Queer Arts Festival

The Queer Arts Festival is a multi-disciplinary arts festival produced annually in Vancouver, British Columbia.[1]

The festival is produced by the Pride In Art Society (PiA).[2] The mission of the Pride in Art Society, a not for profit organization, is to promote the production and exhibition of queer art. The Pride in Art Society creates opportunities for dialogue between queer artists from different disciplines, encourages visibility and appreciation of queer art and artists through the presentation of events, including the Queer Arts Festival.

The QAF started as a small community art exhibit and has grown to include components from theatre, cabaret, erotica, dance, music, spoken word, and comedy.[3] The Queer Arts Festival programs events in partnership with other Vancouver LGBT groups including Screaming Weenie Productions, the Vancouver Pride Festival and the Vancouver Queer Film Festival.

Pride In Art (PiA) began in 1998 as a collective of LGBT visual artists mounting a community art exhibition. In its early years, PiA focused primarily on the visual arts, occasionally presenting performing arts as well within the exhibition space. In 2006, the festival expanded into other disciplines and art forms presented as part of the Queer Arts Festival.[1] The current Artistic Director is Mark Takeshi McGregor who succeeded co-founder S.D. Holman in 2021, just one year before Holman's legal action against their neighbour became public, wherein Holman was willing to forcibly displace their disabled queer neighbour in an attempt to gross an additional $235,000 from the sale of their shared duplex.[4][5][6]

Mission statement

The Pride in Art Society fosters inclusion, equality and a strong political voice for the local queer community, including the historical contributions of queer artists. We combat homophobia by building greater public awareness and acceptance of individuals and groups outside sexual and gender norms.[1]

2010

The theme for the visual art in the 2010 Queer Arts Festival was "Queertopia: The Best Place On Earth?". Artists were asked to imagine the ultimate queer community.[7]

Performing artists include pianist Sara Davis Buechner; JODAIKO taiko drummers; comedians James Howell and Morgan Brayton; and a number of local and international guest performers.[8]

References
  1. Queer Arts Festival | Pride In Art Archived July 1, 2010, at archive.today
  2. "Pride in Art Society". Queer Arts Festival. Retrieved 2019-06-07.
  3. "Queer Arts Festival's Queertopia is open to wide interpretation". 20 July 2010.
  4. "Mark Takeshi McGregor will succeed SD Holman as artistic director of Vancouver's Queer Arts Festival". The Georgia Straight. 2021-08-16. Retrieved 2023-03-27.
  5. "Property battle between 2 friends results in precedent-setting B.C. Supreme Court case". British Columbia. 2022-06-02. Retrieved 2023-03-27.
  6. "2022 BCSC 526 Holman v. Brooke". www.bccourts.ca. Retrieved 2023-03-27.
  7. "What does your Queertopia Look Like?". Archived from the original on July 28, 2010. Retrieved July 22, 2010.
  8. "Queer Arts Festival British Columbia | Pride in Art". prideinart.ca. Archived from the original on 28 January 2010. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
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