Festivals
Down below is a compilation of festivals and related events that are happening in and around the city. Also check for updates in seasonal events, music/movies and learning/lectures!
We welcome tips about free and low-cost events... if you would like to share a festival that's not listed here, please submit it below!
We welcome tips about free and low-cost events... if you would like to share a festival that's not listed here, please submit it below!
Vancouver International Film Festival - The Repeats
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When: October 13 - 17
Time: Various Where: Vancouver International Film Centre just north of Seymour/Davie Cost: Adults $15 [+ $2 annual VIFC pass] The most popular films of the festival will be re-screened this week. Check out the link below for movie info. |
Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival
Geoff Berner
Sawagi Taiko
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The Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival
features over 100 events at over 40 venues throughout the Downtown Eastside. Some events cost, but many are by donation or free. The 2018 Festival features twelve days of music, stories, songs, poetry, cultural celebrations, films, theatre, dance, spoken word, forums, workshops, discussions, gallery exhibits, mixed media, art talks, history talks and history walks. Just a few event highlights include: Songs of Justice, Songs of Hope When: Wednesday Oct 24 2018 Time: 7pm Where: Carnegie Theatre, 401 Main Street Cost: Free This evening of stirring sing-along activist songs launches the Festival and this year’s theme Seeds of Justice, Seeds of Hope. Led by musician, composer, conductor, and 2018 Festival Artist in Residence Earle Peach (2017 Mayor Arts Award), this evening of song features, among others, social justice Solidarity Notes Labour Choir singing about historical and current events and issues; and accordionist-extraordinaire Geoff Berner, whose powerful and biting social satirical songs can make you laugh or weep - often at the same time. Come ready to sing! Emerging Heritage Fair 1928-2018-2108 When: Saturday Oct 27 Times: Education Fair 1pm Performances 7pm Where: Vancouver Japanese Language School & Japanese Hall 487 Alexander. Cost: Free Join the Festival and the Japanese Language School to celebrate the shared 90th anniversary of the Japanese Hall and of Japan/Canada diplomatic relations.
The Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival interactive program guide available soon. |
Parade of Lost Souls Festival & Advance Workshops
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The Parade of Lost Souls Workshops
Giant Puppet Workshop
When: Sunday October 21 RSVP to mothorbit@gmail.com by October 19 Time: 1:00pm-6:00pm OR 6pm - 10:30pm [TBC] Cost: By donation. Please RSVP to attend. Where: 2050 Scotia St, Vancouver, BC V5T 4T1 In this workshop you will learn about puppetry using found objects. Think of the possibilities around you when you can make anything you find around the house come alive! In addition to learning these puppetry skills, we will be building one or more Giant Puppets from scratch that will become a main attraction in the Parade of Lost Souls. MAX number of participants 15. Please RSVP to Wryly at mothorbit@gmail.com Thriller Flashmob Workshop
Workshop dates:
Where: Britannia Community Center Cafeteria, access from the football field Cost: Suggested Donation: $5-10 per session RSVP on the Facebook Event page. Learn the ORIGINAL CHOREOGRAPHY of Michael Jackson’s record setting break out hit Thriller! Come to at least two of the three workshops, if you can. Kat is very precise about teaching it exactly as MJ did it– to the step–which means that you can do your homework by watching the video and mirroring the zombies. If you get stuck, just ask yourself, What Would Michael Do? Instructor: Kat Single-Dain, and maybe others! Time Warp Flashmob Workshop
When:
Cost: Suggested Donation: $5-10 per session RSVP on the Facebook Event page. Learn the original, super fun and much more simple choreography to The Time Warp from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Time is fleeting....Do it this year! BUT you must dress like one of the movie's characters and do join us on the night of the Parade for a Flashmob Dance off!!!! Instructor: Kat Single-Dain, and maybe others! The Parade
Where: Processions Start @ Britannia Library
