Tag: Roundhouse

Events held at the Roundhouse Community Centre.

QAF 2024: The Ties That Bind

The Ties That Bind
June 1 – 30, 2024 | Queer Arts Festival


Roundhouse Community Centre | Malaspina Printmakers | SUM gallery | The James Black Gallery | Or Gallery | Fortune Sound Club | Ocean Artworks | VAG North Plaza

The Ties That Bind examines the bonds and complexities of Family, be it blood or chosen, and how Queer communities continue to survive and thrive alongside, within, and occasionally despite, traditional family constructs. From collectives to choirs, from drag houses to dance troupes, from our community art show to the many partnerships we enjoy year after year, QAF 2024 examines the many ways in which “family” manifests itself in Queer and Queer-arts communities.

Full Festival Schedule

Varied Editions

Jun 1 - 30 | Wed-Sun, 12-5pm  | Malaspina Printmakers, Granville Island | Free Exhibition Opening:June 1, 6 - 10pm register Taking its title from the printmaking technique where an artist alters individual prints within a greater edition to create a series of similar, but uniquely distinct artworks, “Varied Editions” brings...
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Queer Eyes, Queer Lives: 

A photo exhibit of 2SLGBTQIA+ youths’ substance use, homelessness, and resiliencies Jun 10 - 29 | Tues - Sat 12pm – 6pm | SUM gallery | Free REgister This must-see exhibition showcases photography from over 60 2SLGBTQIA+ youth who participated in UBC research studies on drug use. These young artists, aged 14...
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ArtParty!

Jun 14 | 7pm – 10pm | Gala Opening Reception | Roundhouse Exhibition Hall | Pay-What-You-Wish | ASL by request register Nothing says “We Are Family” like our annual ArtParty! We kick off our presence at the Roundhouse Community Centre with art, conviviality, and a celebration of our 17th Queer Arts Festival!...
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CRAWL SPACE

Flavourcel Animation Collective: QAF 2024 Artists in Residence Jun 14 – 25 | 9am – 9pm M-F, 9am – 5pm Sat & Sun | Curated Visual Art Exhibition | Roundhouse Exhibition Hall | Free QAF invites the Flavourcel animation collective out of the basement and into the CRAWL SPACE as both curators...
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Stealth Codes

Transgender Augmented Reality and Poems of Presence Jun 14 - 25 | Augmented Reality | Roundhouse Community Centre | Free STEALTH CODES is an exhibition featuring the works of Angelic Goldsky and queer community artists, crafted in collaborative workshop sessions merging poetry with augmented reality (AR). This exhibition explores digital...
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In Our Gaybourhood 

Premieres online Jun 14 | Podcast | Free Welcome, neighbour, to our gaybourhood. Listen to Episode One of In Our Gaybourhood QAF's first-ever podcast, In Our Gaybourhood is a journey through the communities of BC, meeting our neighbours who work towards a world where everyone can be proud of who they are....
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Ayibobo III: 

Little Dollhouse on the Prairie Jun 15 & 16 | 7pm | Roundhouse Performance Hall | Pay-What-You-Wish REGISTER Brought to you by Elle Barbara, avant-garde creator and Mother of Montreal’s Idiosyncratic House of Barbara, Ayibobo III: Little Dollhouse on the Prairie is a work of high-octane performance art, merging dance...
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QAF Community Art Show

Jun 17 – 29 | Tues - Sat | 12 - 6pm | The James Black Gallery | Free Please note this venue is stair access only. Established way back in 1998, the then-named Pride in Art Community Show was the event that started it all. Over the years the...
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Trace Elements:

QAF Film Night Jun 18 | 7pm | Roundhouse Performance Hall | Pay-What-You-Wish register Join the QAF in the return of our beloved movie night with Trace Elements, a stirring program of short films curated by Kathleen Mullen highlighting queer filmmakers who consider the highs and lows of familial bonds. Familial...
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On Cuddling: 

A Reading with Phanuel Antwi Jun 20 | 6pm | Artist Talk | W Projects | Free register Photo: Max Haiven Join us at W Projects (555 Hamilton St.) for a public reading of On Cuddling: Loved to Death in the Racial Embrace with critically acclaimed artist and curator Phanuel Antwi. Ranging...
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Presenting a Trio of Events that Centre Queer Excellence in Music 

