There are many winter events to be enjoyed at Lafarge Lake in Town Centre Park.| Photo by GoToVan.
Welcome to 2019! I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday season; best wishes for an amazing year. Start your new year off right by visiting and attending some of the events and festivals, lectures and exhibits happening around the city. If you missed it during the Christmas season, there are still a couple of holiday light shows ongoing until late January to check out!
* * *
Lights at Lafarge
Now until Jan. 20, 5–11 p.m.
Town Centre Park, Coquitlam
Enjoy the magic of the Lower Mainland’s largest free outdoor lights display at Lafarge Lake in Town Centre Park. This winter’s event features hundreds of thousands of lights wrapping their way around the lake in multiple themed zones. Free family fun! Dogs, on leash, are welcome.
* * *
Breathing Space
Jan. 10–Feb. 7
Port Moody Arts Centre
With nature as their muse, photographer Bryce Barry, sculptor and printmaker Bev Ellis and floral designer Brenna Quan start 2019 by creating a serene multisensory environment that is an ode to our West Coast woodlands. There will also be a biennial exhibition showcasing the artwork of Port Moody Arts Centre visual arts students showing alongside the exhibit. In addition, there will be an opening reception from 6–8 p.m. on Jan. 10. For more information, please check out the PoMo Arts Centre website.
* * *
Byzantine Public Discourse
Jan. 11, 2:30–4 p.m.
Simon Fraser University Academic Quadrangle, Burnaby
www.sfu.ca/sfu-community/
The SFU Hellenic Studies Centre will be hosting University of Belgrade history professor Larisa Vilimonović as she speaks about the literary aspects of the public civic discourse of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire. For the Byzantines, histories were a constitutive element of the public discourse and occupied a unique place in Byzantine culture between the crossroads of philosophy and rhetoric. In the seminar, Vilimonović will examine the complex and sometimes perplex philosophic and rhetorical register in the Greco-Roman histories and explore the complex interplay of the multi-layered and composite Byzantine historical narratives.
* * *
Gluten Free Expo
Jan. 12–13, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.
Vancouver Convention Centre at Canada Place
On the weekend of Jan. 12, the Vancouver Convention Centre at Canada Place will host the Gluten Free Expo featuring numerous exhibitors, cooking demonstrations, dietitian presenters and, of course, plenty of tasty gluten free culinary dishes to sample. Listen to presentations from registered dietitians helping you to create healthier diets, and watch chefs create healthy gluten free versions of beer, pizza, perogies, breads and more. For tickets and further information, please check out their website.
* * *
America and the Climate Crisis: Robert Bullard
Jan. 15, 6–7:30 p.m.
Frederic Wood Theatre at UBC, University Endowment Lands
www.sppga.ubc.ca/events/event/
The world is nearing the point-of-no-return for catastrophic and irreversible climate change. Without action, the future will be one of mass forced migration, famine and economic costs in the trillions of dollars. The Phil Lind Initiative 2019 series will explore the theme of “America and the Climate Crisis” with some of the foremost intellectuals on climate crisis. On Jan. 15, join Robert Bullard, considered the “Father of Environmental Justice” and a Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy at Texas Southern University, as he discusses whether the United States can overcome its domestic climate crisis to become a global leader for climate action or if the forces of extreme partisanship, climate denialism and dirty industry are too deeply entrenched.
* * *
PuSh International Performing Arts Festival
Jan. 17–Feb. 3
Various venues throughout Vancouver
The PuSh Festival returns to Vancouver for the 15th time to showcase innovative and transformative art from artists representing 13 countries. There will be 26 performance works from 24 companies spread over three weeks, featuring staggering spectacles, immersive encounters, theatrical adaptations and more. Catch a Guatemalan performance piece exploring history, theatre and the ethics of representation; a Belgian documentary installation examining life in the Chernobyl exclusion zone; a Taiwanese choreographic assembly piece and more at PuSh. For more shows and event details, please visit their website.
* * *
Dine Out Vancouver Festival 2019
Jan. 18–Feb. 3
Various locations around Vancouver
Experience Canada’s largest annual food and drink festival this year at Dine Out Vancouver! This 17-day festival features over 200 restaurants with plenty of food, craft beer and cocktails to go around. Experience all the culinary expertise you could possibly want with guided dining tours, cooking classes, cocktail masterclasses, dinner and film pairings, craft beer tasting and much more. Check out the festival’s website for more info.
* * *
Vive les Voyageurs French-Canadian Festival
Jan. 19–20
Fort Langley National Historic Site
www.pc.gc.ca/en/lhn-nhs/bc/
Tap your feet to the beat of French-Canadian music at Fort Langley National Historic Site’s annual Vive les Voyageurs Festival. Enliven your senses with the traditional foods, music and culture of the 19th century French-Canadian and Métis fur traders. Regular admission fees apply: $7.80/adult, $6.55/senior. Free for annual pass holders and youth age 17 and younger. For more information, please visit the Parks Canada website.
* * *
Rich Dark Soil
Jan. 19–Feb. 9
Deer Lake Art Gallery, Burnaby
www.burnabyartscouncil.org/
Rich Dark Soil is an exhibition that will be held at the Deer Lake Art Gallery featuring the work of Ukrainian Canadian artist Jay Senetchko. Rich Dark Soil refers to the practice and heritage of Senetchko. Although he is most easily defined as a painter, he situates his practice in a broader material context and process, which includes photography, digital media, sculptures, performance and installations. He is a storyteller, and he mobilizes his multidisciplinary practice to best combine medium and message to tell his tales. He creates spectacle-based exhibitions in an effort to insert fine art back into the social fabric by engaging the public at large, not only the academic and invested. Rich Dark Soil is the first exhibition of the artist’s career to showcase the methodology and rationale behind his storytelling.
* * *
Mrs. Krishnan’s Party
Jan. 15–Feb. 3
The Cultch, Vancouver
Playing at The Cultch, the New Zealand Indian Ink Theatre Company will present the Canadian premiere of Mrs. Krishnan’s Party from Jan. 15 to Feb. 3. Mrs. Krishnan’s boarder, an overzealous wannabe DJ named James, has invited a few friends into the back room of the corner shop as a special surprise to celebrate Onam and the return home of her son. But when strangers turn up (the audience) and settle in, Mrs. K has no choice but to throw the party of her life! Over one joyous evening, Mrs. Krishnan’s Party magically transforms strangers into friends with a little Daal, a little dancing and some serious laughs.
