By SD Holman Queer Arts Festival | March 17, 2014Whats new at QAF? We’ve got some exciting news and changes this month, including a job posting, new staff, and exciting upcoming projects. Here’s what we have to share with you.
Art changes people; people change the world
Become a Pride in Art patron. Imagine a world without homophobia — then help make that world a reality. Whether you make a one-time gift, or commit to sustain the festival with a monthly contribution, your tax-deductible donation helps QAF commission and incubate cutting-edge new queer work, nurture the next generation of queer talent, and to celebrate with the wider world the best our communities have to offer.
QSONG
QAF is partnering with Qmunity Gab Youth and the Access to Music Foundation to bring you a 16-week songwriting workshop for queer and allied youth ages 14-24. All levels of experience are welcome!Led by queer singer/songwriters Sarah Wheeler and Melissa Endean, QSONG incorporates recording, broadcasting, and mentorship opportunities, plus a live appearance at QAF2014!Funded in part by:
Initial drop-in Workshops Mar 26, and Apr 30 4-6 pmWeekly workshops May 16 – Aug 9Located at our QAF offices: Gordon Neighbourhood House, 1019 Broughton St. Room 2
SUNNY DRAKE
QAF is incredibly excited to announce Sunny Drake as one of the performers in our upcoming festival season.Sunny has created his own unique style of multi-genre theatre, which he has been evolving since he was a teenaged girl. Sunny has performed in theatres, festivals, living rooms, streets, work places, deserts, schools, universities, basements, backyards & conferences in Australia, the USA, Canada, and Europe. He recently won the Arts Professional Award in the SummerWorks Performance Festival (2013) as well as being named by NOW Magazine for “Outstanding Performance” and “Outstanding Design”. Watch for details when the full QAF line-up is announced later this spring, and visit his website here!“Sunny Drake…is a force of nature. A real-life cartoon. He bounds, jumps, fizzes and cranks his way across the stage, full of pluck and charisma–and we can’t look away.”– Mike Anderson, Mooney on Theatre
COR FLAMMAE – CALL FOR AUDITIONS
Warm up those lovely pink vocal folds and audition for Canada’s first queer classical chorus! Cor Flammae will be holding auditions for classically-trained Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass singers on March 15 and 16th in Vancouver. See www.corflammae.com/auditions for more info, and sign up to reserve your audition time. Cor Flammae is Vancouver’s budding chamber chorus of classically trained, queer singers, performing historical and modern queer content. Composed from the ranks of Vancouver’s top-flight choral ensembles and singers, the choir seeks to reveal the hidden queer heritage often ignored in the conservative world of classical music. Cor Flammae is looking for your support: your donations are needed, and will go towards paying highly-trained musicians, purchasing sheet music, and rental fees for venues and rehearsal spaces. To help Canada’s first classical queer chorus continue to perform queer content, click the button below!
New Communications Coordinator at QAF
Kenneth Yuen joins the team at QAF this month as the new Communications Coordinator. Over the past 5 years, he has worked with various local artist-run organizations including Access Gallery and On Main Gallery.Kenneth comes from a visual arts background and has worked as a project assistant on many projects with video artist Paul Wong – highlights include the ‘5’ project, commissioned by The City of Vancouver through its Olympic and Paralympic Public Art Program, as part of Mapping and Marking Artist-Initiated Projects for Vancouver 2010. Most recently, he was the Kickstarter campaign manager for On Main Gallery’s MIMMiC Project, and SD Holman’sBUTCH: Not like the other girls.We are excited to welcome Kenneth as part of our team, and look forward to the upcoming festival season with him – feel free to contact him at kenneth@prideinart.ca
ROOM MAGAZINE Call for Submissions
Room Magazine, Canada’s oldest literary journal by and about women*, is having an open call for polished unpublished fiction, poetry, and non-fiction on any theme for their upcoming issue edited by Christina Cooke and Taryn Hubbard. Deadline: Wednesday, April 30, 2014
To learn more about page limits and how to submit, please refer to the Submission Guidelines listed on their website at http://www.roommagazine.com/submit.*Room accepts submissions from cisgender, trans and genderqueer authors written from a feminine perspective, regardless of sexual orientation or current identification. Room is presently in the midst of re-branding the journal to reflect that reality. So long as your work features feminine perspectives, they’d love to read it!
Here’s to 2014!