Queer Arts Festival: Dispersed - It's Not Easy Being Green.
Source: Stills - Out On Screen 2021
2021 Queer Arts Festival (QAF): Dispersed — Vancouver’s QAF announces its first hybrid format festival in it’s not easy being green, opening Jul 24, 2021.
Vancouver BC, Jun 8, 2021 | Vancouver’s premiere artist-run, multidisciplinary roister of art and culture,
QAF is back for its lucky 13th year in QAF 2021 Dispersed: it’s not easy being green, running Jul 24 - Aug 13, 2021.
Join QAF for a three-week eco-apocalyptic exploration of queer experience and artistic expression in the face of an ongoing pandemic and marginalization. For the first time, QAF’s suite of visual art, performance, music, literary and workshop events will be presented in a dispersed format across the Lower Mainland—from the depths of the Sun Wah Centre and rooftop overlooking historic Chinatown, to Mountain View Cemetery, False Creek and QAF’s usual stomping grounds, the Roundhouse Community Arts Centre. Following the success of last year’s online festival, QAF will also have a streaming component on queerartsfestival.com.
Event highlights include: Jeffrey McNeil-Seymour and SD Holman’s visual art curation; a fabulously punk Japanese folk music and dance performance from Onibana Taiko and Alvin Erasga Tolentino; and a reimagining of
Annea Lockwood’s 20th-century classic, Piano Burning, where fire becomes a vehicle for reclamation and decolonization (yes, we are burning a piano).
A limited quantity of early bird passes are available on queerartsfestival.com for $69 only until Jul 1—that’s over 50% off!
Full Festival Lineup
Queerotica | Mon Aug 2, 8pm | Literary Readings
Rooftop readings curated by Josie Boyce, slip into a little green something and enjoy readings by Vancouver writers.
Onibana Taiko and Alvin Erasga Tolentino | Sat Aug 7, 8pm | Dance and Music
When Japanese folk tradition meets punk, audience members are invited to commune with the ancestors via obon dance, song, sensu (fan) cheerleading, fue, shamisen and kick-ass taiko.
Piano Burning | Sun Aug 8, 8pm | Performance Art
QAF and Full Circle First Nations Performance present new commissions by Russell Wallace and Evan Ducharme reimagining Annea Lockwood’s classic work, performed by Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa.
Glitter is Forever | Fri Aug 13, 7 - 10pm | Closing
Join us with DJ O Show for the festival closing on the Sun Wah rooftop and your last chance to see all the art @ QAF 2021.
SATELLITE ACADEMY: Workshops, Community, Discourse +
Kindred Spirits | Sat Jul 24 - Fri Aug 13 | Community Art Showcase
The digital culmination of the Kindred Spirits digital artist residency run by and for 2Spirit and Indigiqueer artists. Guided by Faculty members Dayna Danger, DJ O Show, Raven Davis and Art Auntie Shane Sable.
Pride in Art Community Show | Sat Jul 24 - Fri Aug 13 | Visual Art
This show honours PiA founder, activist, and Two-Spirit artist Robbie Hong’s legacy with an open community show.
Pillows for the Pandemic | Wed Jul 28, 7:30pm | Workshop
Falak Vasa leads us in a pillow-making workshop, based on their own series of pillows created during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Gathering of Wishes and 1000 Paper Butterflies | Wed Aug 4, 6pm | Workshop
Naoko Fukumaru and Eva Wong’s Phase 1 of Mass Reincarnation of Wish Fragments 願片大量転生
(Ganhen Tairyou Tensei).
Queerer than Queer: Lessons from Nonduality for Deep Planetary Healing | Thu Aug 5, 7pm | Workshop
Is the universe queerer than we can suppose? From the foot of the Himalayas in Himachal Pradesh, Tejal Shah will guide us through this interactive workshop.