This is a Directory of International Queer Arts Festivals, not associated with or a member of InterPride or Fierté Pride Canada. The listings are a work in progress, updating occasionally as new festivals are born… Please write with full details and web link or Facebook link
Compiled by Michel F. Paré,
ML.S – M.Phil © Copyright 2017
queerwestinfo@gmail.com
Queer Festivals around the world
Asia
Korea Queer Culture Festival In this country the lines are blurred between a queer culture festival and a Pride festival with rainbow flag parade, Interpride doesn’t support this festival.. The 13th annual Korea Queer Culture Festival was held 2012. It’s South Korea’s largest-ever celebration of homosexuality. Although most Korean queers admit that South Korean attitudes about homosexuality have improved considerably over the past ten years, LGBT activists like Han Chae-yoon insist that fundamental challenges persist. “Ten years ago [LGBT Koreans] were afraid to express their sexual identities. Now, the community has grown, yet we still don’t have our rights and we can’t live our lives outside of the closet. These problems remain.” Runs June 7th-15th, 2014Australia
Midsumma Festival Inc. Midsumma Queer Festival in Melbourne Vic. is a member of Interpride (Not listed)Europe
Q Alternatywie Queer Festival in Wrocław, Poland. The second Q Alternatywie Queer Festival in Wrocław, Poland ( Oct 4 to Oct 10, 2013), was a great opportunity for reflection and for merriment. For encountering and promoting queer culture. It show cased queer art (film, photography, performance art), dance during the concerts and the fetish-themed party, talk about non-normative literature, sexuality and grassroots activism and was part of the Wrocław March for Equality. Visit their website for more info: http://www.qalternatywie.pl/home/Copenhagen Queer festival – Now in its 6th year. The festival is strictly D.I.Y. meaning that YOU as a participant must take an active part in making the festival successful. A few things have been planned in advance by the organizing group, but otherwise it is up to the participants to decide in unity how they want the festival to proceed. It is expected that everyone help out as much as they can to ensure that the festival will be a fun and enlightening experience for all. Non-profit is another keyword for the festival. We wish to create a space which is not based on money, as we find this is the case in society today. The festival is open to all, whether or not they have money.Festival Dates 2014 TBA
Fringe! QUEER film & Arts Festival (London England) Fringe! is a film and arts festival rooted in London’s queer creative scene and welcoming everyone. We’re not-for-profit and run by a team of passionate volunteers. From feature films to experimental art, workshops to interactive walks and wild parties, Fringe! Fest was launched in 2011, by a group of queer creatives as a community response to arts cuts carnage. Our mission was to offer a dynamic, representative and unmistakably fresh alternative to other film and arts festivals. http://fringefilmfest.com/
Gaywise LGBT Arts Festival -London’s premier LGBT cross-arts festival, GFEST is a platform for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and queer artists, organisations and venues to promote LGBT and queer arts. Organised by arts charity Wise Thoughts, GFEST features established alongside fresh or young LGBT artists and queer talent across the arts, including visual arts, theatre, dance and performance, LGBT short films, debates, workshops and parties. GFEST takes place annually in November in various venues across London. GFEST 2013 events (7 to 9 November)
Glasgay! is Scotland’s annual celebration of queer culture. The festival was founded in 1993 by Cordelia Ditton and Dominic D’Angelo. The festival’s operating company GALA Scotland Ltd was incorporated in 1995. The Company operates from its new base at the Q! Gallery in Saltmarket, located in the heart of Glasgow’s Merchant City and a growing cultural quarter. First held in 1993, Glasgay! is now well and truly into its second decade and has expanded to 30 days in 2005 and is now the UK’s largest multi-arts festival for LGBT people (and their friends), celebrating the talent and diversity of the Scottish LGBT community (and way beyond) the festival also provides a platform for aspiring artists. Oct/Nov 2014
Homotopia – a festival that runs in various cities, featuring a variety of events including theatre, film, art, performance, photography, heritage and storytelling. Homotopia was launched in 2004. n January 2011 the festival was in Turku, Finland after a hugely successful opening weekend of the Tom Of Finland Retrospective which was a highlight of Turku, European Capital Of Culture 2011. Happens every November
International Queer Culture Festival St. Petersburg, Russia 2009. This is a non-commercial social and cultural project with the goal of promoting tolerance and values of diversity, introducing queer culture to the city, and attracting society’s attention to the problems of homophobia, transphobia and other forms of discrimination. Our Festival unites artists and groups who are indifferent to the social problems of society. One important task of the Festival is to introduce Russian society to the social arts of the European countries and exchange experience between Russian and European social artists. The Festival creates a space where every visitor can learn and understand that freedom of expression, respect for differences and diversity of gender expression is the basis for a healthy and strong civil society. The QueerFest stopped running in 2010 http://queerfest.ru/en/program.html
