Duquesne University Center for Women's and Gender Studies

Registration is underway! Check out the upcoming Fall 2026 WSGS courses!

We've got some great classes for Spring 2026! Remember that registration starts on October 23rd!

The Center for Women's and Gender Studies is having a student Bookmark Design Contest! Any student, graduate or undergraduate, may submit an entry, including students who are not in the WGS Program.

Check out our Fall Semester course offerings!

As a continuation of our work on Gender Neutral Fashion, we were able to interview staff from the Andy Warhol Museum on their programs for LGBTQ+ Youth. Below is an interview with the Youth Programs Coordinator, Eileen Viloria and the Inclusion Programs Coordinator, Mona Wiley. Thank you to both of them for taking the time to speak with us!

Question 1: Can you give an overview of your work at the Warhol Museum?

EV: I've been at the museum, maybe in total for about seven or eight years. I think one of the larger programs that I do, obviously, is youth programs, mainly focused on high school students. I run a program called the Youth Arts Council, which is where we recruit a cohort of high school students from around the Pittsburgh area to meet with us on a weekly basis at the museum. They get a look at how the institution runs from behind the scenes, and then they also get to explore Warhol’s life, career, processes, and meet contemporary artists in the community as well. Through that program, they also plan events and programs for other teams, so that is the main thing. And then from there, we do other programming. I have done some early childhood workshops, and every now and then some more public facing tours and workshops, as well.

MW: So I have been at the Warhol for about eight months, in my position. And my work revolves around inclusion and accessibility, as well as youth programming. So I've done sensory friendly workshops, which are for youth, where we create a space for folks with autism spectrum disorders to come and experience the museum in a sensory friendly way. So with lights off or low or no sound. We have modified tours as well as studio experiences. In addition to the
accessibility, we also have a silent disco. So that occurs after hours, and using
basically the silent disco formatting with the headphones, and everybody controls their own
volume. And so it's a nice little fun, dance experience.
One of the major programs that I work on is the LGBTQIA+ prom, which occurs once a year. The last two years it's been on hold, because of the pandemic. But this year, it's coming back, it's
going to be on June 4, and it's open to area youth ages 13 to 20. So they get to experience the
museum in a fun, safe way, and it's just did a really great dance party for area q***r youth.

Question 2: Can you talk about what drew you to this type of work?

EV: So I have my BFA from Edinburgh University, along with that a K through 12 teaching certification for the state of Pennsylvania. So in addition to taking all of my art studio classes, I had to do the student teaching and getting certified, and take all the tests and things. I
knew that I had a passion for teaching and working with youth. But it wasn't necessarily in a school setting. I guess that's what I figured out during student teaching, that it wasn't quite for me. I actually didn't really know about museum education as an option. So it was really great. It was a good fit for me to come to the Warhol because it was a chance to be able to actually use this degree, but also have some more autonomy and a say in the programming and what happens day to day.

MW: I sort of stumbled into museum work. I went to undergrad and grad school in a creative field. I have a BA in art, MS in arts leadership. My career prior to my arts career was in social service.
An opening occurred in a museum, in Greensburg, and it was within museum education, specifically programming. I applied, got the job, and realized this is exactly where my fit is. So I fell in love with the work. I knew I wanted to always be in a creative world. Then an opening at the Andy Warhol museum opened up for this position, and it suited me. It sounded perfect to what all of my interests were, so I applied and here we are.

Question 3: What are some of your goals for these projects? What would you like to accomplish?

EV: Thinking back to my youth, (creating) programming that I wish existed, or at least that I knew about.So within our youth programs, (participants) get an idea of other creative career paths, other than just creating art. Although totally fine, if they want to do that as well. But it's also having the museum become a safe space for teens, seeing it as a place where they belong, where they could go to. I feel like places for teens and for students where they can be themselves, be their true authentic selves and be safe, are hard to come by. So that's the main goal when working with these populations.

