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Late Night with Savages on Co-op Radio
Wednesday October 26, 11pm - 1:00am

A special late night program for the Heart of the City Festival, live from the DTES station of Co-op Radio. Listen in to an evening of artists and musical guests, hosted by Gunargie O’Sullivan. Gunargie has invited an exciting line-up of guests, including traditional and contemporary artists. Cecilia Point opens the evening, followed by comedy with Nick Perry, guitar soloist Mark Mcleod, singer Makeda Martin, musician Paul Barnetson, and Downtown Eastside artists Smokey D, Ken Foster, Frank Hargreaves, and Faith Allan. Studio musician is Sliggidie on guitar.

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GENERATIONS OF WOMEN AND WATER
Honouring Our Grandmothers’ Healing Journey
Wednesday October 26, 6pm - 7:30pm

Massy Arts hosts Generations of Women and Water, a new exhibit by Indigenous visionary visual artist Nadine Spence. Opening night includes an arriving ceremony for Nadine’s painted bentwood cedar chest. Nadine’s personal voyage with Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey is to honour her Nlaka’pamux and Secwépemc Grandmothers who lived and died in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, and bring their spirits home with the cycle of wild salmon by waterways of the Fraser and Thompson Rivers and the Pacific Ocean. Presented by Massy Arts Society in collaboration with Sacred Rock, and in partnership with Vancouver Moving Theatre / Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival.  

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LIGHT UP THE NIGHT: CONVERSATION WITH TRAVIS LUPICK
Thursday October 27, 1pm - 2:30pm

Author and award-winning journalist Travis Lupick shares stories from his recent book, Light Up the Night: America’s Drug Overdose Crisis and the Drug Users Fighting for Survival (New Press, 2022). Told through embedded reporting focused on two heroic activists, Light Up the Night is the story of courageous people stepping in where government has failed. Lupick is also the author of Fighting for Space: Drug Users’ Response to the Overdose Crisis about Canada’s response to the opioid epidemic. Lupick will discuss how Canada and the US have responded to their shared emergency. Interviewing Travis is Amanda Siebert, an award-winning author with a new book released this fall, Psyched: Seven Cutting-Edge Psychedelics Changing the World (Greystone Books, 2022). Recorded on Oct 4, 2022.

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INTANGIBLE TREASURES OF THE DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE
Thursday October 27, 7pm - 9pm

Intangible Treasures of the Downtown Eastside (Zoom Shadow Two) is a collection of short shadow plays created on the Zoom platform by artists Dallas, Stephen Lytton, Rev. Dr. Victoria Marie, Gunargie O’Sullivan (ga’axstasalas), Priscillia Mays Tait, Savannah Walling and Elwin Xie. They share intangible personal treasures that give them strength: from their culture and lived experiences to family stories and Chinatown’s Union Laundry. Co-directors Sarah May Redmond and Cathy Stubington worked with collaborating storytellers, along with composer Joelysa Pakanea and Anthony McNab Favel, Nadine Spence, Mike Richter and Fanna Yee who added layers of musical magic, visual design or helped as puppeteers. Join the artists on Zoom for Q&A following the presentation. Co-produced by Runaway Moon Theatre (Enderby, BC/Secwépemc homelands) and Vancouver Moving Theatre. Runaway Moon Theatre were inspiring mentors of VMT in the development of the 2003 Downtown Eastside Community Play; and collaborators with VMT on The Minotaur Dreams and TRACKS Symposium.

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Community in the Making
Friday October 28, 5pm - 7pm

Join Jing Li and guest speakers in an online panel discussion on Community In The Making, based on Jing Li’s doctoral research (2014-2017) exploring the role of the Heart of the City Festival in the Downtown Eastside community. Guided by this year’s theme, Community Is Our Mentor, Jing will revisit some past Festival events and the involvement of invited speakers Stephen Lytton, Grace Eiko Thomson, John Endo Greenaway, Ruth Howard, and Skundaal Bernie Williams (DTES Community Play 2003, Against the Current 2015, Terrain of Thought 2015, and Survivors Totem Pole 2015). They will share their journeys of knowing and learning about the community-that-is-in-the-making and is our mentor.

