March 4th-14th Love My Dysfunctions @ Charles Street Video, 32 Lisgar St. Love My Dysfunctions is an immersive installation by Rebecca Sweets which explores her mad, neurodivergent + disabled identity through the lens of executive dysfunction, a dominant symptom of ADHD. The exhibition is concerned with social constructs of dysfunction, within the context of “higher education” that normalizes neurotypicality by reinforcing systemic ableist, sanist, and capitalist modes of existence. 

March 4th-31st Queerly Beloved @ Paradise Theatre, 1006 Bloor St. W. Co-programmed with Inside Out, Paradise Theatre presents 18 independent and influential films which have played an important role in shaping the history and narrative of queer cinema. The Queerly Beloved series offers up an exciting and eclectic line-up of films representing powerful LGBTQ2S+ stories on-screen, and over 100 years of filmmaking.

March 5th-8th Women From Space Festival @ Burdock (1184 Bloor St. W.) & 918 Bathurst (918 Bathurst St.). Women From Space Festival’s directive is to create a space for women during International Women’s Day weekend. The festival will feature four days of performances by visionary women working within and between various exploratory musical traditions. One-night passes are $12 in advance or $15 at the door ($12 for students and seniors). Four-night festival passes are $32 in advance or $35 at the door $32 ($32 for students and seniors).

March 5th-7th Feminist Art Festival @ various locations. Feminist Art Collective presents the fifth annual Feminist Art Festival: an exhibition, film night, conference, and market celebrating eminist artists from around the world. 

March 6th-11th Hot Docs Curious Minds Festival @ Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, 506 Bloor St. W. Meet the world-renowned authors, acclaimed scholars, and pop culture gurus that are shaping and shaking the issues and ideas of the day at Hot Docs’ fourth annual Curious Minds Festival. Featuring illuminating talks with Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic Jerry Saltz, DEA agents and Narcos inspiration Steve Murphy and Javier F. Peña, award-winning journalist Tanya Talaga, New York Times bestselling author Erik Larson, and more! $19-26 single tickets and $159 festival passes available online.

March 7th-8th Toronto Made Market @ Nathan Phillips Square, 100 Queen St. W. Team Toronto Etsy Sellers has partnered up with Celebrate Toronto to offer the first Toronto Made Market! Find a curated market featuring 70 of Toronto finest makers, crafters, artisans, entrepreneurs, and small businesses in a cozy heated pavilion in the heart of the square. Open 11 am to 8 pm both days. Admission is free and four-legged pals are welcome. 

WEDNESDAY

7 pm Music Bingo @ The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St. W. Music Bingo is easy + fun: Host Kaleb plays a song, and if it’s on your bingo card, you get to hit it with the dabber. First one to get a line yells BINGO. It tests your musical knowledge too – you’ve got to know what the song is to be able to cross it off the card!

8 pm Drake Trivia @ The Drake Hotel, 1150 Queen St. W. Teams of four or less put their random knowledge to the test as hosts fire off questions ranging from sporting records and celebrity scandals to geographic discoveries and culinary lingo. $2 to participate. Email host@thedrakehotel.ca or show up early to reserve a spot.

8 pm Neon Dreams: Mikey & Nicky @ The Royal Cinema, 608 College St. Neon Dreams wraps up their “Spectacular ’70s” season by inviting you to revel in the rare pleasure of seeing a grimy gangster thriller told through a female lens. Set in the mean streets of Philadelphia over the course of one debaucherous night, writer/director Elaine May delivers a very different crime flick – one as much about toxic masculinity and fractured relationships as it is about two best friends on the run from a hitman. $13.19 advance tickets available online.

THURSDAY

7 pm Pop Culture Trivia @ The Ossington, 61 Ossington Ave. A trivia night with the emphasis on entertainment (movies, TV, music). This is the payoff for all the television you’ve been watching. Prizes and cheap drinks all night!

