10th Annual Toronto
Queer West Arts & Culture Festival
Theme: Queering Boundaries
Nine Days - Saturday August 7 to Sunday August 15, 2010
Blooming Blossoms...Warming Breezes...Fluffing Clouds... Ready to Welcome You!
A wonderful assortment of the best of Toronto Queer Arts & Culture
The Festival was originally started in 2001 as Pride Toronto West, a one day event. Change its name in 2005 to Parkdale Pride Party (3 day event) and in 2006 (7 day event), dropped the word Pride and became Toronto Queer West Arts Festival (Queer West Fest.) It is now a ten day arts festival.
Our festival use to proceed Toronto Pride Week, in June. The Queer West Board of Directors and Arts Collective think Toronto's LGBTQ fabulousness shouldn't all be jam packed into that month. The annual arts festival, has now moved to AUGUST and become A WHOLE DIFFERENT FESTIVAL, ON ITS OWN, in an attempt to showcase queer culture, without the Commercialism. We feel there are tourists in the city all summer long, especially in August; they will be looking for something different, than Pride.
"Queer West Fest is arguably a more substantive event this year then Pride Toronto." National Post Editorial
"Queer West Arts Festival is the best low key queer festival in City of Toronto." Brent Ledger, Xtra Newspaper
"Toronto's Queer West Village leads the pack!". Brent Ledger, Toronto Star Friday Aug 6/10
"Queer West Fest event boasts a big attitude with an alternative bent that celebrates all things queer positive." Outlook Magazine
Final Queer Arts Festival event list:
(Re)claiming, (Re)naming and (Re)presenting the contested spaces of “Queer” through the Arts
Toronto's 10th Annual Queer West Arts Festival This year arrives for NINE DAYS in August on the THEME of QUEERING BOUNDRIES with arts shows, dance, music, spoken word, drama, laughs, film, community fair, books, and, of course, cabaret! The LARGEST of three dedicated queer arts festivals in ALL OF Canada.
August 2010 will mark the 10th annual QUEER WEST ARTS & CULTURE FESTIVAL – To mark this historic event, Toronto's "West End" will be (re)claimed, (re)presented and (re)named as "queer" over the course of 9 days (Saturday August 7 to Sunday August 15, 2010).
This year QUEERING BOUNDARIES will be the vision to initialize a wide-scale community reinvention. The Queer West Toronto community is committed to ushering in a necessary and more contemporary attitude in reaction to the ever-changing threads of fiber that fashion the notion of “queer” in its entirety. The festival will view the complexity of queer identity beyond set places, spaces and community settings and bring diversity to the forefront of all programming. Artistic and cultural productions in a multidisciplinary range of forms will be the vehicle to show queer identity as a contested space. Though the theme is QUEERING BOUNDARIES, where and how those boundaries are formed is subjective. The Queer West community emphasizes a sharing of space and the exchanging of ideas as a political act, within and outside of the Queer West Village.
Official 2010 - Queer West Arts Festival Event List:
Program Guides
See main web site
Where: The Hen House
Address: 1532 Dundas West
Start Time: 8pm
End Time: last call at the bar!
The Henhouse, 1532 Dundas St W. 416-534-5939 on north side, just past Dufferin. Open daily from 5pm-2am. Sat & Sunday Brunch to 3 pm. Wonderful cozy little bar, where even strangers are friendly. Mixed crowd. Henhouse has become one of the most popular up-and-coming lesbian bars on the Queer West scene. Where the Henhouse really seems shine is its inclusive atmosphere — which is fitting for the Queer West Village in general. It’s nice to go out to a place with your gay friends and run into your straight friends. Domestic beer is cheap, $5 a bottle and only Cameron Ale on tap at $5.50 a pint. Open 6 PM to 3 AM The 1950 jukebox will be jumping with Siouxsie and the Banshees, Kate Bush, Donna Summer, Blondie. Most played Fleetwood Mac, Dolly Parton. . Little Portugal (Rua Acores) neighbourhood. Queer West Toronto, Ontario. http://www.henhousetoronto.com/index.html
Event Description: Queer West Fest kicks off its 5th year running at one of queer Toronto’s best kept secrets—THE HEN HOUSE! So, put on your tightest skinny jeans, practice your best pick-up line in front of the mirror and be prepared for a night of jokes, laughter, conversation and dancing. Let’s turn this mother on its head, yo!
