The 2022 summer season has started, and it’s setting up to be a hot and sunny one – hopefully not as hot as last summer though! Below are a few of the activities happening around the city, there are a lot more you can do this summer. Celebrate Canada Day in any of the cities and towns across the province! Enjoy nature by going hiking, swimming, camping or travelling!
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Abbas Akhavan: cast for a folly
June 3–August 28
Often open-ended, ephemeral or mimetic in nature, visual artist Abbas Akhavan’s works frequently traffic in slippages and transferences – between public and private, presence and absence, structural and symbolic. At the Contemporary Art Gallery, Akhavan is presenting cast for a folly, an installation that takes as its point of departure a photograph of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad: an image of the museum’s lobby taken following its unprecedented looting during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Through sculpture, custom-fabricated furniture and found objects, amongst other forms, Akhavan recreates this scene in the gallery from the single vantage point of his source image.
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Summer Repertory Festival
June 15–July 2
The Ensemble Theatre Company is hosting the Summer Repertory Festival at Waterfront Theatre on Granville Island, from now until July 2. Ensemble’s Festival Pass affords access to the company’s two productions Pass Over and Marjorie Prime, as well as their Sunday readings: These Things Happen in All Our Harlem’s, and The Life and Times of MULTIVAC, and film screenings of Do The Right Thing (1989), and her (2013). Check out their website for tickets and show information.
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UBC Opera: Rusalka
June 23–26
Romantic, ethereal, and hauntingly beautiful, Dvořák’s dramatic music soars with melody, romance, and longing. Rusalka is not only Dvořák’s finest and most enduringly popular opera but also one of the most deeply moving operas of all. One need only hear Rusalka’s renowned “Song to the Moon” to understand the depth and beauty of her eponymous opera! Rusalka tells the story of The Little Mermaid (as seen in Slavic mythology) who gives her voice to a wicked witch for a chance at love with a mortal Prince. Unfortunately for Rusalka, the similarities to Disney’s iconic adaptation end there: Rusalka’s tale is rife with woe. Her desperate longing to experience true love plunges her into an emotional storm, until she must choose whether or not to make the ultimate sacrifice for love. While tragic, Rusalka nonetheless reminds all who experience the opera of the power and joy of love.
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Vancouver International Jazz Festival
June 24–July 3
The Vancouver International Jazz Festival will celebrate its 36th edition this summer, presenting the full-scale festival since before the pandemic. The 2022 Festival will feature over 60 free shows and includes performances by British Columbia’s plethora of talented artists. For a complete list of events and more information, check out the festival’s website.
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Popcappella II
June 25, 5 & 8 p.m.
Chor Leoni Men’s Choir celebrates the summer in style with Popcappella II, on stage at St. Andrew’s-Wesley United on June 25 at 5pm and 8pm. A hotly anticipated fan favourite for audiences of all ages, Popcappella II will have audiences grooving in their seats to a soundbook of pop legends, including The Weeknd, Stevie Wonder, Jimmy Cliff, A-ha, Caribou, Tegan and Sara and Indigo Girls. Program highlights include an original work off of Jodi Proznick’s JUNO-nominated album Sun Songs and an arrangement of Caribou’s song “Sister” by Canadian composer, Marie-Claire Saindon. Check out the Chor Leoni’s website for more information.
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Scandinavian Midsummer Festival 2022
June 25–26
scandinavianmidsummerfestival.com
Thousands of people visit the Scandinavian Community Centre every year to celebrate the traditions and festivities of the Scandinavian Midsummer. In June 2022, after a two year absence due to the pandemic, it will be the 25th time a Midsummer Festival will be arranged, with a weekend of fun-filled activities, living history and non-stop entertainment for the whole family. For more information, check out the festival’s website.
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Greek Day on Broadway
June 26
Greek Day on Broadway is the largest one-day Greek festival in Vancouver, which aims to share the rich Greek culture that spans 2500 years of history, including over 100 years of social and cultural contributions to the City of Vancouver. A five block stretch on Broadway is closed off to traffic to make room for a world of delicious Greek food and drink, market vendors, entertainment and live music offering a laid back, yet lively Greek atmosphere.
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Golden Spike Days Festival
June 30–July 3
The Golden Spike Days Festival is one of the oldest and longest running family events in B.C. The festival is held at Rocky Point Park around Canada Day, attracting upwards of 40,000 people of all walks of life with live entertainment, special events and activities for all ages. The event commemorates the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway line and its arrival at the original western terminus in Port Moody, where the last spike was driven. For event details, please visit the website.
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Theatre Under the Stars
July 2–August 27
So much more than just a night at the theatre, Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS) interweaves a kaleidoscope of elements – setting, scenery, concessions and quality art – into a fun, encompassing experience much greater than the sum of its parts. This summer, TUTS will be performing Something Rotten! and We Will Rock You. Featuring show-stopping song and dance, a wacky cast of characters and gut-busting comedy, Something Rotten! is a love letter to the sequined, splashy and spectacular form called the musical. Blending the excitement of a musical with the electricity of a concert, We Will Rock You is a high-octane feast for the senses and a triumphant tribute to one of the greatest bands of all time: Queen. For tickets and more information, visit the
theatre’s website.
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ISF2022 Inner / Outer Climates
July 7–16
ISF2022 Inner / Outer Climates brings you some of the world’s most powerful thinkers on climate change and social justice, a 2022 Grammy Award-winning musician, a boundary-pushing dance performance, a science-meets-art experience that brings you music from mushrooms, doctors and healers forging new pathways in the complex art of healing, award-winning filmmakers, sitar maestros, tabla wizards, brass bands, human-animal hip hop collaborations, outdoor art installations, Indigenous and South Asian DJs reclaiming their languages while making new ones. There will be food for thought and for the stomach, celebration and provocation.
