Queer Spectra Arts Festival

⭐️Saturday Performing Artists⭐️ The following artists are musicians, writers, dancers, drag performers, and other interdisciplinary artists! Join us for free performances Saturday May 16th Starting at 5:00 PM followed by an artist panel Hosted at the Sorenson Unity Center (1383 S 900 W Salt Lake) Masks are recommended for all events Artist bios: (Continued in the comments) Venus Death Trap is a queer punk band from Salt Lake City. We are all about fun, theatrics, and sharing art. Any reason is a good reason to wear a costume and be dramatic! Above all, we believe that in the face of opposition, art and creativity are the best tools to fight back. Venus Death Trap consists of Sophi on vocals, Spencer on guitar, Taz on bass, and Bianca on Drums. As an ever-evolving creature with a penchant for the circus, Shortcake the Clown gallivants through the city, looking to play. Transcending gender and casting societal norms aside for the bright red nose, during a show, anything goes! Now a makeup instructor at Vaudeville Underground, the delightful mess of colors can’t wait to meet you. Hunter Hazard is a Salt Lake based creator dedicated to facilitating accesible and meaningful movement experiences through education. Hunter works as a special education teaching assistant as well as a creative movement instructor with the Boys and Girls Club. His current research centers around blending games with creative movement expression with a heavy emphasis on teamwork and inclusion. Salina Marina is a Drag Queen, Community Organizer, and ‘Ecovixen’ currently residing in the wave-made world. She takes inspiration from a wealth of Drag Artists including Pattie Gonia, Eli Nixon, Kay Bye, Sequoia, and so many more, as well as lake-facing artists worldwide. Her performances pair high energy dance with environmentalist messages. Whether she’s modeling recycled materials or adorned in waves, SLC’s conservation queen will always leave you thirsty for more!!

⭐️Gallery Artists 3/3 ⭐️ The following artists are some of our gallery artists with mediums varying from acrylic paints, textiles, graphic design, and other inter and multidisciplinary art. Join us and see these artists work displayed in our gallery at the Sorenson Unity Center (1383 S 900 W Salt Lake) Masks are recommended for all events Artist bios: (Continued in the comments) Ro (they/them), is an artist, architect, and communications professional living in Utah. Originally from Portugal, Ro’s international journey began with graduate studies in the Netherlands, which laid the foundation for a multidisciplinary approach to art and design. Following graduation, Ro spent five years working as an architect in Madrid, and this experience was further enriched by a nine-month journey across South America, traveling through the Amazon River. As a queer artist and immigrant to Utah, Ro finds immense significance in participating in social impact revolutionary creative projects. There’s a superstition called the Artist’s Curse: paint someone you love, and they slowly drift out of your life. Sophia Keo keeps painting her friends anyway, apparently determined to speed things along. So far, they keep coming back, which she finds highly suspicious. Her paintings persist as quiet experiments in tenderness, impermanence, and the gentle absurdity of persuading love to sit still for its portrait. She can often be found in India, gazing at a crumbling statue and maybe/maybe not having a conversation with it. Spencer Hardy is a queer trans man, poet, musician, crocheter, activist, and aspiring disruptor. Spencer’s art draws inspiration from queer and trans identity, marginalization, disrupting western imperialism and colonialism, collective liberation and art as a movement for social change. Spencer lives in Salt Lake City with his wife, two kids, and a cute old dog. When he’s not crocheting or writing poetry you can also find him creating noise and chaos with his band the Lavender Menace Brass Collective, tabling at the Salt Lake Artists Against Genocide events, or organizing with the Salt Lake City Healthcare Workers for Palestine.

⭐️Gallery Artists 2/3 ⭐️ The following artists are some of our gallery artists with mediums varying from acrylic paints, textiles, graphic design, and other inter and multidisciplinary art. Join us and see these artists work displayed in our gallery at the Sorenson Unity Center (1383 S 900 W Salt Lake) Masks are recommended for all events Artist bios: (Continued in the comments) Jaspen is an artist who lives in Utah County with their pet snake, Spaghetti. They studied Art & Design at UVU. Their work has mainly consisted of painting, sculpting, and graphic design, though they enjoy experimenting with a wide variety of mediums. In the past couple years they have also picked up a passion for writing and stand-up comedy. My name is Jordan I am 20 years old, and a sophomore in college at Southern Utah university, studying Art Education. I have been privileged enough to come from a big, very artistic family. I am the youngest of 6 and all of my siblings are pursuing art in different fields. I feel most influenced by my 3 sisters, they are my favorite people and have been such inspiration for me. I enjoy sculpting and working with clay but I also enjoy all other types of media. I feel confident in describing myself as a patient person, so learning new forms of art is a treat! I’m also a collector of sorts or a hoarder as my mother would say, but I love me a trinket! I’m trying to get my art into the world so I can feel more confident as an artist. Even if nobody likes it, at least I tried. Joyce - A 25 year old landscape painter from Salt Lake City. Most of my art is inspired from a life spent in the mountains of Utah. Preserving our climate and respect the rights and heritage of Indigenous peoples has always been a central core that motivates me to paint.

