Queer Arts Festival
Erica Hiroko Isomura ‘A Conversation On Queer Mentorship’ writer based in Vancouver. Check out programming at Queer Arts Festival.
https://qafonline.ca/a-conversation-on-queer-mentorship/
Social media handles @ericahiroko (Twitter and Instagram)
ericahiroko.ca
Now in its 12th year, Vancouver’s Queer Arts Festival isn’t letting physical distancing measures get in the way of its programming, as organizers reimagine the festival for the digital realm.
Thierry Gudel, president of the Pride in Art Society, says the festival it puts on is as resilient as the communities it represents.
“Safety is a luxury afforded to few: to those with homes, accessible health care, as well as those who don’t need to protest to have their lives valued by the state. As a result, our communities have become resilient. Queer Arts Festival is resilient, thanks to the passion and dedication of artists, volunteers, audiences, and staff,” said Gudel in a statement.
The festival, which takes place July 16-26, features a variety of performance, theatre, music, dance and literary events, all digitally streamed, with art installations throughout the city.
Festival organizers are also creating a Queer Arts Festival magazine that will be mailed out to everyone on the festival mailing list, and will be available for pick-up at select open venues in the city.
The festival’s artistic director SD Holman says, ultimately, art can have transformative powers.
“We are often attracted to things, things that are written or other things that we already believe in,” Holman said.
“Good art has the ability to cut through that confirmation bias and open you up and transform you to new ideas.”
To attend or see more details about upcoming performances, visit the festival website.
CBC Arts · Posted: Jul 16, 2020 11:45 AM ET by Peter Knegt
As it has with pretty much every cultural event over the past four months, the pandemic has made Vancouver’s annual Queer Arts Festival go virtual — the silver lining of which is that we can all experience what it has to offer from wherever we are. From July 16-26, visual art, performance, theatre, music, dance and literary events will be presented across various platforms, all curated around the theme of Wicked. Wicked‘s specific mission is to reimagine “identity politics, exposing the implications of homonormativity as erasure.”
One major highlight of the festival is sure to be a performance by Virago Nation, a collective of Indigenous artists creating work “through burlesque, theatre, song and spoken word as well as workshops, and community networks rematriating Indigenous sexuality.” Featuring performers Shane Sable, Scarlet Delirium, Sparkle Plenty, Monday Blues, Lynx Chase and RainbowGlitz, the virtual event takes place July 17th at 7pm PT.
“You can expect to see amazing array of different styles, pushing the envelope of the art we call burlesque,” RainbowGlitz tells CBC Arts. “We are all leaving not only our hearts but our own individual point of view on Indigenous sexuality. Get ready for the heart, power and super talent of this amazing group of Indigenous burlesque artists.”
Founded in May 2016, Virago Nation has been on a mission to “reclaim Indigenous sexuality from the toxic effects of colonization” ever since.
“It actually started with Shane Sable wanting to make a community for herself and other Indigenous artists,” RainbowGlitz says. “That’s why she reached out to Sparkle Plenty, Scarlet Delirium, Manda Stroyer and Ruthe Ordare and invited them to come together to talk, attend more Indigenous events and just be with each other on their journey to explore their Indigenous culture.”
“After meeting a few times they decided since they are all burlesque dancers, why not make it a troupe too? From there, they became Virago Nation. Shane posted on Facebook that they were forming a group and look for other Indigenous burlesque dancers, and that’s how I joined the group.”
RainbowGlitz says that “through humour, seduction, pop culture and politics” the group will show that Indigenous women “will not be confined to the colonial virgin-whore dichotomy but design a new dynamic and multifaceted sexual identity rooted in their own desires.”
Like many artists, the past few months have been very up and down for the members of Virago Nation.
“We’ve just been taking it one day at a time,” RainbowGlitz says. “It’s been a little hard to be artistic for myself during this time, but a lot of us have been doing online shows and working on costumes while we have the somewhat downtime. But we all have different dreams for this amazing thing we call Virago Nation, and right now we are still letting the wind take us where we want to go.”
You’ll get to see where it takes them July 17th when Virago Nation show the world the many facets of Indigenous sexual rematriation.
CBC Arts understands that this is an incredibly difficult time for artists and arts organizations across this country. We will do our best to provide valuable information, share inspiring stories of communities rising up and make us all feel as (virtually) connected as possible as we get through this together. If there’s something you think we should be talking about, let us know by emailing us at cbcarts@cbc.ca. See more of our COVID-related coverage here.
Vancouver Sun | Jul 14, 2020
When: July 16-26, 2020
Where: Online and some public art
Tickets and info: Register for events and pay by donation at queerartsfestival.com
Like many artists these days, acclaimed dancer/choreographer Noam Gagnonhas had to take a different approach to his work as the novel coronavirus pandemic has, for the most part, put the brakes on performing in front of live audiences.
Gagnon is one of many contributors to the annual artist-run, multidisciplinary Queer Arts Festival (QAF) that runs this year from July 16 to 26. His work The Crazy Show will be filmed at The Cultch without an audience and streamed July 25 and 26 as part of the 12th annual festival.
The last time the veteran contemporary dance artist did this show was four years ago. It’s safe to say what a difference time and a pandemic make. The artist is now playing to the camera, not the crowd.
Gagnon said the challenge to reshape his work has been “difficult but welcomed” as he said it pressed him to be more efficient with his time and body.
“The show is so tight and feels very strong and direct because now it is being performed for camera,” said Gagnon, a Montreal native who has called Vancouver home for 30 years.
“There is a 2D that creates a coldness and because we don’t have the budget of TV to create this amazing editing I had to really reconceptualize the idea of the images and how this character was pushing through. I am really happy about the changes.
“It’s about the negative space and the positive space, and the timing between. You realize there is something that is transmuted between you and your audience, but it is truly a 2D experience,” added Gagnon. “It was almost like creating pictures.”
