Get Social - Join us on:
Discover 5th Annual Toronto Queer Arts Festival
Theme: Queering Boundaries
Saturday August 7 to Sunday August 15, 2010
Discover Toronto's 5th Annual Queer
West Arts Festival This year arrives for eight 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 Canada.
"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." Xtra Newspaper
"Queer West Fest event boasts a big attitude with an alternative
bent that celebrates all things queer positive." Outlook
Magazine
"The Meaning of QUEER in our Festival Name - Queer is an umbrella
terms designed to be inclusive of a broad range of self-identifications. Within
the gay and lesbian community, there are those who identify as bisexual, transsexual
or transgender as well as those who do not want a label at all. Rather than
use the more cumbersome acronym 'LGBTQ' (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, trans- and
queer), we find the word 'queer' to be a more inclusive term for sexual minorities
and simpler. The term 'queer' is also used by a number of organizations for
this reason and is well-recognized."
QUEER WEST FEST - REAL MOXIE
WORK!
We got off to a late start this year in March with a SWOT business plan,
but without funding. Festival plans were cancelled last November for 2010. The
west Toronto community refused to believe the festival was dead and rallied
behind us offering to help, requesting a Mini Fest instead of cancellation.
The Board of Directors and the Arts Collective agreed, the show must continue,
even without funds or Sponsorships. Queer West Arts Festival will be 9 day,
arguably more substantive event this year.
Pride Toronto Friendship
Gay West Inc. Toronto - Official Press Release
If your read in Toronto IN
Magazine (The power & peril of positive thinking by Paul Gallant) that
executive director of Pride Toronto, Tracey Sandilands said she has "a
new partnership with Queer West", this is Blatantly False Information.
Pride Toronto has NEVER approached us with an offer of Friendship. Quite the
opposite is true. Sandilands told The Queer West Board of Directors on March
16, 2009 she wanted nothing to do with us. Did a flip flop May 13 and said maybe.
Then used our corporate Festival Name, without premission in June 2009 to promote
Pride Toronto events. Queer West is tired of Pride Toronto's intimidation and
lies. We have the right to exist as an alternative to Pride. Signed:
Casey Reid, Philip Cairns VP, Jaclyn Isen VP and Michel F. Paré President,
Queer West Board of Directors.
What others are saying.
I think about Toronto Queer West Fest, a totally different image is there
for me. It's the artists and political movers and shakers. The guys who
sleep with other guys but don't have the polished image the east side (Church
St.) wishes to maintain. It's the trans community who gets excluded, the Native
community which is ignored from Pride. The women who sleep with women but don't
have children, ride bikes or wear plaid. It's everyone who has ever been ignored,
or put down, or felt they didn't even belong in a gay community of a large city
(which is supposedly a community which embraces diversity? what). A community
that embraces those which embrace each other, no matter who you are, or who
you happen to go to bed with. Queer! Nick
Watson Toronto Parkdale (Age group Generation-Y)
"If Pride is to survive and mean something again, it has to get smaller.
People talk as though a loss of funding would be the end of the world, and it
might well be for the Pride bureaucracy, but it might also prompt some thinking
about what Pride stands for, as opposed to what it can do, given enough money.
Instead of the expansionist ambitions of the current administration, perhaps
they’d try something a little more low key. Like the Island picnics that started
the whole event back in the 1970s. Or events that target specific
communities, like the Queer West Arts Festival now planned for August."
Brent
Ledger, Toronto Newspaper columnist.
National
Post Editorial May 12, 2010: "Grassroots organizers wouldn't have
to struggle against a single 800-pound gorilla event that dominates their community's
annual agenda. Not all members of Toronto's gay community, for instance, like
the huge Pride festival: Some organizers of the small Queer West Arts
Festival blame the parade's success for sucking all the funding and
attention away from their own, arguably more substantive, event."
Michel F. Paré President and Founder of Queer West Arts Centre took 14 journalist
from Japan, Netherlands and USA on tour of queer West Toronto and the history
of the area on Friday July 2. . We received a Nice thank you letter from Tourism
Toronto..."Thanks so much for being apart of Tourism
Toronto's Pride press trip and presenting another side of gay culture in
Toronto (Tour of Queer West Toronto) Michel.... I've referred all the writers
to your website (queerwest.org) when they do their story write ups. Thanks again
for being a valuable addition to our press trip"...... Michele L.