⭐️Gallery Artists 1/3 ⭐️ The following artists are some of our gallery artists with mediums varying from acrylic paints, textiles, graphic design, and other inter and multidisciplinary art. Join us and see these artists work displayed in our gallery at the Sorenson Unity Center (1383 S 900 W Salt Lake) Masks are recommended for all events Artist bios: (Continued in the comments) Adrian is a multidisciplinary artist working primarily with collage and image-based practices. He studied art tutoring at university, where his work developed through close attention to visual language, symbolism, and narrative construction. His practice draws from occult and esoteric traditions, mythology, and inherited cultural imagery, using these elements to explore themes of identity, surveillance, persistence, and becoming. Adrian’s collage work often assembles fragmented images into symbolic landscapes that feel both intimate and distant, combining ornamental detail with political and emotional tension. Alongside visual art, he writes poetry and short texts that inform his image making process, allowing language and image to exist in dialogue. His work is interested in liminal spaces between visibility and erasure, history and futurity and considers art as a site for quiet resistance, reflection, and continuation. Ariana Babbitt is a 25-year-old genderqueer lesbian artist/historian based in Utah. While she was going to college studying theatrical design and production, she realized she was a lesbian at the age of 19. Feeling lost in her new identity, she found comfort in the story of Maude Adams, a historical queer actress from Salt Lake City, Utah. It then became her mission to find out everything she could about the queer history that was hidden from her all her life. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies and working in the history field.

The 2026 Queer Spectra Arts Festival is here! For eight years running, Queer Spectra is Utah’s only interdisciplinary LGBTQ+ arts festival open to all ages. There’s something for everyone! 🎸Live performances 🎨Visual and literary arts gallery featuring local and international artists 🌟Interactive workshops with community leaders 🎤A keynote conversation 🌱Opportunities to connect with local artists and art enthusiasts. Find the full schedule and presenter information at queerspectra.com Thank you to @_mysticswanstudios for partnering on this video!

⭐️Thursday Performing Artists⭐️ The following artists are musicians, writers, dancers, drag performers, and other interdisciplinary artists! Join us for free performances Thursday May 14th Starting at 6:00 PM for a Pre-Show Outdoor Performance. Followed by a collection of performing artists at 6:30, ending with an artist panel. Hosted at the Sorenson Unity Center (1383 S 900 W Salt Lake) Masks are recommended for all events Artist bios: (Continued in the comments) Ellie has been an aerialist for six years. Through their work they explore their transgender identity, their religious beliefs, and how they intersect. It has been their lifelong dream to run away with the circus. From the shores of the San Francisco Bay Area to the high desert of SLC, these two TRANScendant, first-gen voices remind you that a better world is possible. Azul and Judas’s music - with influences including folk punk, boleros, corridos, and musical theater ballads - centers around storytelling and social justice. Whether tackling it directly through the lyrics or through what the music embodies, the songs they bring serve as a reminder that heart, connection, community, and art are and should always be part of liberation movements. Sav Pearson (they/she) is a queer, chronically ill/disabled writer and community organizer from the unceded Lands of the Seminole Nation, today known as St. Pete, Florida. In 2025, they received their M.A. from the Environmental Humanities Program at the University of Utah. Sav researches the role of art, poetry, and performance in radical activist movements. In 2025, they published a tiny red book called bloodsalt with lakewords. Their first full-length manuscript, Reverence is Resistance: Stories & Spells from a Lake-led Movement, is forthcoming from the University of Utah Press. You can read more of Sav’s work on Dark Mountain, Edge Effects, and Kelp.

