Pride Listings 2009
Support Your Pride!
If you think corporations have taken a hit in this year’s stinky economy, just imagine how non-profits and charities must feel, many largely supported by the same private corporations. The strapped budgets tighten even further for groups producing many of the country’s biggest queer events this summer, so there’s no time like the present than to get out there and give back to your own community. Thinking Pride? Think outside the box – here’s a mere sampling of some of the exciting events we have to look forward to as we tackle our recession:
June
Queer West Fest Toronto: From June 12 – 20, Queer West will present the fourth annual Queer Toronto Queer West Fest Week, featuring music, art, community events that include the second annual Queer West Film Festival and the Gay West Bicycle Club’s Pride Ride. http://queerwest.org
Sexy Pride: As usual Buddies In Bad Times will celebrate Toronto Pride with a slew of events, including the annual cabaret by Buddies’ Youth Group, PrideCab. June 12 – 28. www.artsexy.ca
Alberta Rockies Gay Rodeo: Cowtown’s now infamous Gay Rodeo takes place this year in Strathmore just east of Calgary. June 26 – 28. www.argra.org
July
Festival International Montréal en Arts (FIMA): This year’s explosive outdoor visual arts extravaganza in and around Montreal’s gay village takes place July 2 to 5 with the usual array of local and guest international artists surrounded by the terrace charm of some of Montreal’s top restos and clubs. www.festivaldesarts.org
Toto, Too: Ottawa gay and lesbian community theatre company Toto, Too kicks off 2009 with its annual fundraiser Swirl and Twirl May 28, followed by a production of Happy Birthday by Vancouver’s David Blue from July 15 to 18. www.tototoo.ca
Divers-cité: July 26 to August 2: Montreal’s “pluridisciplinary” arts festival and now one of the largest outdoor queer festivals of its kind, Divers-cité features everything from outdoor cinemas, contemporary dance and extravagant drag shows to internationally renowned DJ events. www.diverscite.org
August and Beyond
Exposure: Edmonton’s Queer Arts and Culture Festival offers up 9 glorious days of Queerdom at galleries, cafés, stages and cinemas throughout the city. November 13 to 22. www.exposurefestival.ca
Festival Black and Blue: Bad Boys Club Montreal’s biggest long weekend event of the year is more than just circuit parties, DJs and all-nighters. October 7 – 13. Visit www.bbcm.org for info on this and other long weekend events throughout the summer.
Girl Play Toronto: Calling itself “Canada’s largest all-girl party”, Girl Play brings on a week of entertainment and international participation by and for women. Sept. 3 – 7. www.girlplaytoronto.com
Harvest Festival: Each Fall, Montreal’s Village Scene Productions organizes a community-driven queer performing arts fest, featuring local and guest artist productions. Upcoming in 2009 are Suddenly Last Summer and (en français) The Importance of Being Earnest. Check the schedule at www.villagescene.com
Image et nation: One of North America’s oldest queer film fests, the 22nd edition of Image et nation takes place each Fall at various locations in Montreal. Watch for this year’s official dates at www.image-nation.org
Loud n’ Queer Cabaret: Presented last year during the Exposure Festival, Guys In Disguise presents the longest running annual queer cabaret of new work in Western Canada. Loud n’Queer is a staple of the Edmonton arts scene, or as the Edmonton Sun puts it, “a potpourri of poofterism”. www.Guysindisguise.com
Out on Screen Queer Film Festival: Vancouver’s exciting queer film fest has a huge outreach to students and independent filmmakers, as well as a fascinating queer history project on Vancouver’s queer history. August 13 – 23. www.queerfilmfestival.ca
2009 Pride Guide
According to the International Association of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Coordinators (InterPride), the global pride theme for 2009 is “Your Rights, Our Rights, Human Rights”. The theme is an important one as America struggles to catch up with Canada in the context of gay marriage, and even more befitting when we consider the number of smaller town, start-up Prides in Canada still fighting huge battles in order to celebrate their cultural diversity.
Trekking across the country, meanwhile, here are some fab Pride events we could muster up for you under our Canuck Rainbow:
BC
Victoria Pride: June 28 – July 5. www.victoriapridesociety.org
Vancouver Pride: August 1 – 2. www.vancouverpride.ca
Alberta
Pride Calgary: September 5 and 6. www.pridecalgary.ca
Edmonton Pride Week: June 12 – 21. www.prideedmonton.org
Saskatchewan
Saskatoon Pride: June 7 – 13. www.saskatoonpride.ca
Regina Pride: June 13 – 20. www.gaycanada.com/pride-regina
Manitoba
Winnipeg Pride Festival: June 5 – 14. http://gaypridewinnipeg.com
Ontario
Windsor Pride: August 5 – 9. www.windsorpride.com
Pride London Festival: July 16 – 26. www.prideondon.ca
Halton Pride: June 6. www.haltonpride.org
Hamilton Pride Week: June 13 – 21. www.hamiltonpride.com
Pride Events Peel: July 11 and 12. www.prideventspeel.com
Tri-Pride Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo: May 31 – June 6. www.tri-pride.ca
Pride Week Toronto: June 19 – 28. www.pridetoronto.com
Capital Pride Ottawa: August 21 – 30. www.prideottawa.com
Québec
Québec City: September 4 – 6. www.glbtquebec.org
Célébrations de la Fierté de Montréal: August 13 – 16. www.fiertemontrealpride.com
New Brunswick
Port City Rainbow Pride Saint John: August 9 – 15. www.portcityrainbowpride.com.
Moncton Pride: August 15 – 23. www.fiertemonctonpride.ca.
PEI
PEI Pride: July 3 – 11. www.arcofpei.com (info site).
Nova Scotia
Halifax Pride: July 19 – 26. http://halifaxpride.org
Pride Cape Breton: August 8 – 15. www.pridecapebreton.com
Newfoundland
St. John’s Pride: July 18 – 25. (no website yet).
David Allan King is the OUTtv Ambassador for Montreal and the Artistic Director of Montreal’s queer performing arts company, OUT Productions (www.out.ca). That means he is here to update you on community events, news, shows, anything that he thinks you will be interested to know about his region.
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Brad Danks Says:
June 5th, 2009 at 7:28 amVisit Brad Danks
Great post David!
OUTtv will be launching our Summer Pride Social Networking site next week. It will allow for everyone across Canada to post videos and photos of Pride events.
We are very excited about it!
Check out our 2009 Pride Listings across Canada: http://socialize.outtv.ca/page/pride-listings-2009