Montréal Pride Festival 2021 unveils 100% Two-Spirit LGBTQI+ line-up
Canada’s Drag Race finalist Rita Baga will feature, as well as stars Maxime Landry, Sandy Duperval, Jeremy Dutcher, and many more!
In partnership with Montréal Pride Festival
Montréal Pride Festival is returning with perhaps its most diverse line up ever! Presented by TD Bank Group, the hybrid in-person-virtual event has been titled “Together for All”.
The festival – the largest gathering of the sexually and gender diverse (SGD) communities in the Francophone world – is aiming to be more inclusive than ever featuring artists from across the 2SLGBTQI+ communities and showcasing the community organisations that support and advocate for the SGD communities.
The festival, taking place from 9-15 August, will offer more than 70 hours of content, with discussions, DJ sets, community projects and shows along with plenty of other surprises!
“Our ability to mobilize and support each other has never been greater!”
Sandy Duperval, a musician who’s been an ambassador of Montréal Pride since 2016, said: “I am especially proud and humbled to represent such a diverse programming that reflects our communities. This year, the obstacles, and challenges for our communities, especially for the most vulnerable ones, were enormous, yet our ability to mobilize and support each other has never been greater!
“Our communities have once again demonstrated their strength, resilience and most importantly, their ability to overcome obstacles and emerge stronger! “, she added.
Sandy will be hosting the opening party on 9 August, which marks International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, which will also feature an exhilarating performance by the Two-Spirit artist and activist from New Brunswick, Jeremy Dutcher.
Montréal Pride 2019 (Photo: Montréal Pride Festival)
A central part of any Pride, the parade, which will take place on 15 August, will be back but won’t be featuring any vehicles or floats, more in a spirit of a march. More details are to be announced shortly.
Among the programme of events throughout the festival will be discussions on trans and gender identities, daily capsules looking at mental health issues, as well as The BIPOC Hours (focused on the Queer, Trans, Two-Spirit, and People of Colour communities) which includes content on the realities faced by Black, Asian, Two-Spirit, Latinx and Arab communities.
Alongside the spectacular opening and closing shows, four pre-recorded super shows will be broadcast in the evenings celebrating all people within the 2SLGBTQI+ communities. And of course, there will be plenty of DJ sets, drag, films, literature, documentaries, circus cabaret, burlesque, poetry, and even some erotica. Something for everyone!
Headlining the closing show will be Québec artists Rita Baga (Canada’s Drag Race series 1 royalty!), and Maxime Landry.
Canada’s Drag Race’s Rita Baga and Kiara at Montréal Pride 2020 (Photo: Montréal Pride Festival)
Montréal Pride will be focused around the Village area of the city. Festival-goers will have access to the Community Days – an outdoor (and a virtual) art gallery, which will present the exhibition ‘Ensemble pour toustes’ with the collaboration of Gallea and mini-stages with animations.
Across the five days, 15 tents will be installed along Sainte-Catherine Street in the Village with different community organisations occupying one of the spaces each day to meet and talk to members of the public about their work.
The Montréal Pride Festival is taking place from 9–15 August.