ARTS

ARTS Bowen gets bluesy and funky for Mother Earth by Steve Newton V ancouver blues artist Dalannah Gail Bowen has just released an inspiring new video for a funky, pro-environment tune called “Look Ahead” is the latest single off Bowen’s fifth studio album, Looking Back, which was produced by Michael Creber and features performances by such local music “Look Ahead”. “This song is an invitation and a reminder for us all as ‘stewards of the land’ to “We must carry the torch of respect for greats as Jim Byrnes, Tom Keenlyside, Joani Bye, Andreas Schuld, Chris Nordquist, Miles Hill, Olaf de Shield, Jane Mortifee, Brian ensure we walk consciously and conscientiously in regard to Mother Earth and all Mother Earth.” Newcombe, Rob Becker, and the Sojourners. Singer-songwriter Bowen—who is also living things,” Bowen says in a news release. – Dalannah Gail Bowen an actor, playwright, storyteller, event “The current climate in regards to Mother producer, and social activist—will be perEarth is a sign that we must be aware of the forming tunes from Looking Back next damage we are causing; waters are receding and flooding, ancient icebergs are melting. Dalannah Gail Bowen has a crucial message about the environment in “Look Ahead”. Thursday (October 29) at 7 p.m. as part of the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City

“We have entered a crucial time in our in ‘changing the tide’. I encourage every- respect the environment and all living Festival. The online event is free, with dorelationship to Mother Earth,” she adds, “and it is our responsibility to be active one to act with consideration and be an example of the positive and good way to things. We must carry the torch of respect for Mother Earth.” nations appreciated, and you can register at HeartoftheCityFestival.com. g

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THEATRE < DANCE < MUSIC < COMEDY < LITERARY EVENTS < GALLERIES < MUSEUMS <

ONGOING

Haida Now: A Visual Feast of Innovation and Tradition Exhibit guest-curated by Kwiaahwah Jones features more than 450 works by carvers, weavers, photographers and print makers, collected as early as the 1890s. To winter 2020, Museum of Vancouver.

MODERN IN THE MAKING: Post-War Craft and Design in British Columbia Exhibition examines the furniture, ceramics, textiles, fashion, and jewellery that defined West Coast modern living in the mid-20th century. To Jan 3, Vancouver Art Gallery. THIRD REALM Exhibition curated by Davide Quadrio draws on photography, film, and installation from the FarEastFarWest collection of contemporary Asian art. To Nov 8, The Polygon Gallery. Shame and Prejudice: A STORY OF RESILIENCE Cree artist Kent Monkman critiques Canada’s colonial history and reenvisions it through Indigenous eyes. To Jan 3, Museum of Anthropology at UBC. MEMORIAL FOR THE LOST PAGES Moving and still images by late Pakistani artist Madiha Aijaz. To Jan 3, Contemporary Art Gallery. ONE CHILD... The Arts Club Theatre Company presents Nilaja Sun’s one-woman play about a substitute drama teacher’s experiences at a hardscrabble high school in the Bronx. To Nov 8, Goldcorp Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre. THE EYES HAVE WALLS Small paintings and ceramic works by Vancouver-based Nicole Ondre and Mina Totino. To Dec 12, West Vancouver Museum. VICTOR VASARELY Exhibition of Vasarely’s paintings, sculptures, tapestries, and multiples from the 1960s and ’70s. To Apr 5, Vancouver Art Gallery.

RESURGENCE: INDIGIQUEER IDENTITIES

Exhibition curated by Jordana Luggi celebrates the work of four emerging artists and their unique identities and stories as queer Indigenous people. To Jan 24, Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art. $13. BUFFOON The Arts Club Theatre Company presents Anosh Irani’s one-person tragicomedy. To Dec 6, Granville Island Stage. DTES HEART OF THE CITY FESTIVAl Twelveday event will feature music, stories, poetry, films, readings, art talks, and visual arts either online on in pop-up outdoor settings. Oct 28–Nov 8, Online and at various venues. JOKES PLEASE! Standup comedy show hosted by Ross Dauk. Oct 29, 9-10:30 pm, Little Mountain Gallery. $13.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29

BILLY BISHOP GOES TO WAR John Gray’s play based on the true story of Canadian World War I flying ace Billy Bishop. Oct 29–Nov 1, Deep Cove Shaw Theatre. $35.

