Kids
ART W’ HEART Kids Hallowe’en Party
Saturday October 27, 10am – 12pm
Oppenheimer Park, 488 Powell
It’s a Hallowe’en party! What better way to have fun on the Saturday before Hallowe’en than spend the morning at Oppenheimer Park. Join Park staff for children’s activities of crafts, treats, food, workshops, and spooky decorations – whoooooo! All kids welcome. Free
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Kids
PUMPKIN PATCH PARTY
Saturday October 27, 12pm until the pumpkins are gone, or 3pm
MacLean Park, 710 Keefer
Rain or Shine! Free pumpkins, face painting, arts and crafts, and refreshments! A program of the Strathcona Community Centre. Free
Walking Tour
GENTRIFICATION BORDERLANDS with Carnegie Community Action Project
Saturday October 27, 11:30am (approx. 2 hours)
Meet at steps of Carnegie Community Centre, 401 Main
Join CCAP on a walking tour of “gentrification borderlands” to highlight new pressures upon the DTES Oppenheimer District (DEOD) that threaten displacement of social housing in the area. Gentrification and rising food costs can feel overwhelming for low-income local residents walking through the Victory Square and Gastown areas. But residents are strong and want to protect their homes and neighbourhood in the DEOD: it is still possible to slow gentrification, preserve good things about our community, and work for more social housing. Learn for yourself how gentrification contributes to homelessness in the Downtown Eastside; chalk the existing zoning borders and see what could be lost and what is still possible. $10 for non-residents, free for local residents
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Dialogue
COMMUNITY ARTS DIALOGUE
Saturday October 27, 1pm – 4pm
UBC Learning Exchange, 612 Main
The Community Arts Council of Vancouver invites you to come and join the conversation about community arts in Vancouver. Participants in the Hope in Shadows Calendar Project and writers from the DTES will be featured as presenters. We’ll talk, meet and even make art together. We’ll dialogue and have a ‘gift circle’ to see how we can share resources. Mary Bennett will introduce the Community Arts Council of Vancouver and how you can be (more) involved. Most of the session will be participative and aimed at artists and supporters sharing their thoughts. To register go to www.cacv.ca/dialogue. Free
Open House
HALLOWE’EN AND HARVEST
Saturday October 27, 1pm – 4pm
Evelyne Saller Centre, 320 Alexander
The Evelyne Saller Centre has a fine line up of events and activities for the Hallowe’en and Harvest Open House. Learn to craft your own paper lantern; take a group walking tour of some Downtown Eastside heritage buildings and ghostly haunts, rain or shine; carve a pumpkin; join in the Haunted Pool Tournament; view the art show of original paintings, the 2010 Legacy Wall Mural, and the Story Wall Mural with contributions from 18 different local artists. Snacks and beverages. Everyone welcome! Free
Walking Tour
LOST STREAMS, WELLS AND WATERS of the DTES’ Early Gastown Days with Bruce Macdonald
Saturday October 27, 1pm
(approx. 2 hours)
Meet at Maple Tree Square
SW corner of Carrall and Water
In the early days of Gastown from 1865 to 1887 the remote sawmill village that was soon to become Vancouver in 1886 was dependent on ground water and the First Nations people of the area for survival. The times were completely different to now; the world of Gastown 150 years ago has vanished. Join well-known Vancouver historian Bruce Macdonald on a walking tour that shares the rich natural and human history of our City, with a focus on the lost water streams, wells and waters of the Downtown Eastside in Gastown. Presented in partnership with the False Creek Watershed Society (www.falsecreekwatershed.org). $10 for non-residents, pay what you can for local residents
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Panel
OPENING THE TREASURE BOX: A Panel of Historians
Saturday October 27, 4pm – 6pm
Chapel Arts, 304 Dunlevy
An exciting opportunity to meet and pose questions to a number of the historians who live, share and celebrate the storied and rich history of the Downtown Eastside. Our panel of history treasure hunters features: James Johnstone, house history researcher and heritage activist; John Atkin, author and civic historian; Lani Russwurm, writer and Vancouver history blogger; Larry Wong, enthusiastic historian and writer born in Chinatown; Kat Norris, Coast Salish activist and community leader; and Grace Eiko Thomson, freelance curator and respected Japanese Canadian elder. Houses, rumours, streets, labour strife, ancestors, and community successes are just some of the fascinating topics in the neighbourhood treasure box of DTES history. Free
