Festival Top Picks
We Live Here
Wednesday October 27 to Friday October 29, 8pm. Free
Jack Chow Insurance parking lot, 500 blk Carrall at E. Pender
We Live Here is a dramatic, large-scale video project created by thirty Downtown Eastside visual artists working with a curatorial team of Jerry Whitehead, Wendy Peeters and Jared Sharpe. The participating artists took inspiration from the phrase "we live here" to create new artwork while an overhead video camera captured the process. Each night, a different group of artists will be displayed in a twenty minute looping video presentation that is projected from the Jack Chow Insurance parking lot onto the side of a local heritage building. We Live Here is sponsored by the Portland Hotel Society. A Radix Theatre production.
50 Years of Creative Collaboration: Terry Hunter & Savannah Walling
Wednesday October 27 to Sunday November 7, exhibit in the Carnegie 3rd floor Gallery
Sunday October 31, 1pm, online conversation with special guests. Free
Terry Hunter (Nang Gulgaa) and Savannah Walling (hl Gat’saa), co-founders of Vancouver Moving Theatre (1983) and Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival (2004) invite you to attend two events that celebrate the 50th Anniversary of their creative and collaborative journey: a 50-year retrospective photo exhibit; and an online conversation and photo sharing with special guests. These events highlight Terry and Savannah’s journey from Simon Fraser University’s non-credit arts program (1971), to the avant-garde collective Terminal City Dance (1976-1983), to touring to over 40 national and international festivals (1983-2002), to the birth of their son Montana (1990), and living in and working on Coast Salish homelands with the Downtown Eastside community (1976 to today).
#whatnow
Thursday October 28 to Sunday October 31, Wednesday November 3 to Sunday November 7
8 pm | 3pm Sunday matinees
Russian Hall, 600 Campbell
2 for 1 preview Thurs Oct 28, Regular $22; Under 30/Senior/Low Income $15. Tickets: www.alleytheatre.ca
#whatnow is a multi-perspective documentary theatre and dance creation about the #metoo movement produced by Alley Theatre in partnership with Good Night Out Vancouver. Hours of audio interviews, real life stories and reflections come to life through “headphone verbatim”, as recordings are played through earphones to actors, who repeat what they hear.
Walking Tour: Chinatown Historic Laneways
Saturday October 30, 10am. $10 / low income pay what you can
Limited capacity, registration info on Festival website early October
Chinatown Historic Laneways, with John Atkin. Join local historian and walking encyclopedia John Atkin on this walk that explores the fascinating historic laneways of Chinatown. From the unique BC Hydro H-frame structures now under threat of removal, to the historic shops, markets and businesses like the legendary Green and Orange Door cafes, John will open your eyes to the importance of the laneways of Chinatown and their vital place in the City of Vancouver’s initiatives towards Chinatown World Heritage Site.
Walking Tour: Chinatown Ghosts – Ancestors All Around Us
Sunday October 31, 10:30am. $10 / low-income pay what you can
Limited capacity, registration info on Festival website early October
Chinatown Ghosts: Ancestors All Around Us, led by Youth Collaborative for Chinatown 青心在唐人街
Ancestors are all around us in Chinatown. In this tour, learn to see and hear their stories and teachings in the everyday shops and spaces of the neighbourhood, including how the living maintain relationships with those deceased.
Merlin Cosmos: Magic – It’s Personal
Saturday October 30, 7pm. Free
Pre-recorded at the Firehall Arts Centre, presented online, followed by live Q&A with Merlin
Merlin's approach to magic is as a storyteller in the style of a stand-up comic. Usually we expect magicians to focus on the effect of magic as a source of mystery and wonder. For Merlin, magic is personal and a large part of his view of the world. That is what makes his magic unique. Much of the magic and stories have been developed during Merlin’s time living in the Downtown Eastside and are presented in a light-hearted fashion with an emphasis on fun. For this performance, you will be encouraged to participate. Grab a deck of cards for a magic trick you can do at home. All ages can enjoy together. Guaranteed to be fun!
Hearts Beat 2021
Tuesday November 2, 12pm (7pm GST). Free
Carnegie Community Centre, 401 Main
Online
Registration available, info on Festival website early October.
Free, donations appreciated
Join us virtually to watch both live stream and pre-recorded performances with lexwst’í:lem drum group, Ceól Abú Irish musicians, and the De Danaan Irish dancers. More artists to be announced soon. We are honoured that Chief Bill Williams, Consul General Frank Flood and Eamonn McKee Ambassador of Ireland to Canada, will participate in the event.
This afternoon 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 18th 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 Suzie O’Shea at suzie.oshea@ubc.ca or Nicole Bird nicole.bird@vancouver.ca
My Art Is Activism: Part III
Tuesday November 2, 3pm. Free
Existing videos, presented online, followed by live Q&A with Sid
Longtime Downtown Eastside documentarian and organizer Sid Chow Tan shares selections from his extraordinary archival video collection. Sid’s choices of videos highlight Chinese Canadian social movements and direct action in Chinatown, particularly community media and redress for Chinese head tax and exclusion.
