Meet Madison Cicchitto | Designer & Organizer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Madison Cicchitto and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Madison, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
Throughout our communities, there are lots of queer artists that couldn’t be more deserving of an audience, let alone a stage. Personally, I think it’s important to at least give these people a damn stage.

So, in August 2024, I started queer&all. Since then, queer&all has evolved quite a bit. It now serves as an organization that highlights local creatives through developing, organizing, and hosting live shows and markets.

The impact of queer&all goes beyond just giving artists a place to perform or share their art. We come together to create spaces where people are seen, appreciated, and supported. Spaces where people feel safe enough to express themselves.

Creating these spaces in our communities could not be more important, especially right now when things are so scary, overwhelming, and uncertain. We need to see queer joy often and openly, it challenges the narrative!

Seeing everyone come together — musicians, friends, family, vendors, allies — building visibility, connection, and resilience is inspiring. It’s community! It’s art! It’s celebration! And it’s resistance, too!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
After a few years of trying to fit into my little corporate sales role, I decided to go back to school and pursue design. I’m still doing that and I really like it. Though now I’ve adopted this mindset where I think most things I do, I actually design.

I design events by going to lots of shows, listening to lots of music, reaching out to lots of bands, talking with lots of vendors, researching lots of local artists, bothering lots of venues, working with lots of local beneficiaries, and, ultimately, bringing together lots of people that I have never met and just kind of hoping it works?

I also design flyers. I love the process of designing flyers. I get so inspired by each event – the bands, vendors, venue, beneficiary – that when it comes time to make the flyer, I’ve already got probably over 50 different concepts worked out in my head. I start by sketching my designs on paper and then quickly move to my iPad, where I draw most of my designs by hand. My favorite part of the flyer-specific design process is all the different versions and iterations that come with it. Then, oh my gosh, I just love to send them to my friends (the ones that don’t judge me obviously), my little sister, and few of the bands or vendors. I love to hear everyone’s feedback so much – good, bad, or indifferent – because, regardless of how people feel about my designs, they interacted with something I made…and that’s so fun for me!

Though I love designing events and flyers, I think I am most proud of my work designing narratives through film photography. Capturing events is particularly meaningful to me because I get to craft how something is remembered. ANd I’m forced to grow every time I shoot film photography because I literally have to trust myself. Trust what I see, how I see it, and what I notice, what I value, what I feel, what I think others feel? I don’t know. But then, the best part, I get to share that perspective with others. Ugh! What an absolute treat!

I think what sets me apart from others is how much I appreciate the experience of designing from start to finish.

I absolutely love the process of designing — creating a concept, curating all the different pieces, and then carefully bringing everything together. However, I think I equally enjoy sharing my finished designs with people. I really look forward to seeing how the things I design make other people feel. For me, design is really powerful because it is based on the choices you make and how those choices are perceived by other people… haha wait, it’s actually kind of scary when you think about it like that…but, oh my gosh! How special!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Well, lucky for you, my best friend is actually coming down to visit me in Long Beach in just a few days here!

Okay, so the plan is I’m picking her up from the airport and we’re actually going to immediately go to Saint & Second for lunch. Like boom and we are sitting at the top patio area. Server comes… like yeah, I’m ready to get started with food and drinks! We’re going to go ahead and get that damn Mezze Plate. And a Saint Tiki to drink! BLESS!

After Saint & Second, we are going to randomly drive to the complete other side of Long Beach and hit Fingerprints Music. Simply the most GOATED record shop ever. I love it there.

Then, wait, what’s that right down the road? Oh yeah!! Tuttle Cameras! My favorite little camera shop. That place is so fun for me! The people are so knowledgeable, approachable, and kind… which I’ve found to be not common in film photography. Sigh.

After Tuttle, head back to my crib and see the vibes? I like to check in on my guests like that!

But then stop by my little liquor store, P&B, like absolutely some of my favorite people in Long Beach are at this damn liquor store! They are too damn sweet. So, luckily my bestie knows the vibe and we each get at least a few little scratchers! And then we are off to Vine. Luckily, Vine is right across the street, so a few cute steps and we are there.

Vine is one of the, if not the best live music spot in Long Beach. They have live music every single night, like genuinely every night. And it is never the same. Like think of a genre of music and they’ve had that and the other genre you were also maybe thinking of AND every subset of both those genres at Vine. It’s so fun.

After a few glasses of wine at Vine, we head next door to Little Coyote for a slice. Or, honestly, probably a whole pizza. I’m almost always going to go with Margarita. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it vibes. Grab the pizza, a healthy amount of cheese packets, and take it right back over to Vine… but now we are hitting the back patio.

Vine has the most ethereal patio. I mean I think everyone has different definitions of ethereal, but to me…it’s a place with ambient live music, string lights, and where I am not the only one there washing down a piece of pizza with a chilled red and a cigarette.

And I think that’s it. That’s the perfect day in Long Beach with my best friend.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I am dedicating my shoutout to Long Beach. Hi Long Beach! It’s me.

I think I need to add a bit of context for this to be meaningful (and also make sense).

Okay, here I go! I had a really weird year in LA, like really weird (derogatory). Long story short, something had to change because my god, it just had to.

So, last July, I moved to Long Beach. First solo move vibes, don’t know soul in Long Beach vibes, scared as hell vibes, what is going on vibes, but also didn’t make a single friend in LA so no one is going to miss me vibes.

I also remember my first night in Long Beach very clearly because there was a whole colony of cockroaches just waiting to tuck me in. It was awesome and I wanted to die so badly. I told myself if I made it through the night without one of those fucks fucking crawling in my damn ear and laying a fucking egg, then I would at least give Long Beach a solid three months.

Oh Long Beach, the way I did not even need three weeks to fall in love with you. It was so immediate and it was so the people.

This past year in Long Beach has been the best? of? my? tiny? little? life? Eh, I don’t know about that. It’s been a lot, but I know that I have never loved myself more, and that’s because of you, Long Beach.

I’ve never known a place to be so kind. So creative. So sincere. So generous. so weird And, honestly, just so chatty? And I mean this actually in the most cringe and sincere way possible, it’s so inspiring to me.
In a world where it is so much easier to be quiet, apathetic, ironic, or nonchalant… you literally couldn’t if you tried, because, Long Beach, you care too much and that’s why I love you.

At Long Beach City College, at my little coffee shops, at the farmers market, at fucking Ralphs, at Place (AYY! Shoutout Place!!), at the damn wine bar, at the really good taco stand outside of Sweetwater (where they hand press their tortillas), at the liquor store, at the Bluff, at the bike shop, at the literal laundry mat, and severely at that old apartment building on the corner of Florida and Walnut… you care too damn much and I love you.

But it’s cool to care because that means you love something, or someone, or some place! Long Beach, you showed me that and, now, I’ve never cared more and it’s scary and uncomfortable and hard, but it’s real and it’s exciting and I’ve never felt so absolutely myself.

So a big ol fat shoutout to Long Beach for caring about me. (And thanks for letting me care about you too).

Website: https://madcicc.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madcicc/?hl=en

Other: https://queernall.com/
https://www.instagram.com/queernall/

Image Credits
Justin Reynolds, Michael Arroyo