QAF + Vancouver International Jazz Festival Moor Mother  Jun 21 | 7pm | Music | Fortune Sound Club | Ticketed* Get tickets Photo: Piper Ferguson How do you engage the stunning, evocative, haunting gift that is Moor Mother’s latest album The Great Bailout? Only by following the trail of potent...
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Curators Tour

Jun 23 | 1pm | Visual Art Tour | Roundhouse Exhibition Hall | Free | ASL by request register Join members of Flavourcel as they give a guided tour of the CRAWL SPACE installation, providing artistic insights and a behind-the-screens glimpse on the nature of working jointly as an experimental animation...
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QAF Clothing Swap

Jun 23 | 2pm | Community Event | Roundhouse Community Centre, Room C | Free Do you have under-utilized clothes and accessories? Are you on the hunt for some free, fab looks? Get those old clothes out of the closet and down to the Roundhouse on June 23 for our...
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Glitter is Forever

Jun 25 | 7pm | Closing Reception | Roundhouse Exhibition Hall | Free | ASL by request REGISTER Our familial festivities officially come to a close with friends, music, art — and local drag royalty The Darlings! Take a final stroll through Flavourcel's CRAWL SPACE, thrill to music courtesy of...
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QAF 2023: Queers in Space

June 17 – 28 | Queer Arts Festival | Roundhouse Community Centre, SUM gallery, James Black Gallery, VAG North Plaza

Futurism and fantasy have always been cornerstones of the 2SLGBTQIA+ experience. What better place to manifest ourselves as the free and empowered superbeings we truly are? For many queer people, the Future is a place where dreams are realized; for others, it’s a vital sanctuary from a present-day reality that does not include them. While “Queers in Space” may evoke cosmic camp and otherworldly voyages (and this festival gleefully delivers both), we take these words very seriously as well: this is just as much a call to explore and celebrate the space we occupy, each and every day; to honour our queer elders on whose shoulders we stand; and to celebrate our future, queer trajectories.

PROGRAMME GUIDE

ArtParty!  

Sat Jun 17 | 7pm Roundhouse Exhibition Hall – 181 Roundhouse Mews Join us as QAF 2023: Queers in Space officially launches into orbit! This year, ArtParty! returns to the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre’s Exhibition Hall for the first time since 2019. Party amidst our signature Visual Art…
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bumfuzzled monachopsis: innerspace out

Curated Visual Art Exhibition Sat Jun 17 – Wed Jun 28  Mon – Fri 9am – 9pm Sat – Sun 9am – 5pm Roundhouse Exhibition Hall – 181 Roundhouse Mews ———— Zandi Dandizette, Curator bumfuzzled monachopsis: innerspace out Free Guided Curator Tour with Zandi Dandizette Sat Jun 24, 2pm Roundhouse…
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Cosmic Connections: Queer Indigenous Astronomy (A View From Above and Below)

 Preston Buffalo AR works Sat Jun 17 – Wed Jun 28 9am to 9pm daily Roundhouse Exhibition Hall – 181 Roundhouse Mews Augmented Reality artist Preston Buffalo secretly brings the Roundhouse to life with Indigiqueer pasts and futures – including a creation story of how the Cree People originated from…
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Love After the End: Joshua Whitehead & Friends

QAF + Talking Stick Festival: a day in celebration of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Artists Sun Jun 18 | 3pm  Free cinq-à-sept reception to follow at 5pm Roundhouse Performance Centre – 181 Roundhouse Mews Joshua Whitehead, Curator Love After the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction is an…
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Virago Nation Burlesque

QAF + Talking Stick Festival: a day in celebration of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Artists Sun Jun 18 | 7pm Roundhouse Performance Centre – 181 Roundhouse Mews Our day-long slate of events centred on Two-Spirit & Indigiqueer art concludes with breathtaking burlesque brought to you by the badass babes of Virago…
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Queers in Space: Pride in Art Community Show

Mon Jun 19 – Sat Jul 8 Exhibition open Tue thru Sat, 12 – 6pm The James Black Gallery – 144 E 6th Ave. Opening Reception: Mon Jun 19, 7pm Long regarded as the bedrock of the Queer Arts Festival, the Pride in Art Community Show honours the legacy of…
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Kiss & Tell Collective: Lesbian Imagery & Sexual Identities

Thu Jun 22 | 5:30pm Or Gallery – 236 E. Pender St. In this community presentation and Q&A, Dr. Kristen Hutchinson discusses the history and impact of the pioneering Vancouver-based Lesbian artist collective Kiss & Tell. Presented in partnership with Or Gallery. Where do you draw the line between censorship…
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New Yams Festival