Simpson, Manager Media Relations, Tourism Toronto
The 5th Annual Queer West Arts and Cultural Festival will NO LONGER be held
in June. Queer West Fest Week has moved to August.
Will now run from Saturday August 7 to Sunday August 15, 2010.
The Queer West Board of Directors and Arts Collectives feel Toronto's LGBTQ
fabulousness shouldn't be all jam packed into that month.
We feel there are tourists in the city all summer long, especially in
August; they will be looking for something different. In August there is; Caribana,
Distillery Arts Festival, Buskerfest and Toronto Festival of Beer and now Queer
West Arts and Cultural Festival.
The Arts Festival will then be able grow bigger and more international,
if the Toronto Gay and Lesbian public and out of town tourists, doesn't confused
us, with Pride Week. We don't think there's really, a shortage of sponsors to
approach in August. Securing media coverage, sponsorship and funding, is more
a function of how successful we market our Festival. On top of it all that,
doing it later, gives us more time to plan.
Our History - From 2001 to 2004, the festival had various names
Pride Toronto West and Parkdale Pride Party, in 2006 it was renamed Queer
West Fest
History of Queer Festivals in Toronto Queer West Arts Festival is the brainchild
of Michel F. Paré
Historical Event: Spatializing our new Queer identity
(Sunday May 23, 2010. By Parul
Pandya, Queer West Media Spokesperson and Casey
Reid Program Director, Queer West Film Festival.)
August 2010 will mark the 5th annual QUEER WEST ARTS FESTIVAL - this year QUEERING
BOUNDARIES will be the vision to initialize a wide-scale community reinvention.
Though it is certainly important that gay, lesbian, bi & trans individuals
express individualities, uniqueness and differences, this year’s festival will
promote a central platform to create inclusiveness and communication between
these groupings. Limits typically placed on a queer identity will be explored
and re-explored in an effort to move away from "Queer" as a singular,
often fixed, and essential identity.
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. Art and performance
will be utilized as 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.
Though queers may converge and diverge on particular spaces to create a community,
the heart of the festival is to emphasize however different our identities,
we all share our humanity. 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). Artists
and performers will convey genuine and relative ideas across multi-disciplinary
forms to entertain, educate and enlighten.
Queer West Fest Toronto, is owned and managed, by Gay
West Community Network . A not-for-profit corporation. P.O. Box 204 Stn.
C. Toronto ON M6K 2A9.Queer West Toronto gaybourhoods (Map)
queerwestfest@gmail.com
Festival Contact Information:
Festival Program Coordinator & Volunteers - Jaclyn Isen - queerwestfest@gmail.com
Film Festival Program Director - Casey Reid - qwfilmfest@gmail.com
Advertising / Sponsorships & Web maintenance- Michel Paré - queerwestinfo@gmail.com
Literary Events - Philip Cairns - fullmoon@auracom.com
Media & Public Relations - Parul Pandya - queerwestfestmedia@gmail.com
Visual Arts Curator - Brian McCurdy - qwfingerpaint@gmail.com
Graphic Designs & Print Media - Cait Jones - cait@caitjonesdesign.com
website: caitjonesdesign.com
Festival Event Coordinators: Brian, Philip, Michel P., Michel L., Cait,
Casey, Jacqulin, Jaclyn, Kailee, Jane, Parul, Regina and Sarah.
Festival Guide - Courtesy of Queer West
Arts Collective: Overview
| Festival News
Queer West Arts Festival: About
Us | Official
Events | Spoken
Word
Queer West Film Festival: About
Us |
Film Festival Schedule
History Archive: History
Gay Festivals Toronto | History
of Queer West | History
of Gay Toronto
Other Festivals: International
Queer Arts Festivals | International
Queer Film Festivals | Pride Festivals Canada & USA
Around Queer West Village: Accommodations
| Businesses
| The
Board | Contact
Us |
Films, Festivals and Art Events | Theatre
Events | Weekly
& Monthly Events | What's
on Today? |
Nightlife | Queer
West Village Travellers Guide | Village Street Map
Copyright 2010 Gay West Community Network Inc.