BEIRUT A play about forbidden love in a pandemic. Oct 29-Nov 6,, Performance Works. $12 + $3 membership.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31

BART THE MASKED TROUBADOUR Open mic with live guitar and standup comedy. Oct 31, 5-8 pm, Pacific Arts Market. $7.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4

IN THE BEGINNING: A CULTURAL SHARING

Rosemary Georgeson and Donna Spencer delve into the stories and history of the Indigenous peoples in the area that is now called Vancouver. Nov 4-7, Firehall Arts Centre. From $15.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12

EASTSIDE CULTURE CRAWL Twenty-fourth annual event sees local artists opening their studios to display their work. Nov 12-22, Online and in-person options. Free.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21

CHUTZPAH! FESTIVAL Concerts, comedy, dance, and previews of theatrical works-in-progress will be livestreamed from the stage of the Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre to an online audience. Nov 21-28, Online and in-person.

ARTS In the Beginning shares early Indigenous stories

Rosemary Georgeson didn’t know it at the time, but the events of that sunny day in the 1980s when she was almost killed by By Martin Dunphy the ocean that had fed her and her family for many years set her on a path that led to where she is today.

Where Georgeson is today is her position as one of the lead organizers for In the Beginning, a presentation of the Firehall Arts Centre and Vancouver Moving Theatre that is part of the 17th Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival.

In the Beginning consists of five cultural-sharing events at the Firehall spread over four days (November 4 to 7) of the 12day annual festival.

Three of the five events will introduce viewers to members of the First Nations upon whose traditional territories Vancouver now stands: the Musqueam, TsleilWaututh, and Squamish.

The other two showcase the stories of Indigenous people who came from outside the Lower Mainland and B.C. to the place we now call the Downtown Eastside (DTES) and who made their lives there and in the surrounding areas. Those events are titled Over the Mountains and From the Waters, the latter of which brings us back to Georgeson and her brush with death. ”We were crossing the Salish Sea,” Georgeson, who has Coast Salish and Sahtu Dene heritage, tells the Straight by phone. “It was a beautiful sunny day.” It was 1986, and she was a single mother, 29, with two young daughters at home on Galiano Island, where she had lived all her life. She was aboard one of the boats that had given her a living in commercial fishing ever since she had started with her dad as a child in Active Pass.

Then the vicious gale blew up without warning. Even B.C. Ferries suspended sailings.

“There was no way to turn around, so we kept on going,” she says, remembering how her terrified thoughts turned to her little girls, four and five. “If anything had happened to me out there, my parents would have had to have raised them. It was pretty scary.

“I wanted to kiss the dirt when I stepped off the boat. I’m very cautious when I go out on the water now.”

Her passion for working the boats had taken a serious hit. For the next 14 years, she worked at various dry-land jobs, including as a cook and truck driver, delivering flowers.

“At 43, I decided it was time for a change,” Georgeson says. “My cousin Marie Clements asked me [in August 2000] if I wanted to help out with a women’s writing workshop at the Firehall. That’s where I first met [Firehall artistic some of those were hers. “They were stories about a life fully lived, fishing, raising kids. Growing up on Galiano, life was so different there. And working with these women on the DTES, they had the same stories. It was the most amazing healing process.”

Clements—a celebrated Métis playwright, director, and actor who lives on Galiano Island (Georgeson now lives in Delta)—had helped her find a new passion.

“I realized that in the writing process, I was letting out my stories and some of my anger,” Georgeson says. “I thought, ‘This is amazing: I get to come here and do this tival, Georgeson, Spencer, and Vancouver cultural communities that made up the ley, Japantown, and others. well with me,” Georgeson says. “We don’t First Nation people, could be a part of.

We don’t have the right to tell anyone’s stories. – Rosemary Georgeson

Georgeson started calling a lot of “people I know”, and the result will be unstructured evenings of storytelling, visual art, and oral history from activists, chiefs, and everyday people involved in cultural revitalization and tribal journeys. “I think that their conversations will be Storyteller, playwright, and former commercial fisher Rosemary Georgeson gathered people “Nobody is telling the participants what whose Indigenous stories will be heard during In the Beginning. Photo by David Cooper. to say....It probably will be a surprise for producer] Donna Spencer. This [In the Beginning] is looking at who everyone, including us!”

