Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival 2021

Vancouver Moving Theatre, with the Carnegie Community Centre and the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians, along with a host of community partners, presents

18 TH ANNUAL DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE 2021

OCTOBER 27

NOVEMBER 7

live & online heartofthecityfestival.com

COVID-19 PROTOCOLS IN PLACE

C O M M U N I T Y PA R T N E R S All Bodies Dance | Alley Theatre | Art Action Earwig | Audain Gallery | Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art Carnegie Indigenous Programs | Carnegie Learning Centre | Carnegie Newsletter | Centre A | Chapel Arts | Chinatown Today City Opera Vancouver | Co-op Radio CFRO 100.5FM | Connection Salon/Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival CRAB Water for Life Society | Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden | DTES Writers Collective | EartHand Gleaners Society EWMA (Enterprising Women Making Art) | Federation of Russian Canadians of BC | Fire Writers | Firehall Arts Centre Further We Rise Collective/Sacred Rock | Illicit Projects | International Web Express | InterUrban Art Gallery/Culture Saves Lives Jumblies Theatre & Arts | Karen Jamieson Dance | Kokoro Dance/KW Studios | Lazara Press | Listening Post Lost + Found Cafe | Mascall Dance | Massy Books & Massy Arts Gallery | Megaphone Magazine | O. Dela Arts Oppenheimer Park | Or Gallery | Outsiders and Others | PCHC Museum of Migration | PHS (Portland Hotel Society) Powell Street Festival Society | Radix Theatre | Ray-Cam Cooperative Centre | Rice and Beans Theatre | Right to Remain Runaway Moon Theatre | Sacred Circle Society | SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement SFUW Cultural Programs | SRO Collaborative | St. James’ Anglican Church | SUM Gallery | Theatre Terrific UBC Learning Exchange | VALU Co-op | Vancouver Cantonese Opera | Vancouver Police Museum & Archives Voor Urban Labs | WAHRS (Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society) | Watari Youth & Family Services | WePress Wild Salmon Caravan/Working Group on Indigenous Food Sovereignty | Youth Collaborative for Chinatown

O WN T O W N E A S T S D L A U N N A I DE 8 1 OF THE

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Y T I F C E S T T I R V A A E N O 7 L V 2 E R M E B B H OCTO ER 7

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Produced by Vancouver Moving Theatre with the Carnegie Community Centre & the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians & a host of community partners

www.heartofthecityfestival.com 604.628.5672

INSIDE

FESTIVAL MISSION, MANDATE & PROGRAM PRACTICE

Welcome, Safety Protocols ............................................2-3 Schedule at a Glance ......................................................4-5 Locations & Venues, Map ..................................................6 How to enjoy this year’s Festival ......................................7 Congratulations! ................................................................8 Stories We Need To Hear...................................................9 Art in the Streets, Viewing Room ...................................10 Pre-Festival Events ...........................................................11 Festival Events .............................................................12-41 Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey .....34-35 Visual Arts ....................................................................42-44 On Demand Programming ........................................45-47 Vancouver Moving Theatre News .............................48-49 In Memorium...............................................................50-52 Support the Arts ...............................................................53 Credits & Thanks .........................................................54-55 Salmon’s Journey Home ..................................................56

The Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival is an annual cultural and heritage flagship event with the mission to serve as a bridge-building force that gives voice to the Downtown Eastside and its low income residents, cultural communities and neighbourhoods.

TICKET INFORMATION Most festival events are free. Donations are gratefully accepted.

Tickets must be purchased for some events.

Please consult each event description for ticket information.

The Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival acknowledges and honours that we live and work on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ / sel̓íl̓ witulh (Tsleil-Waututh).

The mandate of the Festival is to promote, present, and facilitate the development of artists, art forms, cultural traditions, history, activism, people and great stories about the Downtown Eastside.

Program choices are developed via collaborative consensus with community partners and artists, many of whom partner with additional organizations for additional support. Some events are produced by the festival; some are presented in partnership with other organizations, artists and residents; and some are self-produced and presented under the festival umbrella. The festival also supports and partners with art-based community development projects that give birth to new art and voice local concerns.

If you have a project or program idea for future festivals, please contact Terry Hunter at 604.628.5672.

BOX OFFICE: boxoffice.heartfestival@gmail.com Festival phoenix logo and banners : Diane Wood FRONT AND BACK COVERS Photos: David Cooper | Design: Big Wave Design Front: Gunargie O’Sullivan aka ga'axstasalas Back: Sid Chow Tan

COVID-19 PROTOCOLS IN PLACE

WELCOME My warmest welcome to everyone who is taking part in the 2021 Heart of the City Festival!

Thank you to the many Festival performers, volunteers and supporters for holding space and for making the Downtown Eastside a home for “the stories that need to be heard”.

As more and more Canadians come into awareness of what Indigenous peoples have always known, we must make every effort to bear witness to the stories of the hard truths about Canada’s colonial history and how the laws of this land have and continue to perpetuate racist and colonial harms.

With the sharing of each story, we are also witnessing the incredible strength and resilience of people. These stories of love and despair, hope and trauma, triumph and destruction shows us the very best and worst of humankind. To bear witness to these stories means we hear, we see, we feel. To honour the story tellers, let us join with one heart and one mind, on the path to Truth and Reconciliation.

Sincerely, Jenny Kwan MP-elect, Vancouver East

On behalf of my colleagues on Vancouver City Council and the citizens of Vancouver, it is my pleasure to welcome everyone to the 18th Annual Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival.

The Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival celebrates and promotes the great stories, people, history and diverse cultures of the heart of our great city. The Festival also showcases the Downtown Eastside as one of the City of Vancouver's most vibrant cultural hubs.

"Stories We Need To Hear", the theme of this year's Festival, illuminates the vitality and relevance of the Downtown Eastside community and its diverse and rich traditions, knowledge systems, ancestral languages, cultural roots and stories. Thank you for sharing your vital stories with the residents of Vancouver and beyond.

I am pleased to congratulate and acknowledge the efforts of the organizers of the Downtown Eastside Heart of theCity Festival, the artists who showcase their talents, and everyone who makes this event such a success.

Enjoy the festival everyone!

Sincerely, Mayor Kennedy Stewart

SAFETY PROTOCOLS In response to the reality of COVID, many of the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival events take place online, outdoors, or indoors for intimate audiences.

The festival is following current health and safety measures to ensure audiences, artists and staff remain safe during the festival.

Proof of vaccination and masks are required for entry to indoor concerts and theatre events with more than 50 people and at the discretion of the hosting venues. For indoor spaces (including enclosed tents) with fewer than 50 people, capacity limits, use of face masks and distancing protocols will be in place.

2 Heart of tHe City festival 2021

Lorraine Jack

We encourage you to wear face masks at public events, to wash your hands or use hand sanitizer, to practice physical distancing, to not attend an event if you're not feeling well, to treat others with respect, and to greet people with a smile and a wave of the hand.

WELCOME

Hello everyone! Welcome to the 18th Annual Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival.

The Festival is dedicated to supporting the culture, heritage and people of the Downtown Eastside district and their great stories. Stories that make us laugh. Stories that challenge. Stories that illuminate. Stories that heal and give birth to empathy. Stories that shake our world view and turn us inside out to see the world with fresh eyes.

The 2021 Festival theme – Stories We Need To Hear – resonates today as our community copes with the pandemic, physical distancing and isolation, the ongoing need for affordable housing, the fentanyl poisoning crisis, and the raw legacies of bigotry, exclusionary policies and systemic racism.

In response to this theme, community members from far and wide are generously sharing with this year’s festival, the Downtown Eastside community and beyond. They are sharing stories in words, music, dance, theatre, visual arts, video, cultural sharing and ceremony. We take strength from compelling stories of Downtown Eastside-involved artists and community members who illuminate the vitality, relevance and resilience of the Downtown Eastside district neighbourhoods and their diverse and rich traditions, lived wisdom, knowledge systems, ancestral languages, cultural roots and stories.

We are inspired by the words of the late, beloved Downtown Eastside poet Sandy Cameron: ‘When we tell our stories, we draw our own maps and question the maps of the powerful. Each of us has something to tell, something to teach.”

We raise our hands in thanks to all who have made this year’s festival possible.

It could not happen without you.Thank you Carnegie Community Centre, Association of United Ukrainian Canadians and all our community partners, artists, co-producers, sponsors and donors. Thank you to our supportive board of directors. Thank you to our amazing and dedicated festival staff.

And, as always, a special big thanks to Teresa Vandertuin (Associate Artistic Producer), Lalia Fraser (Operations Manager), and Nicole Lamb (Production Manager) and the great team who support them, working tirelessly and with great passion and commitment to realize the festival.

Enjoy the Festival everyone! Be safe. And may our stories and your stories bring healing, light and hope, and lead us forward.

Welcome to the Heart of the City Festival, our community’s celebration of the activism, creativity, heart and soul and guts of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

As we slowly emerge from COVID and its variants, we begin to see more events in person and again the Festival will connect us online. Less Zoom! I’m looking forward to seeing people in person, as I’m sure you are also.

This year’s theme, Stories We Need to Hear, calls on us to listen more closely to one another and especially to our Indigenous sisters and brothers as tragic stories they have always known are uncovered to the rest of us. First Nations’ stories need to be heard as we work to establish the truth of our history, as a part of reconciliation. We need to hear the truth.

Before COVID, Carnegie Writers had planned to sponsor a Downtown Eastside Writers Festival. Those plans were temporarily shelved, but there are many writing events during this year’s festival, so we have a bit of a mini writer’s festival after all. We plan several events to reconnect writers during the festival, including the Sandy Cameron Awards Ceremony, an in person “Telling Our Stories”, a rebirth of the Saturday Night Poetry Night, and of course, Fire Writers and Downtown Eastside Writers Collective continue to meet during the Festival.

I look forward to seeing and reconnecting with many of you that I have missed during the last 18 months. The Carnegie Community Centre Association welcomes you. Community connection and hearing one another’s stories make us stronger together.