The 50-minute solo show Gagnon explains is about a boy who uses his imagination a lot.
“It is the traditional journey of the hero on some level,” said Gagnon. “It is about finding yourself. I don’t know if we advance ultimately but you find your truth.”
Gagnon is one of about 40 artists who are contributing to this year’s QAF.
“First of all I think it is a great fit for the festival because the main thing about this show, This Crazy Show, is truly about the power of imagination as a source for survival.”
Those words ring true when you look at how so many live art events have had to figure out how to keep going during these physical-distancing times.
The QAF seems to have shifted to an impressive mixture of an online and live event. A dozen performances will be recorded at The Cultch and then streamed online.
This year called Wicked, QAF is celebrating “queer traditions of scandal and excess” with visual art, performance art, theatre, music, dance and literary events. Also the usual event program has been replaced bya spanking new 60-page, art-filled hard copy ’zine.
The festival’s artistic director SD Holman says artwork instead of usual advertising has been posted in bus shelters, on billboards and community projection screens.
“There will be some surprises in public art out and about town. And there will be mail art. We’re doing some other mail art aside from the ‘zine,” said Holman.
The multidisciplinary festival’s wide reaching net offers plenty of opportunity for artists to work and for their art to connect and support those 2SLGBTQ+ people who may be isolated by the COVID-19 outbreak without much of a support system.
“From the very beginning, for me closing or shutting down was not an option,” said Holman who is also a visual artist. “Personally, I would like nothing better then shutting down and being in my backyard for a few months, but I have staff I want to take care of and artists who need work.
“What I saw right away is that artists were losing work all over the place and, because where I come from, I think art is really, really important. Art changes people and people change the world.”
While having to reconfigure and remount, work has been tough on every level possible for the long-running festival. Holman points out that out of this weird self-isolating time there have been many moments to build more connections.
“That is the plus side. That is what I talked to my staff about from the very beginning. We’re all very sad, but this is an opportunity to reach a much broader audience and go more international,” said Holman, adding she has wanted to improve the festival’s online presence for some time.
“It really opens things up,” added Holman, who has had the idea for a virtual gallery in her strategic plan for some time. “There are people who wouldn’t necessarily come because they can’t get out of their homes for whatever reasons. So now they are able to do this.”
For the artists like Gagnon this new reality has also delivered some new-world positives and even excellent PR.
“People who wouldn’t be able to come here will still be able to see the show,” said Gagnon. “I think it is brilliant that it has opened the world to my performance.
“This whole COVID (pandemic) for me is filled and filled and filled with silver linings,” added Gagnon, who does weekly online sessions with friends and colleagues around the globe.
“I feel closer to the people in my life, but also with a culture and with a community around the world. The world has become closer.”
Vancouver Sun | Julia Piper | July 15
Info: $20, sidedooraccess.com
When: July 17, 6 p.m.
Info: $20, sidedooraccess.com
Canadian singer-songwriter Matthew Good performs an acoustic set of songs from his expansive catalogue, from his home. This will be an interactive experience, with Matt answering questions from the audience. The evening will be hosted by Dan Mangan.
Where: 639 Hornby St.
Info: 604-682-3455, billreidgallery.ca
The Bill Reid Gallery is the only public gallery in Canada dedicated to contemporary Indigenous Northwest Coast art. On July 16 the gallery opens two new exhibitions: To Speak with a Golden Voice, and Yahguudangang — To Pay Respect: The Repatriation Journey of the Haida Nation. To Speak with a Golden Voice celebrates the centennial birthday of acclaimed artist Bill Reid. The exhibit includes rarely seen artworks, works by Robert Davidson and Beau Dick, and two new commissions. | Housed in collections and museums around the globe, the Haida Nation have identified over 12,000 stolen or sold ceremonial objects, belongings, and ancestral human remains in the last century. The Yahguudangang exhibit showcases more than 1,000 images of such artifacts, offering a look at one nation’s drive to take back its cultural treasures and history.
Where: Online
When: July 17, 7 p.m.
Info: Free, knoxunitedvancouver.org
The Gallo Chamber Players are a Vancouver-based ensemble of early music performers. This free performance will consist of works from the classical era for two violins and cello. Featured on the program is a virtuoso violin duet by Chevalier de Saint-Georges, and trios by Carl Stamitz and Francois-Joseph Gossec. A Performer’s Talkback will be held following the performance.
Where: Online
When: July 16-26
Vancouver’s artist-run, professional, multidisciplinary roister of queer arts, culture and history returns. The Queer Arts Festival (QAF) is recognized as one of the top five festivals of its kind worldwide and has garnered wide acclaim. This year the festival has been reimagined to provide Queer Art from a digital distance, bringing you 11 days of streaming art tours, performances, presentations and more.
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery, 750 Hornby St.
When: July 18-January 3, 2021
Info: Regular gallery admission applies, vanartgallery.bc.ca
Featuring more than 300 works created from 1945 to 1975, the Gallery’s newest exhibit, Modern in the Making: Post-War Craft and Design in British Columbia, is a broad look at the mid-century craft and design scene in B.C. Discover the furniture, fashion, ceramics, jewelry and textiles that defined West Coast Modern living in the mid-Twentieth Century.
Where: Online
When: July 18, 7 p.m.
Info: $19.50, bluefrogstudios.ca
Settle in for a homage to the blues giants including Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Etta James, Gladys Knight, Aaron Neville, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, James Brown, Van Morrison, Jr. Walker, and many more. Features female vocalists Joani Bye, Nadine States, Leslie Harris, Catherine St. Germaine and Amanda Dean, backed by Rob Montgomery and his All-Star Band.
