Our History
Alter Arts Society has come a long way from our humble beginnings.
Summit Park Pumpkin Parade
Alter Arts Society grew out of the Summit Park Pumpkin Parade, an annual fall community-building gathering that was held on November 1st from 2019-2021. During this event, people displayed their jack o' lanterns along the paths under the Garry oaks in Summit Park and gather to watch performances by artists including Theatre SKAM and fire performers from the Fern Burn Club. This event ended when the city prohibited gatherings in Summit Park for environmental reasons.
Out There Art Festival
The Out There Art Festival launched in the summer of 2020, during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, to great acclaim. A physically distanced community and interactive art festival held over 10 days, the festival turned the historically marginalized neighbourhood of Hillside-Quadra into a physically distanced outdoor art gallery and performance space. In 2021 the festival included five days of pop-up performances (69 in total) held at 10 different locations in and around Quadra Village. In addition, it matched 15 temporary art installations (including three new works commissioned for the festival) with community hosts across the neighbourhood.
The Out There Art Festival continued in 2023 and 2024 hosted in a single location each year instead of as a physically distanced event. In 2023 it took place on the SJ Willis school grounds, and in 2024 it was held in Jackson Park, both located in Quadra Village.
Community Art Hub
In September 2021, Alter Arts Society opened the Community Art Hub, a makerspace for artists staffed by volunteers that offers low-barrier drop-in use of art-making tools, equipment and supplies, as well as learning opportunities. It is an accessible, safe space where 2SLGBTQIA+, neurodivergent, disabled, and other marginalized aspiring and emerging artists come to make art, share knowledge, and feel a sense of belonging.
Quadra Village Mural Festival
In 2021, we also launched the Quadra Village Mural Festival, during which we paid five artists to paint new murals in Quadra Village. We pride ourselves on working with emerging artists, so we selected artists who had painted fewer than three murals before - and during the festival, two of them painted their first one.
The largest of the murals was painted by artist Andrea Fritz (Lyackson Nation). These and subsequent murals painted by artists hired by Alter Arts Society have enlivened Hillside-Quadra, and supported reconciliation by incorporating Coast Salish art into the everyday lives of community members.
Quadra Village Day
Since 2021 Alter Arts Society has been a regular contributor to Quadra Village Day, held the second Saturday in May for the past 23 years.
In 2023 we hosted a collaborative community art installation where attendees were invited to help weave a web of yarn that developed over the course of the event.
A Cozy Queer Affair
In 2024, we observed that our organization and programming have consistently benefitted from the participation ofmany members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, as well as many neurodiverse people and people with disabilities.
We decided to lean into our identity as an organization focused on serving those populations by hosting A Cozy Queer Affair, a two day fall pride celebration featuring two stages, interactive art installations, live music, poetry, DJs and a fire show. In its first year, the event was held at the Oaklands Community Centre and was attended by over 350 people. In 2025, the second annual A Cozy Queer Affair took place at Other Guise Theatre.
