Canarsie, Schaghticoke, Matinecock, Munsee Lenape, and Lekawe (Rockaway) peoples colonially known as New York City where they lived before moving with their partner Ana and dog Zuko to the unceded lands of the Meškwahkiašahina, Peoria, Anishinabewaki, and Bodwéwadmi (Patawatomi) peoples colonially known as Ann Arbor, Michigan. Currently, fae are working as a consent Actor-Educator for Speak About It and traveling the United States teaching college and high school students about consent, serving as a Committee Member for the NSIP IDEA Committee where they help to prioritize diversity and accessibility within the organization, and preparing for faer upcoming publications The 2022 Intimacy Professionals Census Review: Identifying Growing Pains in a Rapidly Expanding Field (co-authored by Kristina Valentine) and The Golden Age of Screen Intimacy in The Journal of Consent-Based Performance while simultaneously attending festivals, screenings, and panel discussions for their upcoming films Kissing Kerouac and The Robosexual.