Where: Cloverdale Fairgrounds, 6050 176th St., Surrey
When: July 18 and 19, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
Info: Free admission, greatervanfoodtruckfest.com
This drive-thru food truck festival will feature seven different food trucks each day. Be sure to bring your appetite! Saturday’s line up will feature: Tin Lizzy Concessions — mini doughnuts, Mo-Bacon, Holi Masala, Lenny’s Lemons, Next Gen. Concessions Inc. — Street dogs, fries and poutine, Ford Concessions Inc. — Steve’O’s Fried Chicken, Betty’s Greek Honey Ballz — Loukoumades. | Sunday’s line up includes: Rocky Point Ice Cream, REEL Mac And Cheese, Wings Tap And Grill, Next Gen. Concessions Inc. — Funnel Cakes, The Truckin’ BBQ, Ford Concessions Inc.— Los Tacos Hermanos, Lenny’s Lemons.
Where: Online
When: July 18, 7-9 p.m.
Info: Registration is free. The Package is $55 and includes a home delivered meal and access to the after party, eventbrite.ca
The Indian Summer Festival wraps up their 10th anniversary with a closing party. This online version together is as close as you can to the real thing, and even comes with food! The event includes a concert featuring some of the most gifted musicians in our part of the world, plus a home-delivered multi-course menu by award-winning Chef Tushar of Indian Pantry. There will also be an after featuring DJ sets and a few surprises.
Where: Online and Citytv
When: July 18, 8 p.m.
Info: citytv.com
The sixth episode of this weekly television series features singer songwriter, Dallas Green, who records under the name City and Colour, and was a singer, songwriter and guitarist for the post-hardcore band Alexisonfire. Joining him will be Leon Bridges, whose debut album was nominated for Best R&B Album at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards and won a Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Performance in 2019.
Where: Queens Park neighbourhood, New Westminster
When: July 18, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Info: royalcitygogos.org
The Royal City Gogos welcome you to the Queens Park Craft Crawl at four sites in New Westminster — 127 Queens Avenue, 123 Queens Avenue, 333 Third Street, and 117 Fifth Avenue. Find unique, high quality crafts and support local artists and artisans. All proceeds benefit to the Stephen Lewis Foundations’ Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign in solidarity with African grandmothers caring for children orphaned by AIDS. Shoppers are asked to wear masks, and COVID-19 safety guidelines will be followed.
Where: Online
When: July 21, 5-6:30 p.m.
Info: Sliding scale: $10-$20, must be purchased in advance, eventbrite.ca
Tune into this webinar presented by the Stanley Park Ecology Centre and learn about one of Stanley Park’s most charismatic creatures — the beaver! During this program, you will find out the beaver basics, like what they eat, why they chomp on trees, and the difference between lodges and dams. We’ll also talk about the beavers that live in Stanley Park, and how they help keep their namesake, Beaver Lake, healthy.
Where: Lot 19, 855 W. Hastings St.
When: July 22, noon-2 p.m.
Info: Free, vanvaf.com
Art Masters is an art competition where eight professional artists create a piece of artwork based on a theme. The artists will have just one hour to create a piece using a mystery tool box filled with unconventional painting tools. Audience members can vote for their favourite piece, and the artworks will be auctioned off. Live music and an art sale will follow the competition. This is a weather dependent event.
Event listings can be emailed to Julia Piper: jpiper@postmedia.com
For a complete list of events or to submit your own community listing please visit vancouversun.com or theprovince.com
Vancouver Province | Julia Piper | July 15, 2020
Where: Online
When: July 17, 6 p.m.
Info: $20, sidedooraccess.com
Canadian singer-songwriter Matthew Good performs an acoustic set of songs from his expansive catalogue, from his home. This will be an interactive experience, with Matt answering questions from the audience. The evening will be hosted by Dan Mangan.
Where: 639 Hornby St.
Info: 604-682-3455, billreidgallery.ca
The Bill Reid Gallery is the only public gallery in Canada dedicated to contemporary Indigenous Northwest Coast art. On July 16 the gallery opens two new exhibitions: To Speak with a Golden Voice, and Yahguudangang — To Pay Respect: The Repatriation Journey of the Haida Nation. To Speak with a Golden Voice celebrates the centennial birthday of acclaimed artist Bill Reid. The exhibit includes rarely seen artworks, works by Robert Davidson and Beau Dick, and two new commissions. | Housed in collections and museums around the globe, the Haida Nation have identified over 12,000 stolen or sold ceremonial objects, belongings, and ancestral human remains in the last century. The Yahguudangang exhibit showcases more than 1,000 images of such artifacts, offering a look at one nation’s drive to take back its cultural treasures and history.
Where: Online
When: July 17, 7 p.m.
Info: Free, knoxunitedvancouver.org
The Gallo Chamber Players are a Vancouver-based ensemble of early music performers. This free performance will consist of works from the classical era for two violins and cello. Featured on the program is a virtuoso violin duet by Chevalier de Saint-Georges, and trios by Carl Stamitz and Francois-Joseph Gossec. A Performer’s Talkback will be held following the performance.
Where: Online
When: July 16-26
Vancouver’s artist-run, professional, multidisciplinary roister of queer arts, culture and history returns. The Queer Arts Festival (QAF) is recognized as one of the top five festivals of its kind worldwide and has garnered wide acclaim. This year the festival has been reimagined to provide Queer Art from a digital distance, bringing you 11 days of streaming art tours, performances, presentations and more.
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery, 750 Hornby St.
When: July 18-January 3, 2021
Info: Regular gallery admission applies, vanartgallery.bc.ca
Featuring more than 300 works created from 1945 to 1975, the Gallery’s newest exhibit, Modern in the Making: Post-War Craft and Design in British Columbia, is a broad look at the mid-century craft and design scene in B.C. Discover the furniture, fashion, ceramics, jewelry and textiles that defined West Coast Modern living in the mid-Twentieth Century.
