1. ‘The Gathering’ Mural Launch
‘The Gathering’ Mural, a stunning tryptic mural created in 2016 by Richard Tetrault, is expanding with an additional seven new panels by Tetrault, Charlene Johnny, Marissa Nahanee and Jerry Whitehead. The Gathering Mural hangs in the Carnegie Theatre during the Festival and pays tribute to past and present DTES artists and activists, and to the diverse cultures and heritage of the Downtown Eastside. Meet the artists and hear the inspiring stories behind the artists and activists represented in this extraordinary mural.

Wednesday October 26, 4pm. Free
Carnegie Community Centre Theatre, 401 Main

 2. Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey Residency – Keeping the Fires Burning
Two weeks of art, ceremony, teachings and storytelling honour lived experiences and legacies of indigenous grandmothers past and present who traveled to the Downtown Eastside from the BC Interior. Launched at last year’s festival, this multi-year multi-generational project brings together Interior Salish and Coast Salish peoples with nations connected to the Fraser and Thompson Rivers, mountains and salmon. Artist Producer Nadine Spence’s painted cedar chest honours her Nlaka’pamux and Secwepemc grandmothers who died in the Downtown Eastside. The public is invited to participate, including placing messages for their ancestors, land and waters into a travelling community message chest created by artists of different nationalities with historic relationships with Indigenous peoples. Through arts and ceremony, Honouring Our Grandmothers brings together family and residents who work to restore relationships between generations and communities. Produced by Further We Rise Indigenous Arts Collective/ Sacred Rock, in partnership with Vancouver Moving Theatre/ Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival, along with Massy Arts Society, VALU CO-OP lCommunity Projects and Love Intersections, and Carnegie Centre/ Oppenheimer Park. 

Elements Unite window display
Wednesday October 26 to Sunday November 6. Free.
VALU CO-OP Studio, 525 Carrall

Generations of Women and Water exhibit launch
Wednesday October 26, 6pm. By donation, registration info on Festival website early October.
Massy Arts Gallery, 23 E. Pender

Generations of Women and Water exhibit
Thursday October 27 to Sunday November 6, Tues-Sat 12pm-5pm. Free.
Massy Arts Gallery, 23 E. Pender

Keeping the Fires Burning, 1pm Cultural Sharing
Saturday October 29, 10am-4pm. Free.
Oppenheimer Park, 488 Powell

Travelling Message Chests Talk
Wednesday November 2, 6pm. Free, registration required, massyarts.com
Massy Arts Gallery, 23 E. Pender

Inherent Responsibility cultural protocol talk
Thursday November 3, 6pm. Free, registration is required, massyarts.com
Massy Arts Gallery, 23 E. Pender

3. Light Up the Night: Conversation with Travis Ludic
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, this is the story of the courageous people stepping in where government has failed. Lupick is also the author of Fighting for Space: Drug Users’ Response to the Overdose Crisis that recounts Canada’s response to the opioid epidemic, and will discuss how Canada and the US have responded to their shared emergency. Interviewing Travis is Amanda Siebert, also an award-winning author with a new book released this fall, Psyched: Seven Cutting-Edge Psychedelics Changing the World (Greystone Books, 2022). 

Thursday October 27, 1pm. Free
Online on the Festival website, pre-recorded

4. Intangible Treasures of the Downtown Eastside
Intangible Treasures of the Downtown Eastside (Zoom Shadow Two) is an online collection of short evocative shadow plays created on the Zoom platform by seven Downtown Eastside-involved artists who share intangible personal treasures that give them strength – from their culture and lived experiences to family stories and Chinatown’s Union Laundry. Co-produced by Runaway Moon Theatre (Enderby, BC) and Vancouver Moving Theatre.

Thursday October 27, 7pm. Free
Online, registration info on Festival website early October
Also available in Carnegie Viewing Room, 401 Main

6. Housing Justice with SRO Tenants
Housing Justice with SRO Tenants is an interactive dialogue and film screening in collaboration with The Right to Remain Research Collective and filmmaker Eliot Galán, showcasing SRO (Single Room Occupancy) tenant researchers whose stories prompt moments of collective learning. Audiences are invited to share in the vision of transitional strategies for affordable, safe and healthy housing. Join the group at 1pm to watch three short films, followed by a conversation circle with SRO tenants Nicole Baxter, Kevin Nanaquewitang, Josh Gillen, Richard Schwab and Tom deGrey. The audience will be invited to offer questions. Come early to meet the crew, stay afterwards to partake in a community meal. 

