During most of the previous festivals in the past it has been a tradition to start each day with a welcoming opening ritual. This time Axel will join and we will have a big global welcoming moment for the online aspect of our 3-day festival.

Authentic Relating is an interpersonal meditation. It is the practice of listening and speaking from a place of presence and sensation, allowing us to weave richer and more truthful connections. Come play four Authentic Relating games, connecting intimately with people around the world :)

Informational workshop plus a movement-based practice centered around dismantling mainstream and whitewashed notions and narratives of yoga and its history by presenting its African (Kemetic, Yoruba) roots and philosophies. Followed by a joyful, nurturing, body inclusive yoga session that incorporates postures, movements and breathwork honoring both the Vedic and the African lineages, accompanied by a really dope playlist. Led by Daddypuss Rex, a Black, non-binary, gender goblin and somatics & yoga guide.

This workshop seeks to provide a space for exploring the male gender. We will be looking at how being a cis or trans man impacts our daily lives, what are our own constructs around the male gender. We will be using a model and theory by Ann Ladd: Layers of Personality to understand our own gender identity and expression.

HP Loveshaft examines the role of sex positivity, inspired by his experiences with queerness, kink & non-monogamy. Drawing on anthropology, psychology, neurochemistry & history, he challenges people to re-examine their relationship to difference.

How can we fully embrace the invitation for self-observation as a result of the global pandemic? What are our collective/personal missions these days? Can we first come to terms with ourselves and redefine our freedom? Let’s revive the inner dialogue with our Sacred Animals and discuss all vital perspectives for our wellbeing.

Get yourself hot and horny in a fun group dance class. We’ll start slow and steady, preparing our bodies to sweat, pant and shake from that kundalini feeling deep inside. It’s a follow-along dance-sexercise class with plenty of space to improvise on your own. Heart rates and hip thrusts will accelerate. Please wear clothing! …we got to get it hot in order to strip it off.

what was/is it like to be in the closet?
where did we go since then? where are we now?
where do we want to be?

this workshop is an invitation for a body-centred conversation,
with space to feel into our bodies and reflect collectively.

Many of our lives have been shaped by ongoing struggles with the domination of white heterosexual men. Those struggles are complicated by our own embrace of the masculine aspects of our beings and the extent to which our changing individual practices of masculinity defy and are undermined by the dominant stereotype. In this workshop we will explore the intersectional relationships of race, gender, economics, ethnicity, ability and religion on the construction of our authentic, forgiving, thriving and rich masculine selves.

We will explore together each of the seven major chakras, their meaning, significance and impact in our queer lives. We will spend some time in mindfulness practice through guided meditation on each of the chakras. The workshop will involve sharing from the heart, from the wealth of our individual experiences, listen to and learn from each other's wisdom, on how we might achieve alignment and balance of these chakras.

This workshop facilitates an exploration of ourselves and the way we function in our relationships using a model and theory put forward by Ann Ladd: Layers of Personality. We will take time through sharing and exercises to understand each of these layers and how they influence the way we relate with ourselves and others as queer men.

This colloquium will explore how religious/spiritual beliefs and practices have historically influenced active engagement in love, intimacy, empathy and compassion for queer persons. It will examine influences on queer life and experiences as well as the positive and negative impacts of spiritual beliefs and practices on self-esteem and relationships in the past and today? How do we reconcile negative feelings that have prevented self-acceptance, authenticity, positivity and realizing greatest, power and possibilities as Queer persons?

For many queer people, coming out is a critical act of liberation and self-preservation as well as a model of truth-telling as an essential mechanism in creating the authentic life we want to live. Sometimes painful and fraught with contradictions, honesty, as a practice, can be difficult to achieve and demands, often, that we transcend internal and external constraints created by shame and fear. In this workshop we will explore telling our truths as a daily activity that facilitates our physical, mental and spiritual flourishing as individuals in our public and private lives.

Puddles the Pelican is a broken, scrappy, one-eyed bird, who lives on a cruise ship at the end of time. A survivor of the Deep Horizon Oil Spill, Puddles, squawks, moans, and tells stories of love and loss to keep the cruise ship passengers awake as they sail towards a howl – blind, eternal, and empty – on a sea that is no longer blue, but a rusted dark orange. Choking on bits of tar, flailing, all-fantastic Puddles quacks: “Once a glorious bird, now covered in oil. Which one of you bitches has a match?”

Let’s move together! In this dancing session, we set our intentions and dive separately together into an abstract physical journey. We learn to listen to our body knowledge, practice handy “power stations,” and expand our mutual heart. Dress up comfortably or wear casual; this is an invitation to recharge our mental/emotional/physical bodies and listen to the unspeakable hidden Self.

This inclusive session is exclusively addressed to all types of GBTQ men.

Facing an evolving pandemic and political currents that threaten our ability to thrive and realize our potential, our futures are tied to relationships that extend beyond our natural and proven affinity group. This session explores our capacity, skills and commitments needed to recognize and embrace allies. How do we conjure trust, reveal our needs, articulate priorities, establish boundaries, accept challenges and failures, listen carefully, remain willing to give and accept help. In short, engage, accept and sustain allyship?

Regardless of its gender, the world is transitionning: cultures, ecosystems, economies are changing rapidly, locally and globally. Our gender identities (trans, cis, other) and their transformations are expressions of and reactions to the many contexts in which they happen. Using intersectionality to understand the way they are constructed, we will question the realities that shape our genders, their ressemblance and difference, and question what we express through them, politically, erotically. How do we resist or embrace the transition of the world itself?

The closing circle is an opportunity to sit together, to reflect, speak and listen with our bodies, hearts and minds to some experiences of the festival. As a way of closing and transitioning, everyone is invited to share something that perhaps touched, inspired or irritated them during the past three days.