·
The Vancouver International Bhangra Celebration Society (VIBC) will be putting on its 9th annual City of Bhangra Festival on May 28th through June 6th at various downtown Vancouver venues and SFU’s Surrey campus. The festival will have seven events comprised of 350 performances, all centered on the Punjabi folk dance. Anita Lai, general manager of…
Local artists Shamina Senaratne and Christie Lim have collaborated to create an exhibit that showcases their textile creations. Senaratne’s work for the Evergreen Cultural Centre exhibit, Here and Through and Back and Through, began with a line that she says looped back on itself. “It was an image that wouldn’t leave me. It spoke to…
From May 11–17, multi-instrumental performer Boris Sichon will be showcasing a selection from his eclectic collection of instruments from all over the world as part of the Jewish Community Centre’s Festival Ha’Rikud. Utilizing the diverse array of instruments accumulated from his globe-trotting days, Sichon’s music showcases folk music styles from a wide variety of cultures.…
Just like a braid, identity can be complex, intertwined and sometimes fragile. That is one of the themes Vancouver poet Chelene Knight explores in her collection Braided Skin. Alongside fellow writer Dina Del Bucchia, Knight will read some of her work as part of the Lunch Poems at SFU series on May 20. This event…
To some extent, photographer Greg Girard is drawn to the contradiction between the surface of a city and what the underlying reality might be. He explores this idea in his exhibit Richmond/Kowloon featured at explorASIAN at the Richmond Art Gallery. “A reality might reveal itself through various cracks that might appear, both figuratively and literally,…
Noticing the lack of positive energy being represented on stage or in literature, Drew Hayden Taylor, rather than complain or whine, decided to deal with contemporary Native issues in a more positive way. Taylor’s God and the Indian, showing at the Firehall Arts Centre (May 20–30), is a story about Johnny, a Cree woman in…
The Vancouver Comic Arts Festival (VanCAF) brings together thousands of people to celebrate comic art every year. Run by the Vancouver Comic Arts Association, a non-profit organization that aims to connect the community with local comic artists, VanCAF fuels the expanding comic fanbase in Vancouver Shannon Campbell, president and event coordinator, explains that there is…
On May 23 at the Alan Emmott Centre in Burnaby, the Vancouver Ikebana Association (VIA) will kick off a celebration of its 50 years in existence with a one-day show by the Japanese Consulate General. Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging, is an art steeped in history in both Japan and Vancouver. According to…
The suffering caused by feeling like an outcast drives media artist Sammy Chien. To minimize this feeling for future generations, he keeps his fingers in many collaborative pots. Chien deals with the context of migration in social, historical, political and cultural perspectives. His goal is to inspire the kids/youth/younger generations who are growing and developing…
Songs, poems, stories and speeches are created with words, the main ingredient for the Verses Festival in Vancouver this year. The Verses Festival of Words celebrates the power of oral and literary art forms to encourage diversity and inclusion. The festival has its roots in 2011 as the Vancouver International Poetry Festival, where the first…
The annual Vancouver Documentary Film Festival, DOXA, has been showcasing and celebrating independent documentary films since 2000 and this year’s event, which will take place at various cinematic venues around the city from April 30 to May 10, will be the longest DOXA festival at 11 days. The festival will host a number of different…
International Dance Day, celebrated every year on April 29, has been going on for over 30 years. This year, the celebration comes to Richmond. Richmond’s first annual International Dance Day event presents a group of around 70 performers showcasing their cultures, stories, and unique dance styles – from the expressive hand gestures of Indian classical…
The Balkan Brass band Orkestar Slivovica is an 8–12 piece ensemble that brings to Vancouver a colourful conflation of Eastern European musical traditions. On May 8–9 they will host and perform at the Ederlezi Balkan Brass Festival, which will feature several Balkan bands and other festivities. The event will feature three bands from Seattle, three…