Where: Online
When: July 18, 7 p.m.
Info: $19.50, bluefrogstudios.ca
Settle in for a homage to the blues giants including Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Etta James, Gladys Knight, Aaron Neville, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, James Brown, Van Morrison, Jr. Walker, and many more. Features female vocalists Joani Bye, Nadine States, Leslie Harris, Catherine St. Germaine and Amanda Dean, backed by Rob Montgomery and his All-Star Band.
Where: Cloverdale Fairgrounds, 6050 176th St., Surrey
When: July 18 and 19, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
Info: Free admission, greatervanfoodtruckfest.com
This drive-thru food truck festival will feature seven different food trucks each day. Be sure to bring your appetite! Saturday’s line up will feature: Tin Lizzy Concessions — mini doughnuts, Mo-Bacon, Holi Masala, Lenny’s Lemons, Next Gen. Concessions Inc. — Street dogs, fries and poutine, Ford Concessions Inc. — Steve’O’s Fried Chicken, Betty’s Greek Honey Ballz — Loukoumades. | Sunday’s line up includes: Rocky Point Ice Cream, REEL Mac And Cheese, Wings Tap And Grill, Next Gen. Concessions Inc. — Funnel Cakes, The Truckin’ BBQ, Ford Concessions Inc.— Los Tacos Hermanos, Lenny’s Lemons.
Where: Online
When: July 18, 7-9 p.m.
Info: Registration is free. The Package is $55 and includes a home delivered meal and access to the after party, eventbrite.ca
The Indian Summer Festival wraps up their 10th anniversary with a closing party. This online version together is as close as you can to the real thing, and even comes with food! The event includes a concert featuring some of the most gifted musicians in our part of the world, plus a home-delivered multi-course menu by award-winning Chef Tushar of Indian Pantry. There will also be an after featuring DJ sets and a few surprises.
Where: Online and Citytv
When: July 18, 8 p.m.
Info: citytv.com
The sixth episode of this weekly television series features singer songwriter, Dallas Green, who records under the name City and Colour, and was a singer, songwriter and guitarist for the post-hardcore band Alexisonfire. Joining him will be Leon Bridges, whose debut album was nominated for Best R&B Album at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards and won a Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Performance in 2019.
Where: Queens Park neighbourhood, New Westminster
When: July 18, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Info: royalcitygogos.org
The Royal City Gogos welcome you to the Queens Park Craft Crawl at four sites in New Westminster — 127 Queens Avenue, 123 Queens Avenue, 333 Third Street, and 117 Fifth Avenue. Find unique, high quality crafts and support local artists and artisans. All proceeds benefit to the Stephen Lewis Foundations’ Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign in solidarity with African grandmothers caring for children orphaned by AIDS. Shoppers are asked to wear masks, and COVID-19 safety guidelines will be followed.
Where: Online
When: July 21, 5-6:30 p.m.
Info: Sliding scale: $10-$20, must be purchased in advance, eventbrite.ca
Tune into this webinar presented by the Stanley Park Ecology Centre and learn about one of Stanley Park’s most charismatic creatures — the beaver! During this program, you will find out the beaver basics, like what they eat, why they chomp on trees, and the difference between lodges and dams. We’ll also talk about the beavers that live in Stanley Park, and how they help keep their namesake, Beaver Lake, healthy.
Where: Lot 19, 855 W. Hastings St.
When: July 22, noon-2 p.m.
Info: Free, vanvaf.com
Art Masters is an art competition where eight professional artists create a piece of artwork based on a theme. The artists will have just one hour to create a piece using a mystery tool box filled with unconventional painting tools. Audience members can vote for their favourite piece, and the artworks will be auctioned off. Live music and an art sale will follow the competition. This is a weather dependent event.
Event listings can be emailed to Julia Piper: jpiper@postmedia.com
For a complete list of events or to submit your own community listing please visit vancouversun.com or theprovince.com
Vancouver Presents By Mark Robins -July 16, 2020
The 2020 Queer Arts Festival (QAF) gets underway today in a re-imagined virtual format.
Celebrating queer art, culture and history, this year’s QAF takes place July 16-26 across a variety of digital platforms, featuring everything from streaming art tours to online performances.
Among the online performances is Noam Gagnon’s This Crazy Show. The free pre-recorded contemporary dance piece will broadcast online July 25 and 26.
“I fell into this incredible quote from Albert Einstein that says: the true signs of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination,” says Gagnon. “The source of This Crazy Show is about the power of imagination as a source of survival.”
For the 57-year old Gagnon, his survival comes from dancing for 39 years and a desire to create a shift in approaching his work.Advertisement
“I had to rediscover a source of joy, pleasure,” he says. “It is clearly about the power of imagination to survive, as a force of survival or a way to create positive change or transformation in the body.”
First performed in 2016, Gagnon has gone back to the table with This Crazy Show for this most recent iteration.
“I’ve made a lot of cuts,” he says of the revised work. “It is now straightforward and re-choreographed to see how far I could push it. There is a little prologue that introduces the show and allows the audience to follow me through this incredible journey that happens in the performer’s body because it can be so abstract.”
It was also necessary for him to revisit the piece to fit the new digital format.
“It is made now for television, and there are certain things you need to do to hold an audience,” he says. “People are used to commercials every fifteen minutes, so I was trying to see how far I could maintain the focus. How could I manipulate it to keep them involved, engaged and curious.”
As an artist, Gagnon admits to being easily distracted and unfocused. It was another reason he felt the need to condense the work.
“It helped me be impartial about not having an attachment to the performance itself,” he explains. “It had to be viewed as if I was wearing a hat from the outside because it was not about me; it is about whether I am communicating what I am trying to do. I loved the process. Right from the start, it forced me to look it not from how I felt but what was needed. And that was fun.”
Gagnon also says one of the silver linings in going virtual is the potential to reach a broader audience.
