Complete listings of upcoming exhibitions and events brought to you by QAF 2025: Portals
Queer Arts Festival PORTALS: June 6 - 28, 2025 Festival Theme: Portals Portals are gateways to transformation—liminal spaces of transition, possibility, and change. For the 2025 Queer Arts Festival, Portals explores queer and trans experiences of crossing thresholds, stepping into new identities, and imagining futures beyond imposed boundaries. Presented in partnership with Centre A, this year’s curated visual exhibition also examines diasporic journeys, highlighting the intersections of queerness, migration, and...
ArtParty! | June 21 | 5-8pm | Centre A | Step through the portal and into the party! Join us on June 21 from 5–8pm at Centre A for the 2025 QAF ArtParty, launching our signature exhibition Portals—a powerful exploration of migration, identity, and transformation, curated by Diane Hau Yu Wong and Mark Takeshi McGregor. Celebrate with art, community, and irresistible beats by guest DJ OShow, as we celebrate QTBIPOC resilience and...
VARIED EDITIONS — Curated by Edward Fu-Chen Juan & Cheryl Hamilton | Jun 6 - 28 | Tues - Sat, 12 - 6 | On Main Gallery | Free | Now in its third year, Varied Editions celebrates the diversity of printmaking practices within queer communities. Borrowing its name from the printmaking technique where artists alter individual prints within an edition, the exhibition reflects on queerness as a shared yet...
Night Owl: Erica Roozendaal, accordion | Sunday, June 8 @ 7pm | SUM gallery | Pay-What-You-Wish | We’re thrilled to present the QAF debut of Dutch accordionist Erica Roozendaal. Visiting us from the Hague, Roozendaal shares an intimate program at SUM gallery that includes music by the iconic Pauline Olivieros, plus Erica’s own autobiographical showpiece, Night Owl. This beautiful and moving performance subtly addresses the theme of abuse and growing up...
QAF Community Art Show | June 14 – 28 | Tues - Sat, 12 - 6 | SUM gallery |OPENING RECEPTION: June 14, 5 - 8pm | Free | It's no exaggeration to say the QAF Community Art Show is the backbone of our festival. It was the original event, begun in 1998, that would grow into the Queer Arts Festival as we know it today. The QAF Community Art...
Curated Visual Art Exhibition: PORTALS — Curated by Mark Takeshi McGregor & Diane Hau Yu Wong | June 21 - August 23 | Wed - Sat, 12 - 6 | Centre A: Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art | Free | Our QAF 2025 theme is fully realized in this special exhibition partnership with Centre A: Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art. Curated by Diane Hau Yu Wong and Mark...
Queer Clothing Swap | June 22, 2 - 4pm | Sun Wah Centre, 4th Floor | Free | Looking to spice up your summer wardrobe? Look no further: We’re bringing back our super popular Queer Clothing Swap! Bring your clean, gently worn, unscented clothes over to the Sun Wah Centre on June 22nd and leave with some free, fab looks. Clothes can be dropped off starting at 12:30pm, with the...
Long Live Kings — Directed by Romi Kim | June 22, 1pm | SUM gallery | Free | Long Live Kings is a multi-episode series that puts a much needed spotlight on the vibrant Drag King scene on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples (aka Vancouver). Created as a response to the isolation Drag Kings often experience within drag spaces, this series uplifts the artistry and...