Queer Narratives Festival

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Starting the Queer Narratives Festival with a BIG Party, meet & greet with House of DOV & live DJs!

Before the dancers take the stage at Charlotte Street, we invite you to No Divide KC on July 10th for an immersive opening party, co-presented by No Divide KC and Charlotte Street Foundation.

Circle of Apathy is a "hypnotic" study of growth and disintegration. At this kickoff event, we bring that spirit to the party. Join us for:

• Ambient Soundscapes: Live improvisational textures from Chicago’s own Family Junket.

• Artist Meet-and-Greet: Connect with Creative Director Drew Lewis and the House of DOV ensemble.

• Festival Kickoff: Help us launch the Queer Narratives Festival with high energy and deep intention.

PAY WHAT YOU CAN: We believe in a sustainable future for dance. There is no set ticket price for this party, but we are asking for donations at the door. 100% of proceeds from this event go directly to the traveling artists to cover their costs while touring to Kansas City.

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Join us for Circle of Apathy, a new dance project from House of DOV with live music from Family Junket, in the Charlotte Street Stern Theater on July 11 from at 7:30 PM.

In Circle of Apathy, the new dance project from House of DOV with live music from Family Junket, the ensemble explores the cycles of growth and disintegration intrinsic to nature, and works together to build physical structures which increase in precarity over two acts as the group strives toward expansion. “Through creative process, we’ve sought to understand our own place within the greater ecology of our landscape, and to experience the human body as a metaphor and microcosm of the natural world,” says Drew Lewis, creative director of House of DOV.

This performance is co-presented by No Divide KC and Charlotte Street as part of the Queer Narratives Festival.

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Queer Narratives is an exhibition featuring work by queer artists living and working in Kansas City and the surrounding region. This exhibition centers queer artists, not only work explicitly about queerness, but work that emerges from artists who navigate the world through queer lived experience. We are interested in what queer artists are making now: how identity, environment, history, material, and imagination intersect in their practice.

Queers Care is an annual health fair and panel where queer and trans folks connect with affirming health professionals, movement makers, and each other.

No jargon, no gatekeeping, free resources, and time to build trust face-to-face.

Hosted in collaboration with trusted partners across Kansas City, Queers Care is an invitation to rest, ask questions, meet your next provider, and walk away with something useful, whether that’s a referral, a truth, or a hug.

In collaboration with KU Gender Diversity Clinic.

AGENDA:

11:00 AM – 11:30 AM: Mingling & Community Resource Fair

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM: Panel Discussion

12:30 PM – 1:00 PM: Expo

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Consider this your official invitation to the annual queer arts reunion!

For the 7th year, the Queer Narratives Festival (QNF) is landing stories that mainstream stages overlook.

Queerness doesn’t belong exclusively to June. We are spending all of July and August occupying spaces across the city, and on Saturday, August 8th, we are coming together inside the warm, neon, storied walls of The Ship in the West Bottoms to close out the summer together.

If you are looking for your people (and YOU LOVE ART!): It is never too late to find your chosen community. Come inside, escape the August heat, grab a drink, and breathe out. You are safe here. Welcome to the Queer Narratives Festival.

The Stage & The Showcase

Doors open at 3:00 PM. Come early to find a spot and settle in before the main stage schedule begins rolling at 4:00 PM.

One afternoon, thirteen acts, chosen by QNF Alumni panelists to showcase the real, respectable talent that lives on your block.

The full artist roster drops on July 1st, prepare for a massive, heavy-hitting afternoon of:

Live Indie Bands & Solo Songwriters

Unfiltered Drag & Performance Art

Stand-Up Comedy

Poetry & Spoken Word

Local Rap & Hip-Hop sets

Experimental & Contemporary Dance

The Art Alley

Outside the performance space, step into The Art Alley, full of interactive queer makers, tarot readers, live sketching, face paint, and add your own mark to our collaborative community art pieces!

Logistics

• The Environment: The Ship is an indoor venue with a moody, intimate vibe.

• Age Note: The festival features honest, unfiltered adult storytelling. It’s not strictly 21+, but the content is geared toward adults, college students, and older teens, audiences under 18 require adult supervision.

• Accessibility: The Ship is ADA accessible. If you have any specific sensory or physical needs, reach out to our team so we can make sure you are comfortable and taken care of.

Registration is Pay-What-You-Can, but grabbing a ticket helps us track numbers at the door. Claim your spot below.

Join Miana Abramson on her debut as the first artist resident at No Divide KC, Miana’s work creates a fine line that blends between contemporary dance and drag.

Followed by Nora Sharp and the touring dance-theater-comedy solo show, Cosmic Docks, a trans tall-tale about orbiting the sources of yourself and searching for clarity in a broken world. Through looping choreographies, chronicles, characters, and soundtracks, Nora Sharp builds a world where personal history and and sci-fi futurism intersect in the dumpster out back of a local top surgery office, eventually charting a pathway beyond story or self.

Queer Narratives is an exhibition featuring work by queer artists living and working in Kansas City and the surrounding region. This exhibition centers queer artists, not only work explicitly about queerness, but work that emerges from artists who navigate the world through queer lived experience. We are interested in what queer artists are making now: how identity, environment, history, material, and imagination intersect in their practice.