Jun 25 | 7pm | Closing Reception | Roundhouse Exhibition Hall | Free | ASL by request
Our familial festivities officially come to a close with friends, music, art — and local drag royalty The Darlings! Take a final stroll through Flavourcel’s CRAWL SPACE, thrill to music courtesy of DJ Ziggy Zaya, and experience an experimental drag troupe that CBC praises as “pushing the boundaries” and “turning conventional drag upside down.”
About The Darlings
The Darlings are a multidisciplinary, non-binary drag performance collective based in Musqueam, Squamish and Tseil-Waututh territory, colonially known as Vancouver, BC. Their work challenges the boundaries of conventional drag, and explores genderqueer, non-binary, and transgender experience through the use of movement, poetry, performance art, theatre, and immersive/interactive installation. The Darlings are Continental Breakfast (Chris Reed), Maiden China (Kendell Yan), PM (Desi Rekrut), and Rose Butch (Rae Takei).
Jun 23 | 2pm | Community Event | Roundhouse Community Centre, Room C | Free
Do you have under-utilized clothes and accessories? Are you on the hunt for some free, fab looks? Get those old clothes out of the closet and down to the Roundhouse on June 23 for our first ever QAF Clothing Swap! We’re looking for clothes that are clean, gently worn, and unscented. Clothes can be dropped off starting at 12:30pm — pro tip: drop off your clothes early and attend our free Curators Tour at 1pm in the Exhibition Hall; then join us in Room C for the clothing swap from 2 – 4pm! Don’t have clothes to bring? No problem, you’re still welcome to join in the swap! All remaining clothes will be donated to PACE Society. All clothing will be sorted by size, and all-gender change spaces will be provided.
Special thanks to Zhanger and Queer Inclusion for their guidance in organizing this event.
Jun 23 | 1pm | Visual Art Tour | Roundhouse Exhibition Hall | Free | ASL by request
Join members of Flavourcel as they give a guided tour of the CRAWL SPACE installation, providing artistic insights and a behind-the-screens glimpse on the nature of working jointly as an experimental animation collective.
ASL can be booked for this event.
Please email ben@queerartsfestival.com to arrange.
Flavourcel consists of 10 artists and animators originally brought together on the Unceded Coast Salish territories that work collaboratively to make short-form experimental animations that entertain the contemporary narrative of what animation is and can be, including GIFs, music videos, installations, print media, and more. Flavourcel is heavily settled in collective decision-making structures and aims to keep the collaborative spirit at the core of what they do. In other words; democratizing resources and prioritizing voices that are not so often heard. Many members are institutionally-trained animators who felt that the path often laid out for many emerging animators exists in the following binary: to be an independent auteur making animations alone in your basement or to join the animation industry. Both of these routes are limiting in their own ways. Flavourcel feels that it is important to re-introduce play into animation; the act of making doesn’t have to be so serious or so solitary, it’s always better when you bring your friends along!
QAF + Vancouver International Jazz Festival
Moor Mother
Jun 21 | 7pm | Music | Fortune Sound Club | Ticketed*
How do you engage the stunning, evocative, haunting gift that is Moor Mother’s latest album The Great Bailout? Only by following the trail of potent verbal and sonic poetry. Only by letting Moor Mother be your guide. Released March 8, The Great Bailout is Moor Mother aka Camae Ayewa’s ninth studio album, and third with ANTI- Records. Called “the poet laureate of the apocalypse,” by Pitchfork, Ayewa’s music contains multitudes of instruments, voices, and cacophony that take on themes of Afrofuturism, colonialism, commerce and collective memory with the forebearers of jazz, hip hop, and beat poetry in mind. Moor Mother shares a program with SUMAC. Presented in association with Coastal Jazz.
Please note this venue is stair access only. 19+. No refunds.
*Note: this event is not part of QAF’s Pay-What-You-Wish Program
DJ Paisley Eva
Jun 21 | 10:30pm | DJ Dance Party | Ocean Artworks | Free
Hailing from the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Nation village of Eslha7an, Ta7talíya Paisley Eva’s been filling local club, party, and festival dance floors with a high energy mix of obscure underground tracks and beloved classics for over ten years. Her choice, chance-taking selections are plucked from house, disco, new wave, pop, and whatever keeps people moving. This free DJ Dance Party is proudly presented in association with Coastal Jazz Society.
Parlour Panther
Jun 22 | 2:15pm | šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énḵ Square – Vancouver Art Gallery North Plaza | Free
Parlour Panther bursts with irresistible charm, expressive emotional chemistry, and exceptional vocal and guitar skills. Frankie and Reidar, a trans non-binary couple, have been creating music together for 10 years. They made a splash in the Vancouver music scene with their 2018 debut Hot Magic, and followed that album’s success with Retrograde, recorded entirely in their home studio during the pandemic, and released to critical acclaim in 2021 on Coax Records. Now, with Saadi on synth and guitar and Jen on drums, the enchanting indie rockers are embarking on a new musical journey with the upcoming album BLOOM, an apt title for a band that’s always growing! Parlour Panther’s free outdoor event is presented in association with Coastal Jazz Society.
A Reading with Phanuel Antwi
Jun 20 | 6pm | Artist Talk | W Projects | Free
Join us at W Projects (555 Hamilton St.) for a public reading of On Cuddling: Loved to Death in the Racial Embrace with critically acclaimed artist and curator Phanuel Antwi. Ranging from the terrifying embrace of the slave ship’s hold to the racist encoding of “cuddly toys,” On Cuddling is a unique combination of essay and poetry that contends with the way racial violence is enacted through intimacy. This event is free and open to all. Presented in partnership with Or Gallery.
Please note: the venue of this event has changed. It takes place at W Projects, 555 Hamilton St.
About Phanuel Antwi
Phanuel Antwi is an Associate Professor in the Department of English Language and Literatures at UBC. In 2022 he was named Canada Research Chair in Black Arts and Epistemologies. He is an artist, curator, organiser concerned with race, poetics, movements, intimacy and struggle.
ASL can be booked for this event.
Please email ben@queerartsfestival.com to arrange.
