Julian Legere, known to local audiences for his Pride Reading series at Theatre Northwest and his regular contributions to the MoveUp Prince George blog, is bringing queer performance and storytelling to the Omineca Arts Centre.
As the Omineca Arts Centre's artist in residence, Legere's first project is called 'AMAB inclined to softness', a performance combining drag, burlesque, and storytelling.
“There are so many tropes in the way queer stories are told, because for so long we haven’t been able to tell those stories ourselves.” Legere said.
“This performance looks backward at queer history to find the humanity inside the clichés, and bring them to life through my own present experience of queerness.”
The second project is an oral history connecting drug users’ experiences of the ongoing drug toxicity crisis to queer experiences of HIV/AIDS. This long-term project kicks off at Omineca with an interactive exhibition and a storytelling workshop, open to everyone.
“There’s so much power in capturing and sharing and knowing each other’s stories,” Legere said.
“So I hope this workshop will get people excited about that. Get them thinking about how and where they can share their stories and access that power.”
Email julian.s.legere@gmail.com to reserve a seat or just show up on July 30.
The Omineca Arts Centre has a new larger stage and house sound equipment. The team is looking for volunteers to host open hours and would be delighted to see people come in to just practice their jam on the stage with the house drum kit and borrowed acoustic and electric instruments.
There’s a call out for anyone who would donate time to tune the piano and service a saxophone. The space is open for rentals of almost any kind and the Omineca Arts Centre team would like to collaborate with anyone planning upcoming activities.
For more information visit www.ominecaartscentre.com.