“I love the fact that this show may find access for someone who could never be at the theatre or even in this city,” he says. “I love the fact communities are extending, and the piece is expanding now to communities may not have been able to be in Vancouver at the time of the showing. Maybe it will have an impact on someone, somewhere else in the world. ”
While This Crazy Show is billed as his “swan song,” Gagnon isn’t ruling out a return to dance should the right project come along. For now, though, he is content to share his knowledge and experience with a new generation of dancers.
“I don’t think you can leave something,” he says. “I can’t leave dance, but there is the reality that I am 57, and I’m rare for someone to be able to do what I am doing physically. I’m doing very well physically, but I have to think about the reality of the body. There is a cost.”
Going forward, Gagnon will re-focus his energy on helping younger dancers take the spotlight.
“I’ve had a great career and the countless experiences I have had are something I can pass on, something that I can share,” he says. “I’m truly loving being able to do both, but there is a reality, and I need to embrace it. Their bodies are way more resilient and willing to push themselves.”
For now, though, Gagnon is looking forward to presenting a show he calls “a little diamond in the rough.”
“In the rough, because it is like life, it’s not always polished,” he concludes. “Sometimes, it needs to be polished, and it is a metaphor for life. I hope people will see themselves in it.”
For more information on This Crazy Show and other performances and events at the 2020 Queer Arts Festival, visit queerartsfestival.com.
Georgia Straight | July 16, 2020
free or by donation
Virtual/Online, FestivalsBUY TICKETSWEBSITE
QAF’s opening: Luxuriate in a cinq-à-sept afternoon delight to come together with visual art curator Jonny Sopotiuk, Wicked Visual Art tour w/ guest artists, and a gallery of intimate friends old and new. Wonderfully Wicked
Vancouver Sun, Dana Gee | Jul 14, 2020
When: July 16-26, 2020
Where: Online and some public art
Tickets and info: Register for events and pay by donation at queerartsfestival.com
Like many artists these days, acclaimed dancer/choreographer Noam Gagnonhas had to take a different approach to his work as the novel coronavirus pandemic has, for the most part, put the brakes on performing in front of live audiences.
Gagnon is one of many contributors to the annual artist-run, multidisciplinary Queer Arts Festival (QAF) that runs this year from July 16 to 26. His work The Crazy Show will be filmed at The Cultch without an audience and streamed July 25 and 26 as part of the 12th annual festival.
The last time the veteran contemporary dance artist did this show was four years ago. It’s safe to say what a difference time and a pandemic make. The artist is now playing to the camera, not the crowd.
Gagnon said the challenge to reshape his work has been “difficult but welcomed” as he said it pressed him to be more efficient with his time and body.
“The show is so tight and feels very strong and direct because now it is being performed for camera,” said Gagnon, a Montreal native who has called Vancouver home for 30 years.
“There is a 2D that creates a coldness and because we don’t have the budget of TV to create this amazing editing I had to really reconceptualize the idea of the images and how this character was pushing through. I am really happy about the changes.
“It’s about the negative space and the positive space, and the timing between. You realize there is something that is transmuted between you and your audience, but it is truly a 2D experience,” added Gagnon. “It was almost like creating pictures.”
The 50-minute solo show Gagnon explains is about a boy who uses his imagination a lot.
“It is the traditional journey of the hero on some level,” said Gagnon. “It is about finding yourself. I don’t know if we advance ultimately but you find your truth.”
Gagnon is one of about 40 artists who are contributing to this year’s QAF.
“First of all I think it is a great fit for the festival because the main thing about this show, This Crazy Show, is truly about the power of imagination as a source for survival.”
Those words ring true when you look at how so many live art events have had to figure out how to keep going during these physical-distancing times.
The QAF seems to have shifted to an impressive mixture of an online and live event. A dozen performances will be recorded at The Cultch and then streamed online.
This year called Wicked, QAF is celebrating “queer traditions of scandal and excess” with visual art, performance art, theatre, music, dance and literary events. Also the usual event program has been replaced bya spanking new 60-page, art-filled hard copy ’zine.
The festival’s artistic director SD Holman says artwork instead of usual advertising has been posted in bus shelters, on billboards and community projection screens.
“There will be some surprises in public art out and about town. And there will be mail art. We’re doing some other mail art aside from the ‘zine,” said Holman.
The multidisciplinary festival’s wide reaching net offers plenty of opportunity for artists to work and for their art to connect and support those 2SLGBTQ+ people who may be isolated by the COVID-19 outbreak without much of a support system.
“From the very beginning, for me closing or shutting down was not an option,” said Holman who is also a visual artist. “Personally, I would like nothing better then shutting down and being in my backyard for a few months, but I have staff I want to take care of and artists who need work.
“What I saw right away is that artists were losing work all over the place and, because where I come from, I think art is really, really important. Art changes people and people change the world.”
While having to reconfigure and remount, work has been tough on every level possible for the long-running festival. Holman points out that out of this weird self-isolating time there have been many moments to build more connections.
“That is the plus side. That is what I talked to my staff about from the very beginning. We’re all very sad, but this is an opportunity to reach a much broader audience and go more international,” said Holman, adding she has wanted to improve the festival’s online presence for some time.
“It really opens things up,” added Holman, who has had the idea for a virtual gallery in her strategic plan for some time. “There are people who wouldn’t necessarily come because they can’t get out of their homes for whatever reasons. So now they are able to do this.”
For the artists like Gagnon this new reality has also delivered some new-world positives and even excellent PR.
“People who wouldn’t be able to come here will still be able to see the show,” said Gagnon. “I think it is brilliant that it has opened the world to my performance.
“This whole COVID (pandemic) for me is filled and filled and filled with silver linings,” added Gagnon, who does weekly online sessions with friends and colleagues around the globe.
