What is Stir?

Stir is a digital media organization dedicated to covering Vancouver’s arts and culture scene through independent journalism.

MEET OUR PARTNERS

Welcome to Stir.

Stir is a digital magazine that puts Vancouver and the surrounding area’s arts and culture at centre stage. We're devoting an entire platform to independent arts journalism and to telling the creative scene’s compelling stories —stories that we’re excited to share.

Join us, and let's create a stir.

MEET OUR PARTNERS

SPRING GUIDE

DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

WHAT IS STIR?

Arts and culture typically don’t get much attention in conventional local media.

But what if they took centre stage?

Stir addresses this question head-on by devoting an entire platform to Vancouver’s creative scene and all of its compelling stories.

Artists are helping to navigate an unprecedented time of change. Their work demands a new kind of journalistic hub.

We’re a team of experienced, trusted media professionals who know West Coast arts inside-out. We are passionate about the cultural landscape here. At our core we believe that independent local journalism is under threat, and we need to give it a secure, inclusive home.

Arts and culture deserve to be covered with expertise, openness, curiosity, dedication, and integrity. We're putting music, film, theatre, dance, design, visual arts, books, culinary arts, cultural tourism, and much more in the spotlight—right where they belong.

TALK TO US

SUPPORT STIR

Our Team

Janet Smith
Co-Founder & Editorial Director
janet@createastir.ca

Laura Moore
Co-Founder & Director of Marketing and Partnerships
laura@createastir.ca

Contributors

Featured

Janet Smith

Janet Smith is cofounder and editorial director of Stir. She is an award-winning arts journalist who has spent more than two decades immersed in Vancouver’s dance, screen, design, theatre, music, opera, and gallery scenes. She sits on the Vancouver Film Critics’ Circle.

Gail Johnson

Gail Johnson is cofounder and associate editor of Stir. She is a Vancouver-based journalist who has earned local and national nominations and awards for her work. She is a certified Gladue Report writer via Indigenous Perspectives Society in partnership with Royal Roads University and is a member of a judging panel for top Vancouver restaurants.

Alexander Varty

Alexander Varty is a senior West Coast journalist specializing in cultural reporting of all kinds. An active musician on several instruments, he has also worked as an event producer in the cultural community. In his spare time, Alex is a keen ocean swimmer, record collector, amateur mycologist, and cook.

Emily Lyth

Stir editorial assistant Emily Lyth is a Vancouver-based writer and editor who graduated from Langara College’s Journalism program. Her decade of dance training and passion for all things food-related are the foundation of her love for telling arts, culture, and community stories.

Jessica Werb

Jessica Werb is an award-winning writer, copy editor, and communications consultant based in Vancouver. When she’s not covering the arts or debating the Oxford comma, you can often find her playing the cello.

Adrian Mack

Adrian Mack writes about popular culture from his impregnable compound on Salt Spring Island.

Angie Rico

Angie Rico (she/her) is a Mexican-born cultural worker, currently living and working in so-called Vancouver. She is a graduate from Emily Carr University and past participant of Neworld Theatre’s Critical Futures training program. She's the recipient of the 2023 Max Wyman Mentee Award in Critical Writing. Her writing covers film, visual arts, and theatre.

Vince Kanasoot

Vince Kanasoot is a former professional dancer and musical theatre actor who performed for Princess Cruises and Royal Caribbean, as well as in musicals across Canada. He left the stage to pursue his love for writing, and now works full time in corporate communications, while also working on his first novel. Follow his adventures on Instagram @VanCityVince.

Emma Jeffrey

Emma Jeffrey (she/her) is a Métis and Irish-Canadian writer and editor raised in Vancouver on the unceded territory of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, xʷməθkʷəjˀəm, and səlilwətaɬ Nations. She is a member of the Indigenous Brilliance Literary Collective, an Arts and Culture Journalist for Stir Magazine, and former Associate Editor of Digital Projects at The Capilano Review. She holds a diploma in Arts and Entertainment Management at Capilano University.

Mélanie Ritchot

Mélanie Ritchot is a Métis journalist based on Vancouver Island, with a passion for Indigenous storytelling and visual arts. She has written for outlets like the Globe and Mail and Nunatsiaq News, and recently completed her Master of Publishing thesis on Indigenous art books in Canada.

Robert Kuang

Robert Kuang is a writer, musician, and aspiring plant Dad. Having spent time in Beijing, New York, and Vancouver, his mission is to bridge the distance between online and local arts and culture communities.

John Lucas

John Lucas has covered music and the arts for longer than he cares to think about. He can also be found playing his guitar in dodgy rehearsal spaces and low-rent venues in and around Vancouver.