Q Summit Poetry Intensive 2025/26

About the program

Q Summit is a 5-month poetry intensive that provides a creative development space for 2SLGBTQ+ youth ages 19 to 29. In this dedicated space, participants will free-write with prompts, share their works, and receive feedback all while exploring a wide range of queered realms within poetry.

Workshops are led by poets Melly Davidson and Martin Gomes who ensure a safer space for self expression, learning, professional development, and friendship-building.

Q Summit culminates in two exciting opportunities for participants: contributing their work to LSA’s annual printed anthology and performing at a live poetry showcase!

Participation in the anthology and showcase is optional. Accommodations can be made for participants who choose to remain anonymous.

Participants who complete the program will receive a $250 honorarium after the program’s end date for their hard work and dedication. Participation and consistent attendance is required to receive the honorarium.

Program Details

Please note this program runs from October 23, 2025 to March 26, 2026, with a 7 week break.

Dates: Thursdays, October 23, 2025 – March 26, 2026.
Break: December 12, 2025 – February 4, 2026
Time: 6PM to 8PM
Workshop Location: Online (zoom) – with periodic in-person field trips in Toronto
Cost: FREE

Participants who complete the program will receive a $250 honorarium upon completion.

Who is this program for:

2SLGBTQ+ identifying youth, ages 19-29, located in Toronto.

Registration is open until October 10th, please note registration is limited. Only selected participants will be contacted with a confirmation email.

If you require more information or help with this registration, please contact Revital Weiss, Programs Manager, at CommunityPrograms@LakeshoreArts.ca

About the Facilitators

Martin (he/they) is a writer specializing in music & poetry. He’s been afforded the opportunity of performing for people & places such as Opera Atelier, CBC, Sony, Soho House, Warframe, Nuit Blanche, TOLive, and Treemonisha. With their art, he hopes to set an example of craft commitment, empathy, and observation wherever possible in an attempt to spread messages of loving each other’s neighbours even through all the noise.

Melly is a poet, performer, and facilitator. Melly’s current works take form as interactive media performances (Piss or Beer, Idiot Plot Desktop, etc). Find her in ROOM, CV2, Arc Poetry, GLYPHÖRIA (Metatron Press), Silverfish, and beyond. Melly co-runs the Devotional Chaos Reading Group. Today she is moved by profound synchronicities in youtube comments, and the karaoke versions.

Annie Katsura Rollins (she/they) is a community arts worker, researcher, and puppetry artist. Finding a sense of much needed belonging in community theatre as a young person, she pursued understanding this feeling of connectedness through the arts with degrees in performance (BFA), theatre performance, direction, and puppetry (MFA) and finally a study in traditional lineages of folk puppetry in China (PhD). She concurrently tested this understanding through over 20 years of professional work in art education, facilitation, and community building.

Since moving to Toronto in 2017, Annie has worked in the community arts sector and co-founded and co-curates with Concrete Cabaret, Toronto’s only experimental puppet slam. Annie is a professor in the University of Connecticut graduate certificate program in puppetry arts. She believes that having the arts in our everyday lives is no longer a luxury but a necessity.

Sin Tung (Steffi) Ng (she/her) explores the complexities of Asian immigration experiences through curation, writing and photography. Interweaving these three artistic practices, Ng seeks to build site-specific exhibitions, public programs and installations that amplify marginalized voices and make space for joyful encounters across diverse cultures. Her works have been featured at the DesignTO 2025, Xpace Cultural Centre, Unit 270 and the Graduate Gallery.

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Sin Tung/Steffi is currently based in Tkaronto/Toronto. Her recent interests include AI image-making of demolished architectures, long-distance friendships and Japanese city boy fashion.

Revital Weiss is a queer Jewish arts worker who believes in the transformational power of the arts. Revital works with artists to develop socially-minded arts programming for marginalized communities. She also advocates for opportunities for emerging artists, particularly BIPOC, 2SLGBTQ+ folks, and incarcerated/formerly incarcerated people. Revital has co-curated and supported arts projects at Neilson Park Creative Centre, the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre, FENTSTER Gallery, and King Heritage and Cultural Centre. Revital holds a Master of Museum Studies. In a past life, Revital was an urban planner.

Q Summit Poetry Intensive 2025/26

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