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“The world needs good storytelling because we have huge crises created by humans. That means we’ve been telling bad stories and we need the ones that call us to a better place,” says Sirish Rao, co-founder and artistic director of the Indian Summer Festival. Imaginarium, a new live event/podcast program created and hosted by Rao…
Indian Canadian dancer and choreographer Sujit Vaidya explores queerness, sensuality, and movement in his performance of Off Centre at Performance Works on July 12, as part of the Indian Summer Festival. The performer has challenged himself to express his queer identity within a very traditional dance form. Bharatanatyam is said to be the oldest classical dance form…
Taiwanese artist and pianist Leanne Lai celebrates Japanese culture and demonstrates passion, beauty and unwavering patience in her Chigiri-e Paper Art: Flowers exhibit and workshop, suitable for all ages. “I feel chigiri-e is important to me as it is so beautiful. Very few people know about this unique art form,” says Lai. “I have enjoyed…
A group of 10 emerging and established Northwest Coast Indigenous artists will exhibit their works encompassing a variety of styles and techniques at the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art from June 15, 2022 to March 19, 2023. Curated by artist and muralist Xémontalót Carrielynn Victor (Stó:lō), the exhibition’s primary title is True to…
Poetry and comedy are expertly blended in Simon Fraser University’s (SFU) Famous Last Words, where contestants push each other to their creative limits in a series of games designed to test artistic and comedic merit. On June 22 at Pyatt Hall at the VSO School of Music, Famous Last Words brings together a well-known, much loved group of…
grunt gallery presents a new exhibition by Salvadoran visual artist Michelle Campos Castillo questioning what can feel like community care when a child lives through civil war and fractured political landscapes. “I think community care can help people through tragedy and disaster, and is especially relevant right now that we are experiencing pandemics and climate…
Playing with light and shadow, Surrey Art Gallery’s new exhibition Mere Phantoms: Shadows Without Borders is an interactive show that explores human displacement and memories of home. “One of the installations in the exhibition invites visitors to pick up custom flashlights and shine the light against tableaus of handmade paper-cut-out sculptures. The shadows from these…
Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu has created a new and powerful play which merges the brutal realities that many people are living in with the classic play Waiting for Godot by playwrightSamuel Becket. In Pass Over, directed by Omari Newton, two young black men wait for a stranger and experience horrifying violence and other brutal realities on Chicago’s Southside while…
“After a big war driven by an extreme exploitation of natural resources, Retornar (Spanish for to return / to come back) narrates the story of the last survivors on Earth and their forced journey into a big global reset,” says Colombian visual artist Santiago Tamayo Soler about his piece Retornar at the Polygon Gallery’s new…
In Yellow Fever, a play written by R.A. Shiomi, central character Sam Shikaze investigates the disappearance of the ‘Cherry Blossom Queen.’ The drama is set in the 1970s on Powell Street and highlights key issues such as racism and police corruption while keeping the audience engaged with comedic relief. Directed by Donna Spencer, the play is…
Separation, both animal and human, from the natural world needs to be healed through musical connection, says Leah Abramson, singer-songwriter/composer of Songs For a Lost Pod. Using orca vocalizations as rhythmic beats, Abramson explores themes of interspecies communication, intergenerational trauma, and sorrow for a polluted planet. The show is imbued with compassion for orcas, who have…
Pianist Ian Parker brings his classical talent, and a handful of musical friends, to the Kay Meek Centre for a Ukraine benefit concert on May 29. The performance features an assortment of classical music pieces from Bach, Saint-Saens, Brahms and Schumann, that were either composed or arranged for a more intimate chamber group. The net…
“Being able to give kids positive queer role models at the same age is important,” says director Kenneth Elvebakk about Hello World. “When I was young, not even Elton John was openly gay. Today there are many gay celebrities in the media. So why are kids and young gay teenagers still afraid of telling others who…
