Vancouver Moving Theatre in association with Carnegie Community Centre
& the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians presents

The 10^th Annual Downtown Eastside
Heart of the City Festival
Wednesday October 23 to Sunday November 3, 2013

Celebrating our 10^th Anniversary
Featuring over 80 events at over 25 locations throughout the Downtown Eastside
with special anniversary events including the premiere of Bread and Salt
on the post-festival weekend of November 8-10

This is an exciting year for the Heart of the City Festival as we celebrate our 10^th Anniversary!

We have much to celebrate since our founding – the festival, and the Downtown Eastside community, is recognized across Canada as a leader in community arts; and since our founding the festival has presented over 1,000 events featuring approximately 10,000 artists of all ages, backgrounds, abilities, cultural background and art forms.

To celebrate the Festival’s 10^th Anniversary, and to honour the talents, wisdom and power of our home community, the 2013 theme is: “Drawing Strength from Our Roots.” The Downtown Eastside is the heart of the City, the founding neighbourhood where Vancouver began, and is the home of choice for thousands of the City’s residents.

The Festival takes inspiration from the words of Downtown Eastside poet and activist Bud Osborn:

Our purpose is to live in community, and community is care, care for one another, care for those least able to care for themselves, care for all, care in action.

This year’s Festival features our annual feast of twelve days of music, stories, songs, poetry, cultural celebrations, films, theatre, dance, processions, spoken word, workshops, discussions, gallery exhibits, mixed media, art talks, history talks, walking tours, and a diverse array of artist showcases.

An abundance of special 10^th anniversary events include: • world renowned Downtown Eastside based Uzume Taiko; • urban ink productions’ Women In Fish, a tribute to women in the fishing industry; • Out on a Limb, a multimedia event of stories, images and song about growing up and growing older, produced by The Only Animal in association with PHS Community Services; • DTES Taiko Roots!, a tribute to taiko drumming in Vancouver with Sansho Daiko and more; • the Oppenheimer Park Art Show: Fun & Games presented with Gallery Gachet; • The Stanza Project written by Downtown Eastside’s exciting Thursdays Writing Collective directed by Elee Kraljii Gardiner; • Hot Jazz at the Carnegie showcasing new original music from the community, with the Carnegie Jazz Band (Brad Muirhead, Band Leader); • songs of mother earth with Iskwew Singers, a trio of Canadian Aboriginal women; • Listening to Truth, Seeking Reconciliation, a talkumentary evening to ask “what does reconciliation mean to you?”; • Downtown Eastside Front and Centre: Love on the Piano featuring A.S. Naomi Narvey, Elaine Joe, Stan Hudac, Joyce Morgan, Dalannah Gail Bowen and Michael Creber; • roof lifting Barrio Flamenco: Flamenco for the People at Carnegie; • an exhibit and reading, Modernize Tailors: 100 Years of Dressing the Modern Man at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden; • the completed work of CONNECT performed by Karen Jamieson and the Carnegie Dance Troupe; • and the premiere of Bread and Salt, a tribute to the Ukrainian Canadian community in Vancouver’s historic East End, presented by Vancouver Moving Theatre with the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians.

The mandate of the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival is to profile and foster the development of community arts in the Downtown Eastside – from community building and bridge building, to celebrating artists and cultures, to giving voice to local concerns. The festival involves a wide range of professional, community, emerging and student artists, and lovers of the arts. Over 1,000 artists participated in last year’s 2012 Festival.

Most events are free or suggested donation.
Full program of events will be posted by Thursday 10 October 2013.
Program guides will be distributed throughout Downtown Eastside and along Main Street and Commercial Drive between Friday Oct 11 and Sunday October 13. 

MEDIA CONTACT:   Jodi Smith 604.736.4939, jlsmgmt@lightspeed.ca