Get Social - Join us on:
Discover 5th Annual Toronto Queer Arts Festival
Theme: Queering Boundaries
Saturday August 7 to Sunday August 15, 2010
Discover Toronto's 5th Annual Queer West Arts Festival This year arrives for eight 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 Canada.
"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." Xtra Newspaper
"Queer West Fest event boasts a big attitude with an alternative bent that celebrates all things queer positive." Outlook Magazine
"The Meaning of QUEER in our Festival Name - Queer is an umbrella terms designed to be inclusive of a broad range of self-identifications. Within the gay and lesbian community, there are those who identify as bisexual, transsexual or transgender as well as those who do not want a label at all. Rather than use the more cumbersome acronym 'LGBTQ' (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, trans- and queer), we find the word 'queer' to be a more inclusive term for sexual minorities and simpler. The term 'queer' is also used by a number of organizations for this reason and is well-recognized."
QUEER WEST FEST - REAL MOXIE WORK!
We got off to a late start this year in March with a SWOT business plan, but without funding. Festival plans were cancelled last November for 2010. The west Toronto community refused to believe the festival was dead and rallied behind us offering to help, requesting a Mini Fest instead of cancellation. The Board of Directors and the Arts Collective agreed, the show must continue, even without funds or Sponsorships. Queer West Arts Festival will be 9 day, arguably more substantive event this year.
Pride Toronto Friendship
Gay West Inc. Toronto - Official Press Release If your read in Toronto IN Magazine (The power & peril of positive thinking by Paul Gallant) that executive director of Pride Toronto, Tracey Sandilands said she has "a new partnership with Queer West", this is Blatantly False Information. Pride Toronto has NEVER approached us with an offer of Friendship. Quite the opposite is true. Sandilands told The Queer West Board of Directors on March 16, 2009 she wanted nothing to do with us. Did a flip flop May 13 and said maybe. Then used our corporate Festival Name, without premission in June 2009 to promote Pride Toronto events. Queer West is tired of Pride Toronto's intimidation and lies. We have the right to exist as an alternative to Pride. Signed: Casey Reid, Philip Cairns VP, Jaclyn Isen VP and Michel F. Paré President, Queer West Board of Directors.
What others are saying.
I think about Toronto Queer West Fest, a totally different image is there for me. It's the artists and political movers and shakers. The guys who sleep with other guys but don't have the polished image the east side (Church St.) wishes to maintain. It's the trans community who gets excluded, the Native community which is ignored from Pride. The women who sleep with women but don't have children, ride bikes or wear plaid. It's everyone who has ever been ignored, or put down, or felt they didn't even belong in a gay community of a large city (which is supposedly a community which embraces diversity? what). A community that embraces those which embrace each other, no matter who you are, or who you happen to go to bed with. Queer! Nick Watson Toronto Parkdale (Age group Generation-Y)
"If Pride is to survive and mean something again, it has to get smaller. People talk as though a loss of funding would be the end of the world, and it might well be for the Pride bureaucracy, but it might also prompt some thinking about what Pride stands for, as opposed to what it can do, given enough money. Instead of the expansionist ambitions of the current administration, perhaps they’d try something a little more low key. Like the Island picnics that started the whole event back in the 1970s. Or events that target specific communities, like the Queer West Arts Festival now planned for August." Brent Ledger, Toronto Newspaper columnist.
National Post Editorial May 12, 2010: "Grassroots organizers wouldn't have to struggle against a single 800-pound gorilla event that dominates their community's annual agenda. Not all members of Toronto's gay community, for instance, like the huge Pride festival: Some organizers of the small Queer West Arts Festival blame the parade's success for sucking all the funding and attention away from their own, arguably more substantive, event."
