For over 15 years, the Queer Arts Festival has presented thought-provoking works and performances to audiences that engage and initiate dialogue. Each year is carefully themed and curated. Here is a historical archive of the Queer Arts Festival from its inception.
Past Events
The Ties That Bind
June 1 – 30, 2024 | Queer Arts Festival Roundhouse Community Centre | Malaspina Printmakers | SUM gallery | The James Black Gallery | Or Gallery | Fortune Sound Club | Ocean Artworks | VAG North Plaza The Ties That Bind examines the bonds and complexities of Family, be it...
ArtParty!
Sat Jun 17 | 7pm Roundhouse Exhibition Hall - 181 Roundhouse Mews Join us as QAF 2023: Queers in Space officially launches into orbit! This year, ArtParty! returns to the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre's Exhibition Hall for the first time since 2019. Party amidst our signature Visual Art...
bumfuzzled monachopsis: innerspace out
Curated Visual Art Exhibition Sat Jun 17 - Wed Jun 28 Mon - Fri 9am - 9pm Sat - Sun 9am - 5pm Roundhouse Exhibition Hall - 181 Roundhouse Mews ———— Zandi Dandizette, Curator bumfuzzled monachopsis: innerspace out Free Guided Curator Tour with Zandi Dandizette Sat Jun 24, 2pm Roundhouse...
Cosmic Connections: Queer Indigenous Astronomy (A View From Above and Below)
Preston Buffalo AR works Sat Jun 17 - Wed Jun 28 9am to 9pm daily Roundhouse Exhibition Hall - 181 Roundhouse Mews Augmented Reality artist Preston Buffalo secretly brings the Roundhouse to life with Indigiqueer pasts and futures – including a creation story of how the Cree People originated from...
Love After the End: Joshua Whitehead & Friends
QAF + Talking Stick Festival: a day in celebration of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Artists Sun Jun 18 | 3pm Free cinq-à-sept reception to follow at 5pm Roundhouse Performance Centre – 181 Roundhouse Mews Joshua Whitehead, Curator Love After the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction is an...
Virago Nation Burlesque
QAF + Talking Stick Festival: a day in celebration of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Artists Sun Jun 18 | 7pm Roundhouse Performance Centre – 181 Roundhouse Mews Our day-long slate of events centred on Two-Spirit & Indigiqueer art concludes with breathtaking burlesque brought to you by the badass babes of Virago...
Kiss & Tell Collective: Lesbian Imagery & Sexual Identities
Thu Jun 22 | 5:30pm Or Gallery - 236 E. Pender St. In this community presentation and Q&A, Dr. Kristen Hutchinson discusses the history and impact of the pioneering Vancouver-based Lesbian artist collective Kiss & Tell. Presented in partnership with Or Gallery. Where do you draw the line between censorship...
New Yams Festival
Odera Igbokwe solo exhibit Thu Jun 22 - Fri Jul 28 Exhibition is open Tue-Sat, 12 to 6pm SUM gallery - #425-268 Keefer St. New Yams Festival Opening reception with Odera Igbokwe Thu Jun 22, 7pm SUM gallery - #425-268 Keefer St. Buy Tickets on Eventbrite Register for opening reception...
Sujit Vaidya: Breathe In The Fragrance
Fri Jun 23 | 7pm Roundhouse Performance Centre – 181 Roundhouse Mews Breathe In The Fragrance is Sujit Vaidya's celebration of erotic ritual — of taste, of smell, of song, of dance, of sensations awakened by Jasmine — to make space for the in-betweenness of things to exist. Combining traditional...
Witch Prophet
Sun Jun 25 | 5:30pm šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl'e7énḵ Square - Vancouver Art Gallery North Plaza - 750 Hornby St. Queer Arts Festival partners with Vancouver International Jazz Festival for the second year in a row to present Witch Prophet: the evolution of Toronto based singer-songwriter Ayo Leilani. Think Erykah Badu meets...
Hymnen an die Nacht:
Claude Vivier Retrospective Tue Jun 27 | 7pm Roundhouse Performance Centre - 181 Roundhouse Mews In 1983, Canada’s queerest and most cosmic composer, Claude Vivier, shockingly left this world at the age of 34, murdered by a rent boy in Paris. In this retrospective, we commemorate the 40th anniversary of...
