Visual Art Curator: Adrian Stimson
June 17 – 29, 2017
UnSettled is curated by Two-Spirit and queer-identified Indigenous artists, and developed in collaboration with Indigenous arts organizations. The term “Two-Spirit” is used by many Indigenous people to describe their gender, sexual and spiritual identity—often inclusive of all Indigenous LGBTQ+—in reclaiming and restoring traditional concepts suppressed by colonial heteronormativity.
2017 Events
Glitter is Forever: Queeraoke Closing Party
QAF’s final blowout—revel in community, effervescent refreshments, and karaoke with glitter. Free, $6 cover after 9pm. At the Junction The Junction is a 19+ venue at all times. Proper government issued photo I.D. is required for entry. The kitchen closes at 10pm. $6 Cover Charge – BRATPACK : SEASON 3...
Pride in Art Exhibition
From the roots of the Queer Arts Festival, this open visual art exhibition honours our founder, Two-Spirit artist Robbie Hong. Scent Reduced: This event is scent-reduced. Please help us keep this a welcome space for everyone and refrain from wearing scented products while attending QAF events. Mobility Accessibility: This event...
Art Party! Gala Opening Reception
Art and conviviality converge at the grand opening of our 2017 festival. Performance art curated by Stimson will take place on this night. ASL Interpretation: ASL interpretation has been booked for this event. Scent Reduced: This event is scent-reduced. Please help us keep this a welcome space for everyone and refrain...
UnSettled
Siksika visual art curator Adrian Stimson curates Indigenous work exploring Two-Spirit identity. For too long, the absence of representations of Two-Spirit people, art, and being from contemporary popular culture has been equally embedded in hegemonic practices of colonization. With UnSettled I explore the art and being of Two-Spirit* artists, and...
Curator Panel
Curator Adrian Stimson discusses UnSettled with curated artists Dayna Danger , George Littlechild , John Powell, Michelle Sylliboy, and Vanessa Dion Fletcher . Community partner: Bill Reid Gallery ASL interpretation: ASL Interpretation has been booked for this event. Scent Reduced: This event is scent-reduced. Please help us keep this a welcome...
Art Salon
QAF Visual Art Preparator Lacie Kanerahtahsóhon Burning leads a public salon with local artists and curator to discuss the themes of the visual art exhibition. Community Partner: Daily Xtra ASL Interpretation: ASL Interpretation has been booked for this event. Scent Reduced: This event is scent-reduced. Please help us keep this a welcome...
Youth Curator Tour
with Broadway Youth Resource Centre & Directions Youth Services Curator tour of the visual art exhibition for the younger generations (ages 15-24). You are welcome to experience a guided tour with QAF 2017 visual art curator, Adrian Stimson. Come interact, ask questions about the UnSettled exhibition, stand-back or just observe...
Lay of the Land
A Night of Indigenous Erotica —curated by Samantha Nock Lay of the Land is a night of space taken back and reclaimed for queer and two-spirit Indigenous poets and writers to call back our sexualities. Through 500 years of colonization, spaces to safely express love, longing, and our relationships to...
MSM [men seeking men]
With lemonTree creations MSM [men seeking men] is a dance theatre piece inspired by transcripts of online conversations between men who seek other men. lemonTree ’s Artistic Producer Indrit Kasapi has created a world of electronic beats where music is the omnipotent power, and through choreography, movement, and text, deconstructs...
QAF Young Artist Program: Technical Knockouts
Kinnie Starr , DJ O Show , and Tiffany Moses A female-centred music production, tech, songwriting and DJ drop-in lab for queer Indigenous and allied youth. Open to all genders, all nations, all affiliations. Come hover, hang or create with us. No experience necessary. Snacks and drinks will be there...
Unsettling Colonial Gender Boundaries
Local curators June Scudeler and Lacie Kanerahtahsóhon Burning program an evening of Two-Spirit media art, centering Indigenous experiences of sexuality and gender. Shared and emerging histories are explored through media and performance by Thirza Cuthand (Cree), Chandra Melting Tallow (Siksika), Raven Davis (Anishinaabek), and Kent Monkman (Swampy Cree) to highlight discourse...
THE GRID [a workshop]
with lemonTree creations Indrit Kasapi of lemonTree leads dance and theatre artists through lemonTree’s creation process ‘the grid,’ based on viewpoints. The Grid is a creation process that lemonTree creations has been using to generate their material for several of their productions including MSM [men seeking men]. Indrit Kasapi (Artistic...
Talking Two-Spirit
Join us for an afternoon conversation of what is Two-Spirit and who is Two-Spirit from a pre-contact/traditional context and what is being done today to revitalize these time-honoured ways. Also addressed is how this discussion and work is different from the broader western LGBT/Queer framing. This conversation will be followed...
Artist-Led Afternoon
Site-specific and culturally-focused teaching through storytelling from local media artist and ethnobotanist Cease Wyss. T’uy’tanat-Cease Wyss , Skwxwu7mesh/Sto: Lo/ Hawaiian/Swiss Individual, who is a media artist with 25 years of experience, producing various formats of media art, as well as being a mentor in her field for close to 15...
Kinnie Starr, DJ O Show, Tiffany Moses in concert: Technical Knockouts
Poetry, DJ, hip hop and electronic music by Kinnie Starr , DJ O Show , and Tiffany Moses performing with guests from QAF’s young artist program . Kinnie Starr is a genre-defying artist blazing her own influential trail. self-trained, Starr moves from hip hop to art-pop, folk to spoken word to...
Greed / REsolve
with Full Circle First Nations Performance Commerce, greed, and disenfranchisement are key themes in these two paired dance works by Circadia Indigena - Indigenous Arts Collective . Greed examines our exploitative stock market system and the crippling effects of corporate and personal greed, results of the false ego. This work...
