Photo by: Victor Llorente

Founded by Aerin Fogel, musician, astrologer and activist, Venus Fest is dedicated to fostering community, inclusivity, unification, and feminist values, while providing a welcoming and safe environment for all attendees. Venus fest is a celebration - women and gender-fluid people are honoured here, but everyone is a part of the movement- the festival, staff, artists, and all related events hold an anti- oppressive, anti-racist, anti-ableist framework - intersectional feminism accounts for the barriers and power dynamics affecting all women.

Venus Fest has announce this year’s digital edition to take place September 28- October 2. Hosted by the iconic Canadian Broadcaster Sook-Yin Lee, the festival will once again showcase music, art and a series of online panels and mentorship sessions geared towards supporting women and non-binary artists and arts workers, all offered free to the public.

This year’s musical performers have been paired up with artists to create visual videos to be streamed Thursday October 1 and Friday October 2. In addition, beginning on September 28, this year’s conference is focused on “The Future of Music”. Attendees are able to watch a live stream here or engage and ask questions with the artists via the Facebook and YouTube streams.

Following this year’s festival, a series of mentorship sessions directed towards developing artists and arts workers will be provided the opportunity to meet one-on-one with an arts professional in these streams. In addition, Venus Fest and Work Late have created a paid mentorship program through this year’s festival, allowing three participants to gain skills and insights in publicity and marketing for events which began earlier this month and will continue until after the festival.

Full details and schedule listed below and to view the virtual line up click here.

MUSIC INFO:

Thursday, October 1
8PM - Premiere Lido Pimienta, Hand Habits, Ansley Simpson

Friday October 2
8PM - Premiere US Girls, Black Belt Eagle Scout, Wild Black, Ceréna Sierra

With visual videos curated by Dainesha Nugent-Palache from:

Caroline Monnet
Jamiyla Lowe
Lido Pimienta
Mohammad Rezaei
Monica Berger
Natalie King
Vanessa Rieger
*Video editing by Brittany Farhat
with graphic design and visual concept by Misbah Ahmed

CONFERENCE INFO:
"The Future of Music"
Panels (co-presented with Music Ontario)

September 28
6PM "Financial Literacy for Artists" (co-presented with Ontario Creates)
8PM "Re-localizing and Rebuilding our Scenes"

September 29
6PM "Resilient Labels"
8PM "Is Change Happening?"

September 30
6PM "Shifting the Conversation" (co-presented with POP Montreal)
8PM "Creative Strategies - an open town hall discussion forum"

Mentorship Sessions:
October 5-10

Developing artists and arts workers will have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with an arts professional in these streams:

Labels
Agents
Artist Managers
Funders
Established Artists
Indigenous Artists (by and for Indigenous artists)
Black Artists (by and for Black artists)


Connect:
venusfest.net
facebook.com/venusfesttoronto
twitter.com/venusfest
instagram.com/venusfestival