Where: The Lula Lounge
Address: 1585 Dundas St. West
Doors: 6:15pm
Start: 7pm
Cover: PWYC (suggested $5)
Full description, biographies and photographs of each performer. Poetry Night.
Lula Dance Lounge - 1585 Dundas Street West, 2 blocks west of Dufferin (Southside, just past Sheridan.) . 416-588-0307. If you love live music, this is a great new place to see the raw musical talent of Toronto. Imported afro-cuban, sala, swing bands and spoken word nights. Little Portugal (Rua Acores) neighbourhood - Queer West Toronto, Ontario.
Event Description: The best performers in the city will be doing their thing. Poets ruminate on fucking, loving, fighting, and connecting viscerally to spaces, bodies, sounds and smells.This is the sequel to the smash success of Bent Expressions at The Press Club January 24th. tonight's event will again be hosted by Philip Cairns, fullmoon@auracom.com actor/writer/visual artist. This should prove to be a very memorable evening, all about Sex, Sex and more Sex!!!!
Queer West Arts Collective proudly presents, as part of the Queer West Fest: “SEXY WORDS” - An evening of Queer Poetry and Spoken Word on the theme of SEX.
Performers include: Duncan Armstrong, Yehuda Fisher, Parul Pandya, Cathy Petch, Jay Stewart, The Storm and Nichola Ward. MC/Host is Philip Cairns.
Duncan Armstrong is a poet/short-story writer who has had work published in “CV2”, “Labour of Love” and “Renaissance Conspiracy” and been featured at Pride, Word on the Street, TKO’s Coffeehouse & The Art Bar.
Philip Cairns is an actor/writer who has performed his poetry and performance-pieces at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, A Space, Free Times Cafe, The Black Swan, The Art Bar, The Theatre Centre and has acted in scores of small theatre productions.
Yehuda Fisher - a.k.a. PAN hosted Art Attack for CHRY FM and WordJam at Free Times Café. He has competed in many poetry slams in North America & is a member of the Slam Fam Poetry Collective.
Parul Pandya writes about love, life, history and sexuality. She has a blog, The House of Provocation, appears regularly in “Xtra” magazine and also writes reviews for the T.I.F.F. Parul's day-job is as a member of Performing Arts at Harbourfront Centre, where she is responsible for community outreach for World Stage.
Cathy Petch, the host of “Plasticine Poetry”, is a writer of plays, poetry & fiction. Her play, “A Mean Thing”, was recently performed in Peterborough. She’s been published in “Labour of Love” & is a member of Wine with Everything.
Jay Stewart was part of the Young Creator's Unit at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre where he created “Ticked '07!” He has performed at Toronto's AIDS Conference, Writing Outside the Margins, Fruit Loopz, Queer Cab and Inside Out.
The Storm, a Spoken Word Poet, recently competed at the Toronto Freedom Festival & has featured at PoetsJazzoetry the Revival, Poetic Fashion, Women’s Voice and Brown Girls in da Ring. Her website is http://www.thestormlive.com/.
Nichola Ward is a writer/performer, the founder of the publishing/performance group Ground Queero and a member of OUTwrites. She is the author of "Little Sarah - Wordkeeper" and "Babylon Alley".
The Details: Lula Lounge. Doors 6:15 pm Show Start time is 7 pm. Cover is $5 minimum at the door. http://www.lula.ca/ 1585 Dundas Street. one block west of Dufferin, Queer West Toronto, Lounge number (416) 588-0307.
Where: Naco Cafe (Patio) 647-347-6499
Address: 1665 Dundas St. W.
Start time: 8pm
End Time: 11pm
Cover: Free
Contact Info: Michel - Torontodigitalq@yahoo.ca 416-879-7954
Where: LeVacK Block
Address: 88 Ossington Ave
Start time: 8pm
End Time: 11pm
Cover: $5 (no advance tickets) 40 chairs only, get there early, otherwise standing room for 30 people.
