Northampton Arts Council Rebrands Summer Concert as “Transformance”

NORTHAMPTON - The Northampton Arts Council has officially chosen the name “Transformance” for its annual summer music fundraiser. The concert, which originated in 1991 under the name “Transperformance,” has gone without an official title since 2021, when council members voted to change the name, citing worries that the “trans” prefix was causing confusion. The event was referred to as “Performance” for the interim years between 2021 and 2024. 

At the March 11th meeting of the Northampton Arts Council, council chair Kaye Carroll proposed changing the name of the event back to Transperformance, stating, “During the short time since [2021], the political landscape has changed rapidly, and I'm not sure the same decision would be made if it was presented to the council today. While the name Transperformance and the event itself has nothing to do with transexuality, the removal of the ‘trans’ syllable today, in my opinion, carries with it reminders of the transphobic agenda of the Trump administration, particularly the removal of the ‘T’ from ‘LGBT’ on official government websites.”

Following this statement, other council members offered their opinions on the proposed change, with most agreeing that the implication of transgender erasure was concerning and that the placeholder name of “Performance” was woefully inadequate for marketing purposes. Despite some public input during the interim period, council member and clerk Garrett Williams remarked, “As of right now, no one has come up with a better idea.” Council member Indë then suggested renaming the event “Transformance,” a compromise that would function as a more effective portmanteau to describe the event - a performance where local musical acts “transform” into famous musicians and play cover songs. The council voted to accept Transformance as the new name, with 8 members voting “yes” with one abstention.

Carroll acknowledged that the motion to roll back the action taken by the council in the past might be seen as controversial, but contended that the changing political landscape called for reconsideration. “As far as confusion goes, I would rather have to explain to a handful of people what the name means than have an unknown number of people draw incorrect conclusions about how this community feels about its trans members.”