Vancouver’s Queer Arts Festival (QAF) celebrates its tenth anniversary with the multi-disciplinary summer festival, June 16 to 28, 2018 at Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre. The annual festival, this year titled DECADEnce, also commemorates Pride in Art’s 20th year as an artist-led collective. QAF 2018 features a boundary-pushing, dialogue-igniting array of creators that amplify artistic risk-taking and incite creative collaboration and experimentation.
The diverse festival line-up includes the world premiere of Lesley Ewen’s work Camera Obscura; a 30-year retrospective concert honouring Barry Truax’s trailblazing work titled Skin & Metal: Homoerotic Music Theatre Works by Barry Truax. Operatic tenor Jeremy Dutcher’s performance of traditional Wolastoqiyik songs from his debut release Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa (Maliseet Songs); performances from local art disruptors Su-Feh Lee, MACHiNENOiSY, and Erato Ensemble; and the always popular Queeraoke closing night blowout, plus much more.
“In a settler colonial society, we have a very solidified perception of what ‘counts’ as worthy of commemorating. And all too often, the voices and lives that are articulated at QAF not only fall outside of this – but are obscured or erased by this HIStory,” says SD Holman, Artistic Director. “For 20 years, we have championed the voices and visions of fearless artists to challenge normative misconceptions in both art spaces and the greater society. Still today, we are living with the burden of an uncertain future and a precarious present that denies freedom, the self-governance of our bodies, minds, and artistic visions. At ten years in, the importance of having a Queer Arts Festival has only grown more palpable.”
Art and conviviality converge at the grand opening, celebrating 10 years of the Queer Arts Festival, June 16th with Art Party! Gala Opening Reception, a pay what you can event at 7pm at Roundhouse Community Centre.
Visit queerartsfestival.com for the full festival lineup fo great shows and events