Past Events

DRAG BINGO @ Carnegie Centre

Mar 4, 2024 | 5:30 - 8pm Hosted by Continental Breakfast & Jas Minh This Monday, March 4, we team up once again with the Carnegie Community Centre to present...

KING SIZED—A Drag King Show

Feb 9, 2024 | 9:30pm SUM gallery is proud to be official sponsor for KING SIZED: A Drag King Show! Join us at the Bird House on February 9th, 10pm-2am,...

Artist Residency—Preston Buffalo

Jan 9 - Feb 2, 2024 Multimedia artist Preston Buffalo joins us at SUM gallery for a four-week artist residency (Jan 9 - Feb 2). During this time Buffalo will...

Queering the Air — Jazz Night with Bruno Hubert & James Meger

Queer Arts Festival + SUM gallery & Carnegie Community Centre present QUEERING THE AIR with Bruno Hubert , piano &  James Meger , bass Thu, Jan 18 | 7pm @ Carnegie...

Queering the Air — LIFE//LAND::seasons//cycles//connections

Queer Arts Festival + SUM gallery & Carnegie Community Centre present QUEERING THE AIR with Sarah Jo Kirsch , soprano &  Indra Egan , piano Thu, Nov 23 | 7pm @...

Stay On It: Music by Julius Eastman

Stay On It: Music by Julius Eastman SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2023 THE ROUNDHOUSE | 181 ROUNDHOUSE MEWS (Pacific & Davie) |  Google map Doors at 7:00PM | Concert starts at 7:30PM featuring: Music on Main...

Shake Your Groove Fang: Halloween Fundraiser

Shake Your Groove Fang: A Halloween Fundraiser Party Oct 26, 2023 | 7 - 9pm SUM gallery (#425 - 268 Keefer St.) Admission: PWYC with a suggested donation of $20...

Vocal Queeries workshop series

SUM gallery presents: VOCAL QUEERIES WORKSHOP SERIES with sarah jo kirsch! Sept 10 & Sept 17, 2023 *PLEASE NOTE that this workshop series is now SOLD OUT . The Vocal...

Rojina Farrokhnejad: Gods and Monsters

Rojina Farrokhnejad: Gods and Monsters OCT 14 - DEC 1 | 2023 Opening reception: Oct 14, 5 to 7pm Mythology offers us valuable life lessons by illuminating our own human...

VQFF x QAF + SUM presents: The Coast is Queer

Queer Arts Festival + SUM gallery is proud community partner for Vancouver Queer Film Festival 's screening of Shorts: The Coast is Queer Aug 17, 2023 | 6:30PM Cineplex Odeon...

Vines Art Society presents: We, The Many

We, The Many Fri, Aug 18, 2023 | 6pm Í7iy̓el̓shn | Sunset Beach Park 1204 Beach Ave Vancouver, BC V6E 1V3 ASL Interpretation Vines Art Festival 2023's We, The Many...

SUM gallery is one of less than a handful of permanent queer-mandated art galleries in the world. SUM produces, presents and exhibits with a curatorial vision favouring cutting-edge, thought-provoking multidisciplinary work that pushes boundaries and initiates dialogue. SUM brings diverse communities together to support artistic risk-taking, incite creative collaboration and experimentation and celebrate the rich heritage of queer artists and art.

The artist-run SUM gallery was founded in 2018 by Artistic Director SD Holman as a permanent space supporting multidisciplinary exhibitions, events and artist residencies. At the time of the founding, SUM was the only queer-mandated gallery in Canada—not the first, but earlier attempts have succumbed to gentrification, or exhaustion, or both. And we salute you.

SUM gallery came to BC Artscape’s space in the Sun Wah Centre as a partnership with Full Circle First Nations Performance, the Vancouver Indigenous Media Arts Festival, and multimedia titan Paul Wong’s On Main Gallery. We populate the empty 4th floor, previously left in shell condition since the 1980’s when it was built.

The SUM gallery name honours our location with multi-layered meaning:

○ Originally envisioned as a Dim Sum (點心) restaurant, our space features the traditional round window, now a striking feature of our office

○ The name pays tribute to the Pearl River Delta immigrants who settled our neighbourhood 150 years ago: Sum (心) means heart in their Cantonese dialect

○ Words for queer people in Chinese include the Sum 心 character

○ SUM = summation (∑), the sum of its parts, the sum total, 2LGBTQIA+

○ Some (art)