Gilles Cyrenne President Carnegie Community Centre Association

Terry Hunter (Nang Gulgaa) Executive Director, Vancouver Moving Theatre Artistic Producer, Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival Savannah Walling (hl Gat’saa) Artistic Director, Vancouver Moving Theatre Associate Artistic Director, Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival

2021 Heart of tHe City festival 3

PAGE 11 Saturday October 23 1:15pm - 5:30pm Banquet of Stories ISSBC Tuesday October 26 3pm - 4:30pm Bodhran Workshop Online

PAGE 42-44

SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE

Pre-Festival Events

Visual Arts during the Festival

PAGE 45-47 On-Demand programming

GET SOCIAL

@HeartoftheCityFestival

Wednesday October 27

PAGE 12-13 4pm - 5pm Festival Opening Ceremony Online Live Stream 5pm - 7pm Meet the Artists, 50 Years of Creative Collaboration Carnegie 3rd floor Gallery 7pm - 7:45pm Sandy Cameron Memorial Writing Contest Award Ceremony Carnegie Theatre Online Live Stream 8pm - 9pm The Story of the Carnegie Newsletter According to Paul Taylor Carnegie Theatre Online Live Stream 8pm - 10pm We Live Here Jack Chow Insurance parking lot

Thursday October 28 12pm - 2pm Music on the Patio Carnegie 1pm - 2:30pm Zoom Shadow Online 5pm - 6pm Kla How Ya Co-op Radio CFRO 100.5 FM 5pm - 9pm Viewing Room Carnegie Theatre Live stream from Lost + Found Cafe 6pm - 8pm Mass Reincarnation of Wish Fragments SUM Gallery 7pm - 8:30pm In Person: Telling Our Stories Lost + Found Cafe Online Live Stream 8pm #whatnow Russian Hall 8pm - 10pm We Live Here Jack Chow Insurance parking lot 9pm - 11pm Arts Rational Co-op Radio CFRO 100.5 FM

PAGE 14-15

Friday October 29

Saturday October 30

10am - 11:30am 10am - 3:30pm Hallowe'en Bingo Chinatown Carnegie Theatre Historic Laneways Walking Tour Register for 11am - 4pm location Open House Vancouver Police 10am - 12pm Museum Love Letter to Self: Fictional 12pm & 1pm Self-Portraiture Hastings Street Through Drawing Band Online Carnegie front steps 12pm - 2pm Music on the Patio 1pm - 2:30pm Carnegie Li Keur, Riel's Heart of the North 12pm & 1pm Online Hastings Street Band 5pm - 9pm Abbott & Keefer Viewing Room Carnegie Theatre 2pm - 4pm Coming out of 7pm - 9pm Chaos: A VancouWhere I Come ver Dance Story From...an Scotiabank Dance evening of Centre Indigenous Storytelling!

7pm - 8pm VANDU Short Films with All Bodies Dance 8pm - 10pm Carnegie Theatre We Live Here Jack Chow Insur7pm - 8:30pm ance parking lot Merlin Cosmos: Magic - it’s 8pm Personal #whatnow Online Russian Hall

PAGE 16-17

Sunday October 31

Monday November 1

Hallowe'en

All Saints Day

10:30am - 11:45am Chinatown Ghosts Walking Tour Register for location

12pm - 2pm Music on the Patio Carnegie

12pm - 2pm Drums on the Patio Carnegie 1pm - 3pm 50 Years of Creative Collaboration: Terry Hunter & Savannah Walling Online 3pm #whatnow Russian Hall 4pm - 5pm Evil Cult Singalong with the Legion of Flying Monkeys!

MacLean Park Fieldhouse 5pm - 9pm Viewing Room Carnegie Theatre

PAGE 20-21

8pm #whatnow Russian Hall

PAGE 18-19

@HeartoftheCityFestival @HeartofCityFest @VanMovTheatre

Gilles Cyrenne

BOX OFFICE: boxoffice.heartfestival@gmail.com

4 Heart of tHe City festival 2021

1pm - 2:30pm When Spirit Whispers Co-op Radio CFRO 100.5 FM 2pm - 5pm Day of the Dead Altar Listening Post 2pm Bells of St. James' St James' Anglican Church 4pm - 5:30pm Finding Grounds for Goodness Online 7pm - 9pm Help Win Full Rent Control in the DTES Online

PAGE 22-23

Tuesday November 2

Wednesday November 3

Thursday November 4

Friday November 5

Saturday November 6

PAGE 29-31

10am - 2pm 7th Symposium on Reconciliation & Redress in the Arts Online

9am - 12pm Wild Salmon Caravan/ Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey Strathcona Park

All Souls Day

12pm - 2pm Hearts Beat 2021 Online Live Stream

PAGE 26-28 12pm - 1pm Opera in the Streets Gore & E. Cordova

3pm - 4pm Made In Canada: An Agricultural Song Cycle Oppenheimer Park

1pm - 3pm Local Stories Spelling Bee Carnegie 3rd Floor Learning Centre

3pm - 4:30pm My Art is Activism III Online

1pm - 5pm Beyond the Frame InterUrban Gallery

5pm - 9pm Viewing Room Carnegie Theatre Online DTES Front & Centre 7pm DTES Front & Centre: In Memory of Joyce Morgan Online

PAGE 24-25

2pm - 3pm Sho Sho Esquiro: Doctrine of Discovery Exhibition Tour Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art 2pm - 3:30pm The Prop Master's Dream: A Cantonese Opera Workshop Online

12pm - 2pm Music on the Patio Carnegie 1pm - 5pm Beyond the Frame InterUrban Gallery 2pm - 3:30pm Windows Online 3pm - 5pm Stories We Need to Share Listening Post 5pm - 6pm Kla How Ya Co-op Radio CFRO 100.5 FM 7pm Grace Eiko Thomson: Chiru Sakura (Falling Cherry Blossoms) Massy Arts Gallery

7pm - 9pm Indigenous Journeys: Solos

by Three Women Online

7pm - 8:30pm Shadow Sign for Bedroom Protest & Shadows We Cast Online

7:30pm Openings: Women Standing Their Ground in the Arts Firehall Arts Centre

7:30pm Openings: Queer Indigenous Stories in the Arts Firehall Arts Centre

8pm #whatnow Russian Hall

8pm #whatnow Russian Hall

11pm - 1am Late Night with Savages Co-op Radio CFRO 100.5 FM

9pm - 11pm Arts Rational Co-op Radio CFRO 100.5 FM

10am - 4pm Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey Oppenheimer Park

10am - 12pm Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey Oppenheimer Park

10am - 4pm Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey Oppenheimer Park

10am - 11am Ukrainian Kitchen: Pyrohy Making Workshop Online

12pm & 1pm Hastings Street Band Pigeon Park

12pm & 1pm Hastings Street Band Abbott & W. Hastings

11am - 2pm Pyrohy, Borshch and Craft Sales Ukrainian Hall

12pm - 3pm Meet the Artists, Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival Touring Show Lost + Found Cafe

11:30am - 12:30pm Elders Stories Online

1pm - 3pm Guitars! Guitars!

Guitars! Open Session Carnegie Theatre

1pm - 2:30pm Fighting for Space: Drug Users' Response to the Overdose Crisis Online

1pm - 5pm Beyond the Frame Exhibit tour 1pm InterUrban Gallery

1pm - 5pm Beyond the Frame InterUrban Gallery

12pm - 2pm Poets on the Patio Carnegie

2pm - 5pm Open House Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art 6pm - 7pm Survivors Totem Pole Refurbishment Closing Ceremony Pigeon Park & Carrall Street 7:30pm - 9:30pm 100 Block Rock II Online Live Stream 7:30pm Openings: Canoe Power Firehall Arts Centre 8pm #whatnow Russian Hall

James Pau

Daylight Savings Time ends

PAGE 32-33

2pm - 4pm Drag Bingo EWMA Studio 3:30pm - 5pm Wildfibres: Clothing from Undomesticated Plants in the City Online 7pm - 9:30pm DTES Poetry Night Carnegie Theatre

1pm - 2:30pm Costume Treasures: From Baba’s Trunk to the Stage Online 3pm - 4pm Festival Closing Ceremony Online Live Stream 3pm - 4:30pm #whatnow Russian Hall

SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE

1pm - 2:30pm Going Indigenous Co-op Radio CFRO 100.5 FM

Sunday November 7

4:45pm Pointed Sticks Up On The Roof!

Chapel Arts

PAGE 39-41

7:30pm Openings: Is That Really Funny?

Firehall Arts Centre 8pm #whatnow Russian Hall 8pm Incarcerated: Truth in Shadows Online

PAGE 36-38

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(13) Immigrant Services Society of BC (ISSBC) 2610 Victoria Drive, 604-684-2561, issbc.org

(24) Pigeon Park Carrall & E. Hastings

(14) InterUrban Gallery 1 E. Hastings, entrance on Carrall, 604-629-8396

(25) Russian Hall 600 Campbell, 604-254-9932, russianhall.ca

(15) Jack Chow Insurance parking lot 500 blk Carrall at East Pender

(26) St. James’ Anglican Church 303 E. Cordova, 604-685-2532, stjames.bc.ca

(16) Listening Post 382 Main

(27) Strathcona Park Prior & Hawks

(6) Centre A #205 - 268 Keefer, 604-683-8326, centrea.org

(17) Lost + Found Cafe 33 W. Hastings, 604-559-7444 lostandfoundcafe.com

(28) SUM Gallery #425 - 268 Keefer, sumgallery.ca

(7) Chapel Arts 304 Dunlevy, chapelarts.com

(18) MacLean Park Fieldhouse 710 Keefer

(8) Chinatown Memorial Plaza Keefer & Columbia

(19) Massy Arts Gallery 23 E. Pender, 604-376-4350, massyarts.com

(9) Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden 578 Carrall, 604-215-2030 vancouverchinesegarden.com

(20) Oppenheimer Park 488 Powell

(1) Abbott & Keefer, NE corner (2) Abbott & W. Hastings, NW corner (3) Audain Gallery 149 W. Hastings, 778-782-9102, sfu.ca/galleries (4) Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art 639 Hornby, 604-682-3455, billreidgallery.ca (5) Carnegie Community Centre 401 Main, 604-665-2220

(10) EWMA Studio 800 E. Hastings, 604-685-8043, atira.bc.ca (11) Firehall Arts Centre 280 E. Cordova, 604-689-0691 firehallartscentre.ca (12) Gore & E. Cordova, NW corner

6 Heart of the City Festival 2021

(21) Or Gallery 236 E. Pender, 604-683-7395, orgallery.org (22) Outsiders and Others 716 E. Hastings, outsidersandothers.com (23) Pender & Gore, SE corner

(29) The Dance Centre 677 Davie, 604-606-6400, thedancecentre.ca (30) Ukrainian Hall* 805 E. Pender, 604-254-3436, auucvancouver.ca (31) VALU Co-op 525 Carrall (32) VANDU 380 E. Hastings, 604-683-6061, vandu.org (33) Vancouver Police Museum & Archives * 240 E. Cordova, 2nd floor, 604-665-3346 vancouverpolicemuseum.ca

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EVENTBRITE WHY REGISTER FOR A LIVE STREAM EVENT? With Eventbrite you will be able to: • Sign up for workshops • Receive a pre-event reminder • Obtain a Zoom link and access the Zoom platform • Interact with event artists, guest speakers and other participants • Obtain the Festival newsletter • Link to your online calendar

ZOOM TIPS A large number of Festival events are held online through Zoom, here are some Q&A’s to help enhance your festival experience Q: What is Zoom?

Zoom is an online platform allowing users to connect virtually.

Q: How do I access Zoom?

To join in with video, you can access Zoom through your computer, tablet or phone.

We recommend you download the Zoom app ahead of time, but you may also join through your browser if the app doesn’t work, or even call in from your phone! To join by phone, call the number in your event invitation.

Q: Do I need to create an account?

You do not need to create an account.

Here are some additional tips when using Zoom: To boost connection: close excess tabs, connect via ethernet cable, ask others in your household not to stream at the same time.

There are various ways to interact on Zoom - such as turning your video and mic on/off, as well as typing in the chat box.

ONLINE TERMINOLOGY 101 Here are some new terms to help navigate this year's Festival!

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ONLINE ON DEMAND INTERACTIVE ONLINE connected via the internet.

LIVE STREAM a live stream is not pre-recorded but streamed online live, in real time.

