Ace Week, formerly known as “Asexual Awareness Week,” is celebrated internationally every year in the last full week of October. Originally founded in 2010 by Sara Beth Brooks, the week was designed to celebrate the ace community, battle ongoing misconceptions and prejudice found outside and within 2SLGBTQIA+ spaces, and encourage awareness regarding ace-spectrum identities. Kelsi James, the founder of “Art for Ace Week,” and Erica Mulder, co-contributor and ace events organizer, discussed the importance of Ace Week and its impact in the community and the world with The Cascade.
This year’s celebrations took place Oct. 20 to Oct. 26, hosting various activities in different parts of the world. This included coffee meetups in Kansas City, Missouri, board games in Lisbon, Portugal and even a protest for aspec visibility in Cologne, Germany.
B.C. was no different. The “Art for Ace Week” initiative was created by James back in 2022, who shared that it “comes out of my work as a theatre maker,” which inspired a focus on making art featuring diverse representation for ace folks. This year, the event began on Monday, Oct. 21, from 7:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m., starting with the “One Night Choir,” in which attendees were invited to join in on a joyful evening of singing.
On Thursday, Oct. 24, the Vancouver Public Library hosted a “Mini Queer Zine Fair.” This event gathered Vancouver-based zine makers from the 2SLGBTQIA+ community for a zine craft segment and a booth displaying ace zines dedicated to Ace Week. Mulder and James taught participants how to make their own mini zines at 6:30 p.m.
Mulder has worked on Ace Week-related events since 2018 and expressed her excitement over the increase in events for Ace Week. When discussing representation, Mulder shared that “the solution to bad representation is not good representation, but more representation.” She believes that when it comes to community space, accessibility, and its impact, “the answer is just more.” This year is the first time she and James partnered up for an event during Ace Week. “It brings me a lot of hope,” commented James regarding the high number of ace folks that attended.
On Friday, Oct. 25, the community was treated with an “Ace Poetry Night,” an intimate gathering co-hosted by ace poets Sarvin Esmaeili and Kelsi James, with the help of Coquitlam Heritage Society, who, in James’ words, is “very supportive and very queer-friendly.” This workshop, running from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., explored writing prompts on asexuality. The workshop encouraged meaningful conversations about the vast ways people experience asexuality, as well as the struggles faced by the community.
The final event of Ace Week, an “Aces/Aros and Friends Meetup,” occurred on Saturday, Oct. 26, at 1:00 p.m. at the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre. This meetup, hosted by the Ace/Aro Vancouver BC group, was meant to foster a safe and supportive space for community-related discussions.
For those who were unable to attend Art for Ace Week in person, submissions for the “Ace Art Exchange” were open until Oct. 26. For the exchange, contributors were encouraged to send in a piece of art from a medium of their choice, which was then collected, printed, and later a compilation of the art was sent back to each person as part of a care package meant to celebrate everyone’s art and bring the ace community closer together. “Across the country, people participated, which is really cool,” James said on last year’s exchange.
The Cascade asked Mulder and James what message they would like to spread involving Ace Week, to which Mulder responded, “Build the world you want to see.” Mulder added that “if you want to host an ace event for Ace Week, go for it.” James supported this statement, adding that when they first moved to Vancouver, they didn’t know anyone they could form a community with until they started hosting these events. “The ace community, in my experience, is like ‘if someone is doing something, I totally wanna go,’ there are things you can find, and you can also do it yourself.”
