Providence Queer Arts Festival

In the spirit of, and in conjunction with Gay Pride, AS220 hosts a week of programming, talks, and the past, present, and future ofqueer art-making across disciplines. Inspired by the queer trailblazers, activists, and artistic icons who have come before, this iteration of a Providence Queer Arts Festival will highlight the work of fine artists, performers, and musicians from all points of thequeer spectrum, from youth to mature artists of all backgrounds.

During the month of June, two different gallery shows will be housed at AS220 – Nebulous Nebulae by Kourtnie Aileru at the Aborn Gallery on Empire Street and Nine Locks Upon the Wonder: New Works by Aaron Peterman at the AS220 Project Space on Mathewson Street. In addition to the opening reception on June 6th in the galleries, the artists will also participate in an artists dialogue about Queer Aesthetics in Visual Culture, June 18th from 5-7 PM.

The festival will also feature two different nights of curated experimental queer art and performance.

On Tuesday, June 17th, come by AS220’s  Black Box Theater at 7 PM for Magic! Terror! Gay! Hurray!, an alchemical evening of performance curated by J.R Urestsky and Ian J. Cozzens.  The next evening, Wednesday, June 18th, the Black Box will host a night of queer of color art and performance called Be/Longing… curated by Kourtnie Alieru and Jax Gil.

On Friday, June 19th, AS220 hosts two events in celebration of pride. At 7 PM, the Black Box hosts a double feature of QueerPerformance Today, featuring Leigh Hendrix and the Diversity Fellows! After the show, stick around for a queer rock show at AS220’s Main Stage, featuring touring bands B.O.Y.F from the Twin Cities, Jamaican Queens from Detroit, and BLK BX from Boston, and River Wrought from central MA.

The culmination of the festival will be on Pride Saturday when the AS220 Main Stage will host an all ages alternative rock show/dance party featuring locals Matt Underwood, Memory Shard, along with DJ  and DJ Mute City.

Tickets to all events are $5-$12 sliding scale, but audience members who see an earlier performance will get a voucher to get into the queer dance party for only $3!

Please check out Facebook and AS220.com for more information on each of the above events!