LIVE Q&A a live session where participants can interact by asking questions and receiving answers.

INTERACTIVE an interactive event may include a Q&A, break-out rooms, or a workshop.

ON DEMAND On Demand events can be viewed online, at your own convenience. This content will be available on the Festival website throughout the Festival.

ZOOM MEETING a Zoom Meeting allows participants to interact with each other by video, voice and chat.

ZOOM WEBINAR a Zoom Webinar is view-only. Participants will not see each other, and the host will not see the audience. Participants will only be able to interact via chat (typed messages).

ZOOM HOST a host is the person who starts a Zoom event and welcomes attendees. The host is responsible for admitting and removing participants.

FESTIVAL HOST the Festival host is a representative from the Festival who welcomes you and will introduce participating artists and guests.

CHAT MODERATOR there will be one moderator in each Zoom event who will help guide the audience on using the platform. The moderator is responsible for monitoring messages and questions typed into the “chat box”.

VIDEO ON OR OFF (on Zoom) you have an option to turn your video on or off.

MIC ON OR OFF (on Zoom) you have an option to turn your mic on or off. We ask that you keep your mic on mute unless you are speaking.

REGISTRATION REQUIRED some online events require registration to attend. Head to our Festival website to pre-register!

REGISTRATION AVAILABLE some online events DO NOT require registration, but you will have the option to register. There are many benefits to registering, including receiving reminders of the upcoming event.

2021 Heart of the City Festival 7

CONGRATULATIONS! WE’RE PROUD OF OUR DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE COMMUNITY! Congratulations to individuals and organizations making a difference in our community.

DAVID COOPER appointed to the Order of Canada for his innovative contributions to Canadian performance photography and for his dedicated mentorship of emerging artists. David is the DTES Heart of the City Festival and Vancouver Moving Theatre’s longstanding photographer.

JOSEPH DANDURAND Canadian finalist for the 2021 Griffin Poetry Prize for his book The Eastside of it All, poems about his healing journey to reconnect with his family, the natural world, and with his Kwantlen culture and storytelling.

EASTSIDE ARTS SOCIETY awarded a 2021 National Award of Merit from the Canadian Institute of Planners for their 2019 report “City Without Art? No Net Loss, Plus!” The report is the first to identify the loss of studio space in the Eastside that threatens the survival of artists and to offer sustainable solutions. They are working on a strategic plan for the creation of a designated Eastside Arts District.

GUY FELICELLA awarded the 2021 Courage to Come Back Award from the Coast Mental Health Foundation. Having both been a participant in, and a provider of, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery programs, Guy is using his lived experiences to support and advocate for people living with addiction through work as a policy advisor, and with talks at schools, community groups, universities.

ARDEN GILLESPIE (Kispiox) her photo “Best Friends” won the cover of the 2021 Hope in Shadows calendar.

DR. KLISALA HARRISON awarded the 2021 Canada book prize by the International Association for the Study of Popular Music for her book Music Downtown Eastside: Human Rights and Capability Development Through Music in Urban Poverty. The award honors the book and musicians and organizations of the Downtown Eastside who work to promote human rights through “musicking”. Klisala was a musician in the 2003 Downtown Eastside Community Play: “In the Heart of a City”.

STEPHEN LYTTON AND SIOBHAN BARKER co-recipients of the 2021 BankAbility Award from Cahoots Theatre (Toronto) to honour exceptional BIPOC artists and artists living with disability for work that connects with their passions, issue driven exploration and lived experiences.

CORY PAYETTE Artistic Director of urban ink productions, and writer and director of Children of God, is one of the recipients of the Inaugural BC Reconciliation Award.

MENDEL SKULSKI 2021 Webby Award Honouree for his co-creation of the podcast mini-series Scales of Change; The Dragons of Climate Inaction.

DOLORES DALLAS and GILLES CYRENNE are among the winners of the 2021 Muriel’s Journey Poetry Prize. The prize is for outspoken, edgy and socially engaged poetry in celebration of Indigenous poet/activist/actor Muriel Marjorie who passed away in 2018.

8 Heart of tHe City festival 2021

YWCA WOMEN OF DISTINCTION NOMINATIONS

Arts, Culture & Design Catherine Clement, editor of Chinatown Through a Wide Lens: The Hidden Photographs of Yucho Chow; Reconciliation in Action Stephanie Allen, director of Hogan’s Alley Society; Margo Kane (Cree-Saulteaux), Artistic Managing Director of Full Circle: First Nations Performance.

2021 BC ACHIEVEMENT’S COMMUNITY AWARDEES

People who strengthen their community during challenging times: Amber Anderson, ED of Hope Action Values Ethics (H.A.V.E.) Culinary Training School; Harbhajan Singh Athwal, who spearheaded Guru Nanak Free Kitchen Program providing meals for the homeless in the DTES; Marcia Nozick, founder of EMBERS, the Eastside Movement for Business and Economic Renewal Society and recipient of the 2020 Governor General’s Innovation Award.

COMMUNITY-ENGAGED ART PRACTICE WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT? Art creation involving professional artists collaborating with community members and arts and non-arts partners; Art that is made with, for and about the community it serves Art that celebrates, reclaims, commemorates, educates, heals, inspires, challenges Art-making integrated with community values, interests, assets, and cultural traditions past and present Art-making where process and product are intertwined, all part of the art Art-making guided by principles of respect, reciprocity and generosity of spirit Art-making inclusive of diverse social and cultural backgrounds and generations Art-making that encourages everyone involved – from novice to master – to give of their best to create strong art and transformative experience Big and small projects,, indoors or outdoors, in all sizes and shapes, in all kinds and combinations of art forms, from performance to visual arts, from media arts to processions, festivals, community celebrations and ceremony Art creation that leaves legacies for the future.

STORIES WE NEED TO HEAR STORIES WE NEED TO HEAR In times of darkness When the sun sets When the sun rises The sun always rises We walk our Streets Past living symbols of our community’s histories, strength, enduring resilience and value A community fighting for space Spaces claimed – reclaimed – memory-marked Crab Park at Portside – Vancouver Japanese Language School and Hall Carnegie Community Centre – Ukrainian Hall – Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden Firehall Arts Centre – Gallery Gachet – Survivors Totem Pole in Pigeon Park Memorial Totem Pole in Oppenheimer Park – Insite – street murals , our snapshots of history Strathcona and Cottonwood Community Gardens Plant fibre gardens for weaving and dyeing in Trillium Park North the living waters of False Creek and Burrard Inlet Fighting for recognition As a residential community called the Downtown Eastside Fighting for recognition as cultural and historic districts of value Chinatown, Paueru-Gai – Powell Street, Eastside Arts District Sharing stories of survival Overcoming Racism – social injustice – exclusionary policies – displacement and dispossession pandemics and poisoned drugs – intergenerational trauma Witnessing our history and cultural communities Carnegie Newsletter – Japanese Bulletin – Powell Street Festival – Chinese New Years Parade Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival – Wild Salmon Caravan – Vines Festival Dia de los Muertos - Missing Women’s Memorial March Giving Voice theatre productions – dance – music – poetry – dance – film – visual art - ceremony Giving Witness To the Past – The Present – The Future Through the Crow’s Eyes On the wall of our streets Through the voices and art of our living community and ancestors Witnessing stories we need to hear And share with you – Savannah Walling

2021 Heart of tHe City festival 9

ART

ART IN THE STREETS The Festival is presenting outdoor performances of music, poetry, and opera. We’ve invited a number of performers and groups to take part including: solo musicians Michael Edward Nardachioni, Joe Chow, and Anthony Favel; City Opera Vancouver; Downtown Eastside Poets with Diane Wood; pop up theatrical clowning with Gerardo Avila; the big drum with John Sam and Love Medicine; and the always fabulous Brad Muirhead and the Hastings Street Band. COVID protocols are in place.

Look for us on street corners and sidewalks.

Look for us at lunchtime concerts on the Carnegie Community Centre Patio, 401 Main.

Listen for surprises in the neighbourhood.

Thursday October 28, 12pm - 2pm Michael Edward Nardachioni | Music on the Patio Friday October 29, 12pm & 1pm Hastings Street Band | Main & Hastings Saturday October 30, 12pm - 2pm Joe Chow | Music on the Patio

John Sam

Saturday October 30, 12pm & 1pm Hastings Street Band | Keefer & Abbott Sunday October 31, 12pm - 2pm Love Medicine | Drums on the Patio Monday November 1, 12pm - 2pm Anthony Favel | Music on the Patio Wednesday November 3, 12pm - 1pm Lunchtime with City Opera Vancouver | Gore & Cordova

Friday November 5, 12pm - 2pm DTES Poet | Poets on the Patio Friday November 5, 12pm & 1pm Hastings Street Band | Keefer & Columbia

Joe Chow

Saturday November 6, 12pm & 1pm Hastings Street Band | Pigeon Park

Viewing Room Due to the COVID pandemic, the Heart of the City Festival, like so many other organizations, has had to adapt from our normal ways of presenting. While we are adding numerous events online and on the Festival website, we recognize that many members of the community are not able to participate online as they don’t have access to internet service.

To reach out, the Festival has set up a viewing room in the Carnegie Theatre, 401 Main on the evenings of Thursday October 28, Friday October 29, Sunday October 31 and Tuesday November 2, where we will present streamed Festival programming and On Demand viewing. See each day in the schedule for specific details. Limited capacity, controlled entry and safety protocols in place.

Kat Norris

ELDER IN RESIDENCE Kat Zu'comulwat Norris The Festival is pleased to welcome back Kat Norris as our Elder in Residence. In this role Kat advises on community protocol, and participates and shares knowledge at Festival events.

10 Heart of tHe City festival 2021

Michael Edward Nardachioni

Thursday November 4, 12pm - 2pm Michael Edward Nardachioni | Music on the Patio

PRE-FESTIVAL

CULTURAL SHARING

BANQUET OF STORIES 2021 Saturday October 23, 1:15pm - 5:30pm In Person/Online Immigrant Services Society of BC (ISSBC) 2610 Victoria Banquet of Stories 2021 puts a spotlight on refugee stories to explore the themes of community and personal resilience and sustainable food practices. Light will shine on refugee stories from Syria, Vietnam, Sudan, Kurdistan, Afghanistan and celebrate the culinary richness and food stories of Pacific Canada.

Come join us if you’re curious about how we manage the sharing of food despite all the challenges of the pandemic. Our creative response to the constantly changing COVID situation is to return as an in-person event with a concurrent virtual component that may be attended by an expanded audience from anywhere in the world! Hosted at the beautifully designed Welcome Centre of ISSofBC in Vancouver, (https://issbc.org/welcome-centre) where Public Health Orders will be strictly observed.

For registration information go to: https://bit.ly/HOTC-Banquet

Visit our website @

www.heartofthecityfestival.com

to learn more about the Festival. From there you can find links to our Facebook page, follow us using your favourite social media and sign up for our newsletter.

