Urban Ink’s TRANSFORM Festival, presented in collaboration with The Cultch, will return to the stage for its fifth-annual celebration from November 6 to 9 at the Vancouver Playhouse.
Co-curated by Urban Ink artistic director Corey Payette and The Cultch executive director Heather Redfern, and supported by protocol keeper Quelemia Sparrow, the four-day festival features an all-star lineup of Indigenous and non-Indigenous talents, including the first-ever Indigenous winner of Canada’s Drag Race Season 4’s VENUS; circus sensation Sido Adamson; and local dance and ballroom star Ralph Escamillan.
TRANSFORM will kick off with the epic Opening Night Bash on November 6 at 7:30 pm. Co-hosted by VENUS and Quelemia Sparrow, the evening features a captivating mixed program of dance with Canadian Filipinx artist Escamillan, traditional hoop dancer & TikTok star Notorious Cree, and Métis dancer-choreographer Jera Wolfe; music with Inuit throat-singing duo PIQSIQ; circus with Vancouver-based aerial and burlesque performer Adamson; and drag performance with VENUS.