 Odera Igbokwe solo exhibit Thu Jun 22 – Fri Jul 28 Exhibition is open Tue-Sat, 12 to 6pm SUM gallery – #425-268 Keefer St. New Yams Festival Opening reception with Odera Igbokwe Thu Jun 22, 7pm SUM gallery – #425-268 Keefer St. Buy Tickets on Eventbrite Register for opening reception…
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Sujit Vaidya: Breathe In The Fragrance

Fri Jun 23 | 7pm Roundhouse Performance Centre – 181 Roundhouse Mews Breathe In The Fragrance is Sujit Vaidya’s celebration of erotic ritual — of taste, of smell, of song, of dance, of sensations awakened by Jasmine — to make space for the in-betweenness of things to exist. Combining traditional…
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Witch Prophet

Sun Jun 25 | 5:30pm šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énḵ Square – Vancouver Art Gallery North Plaza – 750 Hornby St. Queer Arts Festival partners with Vancouver International Jazz Festival for the second year in a row to present Witch Prophet: the evolution of Toronto based singer-songwriter Ayo Leilani. Think Erykah Badu meets…
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Hymnen an die Nacht:

Claude Vivier Retrospective Tue Jun 27 | 7pm Roundhouse Performance Centre – 181 Roundhouse Mews In 1983, Canada’s queerest and most cosmic composer, Claude Vivier, shockingly left this world at the age of 34, murdered by a rent boy in Paris. In this retrospective, we commemorate the 40th anniversary of…
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Glitter is Forever

Wed Jun 28 | 7pm   Roundhouse Exhibition Hall — 181 Roundhouse Mews Our 16th Queer Arts Festival comes home to dock in spectacular fashion, featuring drag performances by the “only nationally acclaimed All-Asian drag family,” House of Rice and music by DJ Bella Sie! Take in our curated visual art…
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ArtParty!  

Sat Jun 17 | 7pm

Roundhouse Exhibition Hall – 181 Roundhouse Mews

Join us as QAF 2023: Queers in Space officially launches into orbit! This year, ArtParty! returns to the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre’s Exhibition Hall for the first time since 2019. Party amidst our signature Visual Art Exhibition, bumfuzzled monachopsis: innerspace out, curated by Zandi Dandizette, while enjoying delicious food and drink, gyrating to the spins of the incredible DJ Nea Stone Fox, and celebrating with the Queerdos of our community!

It’s Art. It’s a Party. It’s the best combination of both.

This event is ASL Interpreted.

bumfuzzled monachopsis: innerspace out

Curated Visual Art Exhibition

Sat Jun 17 – Wed Jun 28 

Mon – Fri 9am – 9pm
Sat – Sun 9am – 5pm

Roundhouse Exhibition Hall – 181 Roundhouse Mews

————

Zandi Dandizette, Curator

bumfuzzled monachopsis: innerspace out

Free Guided Curator Tour with Zandi Dandizette

Sat Jun 24, 2pm

Roundhouse Exhibition Hall – 181 Roundhouse Mews

This event is ASL Interpreted.

Featured Artists:
Eda Birthing
Helena St Tearer
JAIK PUPPYTEETH
Judah Kong
Kale Roberts
Kali Fish
Leby Le Morìa
Levi Nelson
Makoto Chi
Odera Igbokwe
Moozhan Ahmadzadegan
Parisa Rafat
Pastiche Lumumba
Rachel Britton
Raven John
Romi Kim, Kendell Yan & Chris Reed

bumfuzzled monachopsis: innerspace out reflects the uncertain times in which our collective world does not ascertain belonging to those occupying it. Our parallel universes of experience, never quite overlapping, seeking out an idealized community, that “me-shaped” hole in which inclusion is touted. A confused subtle space of emotion as the external world points at what we are and who we are, yet never quite where we are welcome to be. 

The present state in which queer artists take up space, share space, and embody the ownership of it. Sharing our inner worlds out visually via developed characters, worlds, or visual language that provides safety in exploring identity or the relation to the spaces around them. 

Zandi Dandizette’s curation asks viewers to “wander the maze of our hearts and open them to the multiplicity of being.” We are not a homogenized whole, but many individuals all seeking that future space in which belonging can be achieved. 