Follow on Facebook: Heart of the City Festival – Become a friend – Be part of the conversation

Blake Williams

WORKSHOP

BODHRAN WORKSHOP Tuesday October 26, 3pm – 4:30pm Online, Zoom link below Free, donations appreciated Learn how to drum Irish style with musicians Blake Williams and Eilis Courtney. This online workshop will explore the roots and sounds of the bodhran (boh-rawn) – the traditional Irish hand drum. Do you have your own hand drum? Bring it out for the workshop and explore the shared tradition of drums with the Carnegie Cultural Sharing Program. This workshop anticipates the community celebration Hearts Beat 2021 to be held on Tuesday November 2. bit.ly/bodhranworkshop | passcode 884876

We need to tell our own stories.

When we tell our stories we draw our own maps, and we question the maps of the powerful.

Each of us has something to tell, Something to teach.

– from Telling Stories, by Sandy Cameron (1931-2010)

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WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 27 MEET THE ARTISTS

50 YEARS OF CREATIVE COLLABORATION: TERRY HUNTER & SAVANNAH WALLING, WITH MILDRED GRACE GERMAN Wednesday October 27, 5pm - 7pm Exhibition October 27 - November 27 Carnegie 3rd floor Gallery, 401 Main Free Terry Hunter (Nang Gulgaa) and Savannah Walling (hl Gat’saa), co-founders of Vancouver Moving Theatre and Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival, with exhibit designer Mildred Grace German invite you to visit this retrospective photo exhibit that artfully celebrates the 50th anniversary of Terry and Savannah’s collaborative creative journey. Drop in for an informal conversation with the artists. For more information about the exhibit, see the Visual Arts section in the program guide. lexwst’í:lem drum group

FESTIVAL OPENING CEREMONY Wednesday October 27, 4pm Live Stream, Registration Available Free, donations appreciated

Join Terry Hunter, Festival Artistic Producer, and invited guests for the Festival’s 18th Opening Ceremony, live streamed on the Festival website. Guided by this year’s theme, Stories We Need to Hear, we take strength from the compelling lived wisdom and creativity of Downtown Eastside-involved artists and residents who illuminate the community’s diverse and rich traditions, knowledge systems, ancestral languages, cultural roots and stories.

Carnegie’s Elder in Residence Leslie Nelson and Carnegie’s Matriarch in Residence Marr Dorvault, joined by Kat Norris, Festival Elder in Residence, will lead the ceremony’s cultural work. Diane Wood, DTES poet diva, will share one of her poems, and there will be a reading of the powerful poem “Telling Stories” by the late and beloved Sandy Cameron.

The Carnegie’s lexwst’í:lem drum group will share a new honour song for the voices of the children being heard across the land. Plus, a special pre-recorded treat for the Festival opening: Larissa Healey and Peter Stillwater present two spirit-lifting grass dances, accompanied by Love Medicine drum group. Visit www.heartofthecityfestival.com to preregister via Eventbrite or for viewing details.

Terry Hunter, Savannah Walling

DID YOU KNOW? The Tsleil-Waututh First Nation signed an Environmental Stewardship Agreement for the Burrard Inlet with Canada this year. The agreement includes a $20 million investment over 10 years and will allow the nation to plan work based on Tsleil-Waututh needs, priorities and timelines, and to work with others to maintain all our communities’ connections to water of the territory.

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WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 27 SPOKEN WORD

SANDY CAMERON MEMORIAL WRITING CONTEST AWARD CEREMONY Wednesday October 27, 7pm Carnegie Theatre, 401 Main Live stream, Registration available Free, donations appreciated An exciting and inspiring event, this award ceremony will be live streamed and a number of the award-winning writers will read the work they submitted to the contest. Now in its sixth year, the writing contest was established to honour Sandy Cameron, one of the best-loved writers to publish work in the Carnegie Newsletter.

Sandy consistently contributed essays and poetry, sharing stories of the low income neighbourhood's one hundred year struggle for human rights. The contest supports local writers and encourages never-before-published writers to submit their work for publication.

The free twice-monthly Carnegie Newsletter is available online at www.carnegienewsletter.org. Go to the Festival website to pre-register via Eventbrite or for viewing details. Limited drop-in audience, first come first serve.

SPOKEN WORD

THE STORY OF THE CARNEGIE NEWSLETTER ACCORDING TO PAUL TAYLOR Wednesday October 27, 8pm Carnegie Theatre, 401 Main Live Stream, Registration available Free, donations appreciated The Downtown Eastside community relies on the Carnegie Newsletter as the source of news from the ground up and this year the newsletter recognizes their 35th year of publication! This evening, join editor Paul Taylor to hear him tell the story of the resilient and undaunted Carnegie Newsletter. What drives the people behind the newsletter? What newsletter has lasted so long and been so consistent in offering opportunities to community members to publish their writing, artwork, event notices and other information? The fearless and determined Paul R Taylor has been the editor since day one. Current circumstances forced the newsletter to move online and to a one-pager but writers, contributors, artists continue to create and the newsletter continues to publish their work. The free twice-monthly newsletter is available online at www.carnegienewsletter. org. Go to the Festival website to pre-register via Eventbrite or for viewing details. Limited in-person audience, first come first serve.

Shoshanna Greene

ART INSTALLATION

WE LIVE HERE Wednesday October 27, 8pm - 10pm Also on October 28 & 29 Jack Chow Insurance parking lot 500 blk Carrall at East Pender Free Produced by Radix Theatre, We Live Here is a dramatic, large-scale video exhibition of visual art created by Downtown Eastside artists. Radix began working with 10 artists last year to test and develop the idea. This year they added another 20 artists to complete the project.

Working with a Downtown Eastside curatorial team of Jerry Whitehead, Wendy Peeters and Jared Sharpe, the participating artists took inspiration from the phrase "we live here" to create new paintings while an overhead video camera captured their painting process. Those videos are then played back at hyper-speed via large-scale outdoor video projection in the parking lot next to Jack Chow Insurance on Carrall at East Pender. A different group of 10 artists will be displayed each night in a repeating 15 minute video. We Live Here is sponsored by the Portland Hotel Society.

35th ANNIVERSARY CARNEGIE NEWSLETTER

Happy 35th Anniversary Carnegie Newsletter! For thirty-five years, the “little engine that could”- editor Paul Taylor and a team of volunteers - have produced the Carnegie Newsletter, a twice-monthly source of news, views, poetry and comics for the Downtown Eastside community and beyond.

The Carnegie Newsletter is a valuable source of information about all things in the community. We all look forward to its post-pandemic return to a print version.

Paul Taylor

2021 Heart of tHe City festival 13

THURSDAY OCTOBER 28 ART

ART IN THE STREETS

MUSIC ON THE PATIO Thursday October 28, 12pm - 2pm Carnegie Patio, 401 Main Free Outdoor performances of music, poetry and opera from the patio of the Carnegie! Today we welcome singer and songwriter Michael Edward Nardachioni. COVID protocols in place.

SHADOW THEATRE

ZOOM SHADOW Thursday October 28, 1pm - 2:30pm Online, Registration available Free, donations appreciated The Festival is thrilled to present the first seven stories of a new shadow theatre project created by our long-standing colleagues from Runaway Moon Theatre (Enderby BC/Secwepemc homelands). Zoom Shadow, created over the internet in seven different homes, features storytellers who each recount a memory of something of immeasurable value that has helped shape their world. Actor/puppeteer Sarah Redmond and designer/puppeteer Cathy Stubington have worked with storytellers Mariel Belanger, Harper Friedman, Sheila Campbell and Ama Nishihara, Harper Friedman, Rene Hugo, Sophie Yendoe, and Sanchez and Elishka Hugo Rucka; while composer Joelysa Pankanea has added a layer of magic to the soundtrack. Following the presentation the artists will be on Zoom to hear your impressions and answer questions. Runaway Moon Theatre are longtime friends of the festival: inspiring mentors in development of the 2003 Downtown Eastside Community Play; and collaborators with Vancouver Moving Theatre on The Minotaur Dreams.

VIEWING ROOM

IN PERSON: TELLING OUR STORIES Thursday October 28, 5pm - 9pm Carnegie Theatre, 401 Main Free As many community members are without access to internet service, we have set up a viewing room at Carnegie to watch in person: Telling Our Stories live streaming from the Lost + Found Cafe. If the event at Lost + Found Cafe has reached its capacity, you have the option to view the event via live stream at the Carnegie. The viewing room is also open on the evenings of Friday October 29, Sunday October 31 and Tuesday November 2.

See each day in the schedule for specific details. Limited capacity, controlled entry and COVID safety protocols in place.

Earle Peach

SPOKEN WORD

IN PERSON: TELLING OUR STORIES Thursday October 28, 7pm - 8:30pm Lost + Found Cafe, 33 W. Hastings In person & Live stream Free, donations appreciated Writers haven’t stopped writing with COVID restrictions and the Festival is pleased to present an evening of readings in person. Musician Earle Peach reads from his newlypublished book Questions to the Moon. Earle began by writing down his songs and along the way discovered he had a lot to say about himself and the role songwriting plays in his life. Barbara Jackson, Earle’s lovely partner in life and in the duo Songtree, will join him to bring some of the songs to life. Special appearance by Penny Goldsmith, publisher of Lazara Press, to read a couple poems by the late and beloved Sandy Cameron.

We also welcome writers from the DTES Writers Collective who launched their first anthology Continuum at last year’s Festival and found a way to write together within the limits of COVID. They are pleased to again share writings from the heart of our community. Members of Fire Writers, a writing group based in the Carnegie Learning Centre, will also share their words with us.

With limited capacity in the Lost + Found Cafe, we will live stream the event onto the Festival website as well as to the viewing room set up in the Carnegie Theatre.

Limited live audience capacity, proof of vaccination required.

Registration on the Festival website; seats held until event start time.

Brenda Prince

14 Heart of tHe City festival 2021

THURSDAY OCTOBER 28 THEATRE

RADIO

Kla How Ya on Co-op Radio Thursday October 28, 5pm - 6pm Live Broadcast Co-op Radio CFRO 100.5FM Kla How Ya host Gunargie O’Sullivan provides updates and interviews on news and current events. This is a chance to hear what people directly involved or affected have to say about current issues and possible solutions. Today Gunargie interviews Indigenous artists taking part in this year’s Heart of the City Festival. Listen to Co-op Radio!

OPENING RECEPTION

#WHATNOW Thursday October 28, 8pm; 2 for 1 preview Thurs Oct 28 to Sun Oct 31, Wed Nov 3 to Sun Nov 7 Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Tickets from $15 Tickets: www.alleytheatre.ca/productions/whatnow See Friday October 29 for full description.

ART INSTALLATION

WE LIVE HERE Thursday October 28, 8pm - 10pm Also on October 27 & 29 Jack Chow Insurance parking lot 500 blk Carrall at East Pender Free

MASS REINCARNATION OF WISH FRAGMENTS 願片大量転生 (GANHEN TAIRYOU TENSEI) Thursday October 28, 6pm - 8pm Exhibition October 28 - December 15 SUM Gallery, #425 - 268 Keefer Free, Registration required

See Wednesday October 27 for full description.



