At the Vancouver Folk Music Festival.| Photo courtesy of Rosalee Yagihara
The long summer is here! There are so many places to see and things to do: art gallery exhibitions, music festivals, theatrical productions, film screenings and cultural celebrations are just a sampling of the many events and festivals happening around town. Make the most of your summer, and I’ll see all of you in seven weeks, at the end of August!
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Our Journeys Here
July 6 to Summer 2018
Richmond Museum, Richmond
The Richmond Museum’s currently running exhibition, Our Journeys Here, celebrates Canada’s 150th anniversary of Confederation, delving into what it means to be Canadian today. The exhibit looks back to explore Canada’s history based on the experiences of those who were already here, the First Nations Peoples, who journeyed seasonally to Richmond from time immemorial. The exhibit also looks at the experiences of everyone who has immigrated here more recently, including farmers enticed from Europe, Chinese labourers who paid head taxes, South Asians expelled on the Komagata Maru and families looking for a good life for their children. There will be many interactive exhibits and activities for people of all ages.
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Vancouver Folk Music Festival
July 13–16
Jericho Beach, Vancouver
Now in its 40th year, The Vancouver Folk Music Festival returns to the city to let festival-goers experience the music and culture of more than 60 international, national and local acts. Listen to diverse styles of music, from Cameroon soul and Basque folk to Inuit indie and alternative country at this internationally renowned festival. Be sure to check out the artisan market and folk bazaar, enjoy the many food vendors set up around the beachfront and have fun at the Little Folk Village for children 12 years and younger. Check out their website for a complete list of performers.
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The Ornament of a House:50 Years of Collecting
July 14–September 3
Burnaby Art Gallery, Burnaby
In honour of the Burnaby Art Gallery’s 50th anniversary, the gallery will be hosting Ornament of a House, featuring the “ornaments” of artists, patrons, donors, volunteers and staff who have helped create the spirit and character of the building. Over the years, Ceperley House, home of the Burnaby Art Gallery for half a century, has welcomed many residents before becoming the Burnaby Art Gallery in 1967. When the gallery first opened its doors, local volunteers formed the beginnings of an art collection, which 50 years later holds more than 5000 significant works by artists from around the world. There will be an opening reception on July 13 and a curator’s tour on July 23.
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SFU Summer Festival
July 15
SFU Convocation Mall, Burnaby
Returning for the fourth year, the Summer Festival is an annual event held in the Convocation Mall at SFU Burnaby. The festival gives anime fans a chance to check out artist booths, food vendors, games and stage events all in the style of the “matsuri” summer festivals. For more information, please visit their website and check out Naomi Tse’s article on the festival in our previous issue!
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Branch Refinement
July 21–September 2
CityScape Community Art Space, North Vancouver
The North Vancouver Community Arts Council will be hosting Branch Refinement, featuring three artists: Bonnie Jordan, Tiki Mulvihill and Fae Logie. The exhibition explores the various ways of connection: how we connect to our pasts, presents and futures. Creating digital prints, installations and sculptures, the work invites viewers to examine their own connections to history, family, nature, place and time. Jordan employs symbols of the physical and spiritual, Logie traces the markers of trees and Mulvihill embeds historical components in driftwood. For more information, please visit their website.
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Vancouver Bach Festival
August 1–11
Various venues
Early Music Vancouver will be putting on the works of the German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach on various days at Christ Church Cathedral in early August. Listen to Bach interpreted through musical forms such as jazz, chorale, cello, keyboarding and violin, in appreciation of this musical genius. There will also be a series of free films as complementary pairings with the concerts. These films provide context and historical insight, giving audience members a deeper understanding and larger perspective of the music that will be performed.
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Motion: Zhanna Shomakhova
August 3–October 3
Leigh Square Community Arts Village, Port Coquitlam
www.portcoquitlam.ca/
The Leigh Square Community Arts Village will be hosting a series of artworks by the Russian artist Zhanna Shomakhova from August 3 to October 3. Inspired by the continuous and infinite process of movement in nature, Shomakhova’s artworks explore the beauty of the universe in constant motion: its form, balance, symmetry, rhythm and colour. Without a beginning or an end, this process is outside notions of time and space, it is all around and universal. Random or predictable, orderly or chaotic, the process of motion is an integral part of nature’s beauty. For more information, please visit the Port Coquitlam website.
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Harmony Arts Festival
August 4–13
West Vancouver Waterfront, West Vancouver
The Harmony Arts Festival has been one of the North Shore’s most popular community events for 27 years. The festival draws crowds to celebrate a harmonious balance of visual, culinary and performing arts on the spectacular West Vancouver waterfront. Whether it’s world-class musical performances, inspiring visual art, mouth-watering gastronomic events or simply the natural beauty of the setting that gets your heart beating a little faster, there is something for everyone at the Harmony Arts Festival.
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41st Annual Powell Street Festival
August 5–6, 11:30 a.m–7 p.m.
Oppenheimer Park, Vancouver
This long running community celebration returns to Vancouver for the 41st time to celebrate the art and culture of the Japanese Canadian people. This year’s extravaganza includes a new interactive installation entitled “Macro Maki,” a special presentation on Japan’s Third Gender, a panel with two of Haruki Murakami’s top translators and a performance by the dynamic duo George and Noriko – a Japanese blues cowboy and Tsugaru samisen player from Melbourne, Australia. For a complete schedule of events, please visit their website.
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Vancouver Queer Film Festival
August 10–20
Various cinemas and venuesin Vancouver
The Vancouver Queer Film Festival returns to the city to proudly showcase films that illuminate the transformative moments in the lives of queer people – telling stories of the journeys we have taken to find ourselves, each other and our place in the world and creating social change through film, education and dialogue. For showtimes and a list of films, please visit the festival website.
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One Love Westcoast
August 11–13
World peace is their motto – unity in community. Hosted by the VanMusic and Latin Summer Fest, the festival puts spirit, art, culture and food at the heart of the festivities. Reggae and Afro/Latin music, including Les Rhumba Machines (a Surrey-based Congolese band), make up this year’s beats. Import markets and food pavilions are sure to please the most adventurous audience. For a schedule of events, please visit their website.
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TD VancouverChinatown Festival
August 12–13
Chinatown, Vancouver
The TD Vancouver Chinatown Festival returns to put on the biggest multicultural summer celebration in town. This year’s theme, Flair for Fashion!, celebrates individuality and fashion sense. Festival activities include a day market, Historical & Food Tasting Walking Tour, Desjardins Kids corner, multicultural stage performances, Cultural Corner, TD Canadian Talent Showdown, theme related activities and Streetfest. For more information, please visit their website.
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Walking Tour –Maillardville’s Pioneers
August 15, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Coquitlam Heritage Society, Coquitlam
As part of the Coquitlam Heritage Society’s “A Man’s World” Speaker Series, please join local historian Maurice Guibord on a journey through the past as you tour the Maillardville neighbourhood and learn the stories of the French-Canadian pioneers, including the history of the largest Francophone community west of St. Boniface. All ages welcome. For registration and more information, please visit the heritage website.
