Queer West Fest Toronto 2009

Your invited to the fourth annual Toronto International Queer West Fest & Film Festival - June 13 to 20, 2009.

Queer West is now booking, comedians, musicians, bands, art work, artists, crafters, spoken word artists, dub poets, and burlesque performers for the festival.
 
The festival will run from Friday June 12 to Saturday June 20. Booking Deadline April 15, 2009. We are also looking for volunteers. About The Festival
Queer West Film Festival is seeking film submissions.
There’s no charge to submit your video for consideration to the Queer West Film Festival taking place on Saturday evening June 20, 2009 Submission Specifications: DVD format, maximum 5 minutes, any genre or subject accepted for review.










Contact Us: queerwestartsfestival@gmail.com

Berlin has one, Oslo has one, Copenhagen has one, and now Toronto has one. An International Queer Festival! An annual 10 day festival of sexual diversity in art, culture, music and educational workshops (diverse cité) Other cities are now following Toronto's lead: Aalborg, Florence and Sarajevo in 2008.
Queer West Fest is not a Pride event, it just happens to be taken place in June, which is traditionally Pride Month in Ontario.


Queer West Fest is about International Queer arts, politics and culture. Its about exploring the queer art experience. A place to encounter contemporary queer sensibility, A place to critically discuss and define queer aesthetics.

At the Queer West Festival you will find visual art, dance, theater, a series of literature and poetry readings with artists discussing their work, film and video screenings, and a wide array of multi-disciplinary programs. In 2009 there will be three full international queer gallery shows and gallery tours, an industry arts night, transsexual and lesbian events, burlesque event (drag kings and queens) international human rights guest speaker panel discussions, spoken word; dub and poetry nights, outdoor community art and crafts fair, a queer authors panel discussion, several dj dance parties and our annual international queer arts LGBT and queer youth film festival. Queer West Fest is largest dedicated queer festival in Central Canada.

Queer West Fest now in its fouth year, is organized and run by a collective of volunteeers and the Board of Directors from Queer West This year festival will run from Saturday June 13 to Saturday June 20 in 200. And the organizing committee does this amazing work with the hardest working (and smallest) Board in show biz.

DiversityWest Toronto is made up of multicultural neighbourhoods, a younger queer crowd and Queer West Fest bears a responsibility to represent all segments of the community. We must produce an event that meets the needs of all queer sexual identities, gender identities, ethnocultural groups and an organization that is welcoming to all.


About Gay Toronto's Queer West VillageWe are not like Toronto's traditional 'gay' village with all the sort of conservative and essentialist ideas that go with that. The Queer West Village is about queer practises, and being, not about identity and some fixed notion. We are open, younger, non-traditional, about possibilities and opportunities for connection and collusion, not something to to be confused with Church Street. ~ author C. Nash,  BrockU


Demographics & SponsorshipOur Queer West Village Festivals and other related events year round, draws both men and women in roughly equal numbers, 25% of who identify themselves as “straight”. 40% have a university degree compared to 14% of the general population, and almost half earn $50,000 or more, while 16% earn $100,000 or more. Car Owners 53% and Home Owners 36% Three quarters of our attendees don't go downtown to gay bars or events. 71% agree "I choose to do business with companies that visibly support queer west events" Your company name or organization logo and web site link, is displayed on our Queer West Fest page for one full year.



The Toronto Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and transgendered community has been to college or university. Over 17% have a college degree. An additional 25.3% have some college or university education. Personal incomes are generally above average, 44.3% earn between $39,000 and $79,000 a year and 9.5% earn above $85,000 annually. D.I.N.K. (double income, no kids). Annually-Highest Expenditures, according to most surveys are on furniture, automotive, electronics, home decor, financial investments, RRSP’s, travel and entertainment. Monthly & Daily Expenses include fashion, health and beauty, music and dining out. The Gay and Lesbian consumers do like to pamper themselves.(Source: gaiety.ca)

The 2007 Canadian LGBT market has an estimated buying power of nearly $75 billion and, if the US market is any indication, over $7 billion is spent on travel. The majority of people in the Gay Community are professionals, upper management, financial planners, teachers, interior decorators, medical specialists, restauranteurs, holding very solid, responsible and lucrative positions. (source: Toronto Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce)

Each year QueerWest.org web site helps to inform the entertainment decision-making process of more than 1.6 million visitors from within Canada and abroad. Our visitors spend an average of 8 to 53 minutes on this web site, every day of the week.

Update Sun April 23, 2009 - Queer West Fest opens Saturday June 13 - 20 - An alternative to Pride! Less corporate! More grassroots All Queer!" Two more bands to book, one more event to be added.A little fine tuning. Press Releases go out Mid May on full line up

Mood: energetic