Eva Wong and Naoko Fukumaru’s collaboration brings together the traditional Japanese practices of origami and kintsugi to tell a tale of queer transformation. This exhibit will showcase 1,000 origami butterflies, made by community members from their Butterfly Workshops, bursting out of a kintsugi cocoon. The written wishes of workshop participants will be hidden within the folds of each butterfly, carried away to be answered by the gods. Kintsugi, long considered a metaphor for the embracing of one’s imperfections, is the art of repairing broken pottery by mending the cracks with gold. Paired with the butterfly’s story of transformation, Mass Reincarnation of Wish Fragments reflects themes that are common in 2SLGBTQ+ culture, especially the transgender experience. Register at bit.ly/HOTC-Sum

RADIO

ARTS RATIONAL Thursday October 28, 9pm - 11pm Live Broadcast Co-op Radio CFRO 100.5FM Gerry Kowalenko regularly hosts in-depth Interviews and commentary on the local arts scene. For this evening Jay Hamburger hosts a special Festival hour on Arts Rational.

Jay talks with two Festival artists whose work is presented in Indigenous Journeys: Solos for Three Women (online Nov 3): local actor, writer, artist, and community activist Priscillia Mays Tait will talk about her performance of Chemukh’s Dream, as well as her work in Theatre Terrific’s Windows; and Co-op Radio’s own Gunargie O’Sullivan will share the story of The dance within the dance is the dance, her creation-in-progress for Indigenous Journeys.

Rounding out the program with intricate melodies and chords is musical guest Mike Richter.

Mike Richter

2021 Heart of tHe City festival 15

FRIDAY OCTOBER 29 GAMES

Come dressed in your costume or holiday wear for some Hallowe’en fun! PRIZES available for best dressed! Four one-hour Bingo sessions throughout the day – 10am-11am; 11:30am-12:30pm; 1pm-2pm; 2:30pm-3:30pm. With Ben, everyone’s favourite caller!

Limited capacity, first come first seated, COVID protocols in place.

OPEN HOUSE

VANCOUVER POLICE MUSEUM & ARCHIVES Friday October 29, 11am - 4pm Vancouver Police Museum, 2nd Floor, 240 E. Cordova Free admission today One of Vancouver’s most interesting attractions, the Vancouver Police Museum & Archives is located in the former Coroner’s Court and City Analyst Laboratory building. Built in 1932, the heritage structure houses an historical collection: the history of the Vancouver Police Department and Vancouver Coroner's Services. Check out the Museum's Healing Waters: Healing Through Culture exhibit: a collection of shared stories from the Pulling Together canoe journeys, in partnership with the Pulling Together Canoe Society and the Heart of the City Festival. COVID measures in place; proof of vaccination not required, but masks are mandatory. For more information: 604.665.3346 or www. vancouverpolicemuseum.ca or check out facebook and twitter!

Everyone welcome.

MUSIC

MUSIC IN THE STREETS HASTINGS STREET BAND Friday October 29, 12pm & 1pm Starts at Carnegie, 401 Main Free

It’s music in the streets! Join the Hastings Street Band and their upbeat New Orleans style jazz and blues. Led by multi-instrumentalist and composer Brad Muirhead, the band is composed of enthusiastic Downtown Eastside involved musicians. Nothing beats the rhythms of the Hastings Street Band!

ART INSTALLATION

WE LIVE HERE Friday October 29, 8pm - 10pm Also on October 27 & 28 Jack Chow Insurance parking lot 500 blk Carrall at East Pender Free See Wednesday October 27 for full description.

16 Heart of tHe City festival 2021

CONVERSATION



Mid-19th century Metis beadwork

HALLOWE’EN BINGO Friday October 29, 10am - 3:30pm Carnegie Theatre Free

LI KEUR, RIEL’S HEART OF THE NORTH - CROSS-CULTURAL ARTISTIC COLLABORATION, A WAY FORWARD IN RECONCILIATION? Friday October 29, 1pm - 2:30pm Online, Registration Required Free, donations are appreciated Métis poet Suzanne Steele, composer Neil Weisensel, and Métis choreographer Yvonne Chartrand speak about Li Keur, Riel's Heart of the North, a new musical theatre production to be presented in Winnipeg in February 2022. Join the three artistic leads as they converse about artistic process, cross-cultural collaboration, the Métis diaspora, Indigenous languages and protocols, and the implications for Métis communities across Canada, including Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

VIEWING ROOM

Friday October 29, 5pm - 9pm Carnegie Theatre, 401 Main Free Due to the COVID pandemic, the Heart of the City Festival has had to adapt. We are presenting events online and on the Festival website, as well as in-person events. As many community members do not have access to internet service, we have set up a viewing room in the Carnegie Theatre to view archived or On Demand material. Also on the evenings of Thursday October 28, Sunday October 31 and Tuesday November 2. See each day in the schedule for specific details. Limited capacity, controlled entry and safety protocols in place.

COMMUNITY

WHERE I COME FROM...AN EVENING OF INDIGENOUS STORYTELLING! Friday October 29, 7pm - 9pm VANDU, 380 E. Hastings Free Join WAHRS, the Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society, for an evening in their Speaker’s Series. Tonight is a storyweaving of Indigenous peoples who use medicines in the Downtown Eastside.

COVID protocols in place, first come first seated.

FRIDAY OCTOBER 29

L-R: Yvonne Wallace, Emily Grace Brook, Siobhan Sloane-Seale, Sabrina Symington, Patrick Dodd

THEATRE

#WHATNOW Opening Night Friday October 29, 8pm Thursday October 28 to Sunday October 31 Wednesday November 3 to Sunday November 7

8pm Wed to Sat | 3pm Sunday matinees Sunday Nov 7 ASL Performance Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Tickets from $15; 2 for 1 preview Thurs Oct 28

Tickets: www.alleytheatre.ca/productions/whatnow #whatnow is a multi-perspective documentary theatre and dance creation about the #metoo movement. Hours of audio interviews, real life stories and reflections come to life through “headphone verbatim”, as recordings are played through earphones to actors, who repeat what they hear. Co-directed by Amber Barton and Marisa Emma Smith with performers Siobhan Sloane-Seale, Yvonne Wallace, Patrick Dodd, Sabrina Symington and Emily Grace Brook. Facilitated conversations follow each performance. Produced by Alley Theatre in partnership with Good Night Out Vancouver. Running time: approx. 80 minutes. Licensed bar. COVID measures in place, proof of vaccination required.

Gender-specific performances are offered to allow for honest and supported environments for audiences to respond to the performance with other people of the gender with whom they identify: Sunday October 31 will be for female audience members only; Wednesday November 3 will be for trans and non-binary audience members only; and Thursday November 4 will be for male audience members only.

Art Installation, The Our Park Project When you’re in the Carnegie Centre during the Festival, check out the art banners installed around the building. This installation is from the Our Park Project, a summer-long creative residency in Andy Livingstone Park led by artists Sylvan Hamburger and Carnegie Community Centre Elder in Residence Les Nelson, with the support of WAHRS. The project invited the park’s many users and communities to draw and create prints together and fill the park with art. This ‘harm reduction through the arts’ initiative aimed to reduce stigma related to substance use and to support connection and resilience in the communities that use Andy Livingstone Park.

2021 Heart of tHe City festival 17

SATURDAY OCTOBER 30

Walking Tour with John Atkin

WALKING TOUR

CHINATOWN HISTORIC LANEWAYS WALKING TOUR Saturday October 30, 10am - 11:30am Limited capacity, Registration required $10 / low income pay what you can Join local historian and walking encyclopedia John Atkin on this walk to explore the fascinating historic laneways of Chinatown.

John will open your eyes to the importance of Chinatown’s laneways and their vital role in the City of Vancouver’s initiatives towards Chinatown World Heritage Site. Explore the unique BC Hydro H-frame structures now under threat of removal, as well as stories of historic shops, markets and legendary businesses like the Green and Orange Door cafes. Limited capacity, registration info on Festival website. Once you are registered, you will receive the location of the starting point of the walk.

WORKSHOP

LOVE LETTER TO SELF: FICTIONAL SELF-PORTRAITURE THROUGH DRAWING Saturday October 30, 10am - 12pm Online via Zoom Limited capacity, Registration required Free, donations are appreciated In today’s workshop with semillites hernández velasco, you will learn a few tips and tricks to start drawing self-portraits. How can we draw ourselves without drawing our bodies? We can re-imagine our bodies as plants, animals, food, anything we can imagine.

Self-portraits are a tool to create our own representations.

Through fiction, we can reimagine ourselves in ways that reality can't. This is an opportunity to create a love letter to our bodies and minds for taking us this far in life! semillites (he/they) is a trans and brown visual artist and printmaker who comes from a family of campesinos (peasants) in central México; he tries to put his ancestors' teachings into his artworks. With a deep love for colours and collective work, semillites’ mediums range from drawing to textile art, music, graphic design and anything he can learn. Presented by WePress. For this workshop you will need access to paper and drawing tools (pencils, pens, markers, charcoal, etc). All levels of experience welcome.

18 Heart of tHe City festival 2021

ART

ART IN THE STREETS

MUSIC ON THE PATIO Saturday October 30, 12pm - 2pm Carnegie Patio, 401 Main Free Outdoor performances of music, poetry and opera from the patio of the Carnegie. Today on Carnegie’s patio we welcome musical veteran Joe Chow who channels the likes of rock ‘n roll legends Elvis Presley and James Brown. COVID Protocols are in place.

MUSIC

MUSIC IN THE STREETS HASTINGS STREET BAND Saturday October 30, 12pm & 1pm Abbott & Keefer, NE corner Free

It’s music in the streets! Join the Hastings Street Band and their upbeat New Orleans style jazz and blues. Led by multi-instrumentalist and composer Brad Muirhead, the band is composed of enthusiastic Downtown Eastside involved musicians. Nothing beats the rhythms of the Hastings Street Band!

Hastings Street Band

SATURDAY OCTOBER 30 CONVERSATION

A VANCOUVER DANCE STORY: CHAOS EDITION Saturday October 30, 2pm – 4pm Scotiabank Dance Centre, Faris Theatre, 677 Davie Free event, all ages A Vancouver Dance Story: Chaos Edition, an event in three parts, highlights the emergence of contemporary dance in Vancouver through archives, digital media, oral history, documentary film, and live conversation. The afternoon features the launch of Coming Out of Chaos: A Vancouver Dance Story, an online exhibition and oral history project centering on Karen Jamieson’s Coming Out of Chaos (1982) and its enduring resonance throughout contemporary dance and interdisciplinary arts. The launch includes a screening of the documentary film Terminal City Dance At Work (1981) by Michael Goldberg; followed by a conversation between original Terminal City Dance members Savannah Walling, Terry Hunter, and Karen Jamieson, moderated by dance historian and editor of Dance International Kaija Pepper. Today’s program traces the lineages of creative and choreographic influences between local dance practitioners, as well as the origins of Terminal City Dance Society and its evolution into The VDC Dance Centre Society. Presented by Karen Jamieson Dance, in partnership with the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival and The Dance Centre. The launch is produced by KJD and Creative Director/Dance Archivist Emma Metcalfe Hurst. Limited capacity, masks mandatory, and proof of vaccination required.

COMEDY

MERLIN COSMOS: MAGIC - IT’S PERSONAL Saturday October 30, 7pm - 8:30pm Online Free, Registration available Merlin's approach to magic is as a storyteller in the style of a stand-up comic. Usually we expect magicians to focus on the effect of magic as a source of mystery and wonder.