Zandi Dandizette, QAF 2023 Visual Art Exhibition guest curator

Zandi Dandizette is a nonbinary settler-immigrant interdisciplinary arts and cultural worker that likens their medium as space whether 2D, 3D, or 4D. Their work vacillates between focus shifts on identity, dis/connection, and collective problem solving. Zandi’s practice attempts to investigate and share the lessons they’ve absorbed in navigating the complexity of existence by utilizing repeating shape and colour motifs.  Zandi has a BMA in Animation (2014) from Emily Carr University and has shown varied new media and installation works over the last decade across Canada and internationally. They balance their artistic practice with supporting arts advocacy and community building. Zandi Dandizette co-founded and leads The James Black Gallery (2014) which is located on the stolen unceded ancestral lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. They are a current board member of CARFAC National, and chartering member of the Arts and Cultural Workers Union (ACWU local 778-B).  

Cosmic Connections: Queer Indigenous Astronomy (A View From Above and Below)

 Preston Buffalo AR works

Sat Jun 17 – Wed Jun 28

9am to 9pm daily

Roundhouse Exhibition Hall – 181 Roundhouse Mews

Augmented Reality artist Preston Buffalo secretly brings the Roundhouse to life with Indigiqueer pasts and futures – including a creation story of how the Cree People originated from the Pleiades star cluster. Buffalo’s AR images are invisible and inaudible to the naked eye and ear – but revealed when your phone scans a QR code! Presented in partnership with Little Chamber Music. 

Preston Buffalo

Preston Buffalo (he/him) is a Two-Spirited Cree man residing in the unceded Coast Salish Territories in British Columbia. His interdisciplinary practice is centred around exploring personal Indigenous iconography and symbolism through the use of photography, alternative photo processes, digital illustration and AR. Preston’s work is informed by pressing issues faced by Indigenous communities, including mental health, harm reduction, loss of culture and language resulting from displacement and the residential school system. By intersecting traditional material practice with contemporary techniques, his work seeks to challenge viewers’ perceptions of contemporary Indigenous Identity.

Love After the End: Joshua Whitehead & Friends

QAF + Talking Stick Festival: a day in celebration of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Artists

Sun Jun 18 | 3pm 

Free cinq-à-sept reception to follow at 5pm

Roundhouse Performance Centre – 181 Roundhouse Mews

Joshua Whitehead, Curator

Love After the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction is an exciting and ground-breaking fiction collection showcasing a number of new and emerging Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer writers from across Turtle Island, edited and compiled by renowned author Joshua Whitehead. Whitehead joins us along with fellow visionary Indigenous authors and anthology contributors for a literary event demonstrating how queer Indigenous communities can bloom and thrive through utopian narratives.

While this event is ticketed, the cinq-à-sept reception that follows at 5pm is free and open to all. This reception takes place in the Roundhouse Exhibition Hall and features a book signing with the participating authors, presented in partnership with Massy Books, and DJ set by DJ Kota, courtesy of Full Circle: First Nations Performance. 

These two events are part of a day-long trilogy of events celebrating Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer artists. Please see Virago Nation Burlesque for our 7pm event.

Featured Artists:

jaye simpson

Joshua Whitehead

Nathan Adler

Nazbah Tom

Joshua Whitehead

Joshua Whitehead (he/him) is a Two-Spirit, Oji-nêhiyaw member of Peguis First Nation (Treaty 1). He is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary where he is housed in the departments of English and International Indigenous Studies (Treaty 7).

He is the author of full-metal indigiqueer (Talonbooks 2017) which was shortlisted for the inaugural Indigenous Voices Award and the Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry. He is also the author of Jonny Appleseed (Arsenal Pulp Press 2018) which was long listed for the Giller Prize, shortlisted for the Indigenous Voices Award, the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Amazon Canada First Novel Award, the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award, and won the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction, the Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction and Canada Reads 2021.

Whitehead is the editor of Love after the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction, which won the Lambda Award in 2021.

Whitehead’s latest book Making Love with the Land was published in 2022 with Knopf Canada, exploring the intersections of Indigeneity, queerness, and, most prominently, mental health through a nêhiyaw lens. The book was shortlisted for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Award for Nonfiction.

Nazbah Tom

Nazbah Tom (Diné), somatic practitioner/poet. They are published in Lambda Literary Award winner Love After The End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction. As a somatic practitioner they use conversation, breath work, gestural work, bodywork, and somatic skills to guide groups through a process of embodied transformation.

