This year’s Festival theme, ‘Nurtured by Community’ has emerged from a deep appreciation of community and the vital role it plays in our lives; and in particular, the people of the Downtown Eastside who nurture and strengthen the fabric of our community.
People nurture community. And community also nurtures people. On a personal level, our lives and the work of Vancouver Moving Theatre have been profoundly nurtured by the experiences of living, working and raising a child on the Coast Salish territories of the Downtown Eastside. This is the community that gave birth to our practice. And the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival. For this we are deeply grateful.
We are also deeply appreciative of our producing partners: the Carnegie Community Centre, Association of United Ukrainian Canadians and all our arts and non-arts partners. Thank you to all the wonderful artists, DTES involved residents and audiences who nurture the festival; to our Board of Directors, who for over thirty years, have nurtured and supported our work; and to our funding partners, with whose support the festival is made possible.
Thank you to all the dedicated and hardworking festival staff for your care, passion and support of our festival and community. And last but not least, a big thanks to Associate Artistic Producer Teresa Vandertuin for her enormous, much appreciated and valued contribution to the success of the festival.
Enjoy the Festival everyone. May this year’s festival nurture your imagination, spirit and appreciation of this unique and vital Downtown Eastside community and of all your communities.
Terry Hunter
Executive Director, Vancouver Moving Theatre
Artistic Producer, DTES Heart of the City Festival
Savannah Walling
Artistic Director, Vancouver Moving Theatre
Associate Artistic Director, DTES Heart of the City Festival