For Merlin, magic is personal and a large part of his view of the world. This makes his magic unique. Much of his magic and stories have been developed during Merlin’s time living in the Downtown Eastside and are presented in a light-hearted fashion with an emphasis on fun. For this performance, you are encouraged to participate. Grab a deck of cards for a magic trick you can do at home. Prerecorded at the Firehall Arts Centre, presented online, followed by live Q&A with Merlin. All ages can enjoy together. Guaranteed to be fun!

Note: the film Terminal City Dance At Work will be available On Demand on the Festival website starting Sunday October 31.

FILM

SHORT FILMS WITH ALL BODIES DANCE PROJECT Saturday October 30, 7pm - 8pm Carnegie Theatre, 401 Main Free Join All Bodies Dance Project for an evening of innovative contemporary dance films that challenge preconceived societal ideas of what dance can be. They’ll show Sanctuary, Parts of Me and Near/Far,, a new film they created during COVID. The screening of these three films will be followed by a short Q&A with dancers and choreographers. Limited audience capacity, first come first serve.

Merlin

THEATRE

#WHAT NOW Saturday October 30, 8pm Thurs Oct 28 to Sun Oct 31, Wed Nov 3 to Sun Nov 7 Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Tickets from $15 Tickets: www.alleytheatre.ca/productions/whatnow See Friday October 29 for full description.

2021 Heart of tHe City festival 19

SUNDAY OCTOBER 31 ART IN THE STREETS

DRUMS ON THE PATIO Sunday October 31, 12pm - 2pm Carnegie Patio, 401 Main Free Outdoor performances of music, poetry and opera from the patio of the Carnegie. Today we welcome John Sam and Love Medicine who will lift our spirits with song and the big drum.

COVID protocols are in place.

WALKING TOUR



ART TALK

CHINATOWN GHOSTS: ANCESTORS ALL AROUND US Led by Youth Collaborative for Chinatown 青心在唐人街 Sunday October 31, 10:30am - 11:45am $10 / low-income pay what you can Limited capacity, Registration required Ancestors are all around us in Chinatown. In this tour, learn to see and hear their stories and teachings in the everyday shops and spaces of the neighbourhood while you hear how the living maintain relationships with those deceased. Led by Youth Collaborative for Chinatown.

Limited capacity, registration info on Festival website.

Once you are registered, you will receive the location of the starting point of the walk.

DID YOU KNOW?

50 YEARS OF CREATIVE COLLABORATION: Transformational Encounters & Turning Points Sunday October 31, 1pm – 3pm Online, Registration required Free, donations appreciated Terry Hunter (Nang Gulgaa) and Savannah Walling (hl Gat’saa), co-founders of Vancouver Moving Theatre and Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival, invite you to this online sharing to honour a few of the transformational encounters and turning points they experienced over their fifty years creative journey. Joined by special guests including Michael Clague, Rosemary Georgeson, Karen Jamieson, Renae Morriseau, John Endo Greenaway, Joseph Pepe Danza, James Fagan Tait, Teresa Vandertuin, and Mildred Grace German.

This event features stories, memories, photos and conversations with long-time colleagues about the impacts of shared journeys: from Simon Fraser University’s non-credit arts program to the avant-garde collective Terminal City Dance; from international touring of drum dance theatre repertoire to theatre co-productions and birth of their son Montana; from the Downtown Eastside Community Play (2003) and Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival (2004+) to cross cultural co-productions, from Indigenous led co-productions and cultural work to the community play national network… while living and working on Coast Salish homelands within the Downtown Eastside community from 1979 to today.

A unique intergenerational partnership is taking place between the Lim Sai Hor Kow Mock Benevolent Association – the oldest of Chinatown’s thirteen society heritage buildings – and the VALU Coop. In residence in the building, the VALU Coop is a growing group of artists and community organizers who are dedicated to challenging exploitative labour practices and building new organizing models that support workers in arts and culture. The Vancouver Artists Labour Union Cooperative are developing new community projects including “Hot Pot Talks” to help the Lim Association fundraise for repairs, and are partnering with the Lim Association on a multi-year project (Engaging Chinatown) to digitize its paper archives.

Terry Hunter, Savannah Walling

20 Heart of tHe City festival 2021

SUNDAY OCTOBER 31 THEATRE

#WHATNOW Sunday October 31, 3pm matinee For this performance, female audience members only Thurs Oct 28 to Sun Oct 31, Wed Nov 3 to Sun Nov 7 Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Tickets from$15; female audience members only Tickets: www.alleytheatre.ca/productions/whatnow See Friday October 29 for full description.

COMMUNITY CELEBRATION

EVIL CULT SINGALONG WITH THE LEGION OF FLYING MONKEYS! Sunday October 31, 4pm MacLean Park, 710 Keefer Free The Legion of Flying Monkeys return to MacLean Park with their wildly original instruments and innovative jumpy tunes for their annual Evil* Cult Singalong! Bring your children and adults in costume for a rousing fun time in the park. With musicians Elaine Joe, Jamie Macdonald, Dennis R. Tokarsky, Sean Mythical Man Veley, and David Gowman. *Caution, children will be exposed to humanist and socialist lyrics!

VIEWING ROOM

Sunday October 31, 5pm - 9pm Carnegie Theatre, 401 Main Free It’s Hallowe’en, costumes welcome! Due to the Covid pandemic, the Heart of the City Festival is presenting events online and on the Festival website. As many community members are without access to internet service, we have set up a viewing room at the Carnegie Theatre to view archived or On Demand material.

Also on the evenings of Thursday October 28, Friday October 29 and Tuesday November 2. See each day in the schedule for specific details. There is limited capacity in the room, with controlled entry and safety protocols in place.

DID YOU KNOW? This year British Columbia celebrates its 150th anniversary as part of Canada. But Salish history stretches back thousands of years. In an exciting development, the Coast Salish Oral History Project has launched a project to create a readable and accessible history of the dozens of First Nations tribes that make up Coast Salish people. Founded

by Squamish Nation leader, Khelsilem, this project will bring together writers from across the region to tell the history of dozens of First Nations and Tribes that make up the Coast Salish people. info@coastsalish.org

The Legion of Flying Monkeys

2021 Heart of tHe City festival 21

MONDAY NOVEMBER 1 ART

ART IN THE STREETS

MUSIC ON THE PATIO Monday November 1, 12pm - 2pm Carnegie Patio, 401 Main Free Outdoor performances of music, poetry, and opera from the patio of the Carnegie. Today on Carnegie’s patio we welcome the uplifting sounds and tunes of Anthony Favel playing the flute. COVID Protocols are in place.

RADIO

WHEN SPIRIT WHISPERS ON CO-OP RADIO Monday November 1, 1pm - 2:30pm Live Broadcast Co-op Radio CFRO 100.5FM In the landscape of reconciliation, host Gunargie O’Sullivan focuses on the current relationship between Canada and First Nations in urban Vancouver. Today, Gunargie will broadcast live from the Vigil for the 215+ children at the Vancouver Art Gallery. She’ll talk with artist Tamara Bell who began the vigil by placing 215 pairs of shoes on the gallery steps, along with other contributors, guardians and volunteers.

Gunargie O’Sullivan

CELEBRATION

DAY OF THE DEAD ALTAR Monday November 1, 2pm - 5pm Listening Post, 382 Main Free Join “Lady Die” outside the Listening Post on Sunday afternoon where we will create a sidewalk community altar. People passing by are invited to light a candle to honour their dead loved ones.

COVID protocols in place; we encourage contributors to care for each other by wearing face masks.

The tradition of the Day of the Dead can be traced back to the pre-Conquest Aztecs and is a holiday celebrated annually by many in Latin America...and in the Downtown Eastside community. At this time of year the souls of our loved ones who have passed are believed to return to visit us. Families honour their ancestors by creating altars and making offerings of their favourite food, alcohol, tobacco and sugar skulls. Decorations of yellow marigolds and harvest vegetables can symbolize death, and candles are lit to welcome the souls of the dead. Hasta la vista.

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FILM

FINDING GROUNDS FOR GOODNESS Monday November 1 4pm - 5:30pm PST (7pm - 8:30pm EST) Online A selection of short films from Jumblies Theatre (Toronto) and partners across the land on the theme of 'social goodness'. Jumblies multi-year Grounds for Goodness project is an artful exploration of 'social goodness' – why and how people sometimes act in good ways towards each other. As it has adapted to community-engaged art-making during pandemic times, this project has generated a wonderful, varied and whimsical collection of short videos with communities and artists from around Canada. Join us for a sampling hosted by Jumblies staff, including the premiere presentation of Finding Grounds for Goodness in the Downtown Eastside, created during last year's Heart of the City Festival with DTES community members, and Vancouver and Toronto artists. We are delighted to welcome Jumblies Theatre, who have advised and partnered with Vancouver Moving Theatre on projects involving the Downtown Eastside community since 2003.

MUSIC

Bells of St. James’ Monday November 1, 2pm St. James' Anglican Church, 303 E. Cordova Free At 2pm come to the corner of Gore and E. Cordova, or stop outdoors in the surrounding neighbourhood and listen for the ringing of the bells from St. James' Anglican Church: a special presentation for the Festival on All Saints’ Day. "The bells at St. James”, with a full octave range, were cast in 1937 in Loughborough, England and continue sounding to this day. The tenor bell, weighing two tons, is the bell that’s heard tolling, and for special occasions, all eight bells play together.

MONDAY NOVEMBER 1

Photo by Michelle Sproule

ROUNDTABLE

HELP WIN FULL RENT CONTROL IN THE DTES Monday November 1, 7pm Online, Registration required Free, donations are appreciated Join the Right to Remain Collective and friends in a roundtable dialogue about winning rent control in privately-owned single room occupancy hotels (SROs), housing of last resort for 4,700 Downtown Eastside residents. After decades of community advocacy for rent control, this November a final vote is coming to Vancouver City Council that will determine if and how the City will implement rent control in SROs. Find out how we got to this

DID YOU KNOW? The Union of BC Indian Chiefs have called for action to improve CRAB Park and establish an Indigenous healing Lodge. The UBCIC calls CRAB Park “a sacred site of great spiritual and cultural significance for Indigenous peoples that serves as a safe haven for those who are disproportionately impacted by homelessness and impoverishment.” The Vancouver Parks Board passed a motion unanimously asking the Metro Port Authority if a cultural healing centre could be permitted on the site. If the answer is yes, they have committed to seek funding for the park and to work with the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations to determine how they would like to be involved in the project. We are waiting.

point, how rent control should work in SROs, and what you can do to help win this historic battle for tenants of the Downtown Eastside.

The roundtable of tenants, academics, and community organizers will include: Indigenous opening with Norm Leech (Vancouver Aboriginal Community Policing Centre); tenants Tom DeGrey, Nicole Baxter, Joshua Gillen (Right to Remain Collective); experts in housing, tenants' rights and the law Dr. Alexandra Flynn (UBC), Dr. Jeff Masuda (UVic – Right to Remain Collective), Emily Rogers (Together Against Poverty Society); and community organizers Wendy Pedersen (DTES SRO Collaborative), Tintin Yang (DTES Neighbourhood House).

