A new festival from Aberdeen Performing Arts will celebrate the biggest, boldest and most joyful performers and talent from Scotland’s LGBTQ+ community as a brand new Aberdeen Queer Arts Festival is announced.
Taking place over four days at the Lemon Tree and Aberdeen Art Gallery, a genre-spanning line up of performances, workshops and events will reflect the diversity, creativity and artistry of the LGBTQ+ community from Thursday, November 6 to Sunday, November 9.
Featured artists include Walt Disco, Simone Seales, CJ Banks, Himish Macbeth and Uncle Tony, Dan Wye and Turan Ali among many more.
Aberdeen Performing Arts Chief Executive, Sharon Burgess, said: “The arts have long been a sanctuary for queer and trans joy, and a safe space for experimentation. We want to take a minute to reflect and celebrate that with this brand new festival.
“The common theme of the Aberdeen Queer Arts Festival is that each event is engaging, inspiring and most of all, full of heart. Everyone is welcome to join us for what is sure to be an unforgettable weekend.”
Kicking off the festival is a free Lunchtime Concert on Thursday, November 6 at Aberdeen Art Gallery’s Cowdray Hall.
Cellist and performing artist Simone Seales will give a special performance and pre-concert talk, as part of the lunchtime concert series.
Simone Seales is passionate about exploring how sound can reflect emotional states of being. In their debut album, I believe in living, Seales responded to Assata Shakur's poem Affirmation through solo cello and voice, using Shakur’s evocative language as a springboard to create a sound world which holds space for discomfort, beauty, hope, and grief.
This event is produced by Aberdeen Art Galleries and Museums in partnership with Aberdeen Performing Arts as part of Aberdeen Queer Arts Festival.
Also on Thursday 6 November is Gaze. Taking place at the Lemon Tree, this event promises an evening bursting with colour, joy, and unapologetic self-expression. Local creatives will light up the stage with a unique blend of live performances. This performance has BSL interpretation.
On Friday, November 7, the spotlight falls on the art of Drag with a panel discussion at the Lemon Tree specifically focussing on Getting Into Drag.
What does it take to make it as a drag performer today? From their early “baby drag” days to becoming booked and busy stars, CJ Banks, Himish Macbeth and Uncle Tony share their journeys in crafting distinctive drag personae and perfecting their performances. They’ll also dive into the behind-the-scenes realities of making a living in drag, including the late nights and hard work it takes to thrive.
CJ Banks is known for her wacky, bizarre and fabulous brand of drag madness! Jack of many trades, whether she’s singing, dancing or flipping upside down, she’s guaranteed to leave you thoroughly entertained.
Himish Macbeth is a drag king based in Fife, in it to spread queer disabled joy. He started drag in 2022, after turning 40, but the midlife crisis is working out pretty well for him so far. In 2024, he was a finalist in Man Up, Europe's biggest drag king competition, and has entertained crowds from Aberdeen to Auckland. Himish is physically disabled, and often performs using his wheelchair, though he's best known for his crutch-based dancing and costumes.
A tireless advocate and champion of Uncle Culture, Uncle Tony’s life mission is to live large and love hard. Aberdeen’s premier uncle, and undisputed King of Karaoke, will charm you with his avuncular dance moves and dulcet Doric tones.
This event will be followed up by a Getting Into Drag workshop, catering for all levels of drag, on Saturday, November 8 at the Lemon Tree, hosted by Scottish drag superstars CJ Banks and Sleepy.
In this three-hour workshop you’ll learn about the history of drag, watch a live painting session, take part in a movement masterclass, and more.
This workshop is suitable all experience levels, from those who secretly dream of letting their inner drag persona shine to performers looking to expand their practice and make new friends. People with no prior experience of drag are welcome and warmly encouraged.
On Friday, November 7 Dan Wye Am I Sam Smith? asks; have you experienced the intensity of being famous without any of the perks? Been doppelgäng-banged to the point you no longer exist?
Lube up for this deep dive into fame and misfortune, accidental celebrity identity theft and being simultaneously on the cusp of tragic and iconic at all times.
A hilarious debut hour from one of the country's most prominent comedy / cabaret performers, the award-winning Dan Wye AKA Séayoncé. Exploring the power and joy in your identity and the absurd reality of it being taken away by someone with four Brit awards.
