BOFFO believes in art and design as a vehicle of change—a way to improve and enhance the quality of life of our communities and of individuals. BOFFO believes in enabling the greatest creative talent of our time to become powerful forces in shaping social, industry, and community landscapes.
BOFFO imagines a future where our home in the Fire Island Pines serves as both a site of care and a platform—a place where queer, trans, and BIPOC voices flourish, ideas incubate, and artists catalyze cultural and community transformation. Shaping the arts discourse and leading social change from our foundation in The Pines, BOFFO expands its programming across Fire Island, New York City, and beyond—embracing wild, free, and unrestricted queer creativity and connection.
We build with empathy, trust, and accountability.
We ground everything we do in care—for artists, collaborators, audiences, and the land. BOFFO cultivates environments of trust, generosity, and mutual respect, where relationships are sustained through empathy and accountability. Care is both method and ethic: a way of making art and building community that resists exploitation and fosters belonging.
Values are the principles that guide our decisions, shape our actions, and define how we engage with one another. They come to life through the choices we make every day and the way we carry out our mission. Our values are not just what we believe; they are how we work, lead, collaborate, and create impact with artists in the communities we serve.
Difference is not something we include—it’s what makes us thrive.
We embrace queer, trans, and BIPOC lives as a source of strength and transformation. BOFFO’s work celebrates a spectrum of identities, expressions, and experiences—recognizing that cultural innovation thrives when difference is not only included but centered and amplified.
Artists imagine what’s possible—we make that possible.
We place artists—especially intergenerational queer and BIPOC artists—at the center of our mission. BOFFO provides the time, space, and resources for artists to embrace experimentation and pursue uncompromising creativity. We champion work that is bold and socially engaged—art that challenges assumptions, disrupts the ordinary, and catalyzes cultural change.
We weave webs of belonging and creative solidarity.
Rooted in the principles of creative placemaking, BOFFO’s work is people-centered and community-led. We foster social connection and collective belonging, transforming public and intimate spaces alike into vibrant sites of exchange, solidarity, and joy.
Joy is our strategy for survival and transformation.
We honor fun, joy, and collective celebration as methodologies of hope. The dance floor, the beach, and communal gatherings are spaces of renewal—where the magic of queer creativity is felt and shared, and where new possibilities for community and culture come into being.
We trust the unknown as a path to discovery.
Curiosity drives everything we do. We champion risk, play, and creative process as catalysts for discovery. By embracing uncertainty and improvisation, BOFFO cultivates environments where innovation, freedom, and transformation can thrive.
Care for the land is care for ourselves and our future.
Fire Island, our home within the National Park System, is a rare and fragile seashore—alive with the interdependence of people, place, and ecology. BOFFO cultivates a culture of care that invites artists and visitors to move through this landscape with awareness, responsibility, and respect.