For more information: www.righttoremain.ca

THE DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE DISTRICT Vancouver’s Oldest Neighbourhood the Historic Heart of the City Founded on unceded Coast Salish territories and ancient seasonal village sites – and later home to a series of residential immigrant communities – today’s Downtown Eastside district is made up of several historic neighbourhoods: Victory Square, Gastown, the Hastings and Main Street corridors, Chinatown, Strathcona, Thornton Park, the Oppenheimer / Powell Street area (aka Paueru Gai or Nihon-machi), North Hastings industrial area, and the Port of Vancouver.

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TUESDAY NOVEMBER 2 RADIO

GOING INDIGENOUS ON CO-OP RADIO Tuesday November 2, 1pm - 2:30pm Live Broadcast Co-op Radio CFRO 100.5FM Hosted by Gunargie O’Sullivan, the program Going Indigenous with Miss GVS is an exploration of Indigenous art and language in the Downtown Eastside. For the fourth of her radio programs for this year’s Heart of the City Festival, Gunargie will go live from the DTES and talk to people and artists who live and work on the neighbourhood’s streets about stories we need to hear. Gunargie will be live remote and/or live streaming. Listen to Co-op Radio!

ART TALK Sam McKay

CULTURAL SHARING

HEARTS BEAT 2021 Tuesday November 2, 12pm – 2pm (7pm – 9pm GMT) Live Stream, Registration available Free, donations appreciated Listen to the stories of Hearts Beat, a musical exploration of the shared traditions of drums, dance and song between Indigenous and Irish cultures.

Join us virtually to watch both live stream and pre-recorded performances with lexwst’í:lem drum group, Ceól Abú Irish musicians, and the De Danaan Irish dancers. More artists to be announced soon. We are honoured that Chief Bill Williams, Consul General Frank Flood and Eamonn McKee, Ambassador of Ireland to Canada, will participate in the event.

MY ART IS ACTIVISM, PART III Tuesday November 2, 3pm - 4:30pm Online, Registration Available Free, donations appreciated Longtime Downtown Eastside documentarian and organizer Sid Chow Tan shares selections from his extraordinary archival video collection of volunteer-produced video journalism. Sid’s choices of videos highlight Chinese Canadian social movements and direct action in Chinatown, particularly community media and redress for Chinese head tax and exclusion. Sid is grateful for the community television volunteers and staff who made possible the production, broadcast and archive of these videos. Sid also thanks the Downtown Eastside Small Arts Grant and Heart of the City Festival for their support. Online presentation followed by Q&A with Sid. Go to Festival website to preregister via Eventbrite or for viewing details.

This afternoon of entertainment promises to foster intercultural learning, spark new connections, and inspire our hearts and minds. Hearts Beat is proud to be part of the 18th Annual Heart of the City Festival and is a collaboration between the Carnegie Community Centre Indigenous Programs, the UBC Learning Exchange, the Irish Consulate, and Carnegie Community Centre Association. For inquiries please contact Suzie O’Shea at suzie.oshea@ubc.ca or Nicole Bird nicole.bird@ vancouver.ca. Registration via Eventbrite and viewing information on the Festival website.

Sid Chow Tan

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TUESDAY NOVEMBER 2 THEATRE

MADE IN CANADA: AN AGRICULTURAL SONG CYCLE Tuesday November 2, 3pm - 4pm Oppenheimer Park, 488 Powell Free Made in Canada: an agricultural song cycle braids a musical journey to share narratives of the people who harvest our food and nourish us through the pandemic. Mariachi influences blend with lyrics sourced from the words of seasonal temporary foreign workers, news articles, and legal text surrounding the Temporary Foreign Workers Program. With musicians Ray Alergria, Mark D’Angelo, Catherine Hiltz, Molly Mackinnon, Barry Mirochnick, Christine Quintana and Manuela Sosa. In honour of Dia de los Muertos, the show opens with a musical guest to acknowledge and celebrate loved ones who have passed. Originally slated pre-COVID as a live theatre show, the work has evolved into an album featuring songs composed by Mishelle Cuttler, with Spanish and English lyrics by Pedro Chamale. Produced by Rice and Beans Theatre. With good memories of the play’s reading in 2018 at the DTES Neighbourhood House, the festival is delighted to welcome back Made in Canada. You can find more info as well as the companion podcast at micsongcycle.ca.

SHOWCASE

DTES FRONT & CENTRE: IN MEMORY OF JOYCE MORGAN Tuesday November 2, 7pm Online, Registration available Free This special Downtown Eastside community music showcase honours Joyce Morgan, a pianist and longtime beloved Carnegie Community Centre volunteer. Featuring a lineup of musicians and friends of Joyce from the Carnegie Community Centre music program, including Joyce’s daughter Heidi Morgan with Earle Peach, Christie McPhee, Peggy Wilson, Murray Black, Brice Tabish, Mike Richter, John Cote, Shawn Giroux, Marj Gorrell, and the Carnegie Jazz Quintet with Brad Muirhead, Mark Boreen, Terry Hunter and special guests Brent Gubbels and Stan Taylor. Pre-recorded at Firehall Arts Centre, presented online, followed by live Q&A with participating musicians.

Go to the Festival website for registration information or viewing details.

VIEWING ROOM

DTES FRONT & CENTRE: IN MEMORY OF JOYCE MORGAN Tuesday November 2, 5pm - 9pm Carnegie Theatre, 401 Main Free Due to the COVID pandemic, the festival is also presenting events online and on the festival website. As many community members are without access to internet service, we have set up a viewing room at the Carnegie to watch the online presentation of DTES Front & Centre: In Memory of Joyce Morgan. If you don’t have data or can’t open the Festival website, come to the Carnegie Theatre and view the musical program. The viewing room is also open on the evenings of Thursday October 28, Friday October 29, and Sunday October 31.

See each day in the schedule for specific details. Limited capacity, controlled entry and safety protocols in place.

Heidi Morgan, Joyce Morgan

IN MEMORIUM JOYCE MORGAN Joyce Morgan came by her command of the keyboard honestly, having persevered through the training required to become a concert pianist. When she played, she seemed to be simply allowing her fingers to fall on the keys. With her wonderful touch, her dexterity and her precision, she could make an old piano sound like a harp played by an angel. Joyce combined keen intelligence with a playful sense of humour. She had discriminating taste in clothing and greeting cards, but her refined sensibilities were most on display in her exquisite rendering of Debussy's "Claire de Lune". We at Carnegie were blessed to hear Joyce express her faith and her joy through voice and instrument. You could tell she meant it when she sang about amazing grace and the hills being alive with the sound of music, or when she spoke lovingly about her children. Thank you, Joyce, for the memories and the inspiration. – Mike Richter

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WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 3 OPERA

OPERA IN THE STREETS

LUNCHTIME WITH CITY OPERA VANCOUVER Wednesday November 3, 12pm - 1pm Gore & E. Cordova, NW corner Free The Festival is presenting outdoor performances of music, poetry, and opera.

Today on the corner of Gore and Cordova, we are excited to welcome City Opera Vancouver’s return to the Downtown Eastside with one of its popular PopUpOpera mini-concerts.

COVID Protocols are in place, wear a mask and a smile.

COMMUNITY

LOCAL STORIES SPELLING BEE Wednesday November 3, 1pm - 3pm Carnegie Learning Centre, 3rd floor 401 Main Free, sign up at the Learning Centre The Learning Centre is holding an old-fashioned Spelling Bee to celebrate this year’s Heart of the City Festival. The words in the Spelling Bee will be drawn from local stories and neighbourhood sites. All of the words used in the final Spelling Bee will be on a Study Sheet that participants can pick up after Tuesday October 12. Brush up your spelling. Be prepared for names like Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Gardens, Tsleil-Waututh, and words from local stories like Dissonance and Sandstone Lady. Join us for fun, learning and arguments about spelling! Prizes for everyone who participates!

Because of COVID Safety precautions, we have room for thirteen people in the Learning Centre. If more than ten sign up for the contest, we will have two sessions and more prizes.

EXHIBITION

BEYOND THE FRAME GALLERY DROP-IN Wednesday November 3, 1pm - 5pm Exhibit runs November 3 - November 6 InterUrban Gallery, 1 E. Hastings, entrance on Carrall Free

Yvonne Mark

Beyond the Frame is a collaborative project, led by Megaphone Magazine,, connecting community storytellers with local artists to create original comic works. At this exhibition, view process works from initial sketches to final comics, of storyteller and artist collaborators Yvonne Mark and Louie Wilson; Kris Cronk and Tajliya Jamal; Joan Morelli and Tiffany Muñoz; Suzanne Kilroy/Huculak and Whess Harmon; and Mark Irvine and TJ Felix. Since August 2021, one comic has been published each month in Megaphone, concluding with a final issue in December. Limited capacity, first come first serve, COVID measures in place.

26 Heart of tHe City festival 2021

OPERA

THE PROP MASTER’S DREAM – A CANTONESE OPERA WORKSHOP 溫哥華燕鳳鳴粵劇團呈獻 “道具大師的尋根夢 - 粵劇工作坊”

Wednesday November 3, 2pm - 3:30pm PST 2021 年 11 月 03 日 下午 2:00 – 3:30 時 (太平洋時間)

Vancouver Cantonese Opera presents an online workshop that shares the behind-the-scenes making of The Prop Master’s Dream, a new fusion opera inspired by the true-life story of Wah Kwan Gwan (1929-2000). Wah Kwan was an Indigenous Cantonese Opera performer and prop maker who was adopted at birth by a Chinese opera family and raised in Guangdong before returning to Vancouver’s Chinatown. Vancouver Cantonese Opera will share Wah Kwan’s story, rare archival images of Chinatown, and their experimental approach to the music. This Cantonese and English Zoom event is free and open to all ages.

Register for the Free Zoom Livestream : 登記 Zoom 直播，請點擊以下聯線 ： bit.ly/HOTC-PropMaster

EXHIBITION TOUR

SHO SHO ESQUIRO: DOCTRINE OF DISCOVERY Wednesday, November 3, 2pm - 3pm Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art, 639 Hornby Free admission 2pm - 3pm Explore important stories told through the exquisite clothing and paintings of Sho Sho Esquiro. Her work celebrates the beauty, strength and resilience of First Nations communities in the face of historical and ongoing trauma. The Bill Reid Gallery thanks their Community Access Partner, Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association (DVBIA) for their continued support, and the Festival thanks Bill Reid Gallery for their ongoing support of the Downtown Eastside community.

WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 3 THEATRE

INDIGENOUS JOURNEYS: SOLOS BY THREE WOMEN Wednesday November 3, 7pm - 9pm Online, Registration available Free, donations are appreciated Three new solos by three powerful Downtown Eastside involved women profiling their creative and personal experiences.

