GFEST - Gaywise FESTival is an

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

annual cross-arts festival in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England. It is a platform for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer artists, organizations and venues to promote LGBT and queer arts. Organized by the arts charity Wise Thoughts, GFEST features queer artists and talented individuals specializing in various forms of art, including visual art, theatre, dance and performance, and short films. The festival also hosts debates, workshops, and parties. In 2010, over 100 artists and 8,000 individuals took part in GFEST 10. The launches of GFEST 08, 09 and 10 took place at the

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...

; LGBT 08 was the first LGBT arts initiative launched at the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

. GFEST 2011 was held from 7 to 20 November 2011, the fifth year in which the festival was hosted. The festival's artistic director was CEO and Artistic Director of Wise Thoughts, Niranjan Kamatkar. The events of the 13th year of GFEST - Gaywise FESTival 2020 were presented online for the first time in precautionary response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Between 9 and 21 November 2020, daily publishing of over a dozen filmed stories and recordings of live webinars with

BAME A number of different systems of classification of ethnicity in the United Kingdom exist. These schemata have been the subject of debate, including about the nature of ethnicity, how or whether it can be categorised, and the relationship betwe ...

and LGBTQI+ people from across the UK were presented online.

References

External links

GFEST - Gaywise FESTival

Wise Thoughts
Arts festivals in England LGBT events in England LGBT culture in London Arts charities LGBT film festivals in the United Kingdom {{Europe-film-festival-stub