Saturday October 29, 1pm-3pm. Free to all!
Carnegie Theatre, 401 Main
Registration required for non-DTES residents

7. Two Amigos Walking Tour, with John Atkin and Bob Sung
The Festival is excited to present a walking exploration with the powerhouse duo of John Atkin and Bob Sung. The Two Amigos bring a unique insight to the neighbourhood’s history, culture and architecture. Along the way you’ll discover what’s in the herbal stores, the fight for neighbourhood preservation, local architecture, and bbq’d meats! John is a civic historian and heritage consultant, and Bob hosts cultural and culinary tours of Chinatown. 

Sunday October 30
10am SOLD OUT
1pm JUST ADDED
$10 / low-income pay what you can
Limited capacity, Registration required

8. 3rd Annual Legion of Flying Monkeys Evil Cult Singalong
Come in costume to MacLean Park for the third annual Legion of Flying Monkeys Evil* Cult Singalong! Enjoy a rousing good time with music composed for the wildly original instruments built from Strathcona-grown wood; dance to protest-folk-rock and join in the pledge to become a part of a larger, completely benevolent corporation. What could possibly go wrong? *Caution: children will be exposed to humanist and socialist lyrics.

Monday October 31, 4pm. Free
MacLean Park, 710 Keefer

9. IronFest III
Novel sound worlds and first-time collaborations: musicians from the UK, US, and Canada join local greats for three nights of daring sonic exploration at The Ironworks, a cozy and acoustically delightful jewel of the DTES. Coastal Jazz, in association with the DTES Heart of the City Festival and Music on Main, presents IronFest III, a diverse three-night series of fresh, expressive music by players from around the world, and right around the corner. The mini-fest kicks off with two groups, SICK BOSS and Josh Zubot & Strings, who enmesh cerebral composition with next-level adventurous improvisation; followed by two evenings that promise unprecedented, unrepeatable, and unmissable meetings between international innovators, cross-Canada all-stars, and local lights. 

Josh Zubot & Strings/ SICK BOSS
Thursday November 3, 8:30pm
TICKETS https://www.showpass.com/ironfest-iii-night-one

Feven Kidane/ Tony Wilson; Eylem Basaldi (US)/ Gord Grdina/ Torsten Müller; François  Houle/ Alexander Hawkins (UK)/ Kate Gentile (US)
Friday November 4, 9:30pm
TICKETS https://www.showpass.com/ironfest-iii-night-two

Jay Clayton (US)/ Róisín Adams/ Jen Yakamovich; John Paton/ Stéphane Diamantakiou/ Ivan Bamford; Ayelet Rose Gottlieb/ Elisa Thorn/ Aram Bajakian/ Peggy Lee/ Hamin Honari
Saturday November 5, 9:30pm
TICKETS https://www.showpass.com/ironfest-iii-night-three

The Ironworks, 235 Alexander
Tickets on sale September 27th, $25 each including service fees
For more info, visit www.coastaljazz.ca/events

10. Honouring Writers of the Downtown Eastside
Honouring Writers of the Downtown Eastside, celebrates writers and poets - past and present - who mentor our community with their powerful thoughts, words, ideas, support and encouragement. In the evening program, we honour poets who have passed before us, including: Sandy Cameron, Bud Osborn, Muriel Marjorie, Robyn Livingstone, Joan Morelli, dn simmers, Lee Maracle, Jim Wong Chu, Wayson Choy, and Kat Zucomulwat Norris, the Festival Elder in Residence 2017 to 2022. In the afternoon, the DTES Writers’ Collective will share their writings; Muriel’s Journey Poetry Prize will offer readings from award-winning writers in honour of the beloved DTES poet Muriel Marjorie; and the annual Sandy Cameron Memorial Writing Contest & Award Ceremony, presented by the Carnegie Newsletter, will honour and recognize writers of today.

Saturday November 5. 12pm, 2pm, 4pm & 7pm. Free
Carnegie Community Centre Theatre, 401 Main

11. The Prop Master’s Dream
The Prop Master’s Dream is a new fusion opera based on the extraordinary true-life story of Wah-Kwan Gwan (1929-2000), a legendary prop master born to a Chinese father and an Indigenous mother in BC. Produced by Vancouver Cantonese Opera. 

