Pride comes to Georgina Centre for Arts & Culture

By Michelle Poirier

The Georgina Centre for Arts & Culture (GCAC) is holding a two-day Pride celebration at its location on High Street in Sutton on Friday, June 24 and Saturday, June 25 to celebrate the 2SLGBTQ+ community.

On June 24, GCAC will be exhibiting art produced by members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community followed by live entertainment by Elton Joan and Diva.

Then on June 25, GCAC will have arts and crafts running all afternoon, a barbecue, and a drag show performance from the Devereaux Dolls that evening.

“We put out an open call to any 2SLGBTQ+ artists regardless of experience, regardless of medium,” said Jeanne Faria, GCAC’s Executive Director.

“We just want people to take part and feel connected. We’d like to get those pieces up for people to see them, because we have such a wonderfully, talented community here.”

While GCAC used to focus only on promoting art in the community, Faria said it has restructured within the last few years to start promoting culture as well as art.

“Pride this year is our first real experience where we’re pushing that forward. We believe it’s a culturally significant event for the community and being charged with spearheading cultural events in the community we figured it was up our alley to do that,” she said.

While the Town of Georgina did provide some funding, GCAC is still looking for sponsors to help fund the event.

“We feel very impassioned about being able to create these cultural experiences and to be able to reach other target populations that we would not have normally perhaps interacted with,” Faria said.

She also believes it’s time to create visibility so that 2SLGBTQ+ youth know there is a community here for them.

“If there are younger members of our community who are struggling with their identity, I think it does a lot to show them that we’re here and supportive,” she said.

“We’re super excited about our Pride celebration and hope to see everybody there. Happy Pride!”

Due to space limitations, GCAC is asking to email reception@gacag.com to purchase tickets for the live entertainment ahead of time.

Tickets may be available day of, if they do not sell out.

Tickets are $50.00 per person, or $75.00 per person for VIP tickets. The other GCAC Pride events are free.