ELLA Costa Rica

In Costa Rica, ELLA Global Community aims to generate momentum and give support to local initiatives that work to promote visibility as well as to empower lesbian, bisexual and trans women, providing them with a safe meeting space, and raising awareness about their challenges and aspirations to advocate for non-discrimination and inclusion of the LGBTI community.

Working with local civil society, institutions and national and international organisations, our strategy in Costa Rica will focus on promoting three key elements: visibility, community building and empowerment.

Read our blog to learn from local women and activists’ experiences in Costa Rica.

ELLA Festival Costa Rica

ELLA Global Community will host the ELLA International Lesbian Festival in San José, capital city of Costa Rica in 2020. The Festival main objective will be to promote visibility of lesbian, bisexual and trans women through the arts, music, debates, and interactive workshops. Read more

Community meetings and events in Costa Rica

In Costa Rica we host monthly events bringing lesbian women together in order to strengthen their community and provide a fun and safe space for them to connect, find support, and discuss their key challenges, needs and demands.

First ELLA community meeting in Costa Rica

ELLA Global Community organised the first meeting of the year in Costa Rica on April 5th in the capital San José. Founder and CEO Kristin Hansen was present, as well as the ELLA Costa Rica team members. Artists, politicians, public officials, human rights activists and leaders of the country’s lesbian and bisexual community took part in the event.

The meeting provided a great opportunity to share ideas on how to involve and include more Costa Rican women in the lesbian movement, understand their different realities, and improve the communication process between ELLA and local women’s organisations.

Our monthly community meetings seek to strengthen the ties between  representatives and activists of the local women’s movement and foster an exchange of ideas, resources and actions to empower the lesbian movement.

ELLA at NÕS Film Fest, San José

ELLA Global Community took part in the first edition of the LGBTQ film festival NÕS Film Fest in San José, which ran during three consecutive weekends from 17 until 31 May 2019.

The mission of NÕS FILM FEST is to promote inclusion and respect for diversity, through art and culture in Central America and the Caribbean. The Festival featured a series of national and international films about minority groups in society, with the aim of generating a sense of support for inclusion and respect for diversity.

Thanks to our alliance with this important cultural activity, ELLA was able to screen on 28 and 31 May the first Costa Rican short film about women who love women entitled Lobas (‘Wolves’) by the renowned filmmaker Patricia Howell.

On 31 May the screening was followed by a panel discussion featuring the renowned Costa Rican novelist Ana Cristina Rossi, and Ana Istarú, lead actress of the same film. The panel discussed the need to create more films and stories about minorities or groups, such as lesbian and bisexual women, that are not usually represented in the mass media, and the disruptive power such a short film can have in openly addressing these issues in the context of Costa Rica, a country characterized by its conservative values.

We will continue to work hand in hand with organisations such as the NÕS FILM FEST that allows us to share ideas and knowledge on diversity, and combat lesbiphobia through arts and culture.