Introducing the 2026 Festival Team! 🏳️‍🌈 Tori Meyer @_tori_meyer and Rae Luebbert @raeluebbert make up the year-long Organizing Committee. They are so excited to see the festival happen after dreaming, planning, and scheming the 2026 Festival for the past many months. We are so grateful to have Pablo Ayala Cruz @pabloc_art_ as the 2026 Visual Arts Coordinator. Pablo has been working hard to set up the gallery. 🖼️ Our three wonderful interns include Emry Porter, Kade Bliss @serenityrenegade , and Caleb Martin @kayluv2u . ⭐️ Bios included in the comments below. Tune into the 8th Annual Queer Spectra Arts Festival May 14-16 at the Sorenson Unity Center (1383 S 900 W Salt Lake City) @sorensonmcc . 🌈 Visual Description: The graphic has a dark blue background with “Festival Team” written in light blue text. Below is a grid with six images. Moving left to right, top to bottom is Tori Meyer who is a white person with medium brown hair. She is wearing a black tank top and pants and is posing on one leg in front of a white background. Rae Luebbert is a gender queer white person with short brown hair. Rae is wearing round glasses with gold rim and a light brown button up shirt and is smiling widely. Branches from a green bush are blurred in the background. Pablo Ayala Cruz is a cis gender queer male person with glasses and long dark hair. Wearing a knitted overcoat sweater over a light blue button up, in front of a neutral grey blue background. Wearing dark rimmed square glasses frames. Emry Porter has red hair and is wearing a burnt orange shirt and rectangular glasses. Kade is a white trans man with medium length brown hair. He is wearing an unbuttoned orange flannel and holding a guitar. Kade’s eyes are closed and his face is turned up toward the sunshine. There are green bushes in the background casting a shadow on the guitar. Caleb Martin has short blonde hair and is wearing circular glasses and a blue button down shirt with a large triangular collar while standing in front of green foliage.

The second 2026 Queer Spectra Workshop is a Community Discussion on Palestinian & Queer Liberation with Mishandi Sarhan @mishandijemilla — Salt Lake Artists Against Genocide @sl_aag on Saturday, May 16 at 1:45pm. 🖤❤️🤍💚 FREE Masks encouraged and provided. Questions or Accessibility Needs? Please contact [email protected]. Bio: Mishandi Sarhan is a Queer Palestinian, artist, community organizer, and founding member of Salt Lake Artists Against Genocide. Visual Description: The first slide is dark blue with white text that reads, “Workshop 2 Community Discussion on Palestinian & Queer Liberation with Mishandi Sarhan Saturday, May 16 at 1:45pm.” Below is Mishandi’s headshot cropped in the shape of a circle. Mishandi is wearing clear framed glasses, red lipstick, and an orange shirt. The second slide is dark blue with Mishandi’s bio listed in white text.

Announcing a very special workshop: Plant Cyanotypes with Sarah May @sarahlizmay on Saturday, May 16 at 12:30pm. 💙🌱 Join us for an hour of cyanotypes, an alternative photographic process using the power of the sun! Workshop attendees will be able to make up to 2 cyanotype photogram prints with native and local plant cuttings. All materials are provided. Attendees are welcome to bring their own plants to print with if desired. FREE Masks encouraged and provided. Questions or Accessibility Needs? Please contact [email protected]. Bio: Sarah May is a queer Salvadoreña American artist, poet, educator, and bruja who has long called Pia Appaa, Great Salt Lake, home. She has her BFA in Photography & Digital Imaging from the U of U, and her MA in Community Leadership from Westminster University. She has been making cyanotypes, an alternative photographic process, for 15 years and creates work on paper, fabric, and ceramic. As someone who lives in the in-between of multiple worlds and identities, Great Salt Lake and the natural world is a sacred place where she cultivated her magic into the artist and storyteller she is today and is a huge component of her work as a place-based artist.Sarah is a co-founder of Making Waves Artist Collaborative, a community of artists, organizers, and vigilkeepers who cultivate lake-facing culture through participatory art and demonstrative love for Great Salt Lake. Sarah released her debut poetry collection last year, Our stories are our bodies, a body of poetry and cyanotypes in conversation with Great Salt Lake. Visual Description: The first slide is dark blue with white text that reads, “Workshop 1 Plant Cyanotypes with Sarah May, Saturday, May 16” Below is Sarah’s headshot. Sarah is wearing a denim shirt with a multi-colored scarf. The second slide is dark blue with Sarah’s bio listed in white text.