Nathan Adler

Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler (he/they) is the author of Wrist, a windigo story written from the monster’s perspective, and Ghost Lake, an inter-connected collection of short stories (both published by Kegedonce Press), and co-editor of a dream-themed anthology of Indigenous writers called Bawaajigan ~ Stories of Power (Exile Editions). Nathan has an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC, a BFA in Integrated Media from OCAD, and a BA (Hons) in English Literature and Native Studies from Trent University. He is recipient of an Indigenous Voices Award for prose, a Hnatyshyn Reveal award for literature, and first-place winner of an Aboriginal Writing Challenge for poetry. His writing has also appeared in various magazines, websites, and anthologies (Exile, Bedside Press, Arsenal Pulp Press). He is Jewish and Anishinaabe, Two Spirit, and a member of Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation.

jaye simpson

jaye simpson (she/they) is an Oji-Cree Saulteaux Indigiqueer from the Sapotaweyak Cree Nation. simpson is a writer, advocate and activist sharing their knowledge and lived experiences in hope of creating utopia. she is published in several magazines including Poetry Is Dead, This Magazine, PRISM international,  SAD Magazine: Green, GUTS Magazine, SubTerrain, Grain and Room. They are in four anthologies: Hustling Verse (2019), Love After the End (2020), The Care We Dream Of (2021), and Queer Little Nightmares (2022). Their first poetry collection, it was never going to be okay (Nightwood Ed.) was shortlisted for the 2021 ReLit Award and a 2021 Dayne Ogilvie Prize Finalist and won the 2021 Indigenous Voices Award for Published Poetry in English. Their next collection of poetry, a body more tolerable, is forthcoming Fall 2024.

Virago Nation Burlesque

QAF + Talking Stick Festival: a day in celebration of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Artists

Sun Jun 18 | 7pm

Roundhouse Performance Centre – 181 Roundhouse Mews

Our day-long slate of events centred on Two-Spirit & Indigiqueer art concludes with breathtaking burlesque brought to you by the badass babes of Virago Nation, Turtle Island’s first all-indigenous burlesque collective! A festival favourite of the virtual QAF 2020: Wicked, Virago Nation returns with a brand new, in-the-flesh performance exploring the many facets of indigenous sexual rematriation, with special guest Continental Breakfast!

Virago Nation reminds viewers to embrace their EXTRA and that heteronormativity is inherently colonial and that queerness is a gift to be celebrated! Their message is consistent, loud & clear—colonial and patriarchal ideologies have no place here. Using storytelling, comedy, pop culture, and striptease, Virago Nation continues to show that Indigenous sexuality is multi-faceted, dynamic, powerful and an experience that is deeply personal.

Please note: this performance is 18+.

This event are part of a day-long trilogy of events celebrating Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer artists presented in partnership with Full Circle: First Nations Performance. Please see Love After the End: Joshua Whitehead & Friends for our 3pm & 5pm events.

Performer Bios 

Shane Sable  “Mover, Shaker, Mischief Maker; the Furiously Flirtatious Force of Nature”

 2Spirit Gitxsan artist and activist Shane Sable has slayed stages all over Vancouver in front of and behind the scenes since 2011. Shane has an abiding hunger for audience engagement and delights in the tension created by breaking the 4th wall of burlesque. Shane is the convening member of Virago Nation – Turtle Island’s first all-indigenous burlesque collective.

Instagram: @shanesable

RainbowGlitz is one of Virago’s Nations founding members and Vancouvers Rainbow Slut spreading her love medicine in a mix of classic, nerdlesque, exotic dance and pussy cat doll hip hop movements. This Haida, Squamish, Musqueam and black artist will leave you wanting to throw your gold at the end of her rainbow.

Instagram: @therainbowglitz22

Scarlet Delirium: Vancouver BC’s Raven Goddess! The Kwakiutl Indigi-Babe! Scarlet Delirium has been enjoying the slow burn of Burlesque and Cabaret since 2010 and is a founding member of Virago Nation. During the daylight hours doubles as Costume Designer for herself and her Burlesque family.  

Instagram: @scarlet_delirium

Manda Stroyer: Indigibabe Manda Stroyer is a Dakota artist who’s been performing burlesque since 2011. She performed with and co-produced the whimsical troupe “Boutique Cabaret” and has found her home with Turtle Island’s first all indigenous troupe “Virago Nation”. She’s also a momma of 2 and believes fiercely in breaking the stereotype that motherhood means giving up sexual expression. When she’s not raising the future generation off stage she will be raising your temperature on stage.