“I feel closer to the people in my life, but also with a culture and with a community around the world. The world has become closer.”
The Bulletin | BY JOHN ENDO GREENAWAY | JULY 13, 2020
#dailyquarantinecomic from March 27, 2020 by Erica Isomura (@ericahiroko)
ERICA There is much about my identity that has taken me years to unpack and articulate. There is something about the act of writing that enables me to share my experiences in a way that I am not always comfortable doing with people in person or at the workplace, wherever. It feels safer on the page somehow.
Back in 2016, I submitted an article for The Bulletin titled, “Reflecting on racism: why race still matters in 2016,” co-written with my sister Kayla and my friends Lucas Wright, Kendall Yamagishi, Elena, and Ren Ito. These were not necessarily comfortable conversations for each of us to have over Thanksgiving dinner with our families, but they were ideas that we wanted to express as young people who saw the way our community had been historically displaced/discriminated against and made connections to the way Black and brown communities were (and are) still being targeted. I could probably re-write that same article today in the context of ongoing police brutality, resource extraction on unceded Indigenous territories, etc.
These days, my writing is more literary than journalistic, but the work comes from a similar place of wanting to use creative tools to connect with peoples’ emotions to uncover truths that are difficult to face head on. The stories that live within me and my lineage as a fourth gen JC and Chinese Canadian aren’t always pretty, but writing can make them accessible and easier to share with others.
How have you been coping with the quarantine? Have you begun the process of emerging into this fraught new world?
ERICA When the pandemic first began, I started creating poetry installations in my living room window, facing the street. Every week or two, I would use various materials in my house (butcher paper, tissue paper, packaging from online orders, pages from the March issue of The Bulletin, actually!) to create a new line of poetry, which was also a “found poem.” Funnily, a lot of those lines were drawn from a phone conversation that Hiromi and I had when the pandemic first began while we were discussing the uncertainties of the coronavirus.
I found it incredibly difficult to write when the pandemic began and I first began working at my job from home. I just had no energy to put into writing about what was happening for the first month, as least, but I began drawing comics in my journal to reflect my strange day-to-day life and this bizarre “new normal.” I’ve eased up on drawing diary comics as I’ve begun to work on writing projects again, but from time-to-time I am still drawing and documenting in that way. I call the series my #dailyquarantinecomic and one of them will be printed in the art zine that Queer Art Festival is printing for this year’s festival. I believe they will be mailing copies to their members and donors.
HIROMI It’s been a struggle to write consistently for quite some time for me. I’m trying to become more comfortable with these periods of fallow. The pandemic has had a dampening effect upon any kind of creative dreaming. Thoughts would jump, it was hard to focus. I feel scattered. But Erica and I arrange writing dates on Facetime. We’d be at our desks in our own homes, and just write at the same time. This helped to tether us into a form of writing. Holding each other accountable made it easier to actually work on something.
Are there any positives that have come out of this upside-down-world for you personally? Have you discovered anything about yourself or the world that has surprised you?
HIROMI In some ways the pandemic has made me and my ex-husband better parents to our adult children?? (You’ll have to talk to them to confirm!) The children are both grown and I think we as parents had grown rather comfortable assuming they were okay living separate adult lives. But the children were both laid off and had more spare time. Their father and I made greater efforts to be in more regular touch, take them grocery shopping and out for walks. This has been a surprising renewal of bonds.
ERICA I was also temporarily laid off from my job in April because of COVID, which means I have had more time to write and live in my creative process, which to be honest, has been pretty great. Although my social circle is much smaller, I’ve become closer to the people I talk with regularly. I talk to my parents and my Popo (my mom’s mom) over the phone more often and my extended family chats on zoom every two weeks. A friend who lives within walking distance of me has become my pandemic bestie, which is really sweet to have. Last year, I faced some difficult personal challenges and so I’m extremely grateful for the people and relationships in my life at this moment.
Do you see the COVID19 crisis and the subsequent lockdown impacting your writing? If so, how?
HIROMI I’m trying to integrate the kind of fragmented state of my mind with some of the photos I’ve been taking. My tech-savvy partner Dana Putnam showed me how I could add text into the photos so I’ve been working some visual poems. There’s something about the materiality of this form that is very satisfying, especially when the long-form ideas are not taking shape. There is always some way to find a shape of creativity. This is good for our mind and spirit.
ERICA There is a folder saved on my laptop named “coronavirus” where I have saved various fragments of writing that have come to me since the lockdown. The piece I am currently working on is about distance, both what we lose and what we gain from having it.
TANYA COMMISSO | SAD MAG | JULY 13, 2020
Shane Sable wasn’t intending to form Canada’s first Indigenous burlesque collective while on a hiatus from her performance career. Yet in May 2016, that’s exactly what she started to do. Virago Nation was born when Sable reached out to fellow members of the burlesque community—Ruthe Ordare, RainbowGlitz, Sparkle Plenty, Scarlet Delirium, Manda Stroyer—seeking connection with Indigenous creatives.
“I was looking for motivation and meaning in the work I was creating, says Sable. “One of the barriers I was facing was not being able to integrate my performance self with my Indigenous self, so we talked about why that was – why none of us represented our full selves as Indigenous performers in that space.”
Though each member has their own diverse story, they connected over their experiences with Indigeneity and colonization as performance artists. Quickly realizing the need for explicit representation in the burlesque community, Virago announced their official formation as an all-indigenous collective in December 2016.
This year, they will be performing for the first time at the Queer Arts Festival (QAF) as part of WICKED 2020, with special guests Monday Blues and Lynx Chase.
Sable says audiences can expect a bombastic show, celebrating the multifaceted nature of Indigenous beauty and sexuality. On July 17, their performance will be streamed on queerartsfestival.com, making it one of Virago’s most accessible performances to date.
