Category: Event Archives

These are the archives of the past events that were done through the Event Calendar plugin.

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 in turn, they expose the issues of historical extermination of Two-Spirit people, the lack of alternative aboriginal sexuality and gender in contemporary Western culture/media, the Two-Spirit movement and future as a part of the reclamation of Two-Spirit identity and practice. — Adrian Stimson

Read Adrian’s curatorial statement HERE

This exhibit runs from Saturday June 17th to Wednesday June 28th. We then celebrate on June 29th with our Glitter is Forever: Queeraoke Closing Party.

Curated Artists:

Ahasiw Maskegon-Iskwew
Aiyyana Maracle
Barry Ace
Cease Wyss
Dayna Danger
George Littlechild
Jessie Short
John Powell
Michelle Sylliboy
Mike MacDonald
Raven John
Richard Heikkilä-Sawan
Robert Houle
Rosalie Favell
Thirza Cuthand
Ursula Johnson
Vanessa Dion Fletcher
Wanda Nanibush

*The term “Two-Spirit” is used by many Indigenous people to describe their gender, sexual and spiritual identity—often inclusive of all LGBTQ+—in reclaiming and restoring traditional Indigenous concepts suppressed by colonial heteronormativity.

With the support of

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country. Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier, le Conseil a investi 153 millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays.

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 is fully wheelchair accessible.

QAF takes place on the traditional, unceded territory of the Coast Salish people, in particular the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ílwəta? (Tsleil-Waututh) nations. We recognize their sovereignty, as there are no treaties on these lands, and we are dedicated to building a new relationship between our nations based on respect and consent.

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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 space for everyone and refrain from wearing scented products while attending QAF events.

Mobility Accessibility:
This event is fully wheelchair accessible.

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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 space for everyone and refrain from wearing scented products while attending QAF events.

Mobility Accessibility:
This event is fully wheelchair accessible.

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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 contemporary art at the Queer Arts Festival.

A big thank-you to Broadway Youth Resource Centre and to Directions Youth Services for being our good friends and community partners.

Not a youth anymore but still want to meet the curator and artists, and talk about the art? Please respect this space, and attend instead QAF’s public Curator Panel and Art Salon on Sun Jun 18.

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 is fully wheelchair accessible. If you move through space differently, we will be ready to assist you.

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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 each other and the land have been directly attacked. Lay of the Land will be a night of learning to love again, through professing our connections to the places we are from, the people we love, and how we do so under colonization. We will be exploring topics such as the connection between our bodies and the land, decolonial love, queer Indigenous sexualities, relationship making, and the wonderful ways reclaiming our spaces is beautiful, messy, vulnerable, funny, and erotic.

Jessica Wood Shane Sable Leah Grantham Molly Billows Samantha Nock

ASL Interpretation:
ASL Interpretation will be available for this event.

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 is fully wheelchair accessible.

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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 online male personas and their personal exchanges with other men.

Presented to critical acclaim in June 2013 at Toronto Fringe Festival, the piece had its World Premiere as part of the WorldPride Festivities in Toronto in June 2014 and was nominated for 6 BroadwayWorld Toronto Awards including Best Independent Theatre Production.

Tickets are now available:

Community Partner: the frank theatre

ASL Interpretation:
ASL interpretation has been booked for the performance on Tue Jun 20.

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 is fully wheelchair accessible.

Click HERE for a full accessibility audit of the space by Radical Access Mapping Project. To learn more about Radical Access Mapping Project, visit their website at radicalaccessiblecommunities.wordpress.com QAF takes place on the traditional, unceded territory of the Coast Salish people, in particular the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ílwəta? (Tsleil-Waututh) nations. We recognize their sovereignty, as there are no treaties on these lands, and we are dedicated to building a new relationship between our nations based on respect and consent.

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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 too!

Workshop drop-in times

The workshop will take place during the 2017 Queer Arts Festival on June 22-25 on a drop-in basis, with an optional (paid) performance opportunity on the QAF main stage alongside Starr, O Show, and Moses Monday June 26.

Please sign up! It’ll help us share information with you about the sessions, about free QAF tickets, and more! Plus it let’s us know how much food to order. Don’t like to sign up for things? Then come anyway—the sign-up just helps the QAF crew deliver more TKO awesomeness to you.

with the support of:

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 is fully wheelchair accessible.

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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 within Queered-Indigenous experience and its intersections.

Premiering commissioned works by Thirza Cuthand and Chandra Melting Tallow.

Panel discussion to follow, moderated by Lindsay Nixon, Indigenous Editor-at-large for Canadian Art.

Tickets are now available:

with the support of

and VIMAF

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 from wearing scented products while attending QAF events.

Mobility Accessibility:
This event is fully wheelchair accessible.

