“Instead of ‘Coming Out’, What If We ‘Go In’ First?” Echoes Recap: Pride, Reflection, and the Power of Stillness

In celebration of Pride Month, Echoes Beyond: Queer Creators, Hidden Voices, and Global Resonance was held in Los Angeles in June 2025. The event was co-hosted by composer/vocalist Yuwan Zhang and The Night Temple. It brought together a powerful lineup of queer professionals from across the entertainment industry, and focused on how identity and queerness shape creative work, healing practices, and personal growth.

The panel featured composer Freya Berkhout, composer/writer/director Oscar Pan, and actor/director Larryjean Powell. Their conversation centered on three guiding questions: how individuals come to understand their identities, how queer artists maintain their creative voices, and how a supportive environment can be built for those who are not yet able to speak for themselves. The discussion unfolded with honesty, insight, and deep emotional presence.

The event also marked the launch of Parallel Voices, a new interview series created by Yuwan Zhang. This series focuses on emerging composers and sound artists, and its goal is to share stories that are often overlooked in mainstream spaces. These stories reveal the complex emotional and creative processes behind artistic growth.

Oscar Pan, Composer/Writer/Director

Freya Berkhout, Composer

Larryjean Powell, Actor/Director

One of the most resonant moments came from Larryjean Powell, who said, “Instead of coming out, what if we ‘going in’ first?” Rather than prioritizing external visibility, they spoke about the importance of turning inward and building a sense of safety and self-awareness before opening up to the outside world. Oscar Pan reflected on the role of adversity in shaping an artist’s path. He shared that all the challenges he has faced became turning points. His recent autobiographical film explores his relationship with his mother, and the project reveals how vulnerability and compassion can become sources of strength and creativity. Freya Berkhout offered a message of personal responsibility and care. She reminded the audience that we are the first ones to heal ourselves, and honor our own voices first. Her work invites others to experience sound as a space for tenderness, release, and reflection.

Yuwan Zhang, Composer/Vocalist/Founder of Parallel Voices

Carisa Bianca Mellado, Composer/The Night Temple

Toward the close of the event, the audience was invited to take part in a quiet and personal moment of exchange. Each panelist selected a message to share, handwritten by Yuwan on individual note cards. Among the messages were reflections such as: “See all challenges as opportunities to grow.” “Make the time and space to hear your inner voice. What starts as a whisper will eventually sing.” “Be HERE now. Everything we need is in the present moment.” To end on a light and joyful note, a small raffle was also held. The audience member holding number 7 was the lucky winner of a special gift to take home.

To carry the spirit of that evening forward, a series of short video excerpts from the panel will be released in the coming weeks. These moments are shared with the hope that the words, insights, and warmth exchanged in that room will continue to reach those who need them. Not just in this moment, but also far into the future. Special thanks to Erv Jeffries and Jesse Barron for their generous support in capturing the evening through photography and videography. Because of their care, the voices shared in this space will continue to echo far beyond it.

Echoes Beyond was more than a panel. It became a space for presence, deep resonance, and collective truth-telling. It reminded everyone that pride is not only about visibility or celebration, but about turning inward, creating space for one another, and honoring identity as a source of strength, clarity, and transformation.

Yuwan with Erv Jeffries, Composer/Photographer

The Night Temple and Jesse Barron, Videographer

Echoes Beyond: Queer Creators, Hidden Voices, and Global Resonance

Echoes Beyond is a Pride Month panel event gathering LGBTQ+ professionals from the film and music industries to explore how queerness, race, and artistic identity intersect throughout their creative lives. Through candid conversations, the event aims to increase visibility, amplify marginalized voices, and provide meaningful resources for emerging queer creators.

June 28th, 2025, 3~4 PM

Los Feliz 90027

Address sent with RSVP through this link: https://www.thenighttemple.com/event-details/echoes-beyond-queer-creators-hidden-voices-and-global-resonance

Panelists

Larryjean Powell, Actor, Director

Larryjean Powell is an infini-hyphenate auteur who plays well with others. They’re a writer and actor on the 3× Emmy-nominated TV sitcom The Ms. Pat Show. For acting, they are a two-time Ovation Award nominee, three-time NAACP Theatre Award nominee, San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Award nominee, and two-time LA Drama Critics Circle Award winner. A multiple Audelco and Audie Award nominee and winner, they directed the 2023 Audie-winning audio drama Pipeline. Their series The Gaze earned 2021 Daytime Emmy nominations, a Webby Honor, and a Micheaux Award. They won again in 2023 for Strong Friend, Let Go. Their debut feature Mother’s Milk earned SIFF’s 2021 Special Jury Prize.

Freya Berkhout, Composer

Freya Berkhout is a Sydney-born multi-award winning composer and creative technologist based in Los Angeles. She began her professional music career as half of experimental pop duo kyü, releasing two records to critical acclaim and winning a slew of awards.

Since then, Freya has been scoring films, television, podcasts and interactive media, notably The Greenhouse (Netflix) and Pillow Talk (Audible). Her scores have been heard at festivals around the globe, including Cannes, Warsaw, Tribeca and BFI London Film Festivals. She is a graduate of Sydney University, the Australian Film Television and Radio School, and has a Masters in Computational Art from Goldsmiths, University of London. Freya returned to the world of music in 2023, releasing her debut solo album Fruit. She is a 2024 Women in Film Music Fellow and a 2025 recipient of the Reel Change Grant from New Music USA. Most recently, she scored queer feature Ride or Die, which premiered in competition at Tribeca in June.

Freya’s passion is to manifest profound, emotional, thought-provoking experiences, creating sonic worlds that span the dark and enigmatic to the delicate, exquisite and transcendental. She revels in bold, celebratory intersectional feminist and queer narratives and perspectives.

Oscar Pan, Composer, Writer, Director

Born in Guangzhou, China in 1997, Oscar Pan is an LA-based composer and film creative. He is drawn to cross-cultural collaborations, new sounds, and current topics that speak to our living world.

His recent works include the score for Sonnet Crown for NYC, a poetic documentary about anti-Asian hate during COVID, commissioned by and screened at The Shed in New York City; the score for Motherland, a Chinese LGBTQ short nominated for Best Short Live Action Score at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards; and the score for I Am Illegal, a Moroccan LGBTQ documentary short that premiered at the 2023 Outfest LA Film Festival. 

Oscar is currently working on his directorial debut—a personal documentary about himself and his mother. As an artist, he finds documentaries uniquely compelling for their ability to convey authentic human experiences and amplify voices that might otherwise go unheard. His mission as a composer and filmmaker is rooted in this belief: to educate, illuminate societal values, and elevate stories that deserve recognition.

ABOUT PRESENTERS

Yuwan Zhang is a multimedia composer and an active supporter of the LGBTQ+ community, and the founder of the interview project “Parallel Voices,” which aims to bring visibility to underrepresented creatives by sharing their stories, perspectives, and artistic journeys across disciplines.

The Night Temple is an event and media production company based in Los Angeles that produces music and film events, films, a podcast, and the annual Music in Visual Media Conference.

Erv Jeffries is a multimedia composer and photographer/videographer, who is proud to be a part of the LGBTQ+ Community and an advocate for the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals.