Walking Tour
WHERE IS CHINATOWN? with 唐人街關注組 Chinatown Concern Group
Saturday October 29, 11am (approx. 90 minutes)
Meet on the front steps of Carnegie, 401 Main
$10; free for local residents
As Chinatown continues to gentrify, will it even be recognizable? Will it be called ‘Westerntown’ instead? ‘Coffee-town?’ Gentry-town?’ What do all these changes in Chinatown – a flood of market housing and changing retail composition that favours higher income people – mean for low-income working-class Chinese residents of Chinatown and the Downtown Eastside? Members of 唐人街關注組 Chinatown Concern Group will lead a tour of their beloved but rapidly changing Chinatown, as they share what is happening in the neighbourhood and why they are concerned. The tour will visit key sites of change, struggle, and threats in Chinatown.
Community Celebration
MACLEAN PARK PUMPKIN PATCH PARTY
Saturday October 29, 12pm – 3pm
麥其連公園南瓜節
MacLean Park, 710 Keefer
Free – Only one pumpkin per family.
Free pumpkins, face painting, arts & crafts, and refreshments. Come dressed in costume!!! Rain or shine.
Theatre
HIDDEN STORIES
Saturday October 29, 1pm – 1:45pm
Woodward’s Atrium, 111 W. Hastings
Free
Theatre Terrific and Aboriginal Front Door present Hidden Stories, a gentle site-specific journey of song, dance, mask and music that tells a “hidden story that fully celebrates and embraces birth, eating, speaking, loving, dancing and death.” Directed by Susanna Uchatius with Bill Beauregarde, Hidden Stories brings together artists of differing abilities and cultures with indigenous artists. Together they seek to hear, see, value and express their stories together, on a journey of trust, respect and collaborative creation like no other.
Exhibition
ST. JAMES’ ART SHOW
Saturday October 29, 1pm – 4pm
St. James’ Anglican Church, 303 E. Cordova
Free
Come and view works of by an array of artists practicing in Vancouver and BC. The theme of the art show, Living on Shared Territory, explores this year’s festival theme and showcases the diverse interpretation of this theme set in the heart of the Downtown Eastside. Visitors to the show will enjoy the unique opportunity of viewing thought-provoking art works displayed in the main worship space of the church, which combines all the plan forms of Christian tradition in a modernized Gothic idiom. Escape the business of the streets for a few minutes or a few hours and meditate on the art within. All are welcome.
Walking Tour
SNEAK PEEK OF CHINATOWN with Judy Lam Maxwell and Steven Wong
Saturday October 29, 1pm – 2:30pm
Meet at Sai Woo, 158 Pender
$10; pay what you can for local residents
Join hosts Judy Lam Maxwell and Steven Wong for a glimpse of Chinatown. The tour begins at heritage restaurant Sai Woo, climbs flights of stairs up to a heritage clan association, tours a Chinese herbal 
medicine store and ends at legendary Modernize Tailors, the last Chinese tailor shop now celebrating 103 years of business in Chinatown. Both Judy and Steven have active ties to the people and businesses in Chinatown; Judy leads Historical Chinatown Tours and Steven is third generation ‘man about town’ in Vancouver’s Chinatown. For a more comprehensive tour, please contact judy@chinatowngirl.ca
Film
SCREENING: THE PRISON IN TWELVE LANDSCAPES
Saturday October 29, 2pm – 4pm
Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema, SFU Woodward’s, 149 W. Hastings
Free
At this moment more people are imprisoned in the United States than in any other time or place in history, yet the prison itself has never felt further away or more out of sight. The Prison in Twelve Landscapes is a film about the prison and its life in the American landscape. The film unfolds as a cinematic journey across the US where prisons do work and affect lives: from a California mountainside where female prisoners fight raging wildfires, to a Bronx warehouse full of goods destined for the state correctional system, to an Appalachian coal town betting its future on the promise of prison jobs; a meditation on the prison and its invisibility in the era of mass incarceration. The screening will be followed by a Q&A over Skype with Canadian producer/director Brett Story. Presented by SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement.
