Archives of Lesbian Oral Testimony (ALOT) presents They are a Lesbian with Jane Byers and Cicely-Belle Blain

Jane Byers

Nelson, B.C. poet, Jane Byers, “came out” with her 2nd poetry collection, Acquired Community, in October 2016 (Caitlin Press-Dagger Editions). It is a 2017 Golden Crown Literary Society Award Winner for Poetry and is featured on All Lit Up’s Top Ten Social Justice publications in Canada. Her debut poetry collection, Steeling Effects is published by Caitlin Press (March, 2014). Jane has recently published a chapbook, It Hurt That’s All I know (NIB Press, 2017). Jane has had poems and essays published in various literary journals in Canada, the U.S. and England, including Best Canadian Poetry 2014. She is delighted to have her poem, Nothing To Forgive, currently on Poetry in Transit. She is the 2017-18 Writer-In-Residence for the Archives of Lesbian Oral Testimony at Simon Fraser University.

Connection to ALOT:

“After an initial meeting with Elise in Nelson, where she was undertaking some research, I again met Elise in Vancouver at a reading/launch of Acquired Community, which is a collection of lesbian and gay history poems. Dr. Elise Chenier asked me if I would be interested in becoming ALOT’s first writer in residence. I was honoured to accept this opportunity. I am in the midst of reviewing oral testimonies and writing poems in response. These are the poems I will be reading from as well as some relevant poems from Acquired Community. I am also interviewing Daphne Marlatt for ALOT, after having spent a week with her papers in Special Collections.”

Cicely-Belle Blain

Cicely Blain is a writer, facilitator and activist originally from London, UK, now living on coast Salish lands. They run a consulting agency and are a founder of Black Lives Matter, Vancouver as well as a columnist for several publications including Daily Xtra and the Body is Not an Apology. They are also a sub-editor at Beyond the Binary, UK-based magazine for trans and non-binary people. Cicely is the 2017 winner of the Canadian Power of Youth Leadership Awards in Social Movement Building for their contributions to LGBTQ rights and the Black liberation movement. They love instagram, red wine, dinosaurs and painting. This event is free and open to the public.   The address is 268 Keefer St., between Main St. and Gore Ave. The SUM gallery is located on the 4th floor, suite 425.   Transit access: Skytrain: Main Street-Science World or Stadium-Chinatown, bus 22 on Gore, buses 03, 08, 19 on Main, 14, 16, 20 on Hastings Accessibility: This location has not yet had an accessibility audit. – Entrance is street level with no steps at front entrance; – There is a ramp to reach the elevator; – Washrooms are accessible & non gendered; – The automatic door operators haven’t arrived yet but the main doors will be propped open; – Our events are scent reduced; – There is a paid parkade as part of the building unfortunately for now it closes at 7pm. We encourage you to park at EasyPark on Keefer and Quebec or street parking. – ASL interpretation will be provided. Please let us know if you have any requests or need more information.

Bleeding Hearts and Artists 2018

Come party with us on Wednesday February 14, 2018 for our winter fundraiser, Bleeding Hearts & Artists! This year’s live art auction and performances at Bleeding Hearts & Artists is graciously hosted by Bruce Munro Wright. The soirée will feature performances by burlesque sensation Shane Sable and musical trio Parlour Panther and be MCed by the multi-talented Fred Lee.

Bid on artwork by:
Adrian Stimson
Angela Grossmann
Attila Richard Lukacs
Carl Pope
Dana Claxton
Joe Average
Paul Wong

(Please read on for information about the artwork up for auction – Place your maximum bids through our Absentee Bidding Form)

and tickets to some of the hottest art events in the city:
The Cultch
DOXA Documentary Film Festival
Early Music Vancouver
Friends of Chamber Music
Music on Main
Talking Stick Festival
Vancouver Queer Film Festival
Vancouver Recital Society
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
Western Front

plus items from:
Caitlin Press – Dagger Editions
Listel Hotel
Modo
Rosedale on Robson Suite Hotel

If you can’t make it to the event but still want to bid on artwork, stay tuned for Absentee bidding information.

We are thrilled to once again have Tyler Alan Jacobs engage us in a traditional land acknowledgement as this event will take place on the sovereign, unceded lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples.

ASL interpretation will be available.