Oslo Queer Festival, Oslo Norway -The queer festival is a yearly festival with focus on non-hetronormative activities. The festival is a DIY and non- profitable event. We make the festival together and offer free accomodation for everyone travelling to oslo queer fest, vegan and vegeration food for donations and lots of lots of fun and discussions! For more info, volunteering: please send mail to: oslo.queer@gmail.com .facebook.com/group.php?gid=2344042447 Oslo Queer Festival will this year happen August 30 to Sept 2, 2012. See their Blog for details -runs 4 days in August: http://osloqueerfestival.blogspot.ca/
OUTBURST Queer Arts Festival (Belfast Ireland) Outburst is an annual not-for-profit arts festival, celebrating the wide diversity of LGBT creative talent in Northern Ireland and beyond. The festival was established in 2006 by an informal group of LGBT activists, performers and writers, with the aim of providing a dedicated platform for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender performance, writing and storytelling. Our programme aims to celebrate and foster community and creativity, as well as showcasing exciting work from established international artistes and entertainers. OUTBURST became a Limited Company in 2010 and our Board consists of Arts professionals and practitioners, as well as LGBT community activists.In addition to our curated programming for 2011, we are seeking dynamic and engaging content that will inspire, challenge, delight and entertain our diverse festival audience. Happens every year late November.
Shout Queer Arts Festival (Birmingham, England) Now in its third year in 2011, SHOUT boasts of a wealth of activity, bringing internationally acclaimed artists to the city, providing local producers with a unique opportunity to be part of a number of exclusive projects. The varied programme utilises visual arts, film, theatre, music, performance, literature and community activities aimed to promote the diversity of the city’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities whilst consolidating Birmingham’s developing role as an LGBT tourist destination. The festival runs annually in February
North America Queer Arts & Culture Festivals
Canada
Toronto Queer Arts and Culture Festival (Formerly Queer West Fest) – Only 50% of the audience is defined as lesbian or gay. The festival is a celebration of diversity. Toronto Queer Arts Festival celebrates and supports artists who create work on their own terms; in their own way… here they can make the work they’re burning to make. They can risk and they can play. 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 views the complexity of queer identity beyond set places, spaces and community settings and brings diversity to the forefront of all programming. The Arts Festival is creating awareness internationally, about the contributions of Queers to the art world and cultural life in Queer West Village, Toronto, Canada and beyond.. The Festival celebrated its fifteen year in 2015 and the last year the festival was held.Trigger Festival – (Queer Arts Survivor-Centric Festival) A militantly unapologetic group of performers, facilitators, speakers, musicians and activists who transform, evoke and stimulate with outrageous interactive performances and workshops focused around community accountability and healing. Trigger rages with collective love and queer liberation. Trigger reclaims the notion of survival through art as activism and activism as art. This festival unfortunately ran only from 2009 to 2011 . Funding is upper most in their minds. Queer West Village, Toronto, Canada.
Queer Arts Festival (Vancouver BC) QAF is entirely independently operated, and is not a member of interpride. The Queer Arts Festival has been bringing out art and artists from Canada’s queer community since 1998. However, when it first started it was not called the Queer Arts Festival but rather Pride in Art, and was primarily focused on LGBT visual artists and on showcasing community art exhibitions. Now, eight years later, it is stretching further and wider than ever, opening its arms to a great variety of genres and including lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, transgender, two-spirit, questioning, and queer identified artists and performers from across Canada. Since 2006 QAF has presented over 600 queer identified artists! , All events are held in the year, Roundhouse Community Centre Unlike other queer no events are held in the outside community.
United States
Queer New York International Arts Festival (QNYI) is a “”commercial business, privately owned.” Co-curated by Zvonimir Dobrović, artistic director from Croatia, an art historian and independent curator André von Ah, the festival aims to dispel preconceived and stereotyped notions of “queer,” and provides a platform for expanding the discourse about artistic practices. The festival is presented in partnership with the Abrons Arts Center — QNYI’s hub, with additional events presented at The Invisible Dog Art Center and The Impossible Project. http://www.queerny.org/United States National Queer Arts Festival – The National Queer Arts Festival (NQAF), now celebrating its 13th year in 2010. A month-long festival of music, dance, visual art, spoken word, poetry, comedy, theater, and film featuring over 400 artists in 70 events and over 100 performances in 27 venues throughout San Francisco. At the conclusion of this year’s festival, The Queer Cultural Center, the producer of The NQAF, will have showcased the work of nearly 3000 individual artists since its inception in 1998 Runs mid May to early June
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