You don’t want to miss the ✨ Queer Spectra Live Dance Party ✨ with miel aka vi:bra @mi111el @dyked_ ! 🪩 Groove with us on Friday, May 15 at 8:00pm, directly after the Artists-in-Residence Showing. 🌈 FREE Masks encouraged and provided. Questions or Accessibility Needs? Please contact [email protected]. Bio: miel aka vi:bra (they/elle) is a Salt Lake City local, from Papantla, Mexico. As an artist they are a genre-fluid, multidisciplinary artist and creator of Salt Lake City’s queer and sapphic events ¡dyked! & ¡jochis. They will be delivering glitter-charged, euphoric multigenre grooves to end our night. Visual Description: The first slide is dark blue with white text that reads, “Live DJ Dance Party with miel aka vi:bra. Friday, May 15 8:00pm (directly after the Artists-in-Residence Show)” Below is miel’s headshot cropped in the shape of a circle. miel is standing before a purple sky with a gold necklace and black camisole shirt. The second slide is dark blue with miel’s bio listed in white text.

Join us for a special screening of the short film “Be Where You Are” followed by a Keynote Conversation with Kylee Howell @captainkybee on Saturday, May 16 at 3:00pm at the Sorenson Unity Center (1383 S 900 W Salt Lake City). Howell is the film’s director and the owner and barber behind Friar Tuck’s Barbershop in Helper, UT. This film features six LGBTQ+ people and their experiences coming out in Carbon County. Howell will be in conversation with Queer Spectra Festival Organizer Rae Luebbert @raeluebbert about the film, queer community and visibility in rural places and in Utah. There will be time for an audience Q&A. FREE ASL Interpretation will be provided for this event. Masks encouraged and provided. Questions or Accessibility Needs? Please contact [email protected]. Bio: Kylee Howell (she/her) is the owner and barber behind Friar Tuck’s Barbershop in Helper, Utah. She founded Friar Tuck’s in Salt Lake City in 2015 with a clear mission: to give back to the community that supports her. Since then, her work has been recognized with multiple Fabby Awards and has included ongoing service efforts such as volunteering with the VOA Youth Shelter, hosting Underwear-ness events, organizing charity beard competitions, and participating in Dove’s “Got Beauty” campaign. Since relocating to Carbon County in 2021, Kylee has remained grounded in the authenticity that defines both her craft and her business. She serves on the local Soup Kitchen/Food Pantry board and helps with free back to school haircuts every summer through Carbon Medical Service. Kylee is also the founder of the Lavender Lighthouse Project, a nonprofit dedicated to building community, sharing resources, and serving as a guiding light for LGBTQ+ individuals and their families. As its first major initiative, the project produced the short film Be Where You Are, featuring Carbon County residents across generations reflecting on authenticity and identity in rural Utah.

Estamos muy entusiasmados con el octavo Queer Spectra Arts Festival: Troubling the Lines. Acompáñenos del 14 al 16 de mayo en el Sorenson Unity Center (1383 S 900 W, Salt Laike City) @sorensonmcc ¡Entrada gratis! Se recomienda el uso de mascarillas y Queer Spectra proporcionará mascarillas durante el evento. ¿Tiene preguntas o necesidades de accesibilidad? Por favor, contacte a [email protected] ¡Tenemos tres días repletes de eventos, acutaciones y talleres! 📆 Detalles del programa: Jueves, 14 de Mayo 🌈 6:00pm - Previo a la Actuación al Aire Libre 🌈 6:30pm - Actuación I seguida de Panel de Artistas Viernes, 15 de Mayo 🌈 6:00pm - Recepción de Apertura de la Galería 🌈 7:00pm - Exposición de Artistas Residentes @st.moan @jade._.sss 🌈 Fiesta de Baile con DJ miel aka vi:bra seguir la exposición @mi111el @dyked_ Sábado, 16 de Mayo 🌈 12:30pm - Taller Comunitario: Cianotipias Botánticas con Sarah May @sarahlizmay 🌈 1:45pm - Taller Comunitario: Liberación Palestina y Queer con Mishandi Sarhan (Salt Lake Artists Against Genocide) @mishandijemilla @sl_aag 🌈 3:00pm - Conversación Principal con Kylee Howell @captainkybee 🌈 5:00pm - Actuación II seguida de Panel de Artistas Lunes, Mayo 18 por Zoom (se require registro) 🌈 6:30pm - Taller Virtual: Reflexión con Jordan Danielle Descripción visual: El fondo del gráfico es de color negro negro con texto en azul oscuro, azul claro, y blanco. En el lado derecho, dos figuras se sitúan en el centro del gráfico. La persona que se encuentra en primer plano está tocando una guitarra eléctrica. Credito de la foto: Essie Shaw @essiedolly Artistas en la imagen: Christian Elwood y Jordan Reynosa @superfruit.juice Queer Spectra es possible gracias al apoyo de @slcozap @slcartscouncil @sorensonmcc @slcgov @creativewestrao