Get your tickets here: 

UnSettled: curatorial statement

Curatorial Statement by Adrian Stimson, Queer Arts Festival visual art curator 2017

We live in Unsettling times — the world feels under siege, unsafe, tensions between alt-right and social left, neo-liberalism, ongoing wars, Orlando, Chechnya gay purge, the US Republican Administration rollback of civil and gay rights, fake news, mutual assured destruction, resource exploitation, identity politics, reconciliation and on and on. For Indigenous peoples, specifically Two-Spirited people, endurance of these kinds of fears has been going on for centuries, our resilience and continued presence is a lesson for us all, we have, and will continue into the future unsettle the colonial project.

It is more important now than ever before that we speak up, act out and strengthen our social justice systems. We know from history that in times of strife, it is the artists and intellectuals who are targeted first, like conquistador Vasco Núñez de Balboa who put to death male homosexual sodomites dressed as women to the dogs in 1540. Balboa realized where the power of the community lay, and immediately had them rounded up and fed to the dogs, effectively annihilating, silencing and driving the diversity of sexual beings of the Americas’ underground for centuries.

For too long, the absence of representations of Two-Spirit people, art, and being from contemporary popular culture has been endured; it is part of the colonial project, to eradicate, to deny our natural beings, to dominate, assimilate, to ultimately erase our beings and memory from time. UnSettleddeploys artistic and critical discourse to focus on Two-Spirit resilience with work addressing power, representation, sexuality, language, body, tradition, memory, colonial narratives, and knowledge sharing.

This year’s QAF exhibition UnSettledfeatures the works of Indigenous artists who identify within the Two-Spirited context yet also challenge this binary through their own experience and cultural understandings.

To honour the past, we have included 3 deceased artists: Aiyyana Maracle, Mike MacDonald and Ahasiw Maskegon-Iskwew; we honour those who came before us, who paved the way, who took risks, who never failed in bringing their art forward in an often hostile world, we are the sum of them.

In the present, Two-Spirited artistic and intellectual expressions are blossoming; we have an explosion of people and ideas. UnSettledis honoured to present the work of 19 contemporary Two-Spirit artists; Their perspectives in exploring contemporary roles and experiences, as well providing a platform for innovation and experimentation at the intersections between the Indigenous and queer art milieu are a continuum of indigenous knowledge and being.

UnSettledexplores the art and being of Two-Spirit artists, and in turn, they expose the issues of historical extermination, heteronormativity, the lack of alternative indigenous sexuality and gender in contemporary Western culture/media, it is a reclamation of Two-Spirit identity, theory and praxis.

UnSettledis the signature exhibition of Queer Arts Festival 2017. The annual artist-run multidisciplinary Queer Arts Festival is programmed this year by Two-Spirit and Indigequeer artists.

For more information, click HERE.

Sat Jun 17–Wed Jun 28, Roundhouse Exhibition Hall

Queer Arts Festival announces Indigenous LGBTQ+ theme

Explorations of two-spirit identity will take forefront at annual event this year.

Two-spirit perspectives that aren’t often heard will be featured at Vancouver’s annual Queer Arts Festival this summer — and its curator hopes it will open the door for more work of the same theme to be shown across Canada.

In many Indigenous communities, the term “two-spirit” is used to describe a gender, sexual and spiritual identity that often encompasses all LGBTQ+ people, but it’s something that has been stifled by colonization.

The Queer Arts Festival announced earlier this month that its 2017 event called UnSettled will focus on reclamation in the two-spirit world, featuring performances and an art exhibit curated by Blackfoot artist Adrian Stimson.

“It really means that one body, both genders exist. It comes from a more spiritual space,” Stimson said. “These two-spirited people have the ability to stand in both worlds.”

Stimson said when he was first asked to curate the festival last August, the general theme was about residential schools and reconciliation.

“I thought to myself, that is an important part but it shouldn’t be the premise of the exhibition,” he said.

“Indigenous artists have been dealing with those themes for years … I decided to drop the reconciliation part and look at the history of the two-spirit art movement and queer Indigenous theory.”

It’s something Stimson has explored academically, as well as in his own art. He occasionally performs with a gender-bending altar ego called “Buffalo Boy,” who sports a buffalo g-string, disco cowboy hat and fishnet stockings.