LeVack Block 88 Ossington Avenue. Situated on Toronto's coolest new street, Ossington, is LeVack Block. With its grand windows and corner location LeVack Block provides the perfect place for watching the street come alive as the sun goes down. In the front room a vintage bar with a wrought iron cage welcomes you into the large dining room with striped walls, kitschy figurines and Parisian turn-of-the-century erotica. The warm room with its many retro chandeliers is dim and creates the perfect setting for a romantic meal or a fun get together with friends.The restaurant and bar area in the front has nine brews on tap, and a neon-lit party venue in the back houses DJs and always a queer live band. Queer West Toronto, Ontario. http://www.levackblock.com/
Event Description: An evening of good food (6-8 pm) followed by a full-cast reading of Gailey Road Production’s heart-stopping play, Harriet’s House. In this contemporary drama a Jewish mother and her three daughters negotiate the challenges and politics of international adoption in a same-sex family. Harriet reluctantly gives 17-year old Luísa permission to return to the Catholic orphanage in Bogotá where she spent three years of her childhood. But when she falls seriously ill, Harriet travels to Bogotá with her new partner Marty to bring Luísa home. Dealing in love, loss, and adoption in a same-sex family, this piece is a contemporary drama on queer mothering and daughtering in today’s globalized world. Gailey Road Productions produces women-centred, research-informed theatre that dramatizes social and political issues that impact on the lives of us all.
Cast and Artistic Team: Harriet: Joanne Latimer; Luísa:SupinderWraich; Ana: Rebecca Applebaum; Clare: Estée Feldman; Marty: Julie Burris; Anita: Jorie Morrow. Producer: Tara Goldstein, Assistant Producer: Monica Nunes, Production Manager: Gillian Lewis, Stage Manager: Tara Mohan. Q &A follows with playwright Tara Goldstein, director, Jocelyn Wickett and full cast! Web Site: http://web.me.com/gaileyroad/Site/Welcome.html
The Details: Where: LeVacK Block. Address: 88 Ossington Ave. Start time: 8pm. End Time: 11pm. Cover: $5 (no advance tickets) 40 chairs only, get there early, otherwise standing room for 30 people. Queer West Village, Toronto Ontario.
Where: Fixit Point
Address: 1550 Queen Street West (Parkdale)
Start time: 8 pm
http://www.fixtpoint.com/
416 587 4346
Cover: PWYC/$5min.
Event Description: Written and performed by James Howell - Directed by Kiersten Tough. Take Down Your Panties on Main Street is a solo show about a celebrity artist who sells junk art to people with more money than sense, being asked to give a few remarks to an art school painting class. The class's teacher elopes with the life drawing model, leaving nothing for the class to paint and no one teach them. The famous painter steps onto the posing platform to offer "a few remarks" that are part confession, tirade, stand-up and erotic valedictory address. The painter shows images of "his" work, which are actually other people's paintings, partly to inflate his ego, partly to see if the students will know the difference. He ends up saying more than he should and more than anyone could have imagined.
James is a self-professed "Cranky Clown" currently based in Dubai. His studies include the professional diploma programme at Ecole Philippe Gaulier (Paris), the Summer Shakespeare Program at RADA (London) and workshops with Mick Barnfarther (Theatre de Complicite), Joss Houben (Ecole Jacques Lecoq) and Lilo Bauer (Peter Brook's Theatre Bouffes de Nord). Past festival appearances include New York Clown Theatre Festival, Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, New Mardi Gras (Sydney), Midsumma (Melbourne), Harvest (Montreal), Fringe Festival Praha, Gfest (London), 24:7 Festival (Manchester) and Fresh Fruit Festival (New York).
Where: the Gladstone Hotel Melody Bar
Address: 1214 Queen Street West
Doors: 7:30
Start Time: 8pm
Host: Queer West’s very own, Jaqlin Walters
NO COVER
Granny Boots is early evening entertainment for queer folk who like to be in bed by 11. Tonight's Host: Queer West’s very own, Jaqlin Walters you and your Granny get to be home early AND entertained all in one night! Tonight GRANNY BOOTS starts at 8 PM sharp and ends at 10 PM.
Event Description: an evening to celebrate the boundless world of the queer imagination with Vivek Shraya, Tamai Kobayashi, and Alec Butler while they share their perspectives on writing and seeing IN QUEER Magazine!
Tamai Kobayashi, author of Quixotic Erotic and Getting Wet: Tales of Lesbian Seduction, to name of few of her works, explores the erotic in ways that some have described as "ranging from tender and sultry to coolly surreal". Born in Japan in 1965 and raised in Canada, Tamai Kobayashi is a writer, songwriter, and videomaker who lives in Toronto. Her writing has appeared in a number of lesbian anthologies and literary magazines. Kobayashi is one of the founding members of Asian Lesbians of Toronto. Her story "Panopte's Eye" is an excerpt from a novel-in-progress. www.ryerson.ca/library/events/asian_heritage/kobayashi.html
The Details: Where: the Gladstone Hotel Melody Bar. Address: 1214 Queen Street West. Doors: 7:30. Start Time: 8pm. NO COVER. Queer West Village, Toronto Ontario.
