Vancouver's artist-run, transdisciplinary roister of queer arts and history, the Queer Arts Festival, takes place this June in Vancouver over ten days.
This year, the festival's theme is rEvolution - a celebration of artists, "who dissemble, push and transgress; art as the evolution of the revolution." Running June 17 through 28, the event will showcase nearly 100 artists and more than 20 events.
Queer Arts Festival / Facebook
Some of the festival's highlight events include:
- Art Party! is the Gala Opening Reception on Tuesday, June 18.
- Relational Revolutions is a Visual Art Exhibition running Monday, June 17 through Wednesday, June 26. Guest curator Elwood Jimmy, "posits a rumination on the theme of revolution and extends an invitation to recalibrate and reexamine our relationships."
- A Night of Storytelling is a literary reading on Wednesday, June 19. Danny Ramadan brings his much-loved nights of readings to the Queer Arts Festival. Featuring Kai Cheng Thom, Andrea Jenkins, Tash McAdam, Monica Meneghetti and Michael V. Smith.
- The Queen in Me is a multidisciplinary performance on Friday, June 21 & Saturday, June 22. Exploding operatic expectations, soprano Teiya Kasahara 笠原貞野 explores the constraints of conventional opera roles and their reliance on gender and sex stereotypes combining original text with Mozart’s Queen of the Night and other classic arias.
- Technical Knockouts is Multidisciplinary Music on Sunday, June 23. Performances by young artists from QAF’s Technical Knockouts music lab, mentored by Kinnie Starr, DJ O Show, and Tiffany Moses.
- Jesse offers Artistic Sign Language and re:Naissance Opera and Landon Krentz on Monday, June 24. A workshop reading of a new ASL Opera that explores Deaf culture, queerness and the rhythms of being human.
- Diaspora is a devised theatre production led by The Frank Theatre Artistic Director Fay Nass on Tuesday, June 25. Nass will work with Vancouver LGBTQI+ community members, addressing their views and the experiences as queer refugees or immigrants in Canada.
- The Wide Open takes place on Wednesday, June 26. It is media art with Vancouver Indigenous Media Arts Festival. Curated by Lacie Burning, this media project puts LGBTQ2S+ narratives fearlessly out in the open with a focus on intersectionality.
- Queer Songbook Orchestra is a celebrated national chamber ensemble on Friday, June 28. The Queer Songbook Orchestra will unearth the queer backstories and personal narratives inspired by music of the past weaving together stories told by local narrators with arrangements by Canada’s foremost composers.
- Stonewall 50: Glitter is Forever, the closing night gala, is on June 28. On the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots that launched modern-day Pride, QAF's final blowout gathers our communities together to revel in a half-century of queerevolution. Stonewall was a riot — now, we dance! Til midnight."
A regular festival pass includes four shows for $79; ticket prices for individual shows are varied. In addition, the ticket or pass price includes membership in the Pride in Art Society.
Individual tickets and festival passes go on sale May 2.
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Queer Arts Festival
When: June 17 - 28, 2019
Where: Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre - 181 Roundhouse Mews, Vancouver
Cost: $79 for a four-event pass; individual event prices vary. Purchase tickets here.