Since he is curating art in the festival, Stimson said he won’t be performing as Buffalo Boy. But he has chosen 17 artists whose work relates to the contemporary, two-spirit Indigenous theme.

The artists from across Canada will include Cree painter George Littlechild and B.C.-based artist Raven John.

Stimson said he had a hard time choosing artists, because there are so many who he believes deserve recognition.

Walking Stick by Adrian Stimson.

Walking Stick by Adrian Stimson. COURTESY ADRIAN STIMSON

That’s why, after the festival is over, he plans to look into creating more two-spirit focused exhibits across Canada.

“Part of my purpose in curating this is to actually broaden the scope a bit,” he said.

“Individual artists get recognized and that’s great but I want to, through a series of exhibitions, open it up because there’s a lot of two spirit artists out there.”

The Queer Arts Festival will happen at the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre in late June.

The two-spirit artists breaking down the colonial narrative for Canada 150

UnSettled will feature the works of 17 two-spirit artists at the 2017 Queer Arts Festival in Vancouver

DailyXtra – Mar 24, 2017 – Chahira Merarsi.

After years as a tribal councillor with the Siksika Nation, Adrian Stimson’s life changed when they took the plunge and applied to art school.

“I sort of asked myself that question, as I’m sure we all do, ‘What is it that I want to do when I grow up?,’” says Stimson, who uses the gender-neutral pronoun “they” in tribute to the Siksika language, which Stimson says has no gender-specific pronouns.

A residential school survivor, Stimson says art helped them deal with the trauma of that experience and the history of living on reserves.

“It allowed me to unpack and work through some of those issues that I faced while going through residential school, and the racism within the general public and the world, to create art that hopefully speaks to challenging a lot of those notions,” they explain.

Stimson is curating UnSettled, the visual arts portion of this year’s Queer Arts Festival.

After seven years as QAF’s artistic director, Shaira (SD) Holman decided to hand over this year’s festival to two-spirit curators and artists to coincide with Canada’s 150th year since Confederation.

“It was really important for the festival as a whole, rather than being a settler organization, to just step back and give over the entire curation,” Holman says.

QAF’s director of development, Rachel Iwaasa, says two-spirit curation is important because showcasing two-spirit art isn’t enough.

“We’re working with indigenous partners so that it’s not up to us to decide what constitutes an authentic indigenous, two-spirit representation,” Iwaasa says. “It’s important to us that we’re not the voices represented in the publicity.”

Stimson has curated the works of 17 established, novice and deceased artists for UnSettled in a bid to bring together and honour those who have been part of the collective history and being of two-spirit people.

Stimson hopes the artists’ work will challenge multiple narratives, including settler and heteronormative accounts. “I think it’s something that two-spirited artists do naturally and I think they continue to do.”

Adrian Stimson, curator of this year’s QAF visual arts exhibition, UnSettled. Courtesy Adrian A Stimson

The work of Coast Salish and Stó:lō artist Raven John, whose ancestral name is Exwetlaq, will also feature at the festival. John says working as lead sculptor on Four Faces of the Moon, an animated short film, helped them through tragedy last year.

“It really is life-saving,” John says. “One of my aunts was murdered last year around February and it was a huge blow to our family. Having someone so close be added to this gross list of missing and murdered indigenous women was really hard for me.”

As a younger artist, John says they were interested in making “unreal worlds real through film.” Working on a feminist, indigenous film with a mostly indigenous and femme crew was “really life-affirming” in the midst of loss and the uncertainty of whether there would be justice for their aunt, John says. “It gave me an outlet to know there’s something better coming, there’s something better to strive for.”

Raven John’s painting, Two-Spirit Transformation Blessing, will be featured in UnSettled. Courtesy Raven John

Classically trained cellist Cris Derksen applauds Holman and Iwaasa for stepping back while indigenous artists take the curatorial lead. Derksen, who uses music as a way of criticizing appropriation and reconciling their own identity, will perform their Juno-nominated album Cris Derksen’s Orchestral Powwow at the festival.

Derksen says classical music has appropriated a lot of indigenous work. “As a classically trained indigenous human, I feel like this is a time that we can step up and say, ‘Hey, these are our songs, these are our stories, let us tell the story.’”

