Broadway World | July 23, 2020
Recently referred to as “A Showcase of Resilience in the Digital World”, the 12th Annual Queer Arts Festival (QAF) continues their digitally re-imagined festival through the weekend with headline performances from critically acclaimed artists such as avant-drag collective The Darlings and internationally acclaimed dancer/choreographer Noam Gagnon in his re-imagined This Crazy Show. With high expectations for audience attendance at these performances, organizers have advised to register early while “digital seats” are still available.
Throughout the run of the festival (July 16th – 26th), the global audience is invited to head over to the online QAF HUB qafonline.ca to soak in the arts from the safety of their own queer bubble. The HUB has proven to be a popular hangout with audiences, where they can register for events, sign up for limited edition souvenirs or catch shows they may have previously missed. But with the festival ending July 26th, time is running out to take part in:
● The Curator tour, Wicked: Curated Visual Art Exhibition and the Pride in Art Community Art Show: galleries can all be viewed online at any time throughout the festival. Just head to qafonline.ca!
Mail Out Art! Renounce your allegiance to nation and gender borders at Elektra KB‘s “Cathara Autonomous Territory” digital checkpoint. Part of the Curated Visual Art Exhibit, visit catcheckpoint.digital and sign up for a limited edition free C.A.T Stateless passport to be mailed to your home. Exclusive to QAF attendees: apply online ends on July 26th!
The WICKED-ness wraps up on closing night July 26th with our Glitter Is Forever: Pajama Party, the final marathon binge of the performances featured throughout the 2020 Queer Arts Festival!
Glitter is Forever: Pajama Party Program Schedule
QAF’s Closing Binge-fest | Sunday July 26, 4PM – 1 AM
Get your dress jammies on and grab a drink(s) for the binge-worthy worldwide broadcast of the entire Queer Arts Festival! With guest hosts and surprises, Pajama Party attendees have one last chance to feast their senses on all the stellar performances of our featured 2020 artists and Interact with friends on the QAF online HUB!
Binge-fest Part 1: Readings and Conversations | 4:00-7:00PM (PST)
● Underground Absolute Fiction: An immersive play-meets-punk-concert, inspired by the Polish “home theatre.” Written by Anais West and co-produced by Queer Arts Festival and The Frank Theatre.
● A Night of Storytelling: Curated by Danny Ramadan, readings by local, national, and international writers.
● A Conversation on Queer Mentorship: Hiromi Goto and Erica Isomura explore the nuances of intergenerational mentorship as queer POC writers.
Booty Break: DJ Set from DJ O Show | 7:00-8:00PM (PST)
Things are just getting warmed up at the Party, so let’s have a stretch, shall we? DJ O Show will get your PJ’s playful with an hour of high energy dance!
Binge-fest Part 2: Burlesque, Drag, and Dance | 8:00-11:00PM (PST)
● Too Spirited: Embrace your too-muchness with bombastic burlesque brought to you by the badass babes of Virago Nation.
● The Darlings, Uncensored: Experience the unexpected with genre-bending non-binary avant-drag collective, The Darlings: Continental Breakfast, PM, Rose Butch, and Maiden China.
● This Crazy Show: In his Swan Song, contemporary dance legend Noam Gagnon sashays the fine line between pain and pleasure in a fetishization of something glamorous and beautifully twisted: a monster beautified.
Binge-fest Part 3: Midnight Movies: VIVO Media Art Screenings | 11:00 – 1:00AM (PST)
● Rupture Probe: Recent queer shorts rupture normative notions of gender, pleasure, and activism.
- Return to Sodom North: 90s Queer Video Out & Uncensored. Time travel with the Vancouver Queer media artists who raged back against the malignment and suppression of queer lived realities and representations of desire. Curated in partnership with VIVO Media Arts Centre.