Dragging it up

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UR Pride continues tradition of drag show fundraiser

Paul Bogdan
A&C Writer

DIVAS
The Owl
March 10
8:30 p.m.
$10

It’s the only show in town that lets audience members get their photo taken in cardboard cutouts of giant genitalia.

If that’s not enough to get you out to DIVAS at the Owl, UR Pride’s annual drag show fundraiser, at the Owl on Saturday, then you’re missing what often ends up being the University of Regina’s only drag show.

“You have to check it out,” said executive director of UR Pride, Lisa Smith, who notes the show is put on through a partnership with the Regal Social Association of Regina (RSAR), whose main purpose is to put on drag shows for fundraising.

However, the drag show isn’t DIVAS’ only attraction for the evening.

“We have some carnivalesque other things,” Smith said. “The past couple of years, we’ve had giant penis and vagina cut-outs that you can put your head into. There’s also a kissing booth and prizes.”

The proceeds from DIVAS goes towards the basic operational and service costs of UR Pride.

“We budget so much to make off of DIVAS and that goes into all our services,” Smith said. “We usually net about $1,500 roughly and that goes towards our other events … and getting resources in and all the stuff that costs money here.”

In light of UR Pride’s recent successful referendum to get a student levy, Smith confirmed DIVAS will still continue as a fundraiser, as the new income from students will only replace what they were previously given from the students’ union.

“The referendum went through and we’re so grateful and happy that it went through, but …. We still need to go along with our fundraisers,” she said.

There are infinite ways to do a fundraiser, but Smith said UR Pride continues to go the route of a drag show not only because it’s an overall good time, but “historically, it’s been a way to raise money for queer communities, so why reinvent the wheel?”

While UR Pride may still need DIVAS as a fundraiser, Smith pointed out that generating a dollar is not the only purpose of the show.

“It’s also a great way to pull in a lot of the student body that doesn’t partake in what UR Pride does, see a little bit about the fun side of what we get to do … [and] come to a space that a lot of the student body has been to and is comfortable with, but we switch it up a bit to queer it up,” Smith said.

“We do a drag show because it’s fun; it gives a larger community to come together and see something that’s fantastical or camp, because drag is all about camp. It’s making fun of gender roles and getting to a broader issue of heteronormativity. It gets people out of their comfort zone and allows them to experience something that perhaps a larger majority of the people there have never seen.”

Tickets can be bought at UR Pride’s office in Riddell Centre, its table in the Riddell Centre hallway, or at the GLCR for $10.

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