Glitter is Forever
Wed Jun 28 | 7pm Roundhouse Exhibition Hall — 181 Roundhouse Mews Our 16th Queer Arts Festival comes home to dock in spectacular fashion, featuring drag performances by the "only nationally acclaimed All-Asian drag family," House of Rice and music by DJ Bella Sie! Take in our curated visual art...
Cross Cultural Queer & Trans Walking Tours
Jun 19 & 26 | 2pm Queer Arts Festival partners with Cross Cultural Walking Tours in celebration of Pride Month for two Cross Cultural Queer & Trans Walking Tours! Cross Cultural Walking Tours are ‘queering’ their 2.5 hour multi-guided tours to build awareness of the contributions of Indigenous and early immigrants...
Glitter is Forever
Fri Jul 8 | 7pm Sun Wah Centre, 2nd Floor — 268 Keefer St. Join us for the festival closing party at the Sun Wah Centre: three glorious floors of art, plus music and performances by the Queens, Kings, and Things of the House of Rice, including the fabulous Shay...
Queerotica
A night of literary readings Wed Jul 6 | 7pm Sun Wah Centre, 2nd Floor – 268 Keefer St. Berend McKenzie, Curator This year our artists will present works that inspire, provoke, and titilate while exploring the theme, the Masc & Femme We Wear: what are the costs of masking...
Vanishing Act at Centre A: Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art Curator Tour
Sat Jul 2 | 3pm Followed by an opening reception: Sat Jul 2 | 5pm Centre A: Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art - Unit 205, 268 Keefer St. Adwait Singh, Curator. SD Holman, Visual Art Exhibition Creative Director. Our curated visual art exhibition, Vanishing Act, becomes fully realized...
Bijuriya: Gabriel Dharmoo
Tue Jun 28 | 7pm Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre Performance Centre – 181 Roundhouse Mews Gabriel Dharmoo is a music composer and experimental vocalist. Bijuriya is a drag artist engaging with South Asian culture. Gabriel values innovation and risk taking as he navigates Eurocentric artistic scenes. On social...
Reel Eerie
Sun Jun 26 | 7pm Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre Performance Centre - 181 Roundhouse Mews CS Fergusson-Vaux & Ben Siegl, Curators Did you hear that sound? What could it be? A monster, a masked assailant, a man-eating shark, a spectral haunting tethered to our plane, neither alive nor dead...
Adria Kain + Janette King
Fri Jun 24 | 7:30pm Performance Works, Granville Island - 1218 Cartwright St. Queer Arts Festival proudly partners with Coastal Jazz and Blues Society to bring you a night of stunning R&B vocal artistry: Adria Kain and Janette King. This special event is part of the TD Vancouver International Jazz...
Catalina La O Presenta:
Now With Me Thu Jun 23 | 7pmSat Jun 25 | 2pm Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre Performance Centre - 181 Roundhouse Mews A comedy show. A protest. A cabaret. Winner of the 2020 Vancouver Fringe New Play Prize, Catalina La O explores the life of khattieQ and Puerto...
HAUNTINGS: Pride in Art Community Show
Jun 20 - Jul 8 Exhibition open Wed thru Sat, 12 - 6pm The James Black Gallery – 144 E 6th Ave. Opening Reception: Mon Jun 20, 7pm Long regarded as the bedrock of our Festival, the Pride in Art Community Show honours the legacy of founder, activist, and Two-Spirit...
VANISHING ACT:
Curated Visual Art Exhibition Jun 18 - Jul 8 Wed thru Sat, 12 - 6pm Sun Wah Centre 3rd Floor, 4th Floor - 268 Keefer St. Adwait Singh, CuratorSD Holman, Visual Art Exhibition Creative Director Vanishing Act at Centre A: Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art Sat Jul 2...
ArtParty!
Sat Jun 18 | 7pm Sun Wah Centre Rooftop - 268 Keefer St. We’re back! What better way to kick off QAF 2022 than from the rooftop of our Chinatown digs? Stunning views, phenomenal performances, delicious food and drink, and the launch of Vanishing Act, our curated visual art exhibition...
Sun Oct 24 | 5pm Transdisciplinary music performance | Mountain View Cemetery Rising from the ashes of this summer’s fire ban, QAF and Full Circle: First Nations Performance will reignite our Piano Burning event on Sunday, October 24 at Mountain View Cemetery. Curated by SD Holman and Margo Kane, Annea...