When: Saturday October 27 Time: 8pm Parade of Lost Souls (with Balkan Shmalkan and the Carnival Band) [If you have young kids, there is also Parade of Little Souls earlier; beginning at 7pm] Parade of Lost Souls invites you to indulge in this year's theme of Magic and Realism! Come prepared to feast your eyes and ears on live bands, art installations, clowns galore, delicious food trucks, and much much more from the minds and hearts of our beloved city's artists! And don't forget to bring something for the altar! Whatever and whoever you want to remember this night, all offerings will be accepted! Conceptualized and produced by the beloved Public Dreams Society for over twenty-five years, the Parade lives on under the direction of its producer since 2014, The Dusty Flowerpot Cabaret. The annual tradition, a decades-old East Vancouver mainstay, is refuge and release, community and collective for thousands of lost souls. Participants of the Parade of Lost Souls Festival gather together to redefine their ideas of community engagement; to reconnect with one another, and with ourselves, in a celebration of the cycles of life and death. As it has for decades, the final parade route is kept a closely guarded secret - revealed only at midnight the night before. Keep checking into our website and social media feeds for updates and other exciting surprises along the way! |
All Souls at Mountain View Cemetery: Night for Honouring the Dead
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All Souls Opening: Music, Tea, Flowers And Candles
When: Saturday, October 27, 2018 Time: 6pm - 10pm Where: 5455 Fraser Street, Vancouver, BC Google map location In many cultures around the world, the days at the end of October and beginning of November are considered an important time for honouring the dead in our lives. In our modern, urban, and relatively transient culture, traditional “village” customs have been left behind, though not the human impulses that led to these traditions. All Souls at the Mountain View Cemetery is a non-denominational sacred event, and an opportunity for people to share their own customs and experiences. The first fires are lit at sundown, and throughout the evening the cemetery comes alive with music, poetry, and flickering candles. Inside the celebration hall you will find tea to refresh you, and flowers, papers and candles for the creation of personal memorials to place on one of the artist made shrines or family graves.
Volunteering at the All Souls event
When: Thursday October 18 Times:
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Diwali Festival 2018
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When: October 21st, October 24th
and October 27th 2018 Time: 5 pm, 12-1:30 pm and 3-7 pm Where: Surrey City Hall, Vancouver Public Library:Central Branch and Roundhouse Community Centre Cost: Free Diwali Fest is an annual South Asian arts & culture festival, produced by the Diwali Celebration Society. With multiculturalism and inclusiveness as two of our organization’s core values, our slogan “Light Your Spirit” is reflective of our mandate to bring together people of all backgrounds in a celebration of “the universal light that exists in everyone”. |
The Canzine Festival of Zines and Underground Culture
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When: November 4th, 2018
Time: 12PM- 7PM Where: SFU Woodwards, 149 West Hastings St. Cost: Free Canada’s largest zine, comic and independent print fair! Since its inception, Canzine events in Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Halifax have displayed thousands of zines and small press works and hosted hundreds of writers and performers. 12pm – Canzine opens to the public! Hundreds of zines, books, comic, and small press vendors displaying and selling their work! Special Events 1pm -7pm – The Global Zine Project, a hands-on exhibition. Zines, chapbooks and underground printed artifacts from around the world. Come explore underground scenes from New Zealand to Zaire! (Contributions to the exhibit are still welcome.) 4pm – The Vancouver Noir Small Press Resurgence: Inequality, drugs, Is Vancouver the new Noir capitol of North America? A panel with Sam Wiebe, John Belshaw and SG Volunteer positions available. Contact canzine@brokenpencil.com for more volunteering information. |
East Side Culture Crawl
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When: November 15-18th 2018
Time: 5-10 pm and 11-6 pm on the 17th and 18th. Where: Various East Side Locations Cost: Free The ECCS hosts an annual 4-day visual arts festival the "Culture Crawl" in November that involves artists on Vancouver's Eastside opening their studio to the public. The event is focused on the area bounded by Columbia St, 1st Ave, Victoria Drive, and the Waterfront and involves painters, jewelers, sculptors, furniture makers, weavers, potters, printmakers, photographers, glassblowers; from emerging artists to those internationally established. ECCS acknowledges and pays respect to the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations on whose unceded traditional territories our organization and our work is based. |