“Something that we are positioned to do that other [burlesque] groups aren’t is to open up avenues of accessibility for underserved communities, like Indigenous folks, like people in more rural areas,” Sable says. “The nature of our work is fundamentally political in a way that can only be communicated by folks with lived experience.”
As a happy coincidence, most of the members of Virago Nation also identify along the LGBTQ2+ spectrum, making QAF an apt venue for their work.
“It’s not just that we’re providing representation for Indigenous people, it’s that we’re further providing representation for Indigenous people who don’t identify with the colonial binary of sexual identity.”
QAF has a history of Indigenous representation and inclusion, beginning with festival co-founder Robbie Hong, who identifies as Two-Spirit. It is this history that makes Sable not only proud to perform as part of the festival, but also to serve as the Two-Spirit programming coordinator for the organization.
The Queer Arts Festival’s move to digital in response to the current COVID-19 pandemic has inspired the festival to rethink ticket prices and instead offer admission to all shows by donation. It’s a move that Virago welcomes as they continue to find ways to make their shows more accessible to the audiences who need them the most.
by BROADWAY WORLD VANCOUVER News Desk Jul. 13, 2020
The stage is set, the glitter is dusted and the 12th Queer Arts Festival – WICKED (rated one of the top 3 festivals of its kind in the world) is ready to showcase the best of queer art (digitally-ish) to the world over 11 days July 16 – 26, 2020.
With many special events curtailed or downright cancelled around the globe due to the COVID crisis, this always cutting edge organization upped their on-line game with a re-imagined festival celebrating queer art, culture and history.
The organizers felt it vital that in presenting the WICKED programming online, it should provide the audience as close an actual theatre/stage experience as possible. By registering for tickets on the Eventbrite page and accessing the QAF Online HUB at showtime, the audience can expect to feel in the thick of the action from their own personal “front and centre” seat, wherever that may be worldwide.
From “zines to screens”, #QAF2020 promises a queerly-digital-visual experience across varied platforms ensuring everyone the opportunity to participate in this year’s Queer Arts Festival. WICKED features streaming art tours, on-line presentations of the performances, installations throughout the city, and a hard copy QAF free Zine that encompasses the entire festival with artist and programming notes, behind the scenes commentary and additional art content for the reader. Keep your eyes peeled for the Two-Spirit Public Art Project, Shift a series of posters in transit shelters across Vancouver, and in The Sun Wah lobby, created by interdisciplinary artist Kinnie Starr as well as the Flash Collective out on the Mount Pleasant Community Art Screen Presented in partnership with grunt gallery.
Highlights include the official QAF opening this Thursday July 16th at 5pm showcasing the Visual Art Exhibition: enjoy the visual art tour and artist panel with Curator Jonny Sopotiuk and guest artists as they take the audience through the featured exhibition at The Cultch. Then a new link awaits to take you to the artparty! hosted by Continental Breakfast for an online mingle and closing set by DJ Softieshan, featuring a gallery of intimate friends old and new.
Abandon your alliance to nation and gender borders! After the tour apply online for a stateless and genderless passport designed by Brooklyn artist Elektra KB that will be mailed to the first 500 lucky participants. Enjoy the rest of the festival with your limited-edition passport in hand!
An internationally acclaimed dancer, a minimalist stage and 16 (disco) balls… prepare to trip the queer light fantastic with Noam Gagnon as he presents his swan song performance of the raucously vulnerable This Crazy Show.
QAF proudly welcomes Vancouver faves, avant-drag collective The Darlings with a new performance created around the festival theme of “wickedness”. Expect the unexpected with a show titled “UNCENSORED…”
Virago Nation’s Too Spirited; bombastic burlesque from the badass babes of Virago Nation. Tit-illatingly queer and proudly indigenous!
A Night of Storytelling and A Conversation on Queer Mentorship offer up award winning LGBTTQ+ writers and storytellers. Media Nights with VIVO features back-to-back screenings starting with Rupture Probe sampling queer shorts that rupture normative notions of gender, pleasure and activism and then Return To Sodom North – 90’s queer video out and uncensored (in partnership with VIVO Media Arts Centre). Experience speculative theatre with Underground Absolute Fiction: an immersive play-meets-punk-concert inspired by the apartment theatre of 1980’s Poland; a co-production between QAF and the frank theatre company.
And for our finale, join QAF’s Glitter is Forever Pajama Party Closing Binge-fest; get your best dress-jammies on, grab popcorn and bevvies and feast your senses on the entire line up of festival programs, with plenty of additional surprises and prizes! Interact with friends on the QAF online HUB while gorging on the fabulous showcase of our 2020 queer art and artists!
It is recommended to register in advance for festival programming at the Queer Arts Festival website, ticket prices are by donation.
QAF’s Wicked reimagines identity politics, exposing the implications of homonormativity as erasure. This past decade has seen the mainstreaming of gay; sexual difference wins approval so long as it is palatable, marketable, and doesn’t stray too far from bourgeois notions of taste and morality. QAF revels in the quintessentially queer traditions of scandal and excess with visual art, performance, theatre, music, dance, and literary events!
Events at a Glance: (all times are pacific standard)
About the Queer Arts Festival (queerartsfestival.com)
Homoculture. | July 13th, 2020
Taking place between July 16-26th, ‘Wicked’ includes 11 days of events that exposes the implications of homonormativity as erasure and reimagines the current status quo of identity politics
Even with the current social distancing taking place throughout the world, the one thing that will connect all mankind is art, a cornerstone of humanity that transfixes us all, no matter where and how we live. Queer Arts Festival has planned a production that will surprise everyone and serve as the perfect springboard for the rest of the artistic world to indulge in.
