The Queer Arts Festival (QAF)
Produced by the Pride in Art Society (PiA), the Queer Arts Festival is an artist-run transdisciplinary art festival held annually in Vancouver, BC since 2008. QAF brings together diverse, intersectional and intergenerational communities to support artistic risk-taking and incite creative collaboration and experimentation.
QAF aims to create a home for 2SLGBTQIA+ and QTBIPOC artists to present their work and broaden the public’s appreciation of Queer arts and cultures. Our curatorial vision favours challenging, thought-provoking contemporary art that pushes boundaries and initiates dialogue. Each year the Festival theme ties together visual art exhibitions, a performing art series, film screening, literary readings, workshops, artist talks, panels, and media art screenings held at venues throughout Vancouver.
Recognized as one of the leading Queer-mandated arts festivals in the world, QAF has showcased the work of hundreds of artists of all disciplines. QAF’s programming has garnered wide acclaim as “concise, brilliant and moving” (Georgia Straight), “easily one of the best art exhibitions of the year” (Vancouver Sun), and “on the forefront of aesthetic and cultural dialogue today” (Xtra).
Over our nearly 20-year history, QAF has incited dozens of artistic milestones, notably the commissioning and premiere of Canada’s first lesbian opera When the Sun Comes Out by Leslie Uyeda and Rachel Rose; TRIGGER, the 25th-anniversary exhibition for Kiss & Tell’s notorious Drawing the Line project; Jeremy Dutcher’s first full-length Vancouver concert; Cris Derksen’s monumental Orchestral Powwow; and the award-winning premiere of the play Camera Obscura (hungry ghosts), Lesley Ewen’s fantastical reimagining of multimedia titan Paul Wong’s early career.
To learn more and view work from previous years’ Festivals, visit our archives.
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