QAF 2023 Queers in Space: FESTIVAL PASS

QAF 2023: Queers in Space

JUN 17 - JUN 28 | 2023

QAF 2023: Queers in Space exclusive festival pass gives you access to our entire festival lineup, for a cheeky and discounted price of just $69. That’s a savings of over 50% off regular priced admission to our ticketed events.

Single event tickets and event registration will launch May 25 and range from $20-$30 per ticketed event. Select events will be free to attend. For more information, please visit queerartsfestival.com

FULL FESTIVAL LINEUP:

• ArtParty! | Sat Jun 17 | 7pm | Gala Opening Reception | Roundhouse Exhibition Hall | ASL

QAF 2023 officially launches into orbit at the Roundhouse. Take in our incredible Visual Art Exhibition curated by Zandi Dandizette, enjoy delicious food and drink and celebrate with the Queerdos of our community!

• bumfuzzled monachopsis: innerspace out | Sat Jun 17 – Wed Jun 28 | 9am – 9pm daily | Curated Visual Art Exhibition | Roundhouse Exhibition Hall

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. 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.

• Cosmic Connections: Queer Indigenous Astronomy (A View From Above and Below) | Sat Jun 17 – Wed Jun 28 | 9am – 9pm daily | Augmented Reality | Roundhouse Exhibition Hall

Augmented Reality artist Preston Buffalo secretly brings the Roundhouse to life with Indigiqueer pasts and futures – including a Cree story of how humanity originates 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.

QAF + Talking Stick Festival: a day in celebration of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Artists | Sun Jun 18

QAF partners up with our dear friends at Full Circle: First Nations Performance to present a trilogy of events centred on Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer art.

• Love After the End: Joshua Whitehead & Friends | Sun Jun 18 | 3pm | Literary Event | Roundhouse Performance Centre | ASL

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 emerging and established Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer writers, edited and compiled by acclaimed writer Joshua Whitehead. Whitehead joins us with fellow visionary authors Nathan Adler, jaye simpson, and Nazbah Tom for an afternoon that demonstrates how Queer Indigenous communities can bloom and thrive through utopian narratives.

• Cinq-à-Sept Reception | Sun Jun 18 | 5pm | Reception | Roundhouse Exhibition Hall

Join us for a book signing, DJ spins and a special reception courtesy of Full Circle: First Nations Performance.

• Virago Nation Burlesque | Sun Jun 18 | 7pm | Dance | Roundhouse Performance Centre

The day concludes with a powerful performance by the badass Indigiqueer burlesque babes of Virago Nation! Please note: this performance is 18+.

• Pride in Art Community Exhibition | Mon Jun 19 – Sat Jul 8 | Community Art Show | James Black Gallery

Our celebrated Community Arts Exhibition returns to the James Black Gallery. This event is the bedrock of our festival, featuring outstanding artists from our local 2SLGBTQIA+ communities. Join us for the opening at the JBG on June 19 from 7 – 10pm.

• Odera Igbokwe: New Yams Festival | Exhibition Opening, Thu Jun 22 | 7pm | Visual art | SUM gallery | Exhibition runs Jun 22 – Jul 28, Tue – Sat 12 – 6pm

SUM gallery presents a solo exhibition by Odera Igbokwe, an illustrator and painter who celebrates the magic of the African Diaspora and QTBIPOC. New Yams Festival is a direct reflection, response, and Queer reclamation of The New Yam Festival of the Igbo people. In referencing this festival, Odera seeks to create a visual lineage between Queer Afrofuturism and ancestral rituals. New Yams Festival opens with a reception on June 22 and will be on display at SUM gallery until July 28.

• Sujit Vaidya: Breathe In The Fragrance | Fri Jun 23 | 7pm | Dance | Roundhouse Performance Centre

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.

• Curator Tour | Sat Jun 24 | 2pm | Visual Art Tour | Roundhouse Exhibition Hall | ASL

Guided tour through our Visual Art Exhibition at the Roundhouse Community Centre. This tour is led by QAF guest curator Zandi Dandizette.

• Witch Prophet | Sun Jun 25 | 5:30pm | Musical Performance | šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl'e7énḵ Square - Vancouver Art Gallery North Plaza

Queer Arts Festival partners with Vancouver International Jazz Festival to present Witch Prophet, the evolution of Queer Toronto based singer-songwriter Ayo Leilani. Think Erykah Badu meets Lauryn Hill meets Portishead. This free public event takes place in šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl'e7énḵ Square, outside the Vancouver Art Gallery.

• Hymnen an die Nacht: Claude Vivier Retrospective | Tue June 27 | 7pm | Musical Performance | Roundhouse Performance Centre

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 Iwaasa, along with musical tributes by composers Rodney Sharman, Matthew John Knights and Gabriella Yorke.

• Glitter is Forever | Wed Jun 28 | 7pm | Closing Reception | Roundhouse Exhibition Hall | ASL

Our 16th Queer Arts Festival comes home to dock in spectacular fashion, featuring drag performances by the House of Rice and music by DJ Bella Sie.