Noting their Cree and Mennonite heritage, Derksen says the album is a means of reconciling the various facets of their background and bringing them together in a way that allows the indigenous voice to be “heard loudly and respected.”

Classically-trained cellist Cris Derksen will be performing their album Cris Derksen’s Orchestral Powwow at this year’s QAF. Courtesy Cris Derken

Most chamber music has a conductor, Derksen observes. “I think it’s time that we listen to the aboriginal people first, so the beat of the drum dictates our show.”

John says that two-spirit inclusion needs to go beyond this year’s festival. “We need to address our histories, and one thing that I would love to see change in the arts community in general is that we don’t have to have an Indigenous or two-spirit exhibition,” they say. “We end up having women’s shows or queers shows or Indigenous shows or, in this case a two-spirit show, and as important as it is to increase awareness, we need to be included in other exhibitions.”

Holman says she’s committed to two-spirit inclusion beyond 2017.

“We don’t know yet that we have the funding  but we’re hoping to mentor more young queer, POC [people of colour], and especially two-spirit people in these kinds of positions so that it’s not just, ‘Oh yeah, 2017 we did this,’ and then we just moved on.”

Vancouver’s Queer Arts Festival to highlight two-spirit and indigenous perspectives this year

Cris Derksen's Orchestral Pow Wow

Georgia Straight – Mar 6, 2017 – Craig Takeuchi

With the theme UnSettled, Vancouver’s Queer Arts Festival (QAF) announced today (March 6) that this year’s Queer Arts Festival will explore two-spirit viewpoints and issues through art.

In a statement on the QAF website, curator Adrian Stimson explains the visual arts exhibition will address the absence of two-spirit people and art from popular culture and that the artists will “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.”

Stimson also points out that homophobia was introduced to indigenous cultures through colonization.

“Two-thirds of the 200 Indigenous languages spoken in North America have non-negative terms to describe those who are neither male nor female, speaking to the primacy of multiple genders and sexualities within aboriginal cultures. Being identified as two-spirit often meant carrying unique responsibilities and roles within the community, knowledge keepers being one of the most important.

“Homophobia came with colonization, as the Urban Native Youth Association attests, ‘The religious dogma of the Residential Schools erased a proud and rich history of Two-spirit people in most Aboriginal communities. As a direct result of the residential school experience, homophobia is now rampant in most Aboriginal communities, even more so than in mainstream society.’ ”

George Littlechild

Several highlights at the festival will provide further exploration of two-spirit perspectives in a variety of media.

Musical elements will include the Chippewa Travellers and the Allegra Chamber Orchestra performing Cris Derkesen’s Orchestral Powwow on June 24.

A poetry and spoken-word event (June 26) will feature singer-songwriter Kinnie Starr, DJ O Show, and Tiffany Moses on June 26.

Online male hookup culture, fuelled by apps like Grindr, will be reflected upon in a dance piece by lemonTree creations entitled MSM [men seeking men] on June 20 and 21.

Dance works by Byron Chief-Moon and JP Longboat with Full Circle First Nations Performance will be paired together at Greed/Resolve, a program focusing on commerce, greed, and disenfranchisement, on June 27 and 28.

Greed/Resolve

Local curators June Scudeler and Lacie Burning, with Vancouver’s Indigenous Media Arts Festival, will present an evening of indigenous film, video, and new media art on June 23.

The festival will be held from June 17 to 29 at the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre (181 Roundhouse Mews).

Glitter is Forever: Queeraoke Closing Party

QAF’s final blowout—revel in community, effervescent refreshments, and karaoke with glitter.

Free, $6 cover after 9pm.

At the Junction

The Junction is a 19+ venue at all times. Proper government issued photo I.D. is required for entry.

The kitchen closes at 10pm.
$6 Cover Charge – BRATPACK : SEASON 3 Showtime 11:30pm

Mobility Accessibility:
This event is 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.

Pride in Art Exhibition

From the roots of the Queer Arts Festival, this open visual art exhibition honours our founder, Two-Spirit artist Robbie Hong.

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.

Art Party! Gala Opening Reception

Art and conviviality converge at the grand opening of our 2017 festival. Performance art curated by Stimson will take place on this night.

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.

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.

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

Vancouver Foundation

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Share