Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival announces 2022 program
From dance to film, more than 100 events take place in-person and online at the 19th annual fest
Marissa Nahanee. Photo by David Cooper
THE 19th ANNUAL Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival will take place October 26 to November 6, with more than 100 events in its namesake neighbourhood and online, indoors and out.
Presented by Vancouver Moving Theatre in association with Carnegie Community Centre and the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians, the fest spans music, storytelling, poetry, theatre, ceremony, films, dance, readings, forums,workshops, discussions, gallery exhibits, art talks, history talks, and history walks.
The mandate of the festival is to promote, present, and facilitate the development of artists, art forms, cultural traditions, history, activism, people, and stories about Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. It involves professional, community, emerging, and student artists as well as arts lovers.
This year’s theme is “Community Is Our Mentor”. “This year’s festival will focus on listening and learning from the lived wisdom and cultural practices of Downtown Eastside community organizations, artists and cultural circles; and engaging the transformative power of story, song, music, film, theatre, dance, visual arts and ceremony to illuminate pathways of resistance and resilience,” according to a release.
Jacky Lam and Angus Yam, The Prop Master's Dream. Photo by David Cooper
Heart of the City highlights include The Gathering Mural Launch, the expansion of Richard Tetrault 2016 tryptic mural with seven new panels by Tetrault, Charlene Johnny, Marissa Nahanee, and Jerry Whitehead. Hanging on display in the Carnegie Theatre throughout the festival, the mural pays tribute to past and present DTES artists and activists and to the neighbourhood’s diverse cultures and heritage.
The Prop Master’s Dream is a new fusion opera produced by Vancouver Cantonese Opera inspired by the true-life story of Wah-Kwan Gwan (1929-2000), a little-known Chinese Opera props master born to a local Chinese father and Indigenous mother.
IronFest III is a three-night series of live and improvised music by international and local artists, including some connected to the Downtown Eastside. It’s produced by Coastal Jazz in association with Music on Main and the DTES Heart of the City Festival.
Sid Chow Tan. Photo by David Cooper
Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey—Keeping the Fires Burning consists of ceremony, cultural teachings,spoken word, visual art displays, and ArtTalks. It’s by Further We Rise Indigenous Arts Collective/Sacred Rock in partnerships with VALU CO-OP Community Projects/Love Intersections, Massy Arts Society, Carnegie/Oppenheimer Park and Vancouver Moving Theatre/DTES Heart of the City Festival.
Intangible Treasures of the Downtown Eastside (Zoom Shadow Two) is an online collection of short shadow plays created on Zoom by seven Downtown Eastside-involved residents exploring personal, intangible treasures that give them strength. The event is produced by Runaway Moon Theatre (Enderby, BC) and Vancouver Moving Theatre.
Honouring Writers of the Downtown Eastside celebrates authors and poets past and present who mentor community members through their work and support. The Carnegie Newsletter will hold the Sandy Cameron Memorial Writing Contest & Award Ceremony to recognize poets of today. The fest will also honour late poets such as Sandy Cameron, Bud Osborn, Jim Wong Chu, Robyn Livingstone, Muriel Marjorie, Lee Maracle, Joan Morelli, dn simmers, Wayson Choy, and Kat Zucomulwat Norris (Festival Elder in Residence, 2017 to 2022).
Full festival details are here.
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