Inspired by radical new poetic methods of digital and intermedial storytelling, transgressive visual techniques emerging from new media platforms, and new activisms engaging with theories of homonationalism, pinkwashing and a global queer (un)commons, the The Queer Summer Institute in Research Creation (QSI) offered students immersion in the debates, voices, ideas and images of the current queer/trans digital moment.

The QSI featured graduate courses at York University's School of Art, Media, Performance, and Design (AMPD) taught by Mary Bunch and John Greyson. These courses were open as a fieldschool to students associated with the Hemispheric Encounters partnership grant. Throughout May 2022, students and members of the public participated in a series of lectures, workshops, screenings and performances led by international artists and scholars like Shu Lea Cheang, Nadia Grenados, and Mark Gevisser. The month-long Institute culmnated in a live/digital cabaret at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in Toronto, Canada.