Instagram: @mandastroyer

Sparkle Plenty is Vancouver’s glamedian, weirdlesquer, and word-maker-upper who has been delivering beautifully bizarre burlesque acts for over 10 years! This fiery goddess is Cree and Metis with mixed heritage and is a proud sister of the first ever all Indigenous burlesque group, Virago Nation. You can find her teasing and emceeing with the Screaming Chicken Theatrical Society as well as on stages all over Vancouver, Toronto, Las Vegas and more. 

Instagram: @sparkleplentys

Monday Blues is an Afro-Indigenous burlesque artist, and has been performing burlesque professionally since 2011. Monday has traveled the globe as a solo female adventurer and loves to live outside her comfort zone. Her most recent endeavours include being an avid entrepreneur, both in Sex Work and coaching capacities, as well as pursuing her passion on the burlesque stages all over Canada and the US. Monday strives to exist without limits and wants to help others feel just as empowered. 

Instagram: @missmondayblues

Lynx Chase: A true showpony at heart, Lynx Chase has always been passionate about movement and performance arts. Over the years she has trained in a variety of disciplines ranging from Aerial Hoop, Silks, Contortion, Partner Acrobatics, Bellydance & Capoeira;  however it wasn’t until she discovered Pole Dancing in 2012 that she found her true vocation. Lynx has been professionally teaching in Vancouver since 2015 and has also showcased her gravity defying acts at various events and festivals across the province such as Retro Strip Show, Bass Coast and Shambhala Music Festival. It is her hope to continue to share her craft with the world by demonstrating the strength, sensuality, artistry and grace that goes hand in hand with the art of pole and exotic dance.

Instagram: @aylaylay_

Ruth Odare: Ruthe Ordare is the Indigifemme Amuse Bouche serving up hips, thighs and bedroom eyes since 2011. She is a performer from the Mohawk Nation and a founding member of the all-Aboriginal troupe Virago Nation. Dubbed the Canadian Meringue for being light on her feet and twice as sweet, Ruthe serves up classic glamour with a contemporary pulse! In her international travels, Ruthe has been awarded “Best Solo” at the Texas Burlesque Festival and “Best Duo” at the Oregon Burlesque Festival. She has performed at the Burlesque Hall of Fame’s Movers, Shakers & Innovators Showcase in 2015 & 2017 and the Tournament of Tease in 2013. 

Instagram: @ruthodare

Sujit Vaidya: Breathe In The Fragrance

Fri Jun 23 | 7pm

Roundhouse Performance Centre – 181 Roundhouse Mews

Breathe In The Fragrance is Sujit Vaidya‘s celebration of erotic ritual — of taste, of smell, of song, of dance, of sensations awakened by Jasmine — to make space for the in-betweenness of things to exist. Combining traditional Indian dance elements with modern choreography and queer eroticism, Breathe In The Fragrance features Vaidya and fellow dancers Kiruthika Rathanaswami and Malavika Santhosh, with live music by Curtis Andrews, Arno Kamolika and Ramya Kapadia.

Sujit Vaidya (Choreographer/Dancer) is an independent dance artist based in Vancouver BC. Trained in Bharatanatyam, he predominantly works as soloist and continues his training in Bharatanatyam with Guru A.Lakshman.

His artistic choices reflect the curiosities and experiences he holds as a queer artist of colour, while deeply engaging with an art form rooted in tradition. His choreographies question the narrative and relevance of non inclusive traditional texts. He aims to create space for queer expression within the context of Bharatanatyam and seeks collaborations with other queer artists of colour.

Hymnen an die Nacht:

Claude Vivier Retrospective

Tue Jun 27 | 7pm

Roundhouse Performance Centre – 181 Roundhouse Mews

In 1983, Canada’s queerest and most cosmic composer, Claude Vivier, shockingly left this world at the age of 34, murdered by a rent boy in Paris. In this retrospective, we commemorate the 40th anniversary of his death with performances by the Standing Wave Ensemble, soprano Sarah Jo Kirsch, and pianist Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa, along with musical tributes by composers Rodney Sharman, Matthew John Knights and Gabriella Yorke. Presented in partnership with Little Chamber Music.

Claude Vivier

Many consider Claude Vivier the greatest composer Canada has yet produced. At the age of 34, he was the victim of a shocking murder by a prospective lover, leaving behind some 49 compositions in a wide range of genres, including opera, orchestral works, and chamber pieces. György Ligeti once called Vivier “the finest French composer of his generation.”