10 pm Psychedelic Soul Shack @ Swan Dive, 1631 Dundas St. W. DJ D.B. Bux plays the best soul, funk, psych, and classic disco tracks all night long.

FRIDAY

8 pm Beach Bash in the 6ix @ Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada, 288 Bremner Blvd. Escape the cold as Ripley’s Aquarium is transformed into a tropical paradise. Enjoy fully-loaded cash bars, delectable food stations, music by DJ Shamz, and of course, and don’t forget the fish! Wear your best beach attire for the photo ops. $36.16 tickets available online.

9 pm Bent Beauty Supreme: A Busted Beauty Pageant @ The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St. W. Who is destined to dominate? Whose shamelessness will sway the judges? Come find out at Bent Beauty Supreme! Contestants will go head to head in beachwear, talent, and formal wear. $11.06 advance tickets available online, with all proceeds donated to Rainbow Railroad to support LGBTQ2S refugees.

9:30 pm Britpop Night @ Handlebar, 159 Augusta Ave. A night of Britpop music featuring DJ billycorganthanos spinning bands including Oasis, Blur, Stone Roses, Pulp, Happy Mondays, New Order, Inspiral Carpets, Suede, Elastica, Super Grass, and more. 

10 pm Togetherness @ The Little Jerry, 418 College St. Celebrating friendships, new and old, brought together through a love of music on Jerry’s warm hi-fi. Soul steppers, deep fried funk, roller skate boogie, disco gems, and house with Dr J and Roland. 

10 pm Darkness Forever @ Houndstooth, 818 College St. DJs Vernal Trash and Hate Mior bring you the finest in goth, industrial, darkwave, post-punk, coldwave, EBM, etc. $5/PWYC at the door. 

10 pm Where Does This Disco? @ Farside, 600 Gerrard St. E. Fun, silly, and strange pop transmissions received from an alternate-dimension Earth. Mutant disco, Italo, electronic indie pop, psych-pop, and unusual cover versions selected by DJ Digits.

10 pm On Earth Presents: Valesuchi @ Bambi’s, 1265 Dundas St. W. On Earth hosts Chilean DJ and producer Valesuchi. As a DJ, Valesuchi works within the breaths and transitions of her tracks to hit dancers with emotionality beyond the beats. Midwest rave, raw electro, funk, cumbia, Belgian EBM – it’s all in her eclectic crate. $11.62 advance tickets available online.

10 pm Rhythm & Booze @ Stones Place, 1255 Queen St. W. DJ Blush brings her mix of sweet soul, R&B, and funk hits and bangers from the ’60s to now. $5.

10 pm Just Kick It @ The Drake Lounge, 1150 Queen St. W. The brothers from Sweet Touch Foundation take you on a journey through the ’90s; playing everything from hip-hop, R&B, reggae, and afrobeats to house. $10.

10 pm Lazy Susans @ The Ossington, 61 Ossington Ave. Spinning hip-hop, RnB, soul, rap, trap, and dirty south.

10 pm Tutti Frutti Apocalypse @ Swan Dive, 1631 Dundas St. W. DJ Nora Noise spins from primitive rock ‘n’ roll to garage, psych to power pop, punk rock to glam, and old school hip-hop to soul.

10 pm Emo Night @ Sneaky Dee’s, 431 College St. Revisit your teen angst! Spinning your favourite emo anthems all night every Friday at Sneaky Dee’s. $5 early bird tickets available online.

10 pm Wax Candy Disco @ The Piston, 937 Bloor St. W. DJ Efsharp and Cyclist serve up platters of the sweetest soulful, refreshing, and uplifting disco in one of the best sounding rooms in the city. $10.

10:30 pm Beam Me Up Disco @ The Baby G, Dundas St. W. The Patchouli Brothers play a disco mix of gospel, funk, soul, boogie, rare groove, house, and jazz sounds surrounded by smiling faces.