Michel F. Paré President and Founder of Queer West Arts Centre took 14 journalist from Japan, Netherlands and USA on tour of queer West Toronto and the history of the area on Friday July 2. . We received a Nice thank you letter from Tourism Toronto..."Thanks so much for being apart of Tourism Toronto's Pride press trip and presenting another side of gay culture in Toronto (Tour of Queer West Toronto) Michel.... I've referred all the writers to your website (queerwest.org) when they do their story write ups. Thanks again for being a valuable addition to our press trip"...... Michele L. Simpson, Manager Media Relations, Tourism Toronto
The 5th Annual Queer West Arts and Cultural Festival will NO LONGER be held in June. Queer West Fest Week has moved to August. Will now run from Saturday August 7 to Sunday August 15, 2010.
The Queer West Board of Directors and Arts Collectives feel Toronto's LGBTQ fabulousness shouldn't be all jam packed into that month.
We feel there are tourists in the city all summer long, especially in August; they will be looking for something different. In August there is; Caribana, Distillery Arts Festival, Buskerfest and Toronto Festival of Beer and now Queer West Arts and Cultural Festival.
The Arts Festival will then be able grow bigger and more international, if the Toronto Gay and Lesbian public and out of town tourists, doesn't confused us, with Pride Week. We don't think there's really, a shortage of sponsors to approach in August. Securing media coverage, sponsorship and funding, is more a function of how successful we market our Festival. On top of it all that, doing it later, gives us more time to plan.
Our History - From 2001 to 2004, the festival had various names Pride Toronto West and Parkdale Pride Party, in 2006 it was renamed Queer West Fest History of Queer Festivals in Toronto Queer West Arts Festival is the brainchild of Michel F. Paré
Historical Event: Spatializing our new Queer identity
(Sunday May 23, 2010. By Parul Pandya, Queer West Media Spokesperson and Casey Reid Program Director, Queer West Film Festival.)
August 2010 will mark the 5th annual QUEER WEST ARTS FESTIVAL - this year QUEERING BOUNDARIES will be the vision to initialize a wide-scale community reinvention. Though it is certainly important that gay, lesbian, bi & trans individuals express individualities, uniqueness and differences, this year’s festival will promote a central platform to create inclusiveness and communication between these groupings. Limits typically placed on a queer identity will be explored and re-explored in an effort to move away from "Queer" as a singular, often fixed, and essential identity.
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. Art and performance will be utilized as 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.
Though queers may converge and diverge on particular spaces to create a community, the heart of the festival is to emphasize however different our identities, we all share our humanity. 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). Artists and performers will convey genuine and relative ideas across multi-disciplinary forms to entertain, educate and enlighten.
Queer West Fest Toronto, is owned and managed, by Gay West Community Network . A not-for-profit corporation. P.O. Box 204 Stn. C. Toronto ON M6K 2A9.Queer West Toronto gaybourhoods (Map) queerwestfest@gmail.com
Festival Contact Information:
Festival Program Coordinator & Volunteers - Jaclyn Isen - queerwestfest@gmail.com
Film Festival Program Director - Casey Reid - qwfilmfest@gmail.com
Advertising / Sponsorships & Web maintenance- Michel Paré - queerwestinfo@gmail.com
Literary Events - Philip Cairns - fullmoon@auracom.com
Media & Public Relations - Parul Pandya - queerwestfestmedia@gmail.com
Visual Arts Curator - Brian McCurdy - qwfingerpaint@gmail.com
Graphic Designs & Print Media - Cait Jones - cait@caitjonesdesign.com website: caitjonesdesign.com
Festival Event Coordinators: Brian, Philip, Michel P., Michel L., Cait, Casey, Jacqulin, Jaclyn, Kailee, Jane, Parul, Regina and Sarah.
Festival Guide - Courtesy of Queer West
Arts Collective: Overview | Festival News
Queer West Arts Festival: About Us | Official Events | Spoken Word
Queer West Film Festival: About Us | Film Festival Schedule
History Archive: History Gay Festivals Toronto | History of Queer West | History of Gay Toronto
Other Festivals: International Queer Arts Festivals | International Queer Film Festivals | Pride Festivals Canada & USA
Around Queer West Village: Accommodations | Businesses | The Board | Contact Us | Films, Festivals and Art Events | Theatre Events | Weekly & Monthly Events | What's on Today? | Nightlife | Queer West Village Travellers Guide | Village Street Map
Copyright 2010 Gay West Community Network Inc.