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KEEPING THE FIRES BURNING
Honouring Our Grandmothers’ Healing Journey
Saturday October 29, 1pm - 3pm

A ceremonial fire is lit. 

“Honouring our Grandmothers Healing Journey” originated from the Interior Salish Matriarchs and peoples of Nlaka’pamux and Secwépemc. We’re people who’ve lived with fire since time immemorial, with traditional firekeepers who maintained the lands with fire for protection, food and health with the natural cycle of all things. We were taught very young to respect fire through traditional teachings passed down from generations of Indigenous tribes and Grandmothers, whose spirits guide and protect us to this day.”

– Nadine Spence

The opening arriving ceremony for the community Elements Chest is hosted by Community Engagement Mentor Stephen Lytton, and accompanied with a song by Dalannah Gail Bowen. The chest will arrive in Oppenheimer Park, carried by youth guardians. Elements Chest artists who finished the chest with visual art and poetry will be acknowledged. 

Guests are invited to contribute messages (words, images, poems) to the Community Elements travelling chest. These messages are for their Grandmothers, families, lands and waters: to help celebrate, bring closure and guide spirits home. These messages will be properly respected, released and laid to rest in ceremony on completion of “Honouring our Grandmothers Healing Journey”.

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BOXSET
Saturday October 29, 6pm 

Do you believe in magic? Come and join Victoria Gibson and Miriam Esquitín in a space where the impossible is visualized with sound, light and motion. Slip into a dreamspace inside the BOXSET where a series of surreal experiences await. Every journey is different as we encounter new energy and emotion to claim the imagination of both the performers and the audience.

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TALKING TRUTHS: DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE GRANDMOTHERS COLLECTIVE
Saturday October 29, 6pm 

You are invited to gather with the DTES Grandmothers Collective for a gentle sharing circle and artist-talk around the theme of hope and how we gather our stories and share our passions. Join Sharon Jinkerson-Brass, Dalannah Gail Bowen, Rosemary Georgeson and Savannah Walling, with host Olivia C. Davies (O.Dela Arts) to share the experience of creative collaboration and neo-Indigenous ways of (re)creating ceremony. Witnesses are invited to sit in this virtual circle with the artists as they speak to each other with open hearts and open minds.

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HEARTS BEAT 2022
Tuesday November 1, 7pm – 9pm

Come listen to the stories of Hearts Beat, a musical exploration of the shared traditions of drums, dance and song between Indigenous and Irish cultures. 

Join us in person or virtually to watch the world premiere of Hearts Beat, the Film (2022, 17 min) along with live performances with lexwst’í:lem drum group, Ceól Abú Irish musicians, the De Danaan Irish dancers, and much more! Hearts Beat is honoured by the participation of Mary Point, Chief Bill Williams, Consul General Cathy Geagon and Vice Consul General Adam Duffy, Consulate General of Ireland Vancouver. 

This evening of entertainment promises to foster intercultural learning, spark new connections, and inspire our hearts and minds. Hearts Beat is proud to be part of the 19th Annual Heart of the City Festival and is a collaboration between the Carnegie Community Centre Indigenous Programs, the UBC Learning Exchange, the Irish Consulate, and Carnegie Community Centre Association. For inquiries please contact Nicole Bird, nicole.bird@vancouver.ca.

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HONOURING WRITERS OF THE DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE
Saturday November 5, 7pm - 9pm

At the end of this wonderful day honouring and celebrating writers, poets and spoken word artists at Carnegie, we present an evening of writing and poetry from the past. Words that were written down by members of our community who have passed before us; poets, activists, historians, and great writers. We’ve invited friends and neighbours to bring these words to life, and to share something of their own work. 

We are honoured to welcome to the Carnegie stage: Diane Wood to read Sandy Cameron and Robyn Livingstone; Ghia Aweida to read Joan Morelli; Kedrick James to read Bud Osborn; Gilles Cyrenne to read dn simmers; Elwin Xie to read Jim Wong Chu; Isabella Mori to read Muriel Marjorie; Todd Wong to read Wayson Choy; Shauntelle Dick-Charleson reading Zaccheus Jackson; and Stephen Lytton to share words of Kat Zucomulwat Norris, the Festival Elder-in-Residence 2017 to 2021. Our Emcee for the evening is RC Weslowski, writer and award-winning spoken word artist.