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“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…
Curated by Mark V. Campbell, Still Tho: Aesthetic Survival in Hip-Hop’s Visual Art, an exhibition presented by the Canada Council for the Arts features artwork by 13 cross disciplinary artists from across the country, including from First Nations, Métis, and racialized communities. Still Tho features the work of visual artists from across Canada and beyond whose creativity…
Tsimshian artist and storyteller Roy Henry Vickers weaves a beautiful and simplistic tale inspired by his childhood in the Indigenous village of Kitkatla through Ben the Sea Lion, a children’s picture book that will also delight any age group. “My childhood outside of school was connected to nature. My work has always been influenced by…
Merging social movements’ history and political artivism begins with dreams and the willingness to change. For the first time in Canada, 33 Xicanx artists are being showcased at UBC’s Museum of Anthropology (MOA). “I believe where art does its activist work is by insisting that we stop, look, and reflect about what we see; ask…
The importance of valuing young people, by addressing their hidden fears, is an idea Valerie Methot, executive director at Some Assembly Theatre company, supports. Methot, who overcame being an at-risk youth herself, presents the play The Wait List Experiment because she knows even today youth are not being taken seriously. “We’re all unique individuals and we all…
Denise and Stefano live parallel lives as they are forced to sacrifice human qualities to survive in a place that is controlled by the one per cent. The characters in Lampedusa create a friendship with a perceived ‘outsider’ which leads to their salvation in a sense. Lampedusa is a play produced by the Pi Theatre and directed by…
Kunji Mark Ikeda uses family stories and artistic expression to navigate challenging life experiences in Sansei: The Storyteller at the Chan Centre Apr. 28–29. The show follows Ikeda as he brings the audience through his family’s experiences in Canada’s Japanese internment camps during World War II. Drawing on interviews with family members and his own experiences, Ikeda…
Hosted by the grunt gallery, Canadian-Iranian visual artist Rah’s new show suggests discussions that, acting as parody, essentialize qualities that validate ethnicized and racialized experiences in contemporary cultures. Throughout April, the grunt gallery hosts SuperNova, a new exhibition by Canadian-Iranian exilic and diasporic artist Rah. The show, curated by Vanessa Kwan and Whess Harman, is…
Parenting is like figuring out a puzzle in the play Bad Parents, says performers Raugi Yu and Josette Jorge. Bad Parents reveals the real story of parenting and does not hide behind rose colored glasses like other portrayals in vAct’s presentation at the Cultch Historic Theatre, Apr. 21–May 1. “Always be kind. No matter what is happening or…
For three days, the Skoden Indigenous Film Festival (SIFF) will be celebrating Indigenous filmmakers across Canada while also promoting SFU’s interests in diversity and reconciliation. It will also feature Indigenous cultural traditions including a welcome ceremony and witness. Skoden is a slang term which means “let’s go then!” The film festival was founded in 2019…
A low-level clerk arrives at a remote government complex where all the officials mistake him as a high-ranking inspector. Since they all have secrets that they fear being exposed, they do everything they can to appease him. This is the plot of Revisor – Government Inspector in Russian – Nikolai Gogol’s story of mistaken identity…
What kind of stories are people drawn to? Are they ones about hope, change, spiritual connections? Or are they the kind that make people laugh out loud or hold their head in between their hands asthey cringe? Taran Kootenhayoo’s White Noise is all of these things. “All of the stories that I tell are those on the…
A strong majority of Canadians, from findings of a recent public opinion survey, agree official languages and other forms of diversity can go hand in hand, and can even strengthen each other. Raymond Théberge, the Commissioner of Official Languages, released the data from the survey on official languages February 24, 2022, indicating 87 per cent…