Standing Wave

Western Canada’s foremost contemporary chamber ensemble, Standing Wave is a sextet of intrepid new music interpreters dedicated to commissioning and performing cutting-edge music from today’s most forward-thinking composers. Acclaimed internationally for their virtuosity, vision, and artistry, Standing Wave has cultivated a reputation for electrifying live performance that pushes the boundaries of what chamber music is and can be. 

Sarah Jo Kirsch, soprano

An accomplished interpreter of western art music, Sarah Jo Kirsch (they/she) has performed across Canada, in Europe and West Asia as a soloist and collaborator. They have been hailed as “…one of the finest contemporary dramatic vocalists in Canada today,” (Calgary Herald) “…with the ability to get under the skin of everything she sings,” (Winnipeg Free Press). Beyond opera and oratorio, Sarah curates and produces sociopolitically relevant art song experiences of works from the last three centuries. An avid and capable interpreter of new music, they have premiered more than 30 new works for voice by Canadian composers.

Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa, piano

Hailed in the press as a “keyboard virtuoso and avant-garde muse” (Georgia Straight) with the “emotional intensity” to take a piece “from notes on a page to a stunning work of art” (Victoria Times Colonist), Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa is recognized among Canada’s foremost contemporary music pianists.  Selected to close the ISCM World New Music Days 2017 in Vancouver, Rachel has performed in the Netherlands, Germany, US and across Canada, with engagements including Muziekweek Gaudeamus, Music TORONTO, Music on Main, Vancouver New Music, Redshift, Western Front, Vancouver Symphony, Victoria Symphony, the Aventa Ensemble (Victoria), CONTACT contemporary music (Toronto), New Works Calgary, Groundswell New Music (Winnipeg), and Vancouver Pro Musica.

Glitter is Forever

Wed Jun 28 | 7pm  

Roundhouse Exhibition Hall — 181 Roundhouse Mews

Our 16th Queer Arts Festival comes home to dock in spectacular fashion, featuring drag performances by the “only nationally acclaimed All-Asian drag family,” House of Rice and music by DJ Bella Sie! Take in our curated visual art show one final time and come together in the spirit of cosmic camp — all of that and it’s free, too.

This event is ASL interpreted.

House of Rice is Canada’s only all Asian drag family. Chock-full of artistry and talent, the members of this house have collectively and individually become inspiring leaders for the queer and Asian communities. Since its inception, the House of Rice has been featured in 3 documentaries, 2 theatre festivals, and many artist collaborations, which leaves no question as to how important their work is.

House of Rice matriarch Shay Dior is an androgynous drag performer who strongly advocates for queer Asian visibility in the community. Shay also founded Ricecake: Vancouver’s Queer + Asian Dance party, a bi-monthly club night that is open to everyone, but celebrates queer Asian talent by showcasing an all Asian lineup of DJs, performers, and gogo dancers.

Bella Sie (they/them/their) is an established DJ and Event Producer from Vancouver, BC. Powered by love for the LGBTQ2+ community that they represent, Bella brings life to every party whether they are DJing a set or producing the event. You might recognize Bella as the resident DJ and co-producer of Ricecake (Vancouver’s premiere queer & Asian dance party), and you’ll soon never forget them once you’ve experienced their brilliant energy on stage and behind the scenes.

Scenes from Glitter in 2022

Chris Randle Photography

Glitter is Forever Pajama Party

Closing Binge | July 26 | 4 PM

Get your dress jammies on, grab a drink and binge-watch the entire Queer Arts Festival with us (take it all in!!). Expect surprises and special prizes. 

This Crazy Show

Dance Performance | July 25 | 7 PM | July 26 | 2 PM

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.

Synopsis: This piece is a reflection on the quest for love, through revisiting the worlds of childhood, both real and imagined.

How do we feel when we are hammered or deformed under pressure, but not quite enough to break? How can we be malleable and flexible, deform and reform without losing our core selves?

In ‘This Crazy Show,’ the body becomes a place of transformation, of transmutation, and of transfiguration. Alternately agitated, delicate and humourous, Noam Gagnon choreographs and performs, pushing himself to his physical limit to explore and expose “the art of artifice” in a culture obsessed with pretending authenticity. ‘This Crazy Show’ explores just how precarious and ambiguous identity can be, through the evolution of the body and the self as both are continuously morphing, unfixed and boldly celebrated.