Kirsty Logan
On Saturday, November 8, the fruity, hilarious and moving LGBTQ+ storytelling show Queer Folk Tales takes over the Lemon Tree featuring stand-ups, writers, poets, singers and more. Following huge enthusiasm from Aberdeen audiences for the first four shows at Lemon Tree in 2024 and 2025, and three years of sell out shows in Edinburgh, this very queer, funny and
moving LGBTQ+ storytelling show features queer storytellers and performers delivering hilarious, touching, and occasionally shocking stories galore about queer lives, with many true stories of LGBTQ+ experiences in Scotland today.
The event will be hosted by Edinburgh stand up and BBC producer Turan Ali, who will be joined by local queer Aberdeen talent.
Saturday headliners at the Lemon Tree are Glasgow’s Walt Disco. Walt Disco invites listeners to embrace their vulnerabilities and join them on a sonic adventure with their newly-released second alubum, The Warping — an honest portrayal of life's complexities, growth, and the pursuit of authenticity.
Produced in collaboration with Chris McCrory, The Warping introduces a new sonic dimension to Walt Disco's signature style, incorporating horns, woodwind, and swelling string sections. The band's cinematic glam, enriched by classically trained orchestral musicians, takes listeners on a journey of vulnerability and self-discovery.
Walt Disco's debut album garnered nominations for the Scottish Album of the Year Award and AIM Independent Album of the Year in 2022. The band has graced stages at Glastonbury, Latitude, Austin City Limits, and SXSW festivals, opening for iconic acts like Simple Minds, Duran Duran, and Primal Scream.
A joyous afternoon of dancing, chat and community will kick off the festivities on Sunday, November 9 with a Tea Dance at the Lemon Tree.
Presented by Sanctuary Queer Arts, and hosted and delivered by the team behind the Culture Club Collective, this is the perfect opportunity to spend time with friends old and new in a safe space, to share stories and of course "cut a rug" on the dance floor.
No prior dance experience is necessary as a caller will guide you through the steps. Participation on the dancefloor is not mandatory – you’re very welcome to just come and be among community.
Also on Sunday will be a fascinating discussion between some of Scotland’s finest LGBTQ+ writers exploring the evolution of literary depictions of queer relationships, whether romantic, platonic or familial.
Re-writing Queer Relationships in Literature, supported by WayWORD (University of Aberdeen). From historical poetry to contemporary children’s books, and genre fiction to autobiography, Ashley Douglas, Chitra Ramaswamy and Kirsty Logan join Cailean Steed to reflect on the power of literature to both mirror and shape queer relationships.
Chitra Ramaswamy is a British journalist of South Asian descent. Her books are Homelands: The History of a Friendship, published by Canongate books and Expecting: The Inner Life of Pregnancy, published by Saraband. Ramaswamy is currently a restaurant critic in Scotland for the Alba supplement in the Scottish edition of The Sunday Times. She was one of the Guardian's TV reviewers.
Kirsty Logan’s latest books are the story collection No & Other Love Stories and the memoir The Unfamiliar: A Queer Motherhood Memoir.
She is also the author of three novels, three story collections, two chapbooks, a 10-hour audio play for Audible, several collaborative projects with musicians and visual artists, and around 300 short stories. Her books have won the Lambda, Polari, Saboteur, Scott and Gavin Wallace awards.
Her work has been optioned for TV, developed for film, adapted for stage, recorded for radio and podcasts, exhibited in galleries and distributed from a vintage Wurlitzer cigarette machine.
Cailean Steed is a writer and teacher who lives near Glasgow with their husband, son, and dog Tayto. Their debut novel Home was published by Raven Bloomsbury in 2023, and their second novel, The Mirror Halls, will be published in 2026 by Hachette.
Cailean’s short stories have been published in anthologies such as New Writing Scotland and Boudicca Press’s Disturbing the Beast. Their audiodrama RealBoy was the winner of the 2020 Pen to Print Audioplay Award.
Closing the festival on Sunday evening, a Community Open Stage event will give local LGBTQ+ performers the spotlight to showcase their talents.
Hosted by the founder and resident host of Joy on Tap Sleepy and Aberdeen’s karaoke king Uncle Tony, 10 performance slots of up to 5 minutes will be available to queer performers of any age and creative discipline, including but not limited to drag artists, musicians, writers, storytellers and more.
Tickets for all events are on sale now, available from www.aberdeenperformingarts.com) 641122 or visit the box office at His Majesty’s Theatre or the Music Hall.