10:30 pm Big Primpin’ @ ROUND Venue, 152-A Augusta Ave. Hip-hop and hot times for LGBTQ people and their guests with Djs Blackcat and Craig Dominic. $5 before 11:30 pm, $10 after. For bypass, email bigprimpin@gmail.com. 

11 pm Kuruza @ The Drake Underground, 1150 Queen St. W. Kuruza is more than a party; it’s an experience, a vibe, the urge to do whatever that makes your soul happy. Afro-inspired sounds selected by Kuruza’s collective of DJs + special guest Belo Fox (Teo Nio). $10.

SATURDAY

9 am Bees in the City: Better Urban Beekeeping @ Christ Church Deer Park, 1570 Yonge St. Learn all about the art and science of urban beekeeping from local experts! Educational topics to be covered include the bee life cycle, apiary management, and apitherapy. You will hear about the nutritional value of honey, enjoy tasting a variety of honeys, and learn about using honey in your cooking. Vendors will also be on site selling a large range of products from the hive and bee-themed merchandise. $50 tickets available online (includes morning and afternoon snacks + lunch).

10 am Really Really Free Market @ Campbell Park, 225 Campbell Ave. Everything is free. No money. No swapping. (You don’t have to bring anything, but if you’d like to bring items to give away, do so before 3 pm. Must be clean and in working condition. No big items.) Until 4 pm.

8 pm Queer Rock Society Presents: Live Karaoke @ Handlebar, 159 Augusta Ave. A karaoke night featuring YOU as a singer, followed by a rock and punk DJ dance party! For live karaoke, come prepared to sing some of your favourite songs by female artists. The dance party portion will include tunes by bands like Patti Smith, X-Ray Spex, PJ Harvey, The Cliks, ESG, Hole, Against Me!, Janis Joplin, Betty Davis, G.L.O.S.S., Slits, and many, many more. $5/PWYC. 

9 pm The Breakfast Club @ FreePlay, 300 College St. The Breakfast Club is teaming up with retro arcade bar FreePlay to give you the ultimate ’80s experience! Enjoy ’80s music, video games, decor, movies, themed cocktails, and snacks all night long. DJ Starting From Scratch on the decks. $20 advance tickets available online (video games included).

9 pm Deep&Disco: Donna Summer Tribute @ WAYLA Bar, 996 Queen St. E. Disco, funk, and house music + a tribute to Donna Summer with DJs Marrs Barrs, Chico U, Joe Navarro, and Iced Misto. $5 before 11 pm, $15 after.

9:30 pm Leftfield Presents… @ Tennessee Tavern, 1554 Queen St. W. Leftfield Presents is back with a special guest – self-professed music nerd, This Broken Mixtape (Justin Lee). Expect unconscious hip-hop, bareback R&B, mumblecore soundtrack indie, and other unchartered self-described genres.

10 pm With It @ The Piston, 937 Bloor St. W. ’60s mod, soul, R&B, R&R, garage, and funk record dance party with DJ Nico + special guest DJ Matt Clarke (host of What’s Happening? on WFMU’s Rock ‘n’ Soul Ichiban and singer/guitarist for New York band the Elevator Operators). Sponsored by Kops Records. $10.

10 pm Pillow Talk @ 254 Lansdowne, 254 Lansdowne Ave. Pillow Talk is a globe-trotting open format dance party focused on experiments in dance music. Expect the unexpected – but most of all, expect pleasure. With DJs Jaime Sin, Ensoul, and Tender Buttons. Art installations and atmosphere by Dusty Le E. $10.

10 pm Queer Slowdance: Pajama Party Edition @ Dovercourt House, 805 Dovercourt Rd. With a lending library of designated dancers for all the wallflowers, and a dance card-booklet to set up dances in advance (should you choose to), Toronto Queer Slowdance has all slow songs, all night long! (Except for the occasional intermission when they play the fastest songs they can find.) Come and experience why slow is beautiful, and why love is not ironic. Fabulous and inspired attire, while desired, is not required, but you’re urged to wear something warm and fluffy, fuzzy and bathrobe-like. $10.