Event Description: It's a free, fun-filled introduction to Queer West Village exciting art scene! One and All welcome; from queer cyclists; to art lovers lovers, to couples, friends to total strangers, come and cycle with us. . Gallery Night is an art crawl style bike tour of art galleries, occurring in site specific locations and visits to artists studios. Discover galleries that you may not know and see art of all kinds including glass, painting, fabric, and sculpture as we cycling back-alleys and side streets to each gallery.
ART CRAWL CYCLING ROUTE & GALLERIES TONIGHT - Thursday August 12: 1. Lausberg Contemporary: Summer group exhibition; 2. InterAccess: ;Kunstkammer/Wunderkammer". group exhibition; 3. Meta Gallery: "Phantasmagoria". summer group exhibition; 4. Show and Tell Gallery: Anthony Lister, The Beauty Of Failure; 5. Loop Gallery: "Faith and Faithless Messengers". group exhibition; 6. PM Gallery: Keith W. Bently, New Sculpture and 7. Naco: exhibition and after party. We're getting lots of interest about this tour'. Lots of interest in this event...We estimate 50 cyclists tonight, having fun, more the merrier... Bring your camera.
Meeting point is on Thursday August 12 at Trinity Bellwoods Park Queen & Strachan gate, between 6:30pm - 7 pm (Starts 7pm shape) when everyone rides, en masse, at a slow pace, towards the first gallery of the night. The tour ends around 9:30 pm....Safety Volunteers will watch your bicycle, at each stop while people head into each gallery . People are welcome to join or leave the tour as they wish/need. Helmets and night lights are recommended.
Toronto artist Rui Pimenta, known for his famous Art Spin Tours www.artspin.ca this summer, will be leading tour with the help of one of his assistants guiding us though traffice lights (we don't stop if light changes to red, we cycle through enmass); Casey Hinton or Layne Hinton, Art Spin Coordinator/Curators. Including on tour are Queer West Fest volunteers (The lesbian crew and Mike Paré, Queer West Founder) will be guarding your bikes, handing out information and tooting our horns. We want you, to give us lots of party noise. So Ring, Ring Ring...Dem Bells on Queer West Queen and Dundas West!
Where: Mitzi’s Sister
Address: 1554 Queen Street West
Start Time: 8pm
Host: DJ Hollyrock
Cover: PWYC (with all proceeds going to performers)
Mitzi's Sister - 1554 Queen Street West, 416-532-2570.The real action is catching up with the local gossip at the bar. Lovely, summer Patio seats 40. Open 11 am-2 am Mon to Sat., and 11 am to midnight Sunday's. “Our bar menu is all microbrews, so I think that is one of the attractions,” says owner Lesli Gaynor. We support local breweries. A sizable space made cozy by warm staff and mauve walls displaying local artwork; friendly chatter happens over microbrews and massive servings of well-crafted pub dishes. Live bands, queer author reading series and music jams. Lesbian owned. $$ Affordable Parkdale neighbourhood, Queer West Toronto, Ontario.
Event Description Slight change: An evening of ear-pleasing live tunes, even better people and a spectacular venue in the heart of queer west! Lion Tiger Bear, Mark Cassidy and People You Know bands's Aimee Bessada - Lead Guitar/Vocals with DJ Hollyrock MCing the evening.
This will be a super evening, with 5 bands, Mitizi's Sister, also booked two bands. Durban Poison (Victoria BC) and Toronto's First Base.
Lion Tiger Bear Band - -“This new duo, Lion Tiger Bear, brings moody indie folk music headed up by its primary band members, Emily Schneider and Craig Simmons. Although new, lion tiger bear is sure to tug at each and every one of your broken heart strings. What you will hear: a blend of acoustic guitar, darling vocals, brilliant lyrics and even a little Cello.” No web site yet. (Set Time: 8:30 PM - 9:15 PM)
(Video below of Toronto band duo, Mark and Paul Cassidy in Motionless)
Prior to this Mark had spent 3 years traveling across Canada and through The United States playing on college and university campus’. His stage show repertoire has grown. His most recent compositions are emotionally charged reflections on his past, his present and his future. In 2010 he hopes to return to more extensive touring to expand his growing audience. In the final days of 2009 Mark recorded 2 acoustic demos of his most current material. This will certainly lead to a completely new release in 2010. www.myspace.com/markcassidy (Set Time: 9:20 PM - 10 PM)
(Toronto Band, People You Know (PYK) Video below - John Wayne is Dead @ The Velvet Underground NxNE MUSIC FESTIVAL June 24, 2010)
People You Know Band!
