A beloved festival returns to Vancouver's Downtown Eastside this year featuring a vast array of performances, workshops, galleries, and much more.
The 19th Annual Heart of the City Festival will kick off on Wednesday, Oct. 26 and run for 12 days until Sunday, Nov.6. There will be a mix of live and online events including music, stories, poetry, theatre, ceremony, films, dance, readings, forums, workshops, discussions, gallery exhibits, art talks, history talks and history walks. Some of the events will be held indoors, while others will take place outside.
This year's theme is "Community Is Our Mentor" and the events will focus on learning from "the lived wisdom and cultural practices" of DTES community organizations, artists, and cultural circles by using the "transformative power of story, song, music, film, theatre, dance, visual arts and ceremony to illuminate pathways of resistance and resilience."
There are over 100 events scheduled throughout the festival and the organizers have highlighted some of the "top picks."
‘The Gathering’ Mural Launch
Created in 2016 by artist Richard Tetrault,‘The Gathering’ Mural is described as a "stunning tryptic mural" that is expanding with seven new panels by Tetrault, Charlene Johnny, Marissa Nahanee and Jerry Whitehead. It hangs in the Carnegie Theatre during the Festival and "pays tribute to past and present DTES artists and activists, and to the diverse cultures and heritage of the Downtown Eastside."
Attendees can meet the artists and hear the inspiring stories behind the artists and activists represented in the mural.
When: Wednesday, Oct.26 at 4 p.m.
Where: Carnegie Community Centre Theatre | 401 Main
Cost: Free
Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey Residency - Keeping the Fires Burning
There will be art, ceremonies, teachings, and storytelling for two weeks to honour lived experiences of Indigenous grandmothers who travelled to the DTES from the B.C. Interior.
"Launched at last year’s festival, this multi-year, multi-generational project brings together Interior Salish and Coast Salish peoples with nations connected to the Fraser and Thompson Rivers, mountains and salmon. Artist Producer Nadine Spence’s painted cedar chest honours her Nlaka’pamux and Secwepemc grandmothers who died in the Downtown Eastside," explains the festival.
Attendees are invited to place messages for their ancestors, land and waters into a travelling community message chest created by artists of different nationalities with historic relationships with Indigenous peoples.
Elements Unite window display
When: Wednesday, Oct. 26 to Sunday, Nov. 6.
Where: VALU CO-OP Studio | 525 Carrall
Cost: Free
Generations of Women and Water exhibit launch
When: Wednesday, Oct. 26 at 6 p.m.
Where: Massy Arts Gallery | 23 E. Pender
Cost: By donation. Registration info on the festival website in early October.
Generations of Women and Water exhibit
When: Thursday, Oct. 27 to Sunday, Nov. 6, Tuesday - Saturday from 12 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Where: Massy Arts Gallery | 23 E. Pender
Cost: Free
Keeping the Fires Burning
When: Saturday, Oct. 29 from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. (1 p.m. cultural sharing)
Where: Oppenheimer Park | 488 Powell
Cost: Free
Travelling Message Chests Talk
When: Wednesday, Nov. 2 at 6 p.m.
Where: Massy Arts Gallery | 23 E. Pender
Cost: By donation. Registration info on the festival website in early October.
Inherent Responsibility cultural protocol talk
When: Thursday, Nov. 3 at 6 p.m.
Where: Massy Arts Gallery | 23 E. Pender
Cost: By donation. Registration info on the festival website in early October.
Light Up the Night: Conversation with Travis Lupick
Author and award-winning journalist Travis Lupick will share stories from his recent book, Light Up the Night: America’s Drug Overdose Crisis and the Drug Users Fighting for Survival.
"Told through embedded reporting focused on two heroic activists, it is the story of the courageous people stepping in where government has failed," explains the event.
Interviewing Travis is Amanda Siebert, also an award-winning author with a new book released this fall, Psyched: Seven Cutting-Edge Psychedelics Changing the World.
When: Thursday, Oct. 27 at 1 p.m.
Where: Online on the Festival website, pre-recorded
Cost: Free
Intangible Treasures of the Downtown Eastside
Intangible Treasures of the Downtown Eastside (Zoom Shadow Two) is an online collection of short evocative shadow plays created on the Zoom platform by seven Downtown Eastside-involved artists who share intangible personal treasures that give them strength – from their culture and lived experiences to family stories and Chinatown’s Union Laundry.
When: Thursday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m.
Where: Online on the Festival website. Registration info on the festival website in early October. Also available in Carnegie Viewing Room, 401 Main.
Cost: Free
8th Symposium on Reconciliation & Redress in the Arts: Stories Have Always Been Our Governance
The festival writes that at the 8th Annual Symposium, Stories Have Always Been Our Governance will be "a national dialogue on culture in Indigenous cities that considers the needs of Indigenous cultural and urban practitioners. The Symposium's tradition continues with a deep-dive for settler cultural and land-based organizations to learn from successful strategies of showing up to do redress in policies and systems in building Indigenous cities."
The day will open with an inspiring panel of Indigenous urban cultural leaders from across Turtle Island, followed by a music performance lunch break, and afternoon training in small group breakout sessions.
When: Friday, Oct. 28 from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Where: Online on the Festival website, pre-recorded
Cost: Free for DTES residents
Find out more information about registration and tickets.
Housing Justice with SRO Tenants
Housing Justice with SRO Tenants is described as "an interactive dialogue and film screening in collaboration with The Right to Remain Research Collective and filmmaker Eliot Galán, showcasing SRO (Single Room Occupancy) tenant researchers whose stories prompt moments of collective learning."
There will be three short films, followed by a conversation circle with SRO tenants Nicole Baxter, Kevin Nanaquewitang, Josh Gillen, Richard Schwab and Tom deGrey. The audience will be invited to offer questions. Come early to meet the crew and stay afterwards to partake in a community meal.
When: Saturday, Oct. 29 from 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.
Where: Carnegie Theatre | 401 Main
Cost: Free.
Registration is required for non-DTES residents and the info will be on the festival website in early October.
Honouring Writers of the Downtown Eastside
Honouring Writers of the Downtown Eastside, celebrates writers and poets - past and present - who mentor the community with their "powerful thoughts, words, ideas, support and encouragement."
In the evening program, the organizers will honour poets who have passed away, including: Sandy Cameron, Bud Osborn, Muriel Marjorie, Robyn Livingstone, Joan Morelli, dn simmers, Lee Maracle, Jim Wong Chu, Wayson Choy, and Kat Zucomulwat Norris, the Festival Elder in Residence 2017 to 2022. In the afternoon, the DTES Writers’ Collective will share their writings; Muriel’s Journey Poetry Prize will offer readings from award-winning writers in honour of the beloved DTES poet Muriel Marjorie; and the annual Sandy Cameron Memorial Writing Contest & Award Ceremony, presented by the Carnegie Newsletter, will honour and recognize writers of today.
When: Saturday, Nov. 5 at 12 p.m., 2 p.m., 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Where: Carnegie Theatre | 401 Main
Cost: Free.
Find out full event details on the Heart of the City website.
