Calgary Journal Online

Q the Arts will feature actors, spoken word and performance artists

For 13 years, the Fairy Tales Presentation Society has been providing the gay community of Calgary with an annual film festival. This year the not-for-profit organization is launching its newest endeavour, Q the Arts, an arts and cultural festival.

“It’s going to be a cabaret evening, with a line-up of performers, spoken word artists and actors,” said Kris Kelly, a visual arts member of the curation committee for the festival. Kelly said the festival will be a great platform for young artists to share their stories and a place for people to come and listen.

Lindsay Brandon is a local performance artist involved in the Q the Arts Festival happening March 5. The festival uses ‘labels are for soup cans’ as its main slogan to raise awareness towards the queer community in Calgary.

Toni St.Clair/Calgary Journal

“There will be a cross-section of queer viewpoints of the arts in Calgary, which will hopefully start conversations. That’s our goal anyway,” Kelly said.

Jessica Dollard, the programming and producing director for the festival said the Society has a mandate to present visual arts, theatre, film and interdisciplinary collaborations, and hopes this festival will help the society become more of an arts and cultural festival than just a film festival.

“So far we have seen a lot of interest in the festival from artists across Canada. Hopefully, the festival will generate interest in the queer community within Calgary as well,” she said.

Kelly and Dollard both said that Calgary is a city ready for change, and that Calgary’s queer community, which is defined as encompassing groups including gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual individuals, is defined mainly by its events.

“Calgary is sort of realizing there’s more going on here than anybody thinks is happening,” Kelly said. “We don’t have any identifying queer spaces and this is a great opportunity to carve out those new spaces.”

Dollard said the festival will not only be a way for artists to engage and inspire one another, but it is for everybody.

“Labels are for soup cans,” she said, “and that’s the message we hope people take away from the festival. Anyone and everyone is invited to come and engage in our conversations and have their voice heard.”

Lindsay Brandon, a local performance artist involved in this year’s inaugural festival, said the queer community in Calgary is mainly little pockets of groups that haven’t yet unified.

“I’m hoping that festivals like Q the Arts will help bridge the gap in the queer community in Calgary. And I also hope it helps people to connect and identify with being queer,” she said.

The queer community in Calgary is still here and thriving, said Dollard, and this event will help the Society be “put on the map."

The festival is happening March 5 at the Arrata Opera Centre at 8 p.m. For more information visit fairytalesfilmfest.com/q-the-arts/