DTES Front & Centre: In Memory of Joyce Morgan
Tuesday November 2, 7pm. Free
Pre-recorded at Firehall Arts Centre, presented online, followed by live Q&A with participating musicians
A Downtown Eastside community music showcase honouring Joyce Morgan, a pianist and longtime and beloved Carnegie Community Centre volunteer. Featuring a lineup of musicians and friends of Joyce from the Carnegie Community Centre music program, including Joyce’s daughter Heidi Morgan with Earle Peach, Christie McPhee, Peggy Wilson, Murray Black, Brice Tabish, Mike Richter, John Cote, Shawn Giroux, Marj Gorrell, and the Carnegie Jazz Quintet with Brad Muirhead, Mark Boreen, Terry Hunter and special guests Brent Gubbels and Stan Taylor.
Indigenous Journeys: Solos by Three Women
Wednesday November 3, 7pm. Free
Pre-recorded at the Firehall Arts Centre, presented online, followed by live Q&A with the artists
Three new powerful solos by three extraordinary Downtown Eastside involved women profiling their creative and personal experiences. Chemukh's Dream is written and performed by Priscillia Mays Tait (Gitxsan/Wet’suwet’en) (20 min). Priscillia tells us the magical story of “Chemukh’s Dream” where Chemukh, Annie Sue and the crew travel to the heavens above, meet a special relative and explore the universe. Tell Us When They Came is written and performed by Kat Zu'comulwat Norris (Lyackson First Nation) and directed by Sam Bob (20 min). Kat’s powerful voice takes us on a journey of Indigenous strength, grief, joy and resilience through her own life experience. The dance within the dance is the dance, a work-in-progress written and performed by Gunargie O’Sullivan aka ga'axstasalas (Kwakuilth Nation) (17 min), is an emotional journey with narration and movement that tells how loss of culture, family and land can lead to addictions, and how culture, family and land can also lead us out of addiction to points of recovery.
Openings
Wednesday November 3 to Saturday November 6, 7:30pm
Firehall Arts Centre, 280 East Cordova
Tickets at door or advance sales: 604-689-0926; boxoffice@firehallartscentre.ca, or www.firehallartcentre.ca
Join storyteller Rosemary Georgeson (Coast Salish/Sahtu Dene) and Firehall Artistic Producer Donna Spencer as they host cultural sharings about resilience, hope and humour by Indigenous Elders, Knowledge-Keepers and artists from different nations. Following on the success of the last November 2020 “In the Beginning” cultural sharing, Openings is a four evening discussion series that looks at powerful female voices in the arts, canoe power, and Indigenous humour. Produced by Firehall Arts Centre in partnership with Vancouver Moving Theatre.
Grace Eiko Thomson: Chiru Sakura (Falling Cherry Blossoms)
Thursday November 4, 7pm. Free
Massy Arts Gallery, 23 East Pender
Limited capacity, registration info on Festival website early October
Esteemed elder and activist Grace Eiko Thomson reads and talks about her book Chiru Sakura (Falling Cherry Blossoms), which chronicles her and her mother’s journey through racism, and Grace’s life-long advocacy for the rights of Canadians of Japanese ancestry. With host John Endo Greenaway, artist and editor (The Bulletin).
Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey Launch
Friday November 5, 10am – 4pm. Oppenheimer Park (1pm; Opening Ceremony)
Saturday November 6, 10am – 4pm. Oppenheimer Park (1pm; Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey, History and Vision Presentation)
Sunday November 7, 10am – 12pm. Sending Off Ceremony, Oppenheimer Park
Further We Rise Collective with Sacred Rock launch the three-year project Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey with three days of ceremony, teachings, storytelling and art respecting Mother Earth in Oppenheimer Park. We are honouring Grandmothers who travelled to the Downtown Eastside; grandmas who’ve passed on; and grandmas who are with us now and their life stories. Through arts and ceremony, we are honouring our Grandmothers’ role of caring for us all: the land, water, wild salmon, people, plants and animals that provide us with food. The launch is produced by Further We Rise Collective/Sacred Rock in partnership with Vancouver Moving Theatre (Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival). All events are free.
Fighting for Space: Drug Users' Response to the Overdose Crisis
Saturday November 6, 1pm. Free
Online presentation and conversation
Author and award-winning journalist Travis Lupick shares stories from his book “Fighting for Space: How a Group of Drug Users Transformed One City’s Struggle with Addiction" (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2018), and brings the narrative to the current day with his recent book Light Up the Night: America’s Drug Overdose Crisis and the Drug Users Fighting for Survival (New Press, 2021). Joining Travis in conversation is Ann Livingston, a leader in the movement for harm-reduction and co-founder of VANDU, and Eris Nyx, artist, producer, iconoclast, and activist for safe drug use and decriminalization.
Incarcerated: Truth in Shadows
Saturday November 6, 8pm. Free
Pre-recorded, presented online, followed by live Q&A with participating storytellers and other guests
The always moving and gritty shadow theatre ensemble Illicit Projects presents three shadow plays dedicated to people who have faced unjust treatment in Canada’s incarceration system: Full Circle, written and performed by Martha Kahnapace; Without Prejudice by Dennis Gates; and the Revolving Door by Kerri Moore. Created with shadow designers, original music, sound design and videography, these stories of systemic racism and inequities are also stories of strength, the search for belonging, and the fiery hope that we can create a better kinder world together. An Illicit Projects production in partnership with the UBC Transformative Health & Justice Research Cluster, Megaphone Magazine and Vancouver Foundation.
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Most of the events at the Heart of the City Festival are free. If you support the Festival and enjoy the programming, please consider donating to support our work. Any donations are very much needed, welcomed and appreciated. Donations can be made through Canada Helps or through Eventbrite when registering for an event.