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Film & Conversation
SURVIVAL, STRENGTH, SISTERHOOD: Power of Women in the Downtown Eastside
Saturday October 27, 4pm – 5:30pm
Carnegie Theatre, 401 Main
A short film by Alejandro Zuluaga and Harsha Walia based on a concept by the Downtown Eastside Power of Women Group. This film focuses on the voices of women who live, love, and work in the Downtown Eastside. The film debunks the sensationalism surrounding a neighbourhood deeply misunderstood, and celebrates the complex and diverse realities of women organizing for justice. (2011, 32 mins) Filmmakers and participants from the DTES Power of Women Group will attend. Free
Music in the Streets
HASTINGS STREET BAND
Saturday October 27, 4pm & 5pm
Starts at Carnegie Community Centre, 401 Main
Get your dancing shoes ready. Can you hear them coming? It’s music in the streets with the Hastings Street Band. Led by multi-instrumentalist and composer Brad Muirhead, the Band is comprised of enthusiastic Downtown Eastside involved amateur and semi-pro musicians playing with professional musicians from across Vancouver. Fast becoming a community favourite, the band plays upbeat jazz and blues with a taste of New Orleans. Free
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Conversation
PASSION FOR LEARNING
Saturday, October 27, 5pm – 8pm
UBC Learning Exchange, 612 Main
An interactive exhibition of images, personal stories and quotes on the theme of passion for learning, created in collaboration by Downtown Eastside residents and UBC students. Come and join the conversation. What does ‘learning’ mean to you? If you could learn any one new thing, what would it be? How do we learn? Where do we learn, who from and why? “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education” (attributed to Mark Twain). Free
Community Celebration
5th ANNUAL FAMILY HALLOWE’EN DANCE
Saturday October 27, 6:30 pm – 9pm
Strathcona Community Centre Gymnasium, 601 Keefer
Dance the monster mash and have your face painted at this spooktacular-all-ages event. This community event is organized by neighbourhood parents and has become a favourite Strathcona family tradition. Admission by cash or food donation to support the SCC Food Security Programs for families.
Theatre
OH, THE PLACES YOU’LL GO!
Saturday October 27, 7pm – 7:30pm
SFU Woodwards World Art Centre, 149 W. Hastings
Project Limelight is a free performing arts program for young people living in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. The cast is very excited to be part of Heart of The City Festival and will perform the inspirational Dr. Seuss poem, Oh, The Places You’ll Go! to the backdrop of their own photographs. The cast has been paired with local photographers to capture images of their vibrant neighbourhood. This multi-media presentation is the first step of a four-month program, which culminates in a full-length theatre presentation in early February. Project Limelight Society has collaborated with Vancity’s Office of Community Engagement, SFU/Woodwards, East of Main Cafe and Strathcona Community Centre for this presentation. Free
Documentaries for Thinkers
FILM, TALK, UNPLUGGED
Saturday October 27, 6pm – 10pm
Carnegie Theatre, 401 Main
Six years ago, in association with Humanities 101, Colleen Carroll established a free film series especially tailored for the Downtown Eastside. Although Colleen has since moved south, Documentaries for Thinkers continues to be a regular Saturday evening program at Carnegie. The Festival is pleased to collaborate on this thought-provoking evening of film and music. Free
6pm – 7:30pm
RiP! A Remix Manifesto (2008)
Filmmaker Brett Gaylor and mashup artist Girl Talk explore copyright and content creation in the digital age. They dissect the media landscape of the 21st century and bust the wall between users and producers. This film deals with mature subject matter. (87min, NFB)
7:45pm – 9pm
Bloodied But Unbowed (2010)
Vancouver filmmaker Susanne Tabata’s documentary Bloodied But Unbowed tells a tale of rebellion and music – a chronicle of the late 1970s/early 1980s Vancouver punk rock scene – a fiercely independent scene created from nothing and played out in a microcosm of urban squalor. (75min)
The screening will be followed by a Q & A with filmmaker Susanne Tabata and musician Joe Keithley.
9:15pm – 10pm
Joe Keithley Solo Unplugged
Following the screening and Q & A, Joe Keithley, Canada’s godfather of punk and founder and lead guitarist of Vancouver punk band D.O.A., will perform solo unplugged. A fabulous evening, as Joe says, to talk “about the good days in the future.”
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