“Because I dream, I’m not.” – Léolo

I wanted to take up the challenge of exploring new avenues of creation by playing with the range of humanly possible transformations, transmutations, and transfigurations. ‘This Crazy Show’ tackles the theme of the perpetual quest for love by revisiting the worlds of childhood, real and imagined, through the bionic woman as superhero metaphor.

“We gratefully acknowledge the support of the McGrane-Pearson Endowment Fund.”

Visit Vision Impure website.

A Night of Storytelling

Literary Readings | July 22 | 7 pm |

A Night of Storytelling is back for its fifth year and once again hosted by the much-beloved Danny Ramadan, this time around as a new online experience. Spend a night in with the talented LGBTQ2+ voices of the CanLit scene. Danny brings prominent writers from the Queer and trans community into your homes as they explore their identities through the medium of the written word. A Night of Storytelling features readings from Billy Ray Belcourt, Amber Dawn, jaye simpson, Jillian Christmas, and Erin-Brooke Kirsh.

Curator Danny Ramadan is an award-winning Syrian-Canadian author, public speaker and LGBTQ-refugees activist. His novel, The Clothesline Swing, won multiple awards. His children’s book, Salma the Syrian Chef, is out now. 

Jillian Christmas lives on the unceded territories of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Musqueam people, where she served for six years as Artistic Director of Versəs Festival of Words. An educator, organizer, and advocate in the arts community, utilizing an anti-oppressive lens, Jillian has performed and facilitated workshops across the continent. 

jaye simpson is an Oji-Cree Saulteaux indigiqueer writer with roots in Sapotaweyak Cree Nation. they often write about being queer in the Child Welfare system, as well as being queer and Indigenous. their work has been featured in Poetry Is Dead, This Magazine, PRISM international, SAD Mag, GUTS Magazine and Room. simpson resides on the unceded and ancestral territories of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), səlilwəta’Ɂɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) First Nations peoples, currently and colonially known as Vancouver, BC.

Amber Dawn is a writer and creative facilitator living on unceded Coast Salish Territories (Vancouver, Canada). She is the author of five books and the editor of three anthologies.

Erin Kirsh is a writer and performer. A Pushcart Prize nominee, her work has appeared in dozens of literary journals internationally. Her greatest accomplishment to date is that one time she painted her nails without getting the polish all over the place.

Billy-Ray Belcourt is from the Driftpile Cree Nation, and lives in Vancouver. He is an Assistant Professor in the Creative Writing Program at UBC. His books are THIS WOUND IS A WORLD, NDN COPING MECHANISMS, and A HISTORY OF MY BRIEF BODY.

This event is ASL Interpreted.

Stonewall 50: Glitter is Forever

Fri Jun 28 | 9pm | Free with QSO ticket | Party only $20 – $15

You can’t get that shit out!

On the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots and the closing of QAF 2019 we’re throwing the party of the half-century! Get ready for a culmination of the creative outpouring of this festival season and the past fifty years of queer art and culture.

Join us at The Roundhouse in collaboration with Vancouver Pride Society, The Frank Theatre Company, and Zee Zee Theatre to revel in the queerevolution with live performances, DJ’s spinning us through the decades, and more!

It’s not your story. It’s your LEGEND.

QAF 2019 rEvolution gathers together artists who disassemble, push, and transgress: art as the evolution of the revolution.

“Art does not imitate life. Art anticipates life.” — Jeanette Winterson

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Relational rEvolutions

Mon Jun 17 – Wed Jun 26 | Visual Art Exhibition | 

Guest curator Elwood Jimmy

We often think of revolution in relation to ways of knowing, but we rarely think about revolution in relation to our colonial habits of being – how our habits are dependent on, maintained and enabled by colonization. A revolution of being is not about what we say, how we look, how we perform, or how we trade in the different economies of colonial modernity. A revolution of being invites us to change our desires, our hopes, how we hope, how we sense, how we love, and above all, regenerate and recalibrate our relationships with each other, with the land, with time, with form and with space. In this recalibration of being, time and revolution are not linear. A radically different and tender way of being is necessary to face the violence on particular bodies – the human and non-human – that keep colonial systems in place, and to not lose sight of what we do not want to see. It is the cultivation and maintenance of practices – artistic, spiritual, life – that gesture towards a reimagining of a different way of being, of sitting with the complexities that we collectively face in an increasingly polarized world. In this exhibition, we look towards practices and processes that move towards generative ways of being. – Curator Elwood Jimmy

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