10 pm Saturday Night Jukebox Dance Party @ Stones Place, 1255 Queen St. W. Sweat it out to the sweet sounds of the golden age of rock ‘n’ roll and soul music! DJ Blush plays rock, soul, funk, pop, and disco from the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s. $10.

10 pm Lucky Bitches @ The Ossington, 61 Ossington Ave. West side’s longest running glam-positive, dance party, blowout spectacular! Party jams and freedom.

10 pm Turning Point @ The Garrison, 1197 Dundas St. W. A special evening dedicated to exploring the many tropical rhythms and sounds of the past for the dance floor. Resident selector A Man Called Warwick and special guest La Mano Peluda (Canicule Tropicale, Montreal) share a top-notch selection of Indo, African, Latin, Brazilian, Caribbean, Arabic, Asian, and Balkan. $10 before 11 pm, $15 after.

10 pm EveryBody Loud @ ROUND Venue, 152-A Augusta Ave. The theme is LOUD. You bring the bold looks, EveryBody will bring the big bounce. Serve your proudest prints, clash your colourful patterns, and express your best selves on the dance floor. Featuring the sounds of Critter, Myst Milano, Me Time, and Danny Thrax. Limited tickets available at the door.

10 pm On My Way! Invites Bruce @ Bambi’s, 1265 Dundas St. W. OMW! returns with its 11th edition to welcome a respected Bristolian producer and DJ Bruce (Hessle Audio, UK). With support from local DJ Ciel. Limited $15 tickets available at the door before midnight.

10:30 pm Lavender 2 Year Anniversary @ Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander St. A party for lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, queer women, non-binary folks, and trans people – everyone welcome! DJs Zehra and Sofia Fly on the decks + performances by Fatima Noor El Deen Mahmoud, Manghoe Lassi, and Manny Dingo. $10/PWYC, with a portion of proceeds going towards LGBT Youthline. 

10 pm ’80s Dance Party @ Sneaky Dee’s, 431 College St. Break out the Aquanet and the leopard-print leotards: Sneaky Dee’s is bringing you all the 1980s you can handle! Bringing you If you want to rock, bop, or anything in between, this is your stop. $5 early bird tickets available online.

11 pm InGoodCompany @ The Drake Underground, 1150 Queen St. W. Brooklyn-based indie label InGoodCompany (IGC) transcends artistic expression by fusing the palettes of exploration, sound discovery, and visual moments in time. Through unique curation and infinite travels, their music speaks a global language that cannot be defined by genres. $10.

SUNDAY

7 pm Brass Facts Trivia @ The Ossington, 61 Ossington Ave. Test your knowledge and win prizes! Hosted by Famous Kirk Hero. Until 10 pm.

8:30 pm Slut Parade: A Sex-Positive Comedy Show @ The Royal Cinema, 608 College St. Slut Parade is a sex-positive comedy show featuring Toronto’s top standup comedians sharing their best and worst stories about dating and sex (or lack there of). This show is dirty, flirty, and fun with only one rule: no slut shaming allowed! $21.59 advance tickets available online.

10 pm Sunday Night Karaoke @ The Ossington, 61 Ossington Ave. Come sing your heart out in front of the most supportive karaoke crowd going. Rotating hosts, cheap beers, good times!

10 pm Sinful Sundays Burlesque @ Cherry Cola’s, 200 Bathurst St. Come be entertained at this weekly “temple of tease,” where you’ll find a fresh lineup of burlesque entertainers, drag, and variety acts. On stage: Emcee Unicorn, Rita Ann’tique, Sharysa Rae, and host Ivory. Free entry; tipping encouraged.

~ For event submissions, email Caitlyn Holroyd at caitlyn_holroyd@hotmail.com