Music
CARNEGIE CLASSICS: MUSIC LOVERS’ PARADISE
Saturday October 29, 3pm – 4:15pm
Carnegie Theatre, 401 Main
Free
Under the direction of clarinetist Johanna Hauser, some of Vancouver’s great professional musicians have presented chamber music concerts at the Carnegie for eighteen years. For this year’s Heart of the City Festival, Johanna will be joined by Geronimo Mendoza on oboe, Gwen Seaton on bassoon, Richard Mingus on French horn, and Monica Pfau on piano. Each musician will perform a piece that shows off their particular instrument and then they’ll join forces for Beethoven’s glorious Piano Quintet, opus 16. If you enjoy classical music or if you just want to see a bassoon up close and personal, you’ll love this event!
Reception/Exhibit
REALMS OF REFUGE FINALE
Saturday October 29, 4:30pm – 6pm
InterUrban Gallery, 1 E. Hastings, entrance on Carrall
Free
Realms of Refuge is a two-week residency produced by Vancouver Moving Theatre and Jumblies Theatre (Toronto) that involves artists and community participants working together to create and animate miniature worlds that explore and express different ways we find, create and imagine places of refuge, shelter and comfort. The public is invited to co-create the miniature worlds and participate in a series of free events. Special guests for the finale event include Russell Wallace, Bill Beauregarde, Sharon Kallis and M’Girl.
Community Celebration
7th ANNUAL FAMILY HOWL‘EEN DANCE PARTY
Saturday October 29, 6pm – 9pm
十月二十九日 Strathcona Community Centre Gym, 601 Keefer
Admission by cash or food donations to support the Strathcona Food Security Programs for families.
7th Annual Family Halloween Dance萬聖節家庭同樂日ࠗ第七屆ea
It’s Hallowe’en and everyone’s ready to party. Dance the monster mash and have your face painted at this spooktacular all-ages event. Everyone welcome.
Film
DOCUMENTARIES AT CARNEGIE
Saturday October 29, 7pm – 9:30pm
Carnegie Theatre, 401 Main
Free
An evening of hard-hitting films about homelessness and the desperate need for affordable housing.
Raise the Rates will open the evening with two short videos created as part of the We Can’t Afford Poverty campaign featuring the voices of Vancouverites affected by poverty. The showings will be accompanied by a description of the project and a short discussion of the goals and direction of the campaign.
The Real Deal (70min) tells the story and impact of the LA Poverty Department, a community-engaged theatre company that works with the housed and homeless in Central Los Angeles. Following the presentation of the film, John Malbec (Artistic Director, LA Poverty Department) will Skype in for a Q&A session with the audience.
The final film of the evening is a short documentary about tent cities in Oregon produced by LJ Meijer originally broadcast on ACCESS TV. A discussion with guests will follow including Karen Ward to speak about the Tent City currently set up at 52 W. Hastings; moderated by ACCESS TV host Imtiaz Popat.
Community Celebration
THE RUSSIAN HALL CELEBRATES ITS RE-OPENING
Saturday October 29, 7pm – 10pm
Russian Hall, 600 Campbell
Free
The iconic East Vancouver venue has undergone a major facelift! Take a look at the exciting improvements that we’ve made to our beloved facility, and join us as we celebrate the re-opening of this Strathcona institution, home of community events, dances, meetings, plays and performances for over seventy-five years. The evening of celebration includes performances by M’Girl, Troika Collective, Nancy Tam, Ramon Flores Trovador, Dovbush Dancers, Theatre Replacement, Lower Mainland Doukhobor Choir, Vancouver Moving Theatre/Jim Sands as Hansel, Fight With a Stick and others! Tour the building and view the mural on the exterior. A historical display will reveal the journey that culminates in our re-opening.
Television
DTES MUSIC THEATRE SHOWCASE Part One
Saturday October 29, 11pm – 12am
Shaw Cable 4
This year, ACCESS TV broadcasts a wonderful re-edited program of the DTES Music Theatre Showcase produced by Vancouver Moving Theatre and presented during the 2009 Heart of the City Festival on stage at the Russian Hall. The production features over 30 local DTES involved residents singing an extraordinary collection of original songs produced in the Downtown Eastside, including memorable songs from The DTES Community Play (VMT/Carnegie), Condemned: The Opera (Carnegie), Bruce: The Musical (Theatre in the Raw), The Returning Journey (Dalannah Gail Bowen), DTES Romeo and Juliet (VMT), East End Blues & All That Jazz (VMT), and We Are All In This Together (VMT). Part One will broadcast Oct 24 (midnight), Oct 25 (8pm), Oct 29 (11pm) and Oct 30 (3pm). Part Two will broadcast Oct 31 (midnight), Nov 1 (8pm), Nov 5 (11pm) and Nov6 (3pm).