Indian Summer Festival announces ALOK performance July 6 at Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
Gender-nonconforming artist and activist moves fluidly between standup comedy, poetry, and public speaking
ALOK. Photo by Eva Schwank
THE INDIAN SUMMER Festival has announced it will present gender-non-conforming poet, comedian, public speaker, and actor ALOK on July 6, in a copresentation with the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at UBC.
It’s the first big announcement in programming for the multidisciplinary fest, set to run July 4 to14.
Tickets to see An Evening With ALOK, a blend of poetry, comedy, lecture and performance, will go on sale today, and are available for purchase at the Indian Summer Festival website.
ALOK recently performed a sold-out show at Just For Laughs Vancouver, taking comedy far beyond gender binaries. They are known for their mix of stream-of-consciousness observations and bitingly political humour; check out the video below for a sample.
The artist’s literary works include Beyond the Gender Binary, Femme in Public, and Your Wound, My Garden, and they’re the brainchild of the #DeGenderFashion movement.
“I am thrilled to be amplifying one of the most pivotal voices of our time,” says Pawan Deol, executive director of programming at the Indian Summer Festival. “ALOK’s work is truly catalyzing, offering a tangible vision for true liberation. Their performances challenge our collective complacency, turning the dream of a more compassionate world into a vivid, attainable reality.”
“We need more joy, beauty, and laughter in our lives that helps us to move beyond binaries," says Jarrett Martineau, Curator-in-Residence at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts. “ALOK is a vital voice for change that inspires us to choose love over fear—together.” 
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