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xʷən̓iwən ce:p kʷθəθ nəw̓eyəł ((((Remember your teachings))))
Now until Nov. 9
www.richmondartgallery.org/rememberyourteachings
Known for their passionate work rooted in personal experience, artist Manuel Axel Strain embraces and exalts the Coast Salish longhouse to confront the oppressive, racist colonial context surrounding them. Their major multi-media exhibition, including paintings, sculptures, family photographs, video and installation, transforms the Gallery with a dynamic mix of new and recent artworks rendered in their boldly unique style.
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Ninth Annual Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival
Oct. 10–12
Check out the opening of the Ninth Annual Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival – an event that’s free and open to the community, inviting everyone to come together and celebrate this year’s exceptional artists! Attendees will be able to have a sneak-peek of over 400 artworks on display in the exhibition hall. The grand opening event is not just a celebration; it’s an invitation to step outside the confines of convention and embrace the unfiltered beauty of artistic diversity. Check out the festival for a night where art knows no limits, and imagination takes centre stage.
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Canyon Frights
Oct. 10–Nov. 2
www.capbridge.com/events/canyon-frights
Take a thrilling journey through Capilano Suspension Bridge Park’s Canyon Frights – if you dare! The iconic park will once again transform into a haunted woodland playground, filled with playful scares, eerie ambiance and limited-time sips and bites. This year’s theme invites guests deep into a frightful forest, where graveyards, pumpkins and glowing mycelium set the stage for a chilling adventure. Keep an eye out for watchful owls perched at Treetops Adventure, glowing mushrooms sprouting along the pond pathways and creepy crawlies lurking where you least expect them. Popular skeletal scenes return, joined by haunting new surprises woven into the darkened trails.
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Latin American
Heritage Month
Oct. 14–Nov. 2
This year, Latin American Heritage Month blooms in Vancouver under the Tree of Life, a symbol of diversity, joy and connection. Its roots anchor us in tradition, its branches unite us in celebration and its colours illuminate the vibrant soul of our community. Rooted in ancient Mexican tradition, the Tree of Life represents resilience and renewal. It carries the stories of our past and the dreams of our future, reminding us that culture is alive. Come stand beneath the Tree of Life, where roots honour the past, branches embrace the present and every leaf whispers a story.
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Erin McSavaney:
Spaces of the Everyday
Oct. 15–Dec. 13
www.westvancouverartmuseum.ca/exhibitions/erin-mcsavaney-spaces-everyday
The Spaces of the Everyday exhibition came about after a thoughtful conversation with Erin McSavaney in which the role of architecture in painting first drew the curator’s attention to his practice. His depictions of houses and urban architecture offer a visually striking and intellectually provocative intersection of two historically divergent painting modes. McSavaney’s works are rendered with photographic precision – indeed, he uses a camera as a kind of sketchbook – evoking the immersive quality of high realism; meanwhile, at times, hard-edge abstraction takes over the subject matter as scenes are disrupted – sometimes subtly, sometimes boldly. What makes McSavaney’s work so compelling is the way he brings seemingly incompatible approaches into dialogue within the same canvas. The collection of paintings in this exhibition often adopts geometric forms, flat colours and stark boundaries that contrast with his pure documentation of the photographic and drawing sketchbooks. This intervention reminds viewers that they are looking at a constructed image. McSavaney’s work thus becomes a sophisticated negotiation between illusion and literalism, prompting reflection on how we see, interpret and assign meaning to images.
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Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson – Apt. 2B
Oct. 16–25
www.gatewaytheatre.com/events/mm
This sharp and comedic reinvention of the classic detective tale is exactly what you’re looking for this fall. Visit the Gateway Theatre for this modern take, following the eccentric Sherlock Holmes and Joan Watson as they stumble through post-pandemic life, solving crimes with chaotic brilliance. Watch as their dysfunctional partnership comes to life, as they face a cunning supervillain who just might have all the answers. This play is unlike any other Sherlock Holmes play you’ve ever seen before! Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson – Apt. 2B is a feminist take on your favourite detective duo, filled with goofy antics, baffling characters and maybe even some breaking of the fourth wall. It is a show that is not to be missed!
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Vancouver Kurdish
Film Festival
Oct. 17–19
www.kurdishccs.org/vkff-2025-program
The 2025 Vancouver Kurdish Film Festival program, under the theme Mother Tongue, spotlights women filmmakers from across Kurdistan and the diaspora, whose 22 selected works explore the profound bonds between language, identity and home. These intimate yet universal stories reveal the power of Kurdish cinema to preserve heritage while speaking to the shared human experience. For a complete list of festival films and showtimes, please check out the festival’s website.
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UBC Apple Festival
Oct. 18–19
www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/news-events/events-activities/apple-festival
They’re back! A family event for all ages, the UBC Apple Festival celebrates one of B.C.’s favourite fruits. From learning about the diversity of apples to tasting rare and unusual varieties, the UBC Apple Festival is a great opportunity to discover more about this delicious fruit. Organized by the Friends of the Garden, this event is a fundraiser that directly supports education, research and conservation at UBC Botanical Garden.
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Amour, acide et noix
(Love, Acid and Nuts)
Oct. 24–25
www.dancehouse.ca/daniel-leveille
Opening this next season of international performances at the Vancouver Playhouse is Daniel Léveillé’s masterwork, Amour, acide et noix (Love, Acid and Nuts), on stage Oct 24 and 25. The full-length piece features four dancers performing fully nude. The unflinching, minimalist work confronts beauty, vulnerability and the human body with rare honesty. Amour, acide et noix had its premiere in 2001, and was transformative for Montreal’s dance scene. The work continues to be in demand around the world today, more than 20 years later. A renowned Montreal choreographer, dance teacher and artistic director of his eponymous dance company for 27 years, Léveillé was honoured with the prestigious Grand Prix de la danse de Montreal in 2017, for his influence on Canadian contemporary dance.
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Rigoletto
Oct. 25–Nov. 2
https://vancouveropera.ca/whats-on/rigoletto/
In a new production built in partnership with Pacific Opera Victoria, the Vancouver Opera’s 2025–2026 season opener, Rigoletto, will push this tense tragedy’s boundaries while staying true to Verdi’s immortal story of love and revenge. The tragic tale of a father’s desperate love for his daughter – and the dangerous double-edged sword of vengeance – set against a backdrop of decadence and dark intrigue. The jester Rigoletto had long enjoyed the privilege of mocking the Duke of Mantua’s adversaries, but when his beloved daughter becomes the target of the morally corrupt Duke’s abuse, Rigoletto sets in motion a revenge plot that careens with the propulsive energy of an edge-of-the-seat thriller while bringing themes of opulence and oppression into sharp focus.