Serving as the visual arts component of 2020’s Queer Arts Festival, Wicked includes the Curated Visual Arts Exhibition and Pride in Art Community Exhibition from Thursday July 16th through Sunday July 26th. The curator of the event, Jonny Sopotiuk, described what spectators can expect over the course of the week and a half:
“Wicked brings together a multigenerational group of artists living and producing work across Canada and the United States as they explore the body, community, and architecture of homonormativity. In 2020 we’re learning to live through a new form of containment during a global health pandemic. Our long fight for recognition and the foundations of community infrastructures that we created to sustain us are being fundamentally questioned. With new connections and intimacy now mediated by requirements to shelter in place, artists critically examine our communities’ oppression and expose implications of complicity in the homonormative systems created to contain us.”
‘Wicked’ unapologetically celebrates queer traditions of the decadent and scandalous via visual art, theatre, performance, dance, music, and literary events in a digital venue. There is a lot to be explored during this extravaganza, with highlights including the visual arts curation of Jonny Sopotiuk, Noam Gagnon’s outrageous piece Swan Song, Indigenous Burlesque with Virago Nation’s Too Spirited, This Crazy Show, and the inimitable offerings of drag divas The Darlings.
What is the Queer Arts Festival all about?
QAF, as one of the top festivals in the world, is organized by professional multi-disciplinary artists in Vancouver, B.C. each year. Known for producing artwork that titillates and pushes against traditional boundaries, Queer Arts Festival weaves in themes that are tied together through a lineup that includes performing arts series, artist workshops, curated visual arts exhibitions, media screenings, and much more. Over the last few years, QAF has achieved substantial acclaim, voted ‘Best LGBTQ Event Event’ in Vancouver in 2019.
The following are three events during the week and a half that visitors should definitely check out:
Art Party! Cinq-à-Sept Festival Opening: It all kicks off on July 16th,, and lasts from 5 to 7pm. Expect a visual art tour that features several surprise guest stars and is headlined by Jonny Sopotiuk.
Too Spirited: On Friday, July 17th, Virago Nation – a troupe of indigenous burlesque performers – puts on a show that explores pop culture, humor, politics, and few other surprises that will dazzle and excite spectators.
Glitter Is Forever – Pajama Party: Get comfortable and cozy at this pajama party that starts at 4am and runs very late, making it the perfect time to enjoy those fancy martinis. The wardrobe suggestions include silk robes, beautiful lingerie, and expect the evening to serve up jaw-dropping performances and visual art that captivates.
Promising to serve up a wild and delicious raucous presentation that is second to none, this year’s ‘Wicked’ is destined to be the uniquely queer multi-dimensional digital experience that leaves visitors thirsty for more.
Curiocity Magazine | Jul 9, 2020
Looking for a fun way to spend an evening next week? Then we suggest tuning in for some of the amazing programming coming out for the Queer Arts Festival. The annual event has gone online this year and has created a great lineup of things to watch and even participate in.
The guiding concept for this year’s fest is ‘Wicked’. Rather than focus on Dorothy, the QAF is using a quote from Oscar Wilde to draw inspiration:
So, this year’s programming includes visual art, theatre, literature, and more that looks to explore how queerness is moralized in society. In other words, how queer artists and folks, in general, are perceived by the rest of their culture or even around the world.
And finally, all of the events are free to check out! Basically, this year’s festival will be as interesting as it is visually stunning, so we highly recommend checking it out.
Posted by MUSKRAT Magazine Date: July 02, 2020
Vancouver, BC—The COVID crisis and elevated racist violence has created an unprecedented situation which has seen many 2SLGBTQ+ people isolated without vital support structures. Queer art has helped keep our community connected during the age of social distancing.
To ensure that this audience can continue to get their queer arts fix, the 12th annual Queer Arts Festival (QAF) has been re-imagined as a festival to be experienced online, from a safe-ish distance.
Not all of this year’s QAF will be digital however, as the Artistic Director of the Festival SD Holman explains: “We are all hard at work developing how our programming delivery is going to look because it’s not all digital. One of the things that was vitally important to us is that not all people have computers, not all people have access to Wi-Fi, free internet at public libraries isn’t available as they are closed… if they don’t have a computer, how do we make the Festival accessible? How do we deliver a festival to everyone?”
Welcome to our WICKEDness! From “zines to screens”, #QAF2020 promises a queerly-digital-visual experience across varied platforms ensuring everyone the opportunity to participate in this year’s Queer Arts Festival. WICKED features streaming art tours, on-line presentations of the performances, installations throughout the city, and a hard copy QAF free Zine that encompasses the entire festival with artist and programming notes, behind the scenes commentary and extra art surprises for the reader!
From a digital standpoint, our 11 days of featured programming, which includes the opening visual arts exhibit/celebration/tour, theatre, dance, workshops and even burlesque, will bring our audiences into the heart of the action with a simple click of the mouse (or tap of the screen). Audience members will be able to interact with each other online while enjoying the show.
QAF’s Wicked revels in the quintessentially queer traditions of scandal and excess with visual art, performance, theatre, music, dance, and literary events and runs 11 days (July 16th – 26th 2020) via our digital hub. Event highlights and tickets (by donation) on our website at (www.queerartsfestival.com).
The Queer Arts Festival (QAF) is an annual artist-run professional multi-disciplinary arts festival in Vancouver, BC., that is recognized as one of the top 3 festivals of its kind worldwide. QAF produces, presents and exhibits with a curatorial vision favouring challenging, thought-provoking work that pushes boundaries and initiates dialogue. Each year, the festival theme ties together a curated visual art exhibition, performing arts series, workshops, artist talks, panels, and media art screenings. QAF’s programming has garnered wide acclaim as “concise, brilliant and moving” (Georgia Straight), “easily one of the best exhibitions of the year in Vancouver” (Vancouver Sun) and QAF was voted Vancouver’s “Best LGBTQ Event” in the 24th Annual Georgia Straight Best of Vancouver Readers Poll (2019).