MW: Creating a space for teens and youth that I didn't have, and we didn't have, we would have benefited from it immensely. And it's nice that we get to be part of creating a space for the future generation of creatives and artists and creative thinkers.

Question 4: What do you hope people take away from your work?

EV: Our students, they come from all different school districts, environments, family situations, that sort of thing. And many of them tell us at the end that they would not have or they wouldn't have been able to meet people that were different from them without being a part of the Warhol programming and I think it is so crucial for them to meet, learn from, empathize with people who are different from them.

MW: For me, it is that there's no one way to be creative. No one way to be and exist in a creative world and work in a creative world. So take advantage of all the opportunities that are available. Just explore and reinvent and evolve.

Question 5: Is there anything else you would like to highlight or bring awareness to?

EV: There’s just a lot happening, now that we’re bringing in person programming back. So it's been really interesting to rebuild this captive audience that we had. We had all this momentum going with the programs and seeing students through all their high school years, and then we had this break. So it is interesting to see how youth are interacting with us and each other nowadays.
In addition to Youth Arts Council, the LGBTQ plus prom, and sensory friendly programs, we do other programs, like a School of Drag in the summer. We're currently working on a DJ Academy so that students can actually like DJ at the prom. We have other printmaking programs that will launch in the summer.
One of the things that we also like to do is to have different commitment points, so for someone who is just learning about the museum, we have drop in programs. So they can come into the museum for just this one event and kind of feel it out. We have weekly programs that are drop in, (whereas) with the Youth Arts Council, it’s a year long commitment, but there is this nice, gradual increase where you can be exposed to more than just the one program or the one event that you come to. We also try our best to compensate our teens for their time, by giving them stipends, gift cards, supplying bus tickets, and trying to decrease the different barriers that might prevent them from being able to participate in the program.

Question 6: Can you speak more about the School of Drag Summer Camp?

EV: We'll be going into our fourth year doing the School of Drag. We actually got the idea from MOCA Tucson in Arizona,from Eli Burke who is like a one person Education Department.
I was able to meet with him at a conference where he presented on the school of drag program that he had launched at his museum. I had students with me that were like “we have got to have this happen at the Warhol, that would be amazing.” So he played a big part in guiding us into how to structure it, and what resources we have. Drag is not my expertise. So there was also reaching out into the community to find professional drag performers that wanted to work with teens. That was really interesting, but it's been such a wonderful program to watch grow.
We've had, in the last three or last two years, the same two professional drag performers come they would teach everything from drag history to (teaching that) there are no rules, you could be ultra femme or sci fi - it's an exploration of gender performance. (They are) coming up with “who is your identity? Is this an alter ego?” character building to choosing a song (and asking) “what do the lyrics mean?” Then of course, how to do your eyebrows, that’s always a really lengthy workshop. But it's just been really great to see how this has transformed. So we have our two main teachers and then there's a culminating performance at the end of the seven to eight week workshop series. Last year we were able to do it in front of a live audience and the first year we were able to do it in front of a live audience. We also have other performers in the area come as well. So it's a nice, well rounded showcase of students and mentors that come together for this culminating performance. We're hoping to launch it again in June or July of this summer.

As we conclude the 2021-2022 school year, we would like to extend a special congratulation to our award winners for all of their hard work this year and throughout their academic careers.

Looking for more fashion? Check out the V&A's current exhibition, "Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear", that shows just how diverse men's fashion can be.

Let's start the weekend in style! Check out the New Romantics who were part of the 80's New Wave Movement. Also, happy birthday to Vivienne Westwood who helped popularized the trend.

We're taking a look at another incredibly influential musician, Prince! What's your favorite Prince song? Comment below.

We're moving on to modern gender neutral fashion, starting with the timeless denim jeans.

David Bowie took androgyny and futuristic fashions to new heights. In addition to his musical legacy, Bowie continues to inspire generations with his groundbreaking art and take on gender performance.