INTRODUCING THE LARGEST ARTS FESTIVAL IN VICTORIA … taking place city-wide throughout June.
A ground-awakening initiative by one the longest-running grassroots arts organizations in our city, this coming together across literary, performing, and visual arts celebrates the breadth of queer art and the tenacity of queer artists practicing in the face of adversity.
The Victoria Arts Council is partnering with two dozen cultural groups/organizations/businesses towards a city-wide festival of queer arts, that might just be the largest such cross-disciplinary collaboration in our region’s history.
The West Coast has long been considered a queer haven, and this exciting new festival reinforces that notion. At time when our community and our rights are facing an uncertain future, globally, we know that coming together is one way to prove that we’re still here and we’re still queer.
In organizing this inaugural Festival, we have been guided by the words of the late bell hooks (1952-2021), who offered,
“Queer’ not as being about who you’re having sex with (that can be a dimension of it); but ‘queer’ as being about the self that is at odds with everything around it and that has to invent and create and find a place to speak and to thrive and to live.”
With that, I hope to see you at many of the events planned throughout June. A complete list of events can be found online: queerisland.ca
Welcome to Queer Island!
Kegan McFadden
Festival Producer 2025
QUEER ISLAND FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS is supported by:
CRD Arts Services, Province of British Columbia (Community Gaming Fund), BC Arts Council (Community Arts), and the VAC members + donors.
Community Partners include:
Arc.hive artist-run centre
Aunty Collective
The Bay Centre (VAC Project Space)
Carr House National Historic Site
Camosun College
the.Dock Centre for Social Impact (VAC Satellite)
Fernwood Community & Arts Association
The Fifty Fifty Arts Collective
Gallery Merrick
Greater Victoria Public Libraries (VAC Satellites)
Habit Coffee
Hands On Collective
Intrepid Theatre
Ministry of Casual Living
Planet Earth Poetry
Madrona Gallery
Mark Loria Gallery
The Regional Assembly of Text
Saanich City Hall
Sunday Afternoon
University of Victoria’s Library / Special Collections
Victoria Film Festival
The Vicious Poodle
XChanges Gallery and Studios