溫哥華燕鳳鳴粵劇團呈獻  “道具大師的尋根夢”
道具大師的尋根夢是根據關華坤 (1929-2000) 的真實故事改編而成，他是一位傳奇的粵劇界道具大師，父親是華裔，母親是卑詩省的原住民。
購票電話: 604-764-8181; 電郵: vancanopera@gmail.com

Saturday November 5, 2pm & 7pm
2022年11月5日; 只演兩場：下午 2 時，晚上7時
Annex Theatre 劇院   溫哥華 823 Seymour
Tickets $35-45. Limited seats, purchase tickets at Eventbrite:  The Prop Master's Dream Tickets

12. Together in Peace
An annual Festival favourite, this afternoon concert nurtures peace through culture and community, presented with the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians. The concert highlights lively choral and orchestral music, exciting dance and exquisite costumes, and features the Hall’s own Barvinok Choir, Vancouver Folk Ensemble and the award-winning Dovbush Dancers. Special guests include the Left Coast Labour Chorus who bring the joy and inspiration of music to the social justice and labour movements, and The Wheat in the Barley - founded twenty-six years ago by Steve Gidora who has deep roots in the labour and peace movements - performing selections described as multicultural with an emphasis on Celtic and Slavic flavours. Enjoy the Sunday concert with friends and neighbours at the east-end’s historic Ukrainian Hall, followed by a Hall social. 

Sunday November 6, 3pm
Ukrainian Hall, 805 E. Pender
Tickets: $25 (6-12 years olds $10).
For info and tickets, visit www.auucvancouver.ca

13. Virago Nation
Virago Nation is a collective of Indigenous artists creating performance through burlesque, theatre, song and spoken word as well as workshops, and community networks rematriating Indigenous sexuality. Founded in May 2016, Virago Nation is on a mission to reclaim Indigenous sexuality from the toxic effects of colonization. Through humour, seduction, pop culture and politics they will show that Indigenous women will not be confined to the colonial virgin-whore dichotomy but will design a new dynamic and multi-faceted sexual identity rooted in their own desires. This is their reconciliation.

Thursday October 27, 8pm
The Ironworks, 235 Alexander
Tickets $20 Also available at door

14. Alice Street
The Festival is thrilled to present this not to be missed film showing of  Alice Street, a moving, inspiring and award-winning documentary by film documentarion Spencer Wilkinson (USA). In the rapidly gentrifying city of Oakland, California, construction of a luxury condominium threatens a local mural forcing the artists and a whole neighbourhood to rally to protect its history, voice, and land. This story resonates powerfully with our community, as we grapple with continued gentrification and struggle to protect our community. Q&A follows, with special guests Spencer Wilkinson (Director) and the renowned Desi Mundo (Alice Street muralist) from the USA; along with Jean Swanson (City Councilor), Kevin Nanaquewitang (SRO Collective) and muralist Brandon Gabriel (Kwantlen First Nation). Hosted by Terry Hunter. Presented in collaboration with 1982 Media and Endangered Ideas Film.

Friday November 4 | 7pm - 9pm
Carnegie Theatre | 401 Main | Free

15. Urban Bandscape with Carnegie Jazz Band alumni
The Festival is thrilled to bring an evening of jazz, rock, funk and improvised music to Carnegie! This not-to-be-missed concert of exceptional musicianship and socially relevant content features the newly minted Urban Bandscape with guest appearances from alumni of the Carnegie Jazz Band. The concert, entitled Gritty City, is designed to blow the roof off Carnegie and features a selection of original songs by Brad Muirhead; popular standards heard in the clubs and streets of Vancouver’s historic East End; and songs from the Downtown Eastside songbook.

Urban Bandscape is a collaboration between trombonist/composer/arranger Brad Muirhead, Stephen Robb (woodwinds, piano) and Tom Pickett (vocals). The group is rounded out with Adrian Smith (trumpet), Brent Gubbels (bass) and Elliot Polsky (drums). Joining this stellar lineup is Liam White (guitar) and alumni from the Carnegie Jazz Band: Mark Boreen (tenor sax), Lorae Farrell (trumpet), Terry Hunter (piano), Gerry (piano), Michel Vles (flute) and Gary Wildeman (drums). Terry Hunter will emcee, with narration written by Savannah Walling.

Sunday October 30 | 7pm - 9pm
Carnegie Theatre | 401 Main | Free