Transfest
June 24

June 24, 1:00 – 5:00 PM // Alexander Street Parkette // Free

Note: This event will be ASL-interpreted.

An all-day celebration of non-cisgender identities in words, fashion, dance, and song! This is your trans, genderqueer, and non-binary playground at Pride!

Curated by Katie Sly, expect performances and readings from across Canada, runway by non-binary underwear line NEWFRDM, and an afternoon of music.

Your TRANSFEST line up includes:

Anishinaabe/Métis poet and the 2016 Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBT Emerging Writers Honour of Distinction winner, Gwen Benaway

Dora Ng, a writer/activist telling genderqueer Chinese-Canadian stories, joining us from Coast Salish territories

Toronto multidisciplinary artists Angel Glady and Bilal Baig (the writer of the play Acha Bacha, recently presented at Theatre Passe Muraille)

Powerhouse stand-up comedian Chantel Marostica

Game-changer musician, model, and disability advocate Rachel Romu

Toronto darling punk band Camp Girls

Stalwarts of grassroots community work, trans-spectrum advocacy, and access to affordable dance training, the winner’s of Buddies’ Queer Emerging Artist Award in 2015, Toronto’s ILL NANA/DiverseCity Dance Company

TRANSFEST is an exploration of the dimensions of gender in terms of body, identity, and expression:

Body: our body, our experience of our own body, how society genders bodies, and how others interact with us based on our body.

Identity: our deeply held, internal sense of self as male, female, a blend of both, or neither; who we internally know ourselves to be.

Expression: how we present our gender in the world and how society, culture, community, and family perceive, interact with, and try to shape our gender.” –  GenderSpectrum.org

The Buddies in Bad Times Pride Toronto stage is presented in partnership with Pride Toronto.