ABOUT NATIONAL QUEER ARTS FESTIVAL
Our signature program is the National Queer Arts Festival (NQAF), an annual multidisciplinary Festival held May through July throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Each year we commission over twenty performances, visual arts exhibitions, and interdisciplinary showcases and in the process, we support hundreds of artists and production crews.
Since 1998, NQAF has presented more than 800 different events that have featured more than 2,300 LGBTQ+ artists including Bill T. Jones, Heklina, Alice Walker, Robert Rauschenberg, Meredith Monk, Adrienne Rich, Marga Gomez, Justin Chin, Thom Gunn, Cherrie Moraga and Dorothy Allison. Many artists find their start at the festival. NQAF is the largest queer arts festival in North America.
2023 NQAF
26TH ANNIVERSARY
This year’s 26th Anniversary National Queer Arts Festival will take place June 9, 2023 through July 2, 2023 and will be a hybrid festival, in-person around the Bay Area and virtual worldwide. The 2023 NQAF theme “Murmurations of Queer Power” celebrates the convergence of a swarm of queerness and the power of coming together in service of liberation. The National Queer Arts Festival centers Queer, Trans, Gender Nonconforming, Intersex, Two-spirit, Black, Indigenous, People of Color (QTI2SBIPOC artists) and honors their work.
2023 NQAF Artists & Events
Links go to event ticket and registration pages!
June 9, 2023 – Xtal Azul & Gaia WXYZ: Murmurations Gallery Opening & NQAF Opening Night
June 9 – 30, 2023 – Xtal Azul & Gaia WXYZ: Murmurations: Queer Bodies of Werq
June 9 – 11, 2023 – In Lak’ech Dance Academy: 5th Annual Afro Latin Dance Festival
June 10 – 11, 2023 – Valerie Troutt: Because of Black Music IAM
June 11, 2023 – Maya Chinchilla & Gwen Park: Live & Queer LIVE!
June 15, 2023 – Queer Ancestors Project: Queer Ancestors Project Resist!
June 16, 2023 – OYSTERKNIFE: & seeking
June 17, 2023 – It’s Qwere: Mighty Real: A Sketch Variety Show
June 21, 2023 – Art Handlxrs*: Handle With Care: The Future of Art Handling
June 22, 2023 – A.B.O. Comix: Across Prison Walls: Building Community Through Letter Writing
June 23, 2023 – SF Trans March: TBD
June 28, 2023 – Queer Cultural Center: QCC Cabaret
June 29, 2023 – tanea lunsford lynx: Remembering Club Q: Panel & After Party
June 30, 2023 – Skip The Needle: Octavia of Earth Vol 2 & More
June 30 – July 2, 2023 – Dazié Grego-Sykes: The Changer and The Changed
June 30, 2023 – Xtal Azul & Gaia WXYZ: Murmurations Gallery Closing & NQAF Closing Night
Community Partner Events
Click the links below to check out our NQAF community partners events!
June 2, 2023 – Queer Rebels: Reshaping the Paradox
June 4, 2023 – Dear Queer Dancer: Queer Dance Film Festival
June 9-11, 2023 – QWOCMAP: 19th Annual Queer Women of Color Film Festival
June 14-18, 2023 – Fresh Meat Productions: Fresh Meat Festival of trans and queer performance
June 23, 2023 – Trans March 2023
June 24, 2023 – Dyke March 2023
June 24-25, 2023 – SF Pride 2023
COVID-19 PROTOCOLS AND ACCESSIBILITY
To honor community care and wellness, QCC is producing a hybrid festival with both in-person and virtual gatherings. Our aim is to produce a festival where folks can participate in a manner that feels safe and good to each individual preference. Our in-person events range from small workshops to large concerts. At our events, masking is required for all in-door experiences. In addition, we have masks and hand-sanitizer on-hand and are providing testing for our artists and team.
ASL interpretation available for only specific in-person events and by request. Check each event’s individual Eventbrite for their accessibility information. If you are interested in attending an event and require ASL interpretation, please send your request to [email protected]
AUDIENCE SURVEY
To help Queer Cultural Center (QCC) get a better idea of who is in our audience and the impact of our shows, after attending an event we would be grateful if you could please answer a few questions about the event you attended and yourself: Audience Survey
If you would like to share additional comments about the Festival or an event you attended, please do so by emailing [email protected]!
FUNDERS
Thank you to Queer Cultural Center Funders:
Thank you to this year’s community partners, sponsors, and venues!