As unpretentious as they are pleasing-to-the-ears, this three-piece band is easy to listen to, easy to look at and even easier to love. But don’t think that the members of PYK assume that success will come easy. Working their way up the ranks of Toronto’s music scene since April of 2008, this band of close friends has picked up new instruments, forged a new sound together, and put a few miles on some rental cars. With shows at Canadian Music Week, Toronto Pride and a recent win as Extra Magazine’s ‘Best Band’ of 2008 and 2009,
People You Know don’t show any signs of slowing down, or letting their snowballing success go to their heads. www.myspace.com/peopleyouknowmusic (Set Time: 10:15 PM - 11:00 PM)
Durban Poison, a Rock Punk Glam band. Members; Matti Corvette (vox+guit), El Kamino (guits+bgs), Hotrod Henry (bass+bgs), T-bird (drums) and Brother Kaz (tcb) who hail from Victoria B C www.myspace.com/durbanfnpoison and Toronto's First Base band, a simple and heartfelt new pop combo that has just released its debut seven-inch on Pizza Party Records. Sounding like a band that could very well have been comfortably included on a volume of 1960's garage compilation series Back From The Grave, First Base is a breath of minty-fresh air in a world of over polished, overproduced, over-intellectualized indie rock. www.myspace.com/firstbaseband. (Set Times 11:10 PM onwards)
The Details: Where: Mitzi’s Sister. Address: 1554 Queen Street West. Start Time: 8pm. Host: Holly Rock. Cover: PWYC (with all proceeds going to performers) Queer West Village, Toronto Ontario.
Where: The Revue Cinema
Address: 400 Roncesvalles Avenue
Start Time: 4 pm
End Time:6 pm
Cover $5/PWYC
About the Queer West Film Festival
2010 Attendees Program Guide Queer West Film Festival Program Guide (pdf format) ;
Casey Reid, Film Festival Program Director - Queer West Film Festival qwfilmfest@gmail.com
We received submissions from all over the world. We wish we could have shown all of them, but then it would have been a three day festival. We will be listing all Film Directors who sent us. submissions thanking them, after this year's festival!
Muchas Gracias to Queen Video paying for the entire cost of the theatre rental.
Event Description: This year the 3rd annual Queer West Film Festival is Queering Boundaries. We are excited to screen films that question the boundaries of the home, the body and the mind. Films that create a dialogue about racialized/trans/queer identity. Films that rethink and redefine the queer subject on screen. Mostly, the films screened at the Queer West Film Festival strive to broaden the notion of identity through each films narrative (de) construction. The QWFF will also be focusing on the boundary queering work of Toronto’s LGBT Triangle Program through a brief 15 year retrospective. http://triangleprogram.ca/about-2/
Sunday August 15, 2010 - 6th Annual 54K Queer West Arts Festival Pride Ride, Hosted by the Gay West Bicycle Club Pride in our queer west Toronto Community
Event Description: Leisurely tour along Toronto's waterfront from West Toronto to Port Credit with today's ride leader Michel Paré. We meet at 220 Cowan Avenue in front of the Masaryk-Cowan Community Centre at 12 Noon.
Route: From Cowan Avenue, we cycle along to Queen West and over to High Park. Across to Martin Goodman Trail and head West along the Waterfront Trail through Colonel Sam Smith Park over to Marie Curtis Park to Port Credit avoiding Highway Two except for slight jog at Long Branch. A 54K excursion exploring the parks and river banks of western Toronto About a 3 hour trip. Dress up. Decorated your bike win a prize.
This event ends around 3:30 - 4 PM back at the Patio of the "Cadillac Lounge" for libations and ruminations. 1296 Queen St West http://www.cadillaclounge.com/
If lost or going to be late arriving at meetup point call 416-879-7954 . Helmets are recommended for all rides. Mandatory for those under 18. Out of town visitors, welcome to cycle in this event. This is a FREE event, no membership fees to cycle with us today. Gay West Bicycle Club Now in it's 8th year, the only dedicated gay and lesbian cycling club in eastern Canada with close to 100 members. GWBIKECLUB on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7366448476or Yahoo Groups: http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/gwbikeclub/
Gay West Community Network Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation. # 1752698. P.O. Box 204 Stn. C. Toronto ON M6K 2A9.Queer West Toronto gaybourhoods (Map)
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