“We ended up running that for three was there on the land first. It’s about tell- Maybe In the Beginning should be callyears.” Two books of women’s stories and poetry came out of those workshops, and ing our own stories, finding our places in this land.” ing Georgeson’s story the first one in From the Waters. g

work and help these women.’ I was more of a support for other women to put their story out.” And stories are what it is all about now, for both her (Georgeson became a playwright and radio documentarist and was the Vancouver Public Library’s storyteller in residence in 2014) and In 20 years of audacious performing arts November 21-28, 2020 the Beginning’ presenters. s large cast of Indigenous FEATURING ARTISTS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD WORKING IN

During last year’s Heart of the City FesCOMEDY MUSIC THEATRE DANCE Moving Theatre artistic director Savan- LIVESTREAM FROM YOUR HOME SELECT PHYSICALLY DISTANT SHOWS nah Walling explored the history of the ARTIST CONVERSATIONS WITH FESTIVAL HOST, IRIS BAHR neighbourhoods, past and present, in and around the DTES: Chinatown, Hogan’s AlFIND TICKETS AND EVENT DETAILS: CHUTZPAHFESTIVAL.COM

“It seemed clichéd; it didn’t seem to sit Festival Funders: have the right to tell anyone else’s stories. Hotel Sponsor Presenting Media Sponsor Media Partner

“And we couldn’t find a story that we, as Rosedale on Robson Suite Hotel really, really interesting,” Georgeson says.

17TH ANNUAL DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE OF THE HEART CITYFESTIVAL 2020 OCTOBER 28 TO NOVEMBER 8 live & online info: heartofthecityfestival.com

OVER 100 EVENTS THROUGHOUT THE DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE AND ONLINE MUSIC HIGHLIGHTS

AN EVENING WITH DALANNAH GAIL BOWEN: Looking Back & The Returning Journey

Blues Hall of Fame inductee performs two sets featuring her powerful voice, original songs & poetry.

Thursday October 29 | 7pm Online | registration available

Post-event Q&A with Dalannah

SPOTLIGHT ON THE EAST END

Featuring Khari Wendell McClelland, Rup Sidhu, Hannah Walker, Geoff Berner and Son of James (Shon Wong).

Friday October 30 | 8:30pm Online | registration available

DTES FRONT & CENTRE SHOWCASE: All Together Now!

A big virtual celebration of the many talented community performers of the Downtown Eastside. Enjoy performances from some of our favourite musicians, storytellers, dancers, poets, writers, singers, actors, and spoken word artists. Saturday October 31, 7pm

Online | registration available

EAST END BLUES & ALL THAT JAZZ

A soul-stirring tribute to the strength of the historic East End Black community and the legendary Gibson family. Featuring Candus Churchill, Tom Pickett, Khari Wendell McClelland, Bill Costin, Tim Stacey with special guests Dalannah Gail Bowen and local legend Thelma Gibson.

Tuesday November 3, 7pm | Online registration available | post-event conversation

ARTS Director Louisa Phung finds hope and grace in pandemic

by Charlie Smith

Louisa Phung’s short film “Hope and Grace” premiered at the Edmonton International Film Festival, L ouisa Phung shares something in common with many of her fellow Vancouverites. She’s the daughter of immigrant parents. And like “Canada was one of the first countries to say, ‘Yes, we’ll take refugees,’” Phung said. “They jumped at the chance.” Phung was born a year after they moved and her one-minute horror film, “Day Break”, has become a sensation. Photo by Shimon Karmel. many second-generation Canadians, she to Canada and she didn’t know much about has worked exceptionally hard to succeed this family history as a child. It was only in in her chosen career, the film and tele- her 20s and 30s that she started to ask quesvision industry. tions. The family’s story was recently told

As a second assistant director, she has in a book by her uncle, Andy Lieu, called piled up a long list of TV credits. “I always My Children’s Horrific Journey to Freedom. loved directing,” Phung told the Straight by phone. “And basically being in film, they were training me to direct—and paying me to do so as a trainee.”

One of her mentors was the late Kim Manners, whose credits include The X- And basically being in Files, Supernatural, and Star Trek: The Next Generation. Phung said Manners helped film, they were training give her the confidence to eventually start me to direct… making her own short films during slow times in Hollywood North. – Louisa Phung

Her most recent film, “Hope and Grace”, premiered in early October at the Edmonton International Film Festival. It’s loosely and partly based on her parents’ first six months in Canada after arriving as refu- One of her earlier short films is the tergees from Vietnam in 1979. rifying “Day Break”, which has become a

“In the dead of night, my mother and Halloween favourite. It won the “1 Minute my uncle were woken up and stuck on the Ultra Short” prize at the 2019 Vancouver back of a moped and taken to the airport,” Asian Film Festival. Phung said. Phung is also directing a one-act play,

“It’s not just my family story,” Phung Beirut, which will be performed as part explained of the film. “It’s other people’s of the third installment of this year’s Vanstories as well.” couver Fringe Festival. Written by Alan

On the plane, her mother, then 17 years Bowne, it focuses on a heterosexual love old, met her father. They wound up work- affair in the midst of a pandemic. ing on a farm in Malaysia. From there, her parents moved to a camp in Hong Kong. “I’m on a bit of a hot streak right now,” Phung said with a laugh. g