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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 Producer) derived this process of creation from Viewpoints by Anne Bogart. The Grid takes its name from the most basic principle of the process, which is that the participants are asked to move around the space through an imaginary grid. Several other elements are introduced during the workshop that attempt to allow the participants to create from a more instinctual place rather than intellectual. This physical and vocal exploration opens the door to a way of generating material for performance makers that is not overly thought or analyzed but rather is raw, guttural and often hard to explain.

The workshop is ideal for performers who have experience with movement (dancers, movers, physical performers etc). However, all levels are welcome.

Bursaries are available for participants who need them. Please contact Kimberly Sayson for more information.

Tickets are now available:

Community Partner: the frank theatre

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 is fully wheelc

hair accessible.

QAF takes place on the traditional, unceded territory of the Coast Salish people, in particular the xʷməθkwəy̓ə

m (Musqueam), sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ílwəta? (Tsleil-Waututh) nations. We recognize their sovereignty, as there are no treaties on these lands, and we are dedicated to building a new relationship between our nations based on respect and consent.

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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 by an interactive panel discussion of distinguished Two-Spirit and Aboriginal artists and performers who will examine how their identity influences and intersects with their art, led by Harlan Pruden.

Panelists: Harlan Pruden, Byron Chief-Moon, Margo Kane, Richard Heikkilä-Sawan

Community Partner: Full Circle First Nations Performance

ASL Interpretation:
ASL interpretation has been booked for this event.

Substance-free event.

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 is fully wheelchair accessible.

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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 years. She is also an ethnobotanist, traditionally trained in this field by Indigenous Elders. Her work involves site-specific and culturally focused teaching with storytelling as her means of sharing knowledge.

Community Partner: grunt gallery

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 is fully wheelchair accessible.

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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 EDM with eclectic grace. Her music is fearless, intuitive, politically charged and melodic, challenging listeners while making them bounce and nod. Starr is a Juno Award winning producer, one of the 5% of female producers worldwide – a growing populus she spearheads by example.

Orene Askew aka DJ O Show explores many genres of music but remains true to her love for hip hop and R&B, incorporating different beats to ensure you never want to leave the dance floor. DJ O Show is the Head Instructor at the School of Remix and an inspirational speaker who travels across the country to bring ambition and drive to youth.

Tiffany Moses is a vocalist and audio engineer currently living in Vancouver, BC. Inspired by a love of music she has been singing since she was a young girl following her grandfather into the bush. Musical influences include jazz singers such as Billie Holiday and Nina Simone as well as classical composers such as Vivaldi and later trip-hop bands Portishead and Massive Attack.

Tickets are now available:

with the support of:

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 is fully wheelchair accessible.

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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 juxtaposes traditional Indigenous harmony with the natural environment while consequences of greed, causes personal and biospheric destruction. Affecting the living balance of self, community and our planet.

REsolve embodies taking control of one’s own destiny, by challenging our present economic slavery and physiological bondage and poisoning. There are transcendent moments of realization and awakening where one must stand up for freedom, act to determine one’s identity and path.

These companion works consider First Nations world views, however, we are all affected by the challenges physically, emotionally, spiritually, and mentally. The resulting tensions from this juxtaposition of radically opposed world views, is inscribed on the individual and the collective, to challenge themselves in presenting a stand point of view. As one may journey through the commodity exploitation of individual from birth to death. A roller coaster of ideas for the audience.

Artistic Collaborators and Performers: Byron Chief-Moon, Luglio Romero, Jerry Longboat, Olivia C. Davies, Damien Eagle Bear and introducing new collective member Luis G Canton.

At the request of the collaborators: There will be NO late entries allowed for the show, so give yourself extra time to arrive on time.

Tickets are available now:

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 is fully wheelchair accessible.

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Existence As Resistance

Two-Spirit Cultural Placeholders in Art, Activism, and Kinship Jamie Lee Hamilton | Raven John | Tyler Alan Jacobs | Trevor Blackman-Wulff

Prior to the QAF 2017 Two-Spirit curated festival UnSettled; on May 19th from 7-9pm, we will be partnering with the Native Education College to present a Two-Spirit panel discussion with Raven John, Tyler Alan Jacobs,Trevor Blackman-Wulff, and Jamie Lee Hamilton.

We hope that this gathering can ignite further dialogue on the integration of de-colonial strategies within LGBTQ2S+ organizing. Our goal for this event is to address possible roles and methods LGBTQ2S+ organizations and allies can employ to meet the needs of Two-Spirit and LGBTQ+-identified Indigenous folks.

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 is fully wheelchair accessible.

Giving Tuesday

This National Giving Day, please consider giving generously to the promotion of queer arts in Vancouver.

The Queer Arts Festival showcases some of the world’s most innovative minds in a context that allows them to be out and proud, as artists. Every year, the Festival becomes a vibrant gathering place where queers and allies come together to foster and celebrate community through creativity.