Chemukh's Dream is written and performed by Priscillia Mays Tait (Babine / Gitxsan / Wetsuwet’en). Priscillia shares her magical story of “Chemukh’s Dream” where Chemukh, Annie Sue and the crew travel to the heavens above, meet a special relative and explore the universe. (20 min) Tell Us When They Came is written and performed by Kat Zu'comulwat Norris (Lyackson First Nation) and directed by Sam Bob. Kat’s powerful voice takes us on a journey of Indigenous strength, grief, joy and resilience through her own lived experience. (20 min) The dance within the dance is the dance, a work-in-progress written and performed by Gunargie O’Sullivan aka ga'axstasalas (Kwakuilth Nation), is an emotional journey with narration and movement that reveals how loss of culture, family and land can lead to addictions, and how culture, family and land can also lead us out of addiction to points of recovery. (17 min) As an introduction to Gunargie’s presentation, we offer Grandchild (pre-recorded in CRAB Park) a dance poem with Dallas, Laryssa Kuypers, Austin Kuypers and Anthony Favel. (5 min) Pre-recorded at the Firehall Arts Centre, presented online, followed by live Q&A with the artists. Registration available, go to Festival website for more information.

Gunargie O’Sullivan aka ga'axstasalas

#WHATNOW Wednesday November 3, 8pm For this performance, trans and non-binary audience members only Thurs Oct 28 to Sun Oct 31, Wed Nov 3 to Sun Nov 7 Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Tickets from$15 Tickets: www.alleytheatre.ca/productions/whatnow

Priscillia Mays Tait

Kat Zu'comulwat Norris

THEATRE

RADIO

LATE NIGHT WITH SAVAGES ON COOP RADIO Wednesday November 3, 11pm - 1am Live Broadcast Co-op Radio CFRO 100.5FM A sharing of indigenous programming with host Gunargie O’Sullivan, covering traditional and contemporary artists, musical releases, comedians, models and savages. Gunargie will be live remote and/or live streaming. Listen to Co-op Radio!

See Friday October 29 for full description.

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WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 3 CULTURAL SHARING

OPENINGS Wednesday November 3 to Saturday November 6, 7:30pm Firehall Arts Centre, 280 E. Cordova This is a wonderful opportunity to listen and learn from a series of four conversations and presentations that centre Indigenous Elders, Knowledge Keepers and Artists from many different nations sharing stories of resilience, hope and humour.

Collaborators Rosemary Georgeson (Coast Salish/Sahtu Dene) and Donna Spencer (hybrid settler) have gathered together: ground-breaking Indigenous women in the arts to share how they tell their stories through film, on stage and in literature; members from the LGBTQ2+ community to share queer Indigenous stories in the arts; leaders in the resurgence of canoe culture; and individuals who like to make people laugh. Presented by Firehall Arts Centre in partnership with Vancouver Moving Theatre.

This series builds on the success of In the Beginning: Cultural Sharing, presented at the 2020 Heart of the City Festival, collaboratively led by Georgeson and Spencer, and co-produced by Firehall Arts Centre and Vancouver Moving Theatre.

OPENINGS: Women standing their ground in the arts Wednesday November 3, 7:30pm Also November 4, 5, & 6 Firehall Arts Centre, 280 E. Cordova Sliding scale from $15-$35 (incl s/c & GST) Tickets at door or advance sales: 604-689-0926; boxoffice@ firehallartscentre.ca, or www.firehallartcentre.ca

Bottom: Kitsilano Indian Reserve, August Khahtsalano with wife and child, photo W Chapman. CVA1376-203

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THURSDAY NOVEMBER 4 ART

ART IN THE STREETS

MUSIC ON THE PATIO Thursday November 4, 12pm - 2pm Carnegie Patio, 401 Main Free Outdoor performances of music, poetry and opera from the patio of the Carnegie. Today on Carnegie’s patio we welcome singer and songwriter Michael Edward Nardachioni. COVID Protocols are in place.

EXHIBITION

BEYOND THE FRAME GALLERY DROP-IN Thursday November 4, 1pm - 5pm Exhibit runs November 3 - November 6 InterUrban Gallery, 1 E. Hastings, entrance on Carrall Free Beyond the Frame is a collaborative project led by Megaphone Magazine connecting community storytellers with local artists to create original comic works. At this exhibition, view process works from initial sketches to final comics of storyteller and artist collaborators Yvonne Mark and Louie Wilson; Kris Cronk and Tajliya Jamal; Joan Morelli and Tiffany Muñoz; Suzanne Kilroy/ Huculak and Whess Harmon; and Mark Irvine and TJ Felix. Since August 2021, one comic has been published each month in Megaphone and will conclude with a final issue in December.

Limited capacity, first come first serve, COVID measures in place.

THEATRE

COMMUNITY

STORIES WE NEED TO SHARE Thursday November 4, 3pm - 5pm Listening Post, 382 Main Free You are invited to come and share your story at the Listening Post; listen to stories of others in a sharing circle; or share your story of this time in history that is powerfully shaping the world.

Based in the Downtown Eastside for twenty-one years, the Listening Post engages in simple practices of listening, sitting in silence, welcoming the community, and with the help of many volunteers over the years, they have stories that need to be shared. The Listening Post has a display of photos of community members in their masks – a time we all hope will pass but is still with us. COVID protocols in place. Limited capacity, first come first seated.

RADIO

KLA HOW YA ON CO-OP RADIO Thursday November 4, 5pm - 6pm Live Broadcast Co-op Radio CFRO 100.5FM Kla How Ya host Gunargie O’Sullivan provides updates and interviews on news and current events. This is an opportunity to hear what people directly involved or affected have to say about today’s issues and possible solutions. Today, Gunargie will interview Indigenous artists taking part in this year’s Heart of the City Festival, and will be live remote and/or live streaming. Listen to Co-op Radio!

WINDOWS Thursday Nov 4, 2pm - 3:30pm Online, Registration available Free WINDOWS is a shared collaborative musical gaze INTO and OUT through windows revealing funny, sad, surprising, cherished stories expressed in poetry, movement, song, puppetry, imagery of all shades and rhythms. This original multimedia theatre work was created through a comprehensive community-engaged process, by, with and for artists of all abilities, and premiered online last month. Following the presentation, join director Susanna Uchatius and other project participants for a live online Q&A. With COVID restrictions, the universe has gifted us with an opportunity to connect with artists who feel more comfortable participating in artistic experiences from their homes. WINDOWS gives us an intimate look into the daily lives of this community during a time of deep transformation, and Theatre Terrific gladly accepted this offering. Go to the Festival website for registration and viewing information.

DID YOU KNOW? Crab Park is in our neighbourhood because of five years of hard work and outreach by the Create a Real Available Beach Committe (CRAB). Determined to obtain waterfront access for the Downtown Eastside, they lobbied government officials and the Vancouver Parks Board, camped out on the waterfront, and built community support. Against all odds they succeeded. The seven acre waterfront park opened in 1987 on property leased to the City by the Vancouver Port Authority crown corporation under a 40 year maintenance agreement; the end of that agreement is within reach. Many of the activists are gone now and the society, now called CRAB Water for Life Society, carries on with founder Don Larson along with support in the community.

2021 Heart of tHe City festival 29

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 4 WORKSHOP

SHADOW SIGN FOR BEDROOM PROTEST & SHADOWS WE CAST Thursday November 4, 7pm - 8:30pm Online via Zoom Free Join ART ACTION EARWIG in their Shadow Sign For Bedroom Protest workshop. Explore your thoughts about the climate crisis via shadow signs. Included in this online event is their short film Shadows We Cast (2021, 12 min). Let’s empower our actions and celebrate our strengths together, despite today’s many forms of isolation. By cutting into paper a thought or message, a sign is made that you can share by shining a flashlight (or cell-phone light) through paper onto a wall or sheet. The artists will facilitate casual conversations about our (inter)actions as human allies living with COVID-19 challenges during the climate crisis. Refugees and various shades of engagement welcome!

Photographed or screen captured signs can be uploaded from www.PotentCity.space. For non-visual participants, a Voice Sign making option will be available. To learn more about what to bring, go to: www.earwig.space/workshops/

25th ANNIVERSARY NATIONAL INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Canada recognizing and honouring the heritage, diverse cultures and outstanding achievements of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.

The day of celebration and reflection is always scheduled on the summer solstice. Indigenous leaders say this year is especially significant after it became widely known to the general public that 215 children were buried at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops. It is time for meaningful discussion and to make changes as we move forward.

50th ANNIVERSARY CANADA’S MULTICULTURAL POLICY

As a result of years of lobbying by Canadians of Ukrainian descent and groups from other ancestral backgrounds, in 1971 Canada adopted a multicultural policy. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau announced Canada’s transition from identifying as a bilingual English and French speaking nation to a multicultural nation. Canada was the first country in the world to adopt a multiculturalism policy, and to acknowledge that its citizens come from a great variety of cultural backgrounds, and that all cultures have intrinsic value.

75th ANNIVERSARY COMMUNITY ARTS COUNCIL OF VANCOUVER

Art Action Earwig

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Founded in 1946, the Community Arts Council of Vancouver (CACV) was the first arts council in North America. Since its beginning, the Community Arts Council of Vancouver has made significant contributions to shaping the cultural life of Vancouver. The mandate of the CACV is to create community through the arts.

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 4 CULTURAL SHARING

OPENINGS: Queer Indigenous Stories in the Arts Thursday November 4, 7:30pm Also November 3, 5 & 6 Firehall Arts Centre, 280 E. Cordova Sliding scale from $15-$35 (incl s/c & GST) Tickets at door or advance sales: 604-689-0926; boxoffice@ firehallartscentre.ca, or www.firehallartcentre.ca See full description on p.28

THEATRE

#WHATNOW Thursday November 4, 8pm For this performance, male audience members only Thurs Oct 28 to Sun Oct 31, Wed Nov 3 to Sun Nov 7 Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Tickets from$15 Tickets: www.alleytheatre.ca/productions/whatnow

READING

GRACE EIKO THOMSON: CHIRU SAKURA (FALLING CHERRY BLOSSOMS) Thursday November 4, 7pm Massy Arts Gallery, 23 E. Pender Free, Registration required Esteemed elder and activist Grace Eiko Thomson reads and talks about her book Chiru Sakura (Falling Cherry Blossoms), a chronicle of her and her mother’s journey through racism, internment and oppression. As an advocate for reconciliation, Grace openly shares her story with the next generations. Throughout her story, Grace returns to her mother’s teachings of hope and resilience symbolized in the cherry blossoms around what was once their home.

Grace also details her life-long advocacy for the rights of Canadians of Japanese ancestry. In conversation with John Endo Greenaway, artist and editor (The Bulletin). Limited capacity, proof of vaccination required. Registration on the Festival website. Seats held until event start time.

See Friday October 29 for full description.

RADIO

ARTS RATIONAL Thursday November 4, 9pm - 11pm Live Broadcast Co-op Radio CFRO 100.5FM As the DTES Heart of the City Festival heads into its final weekend, many exciting programs are still to come. Hosted by Gerry Kowalenko and guests, Arts Rational features interviews and commentary on the local arts scene. For this special Festival evening, host Jay Hamburger profiles Earle Peach, musician, choral leader, activist and now writer. Earle Jay Hamburger will share songs and stories from his newly-published book Questions to the Moon. Also hear stories from Paul Taylor, the intrepid editor of the Carnegie Newsletter, celebrating the 35th anniversary of publication. If anyone knows the ins and outs of the Downtown Eastside, it’s Paul Taylor!

Guest poet is Patrick Foley, who finds delicate rhymes to explore tough subjects.

Grace Eiko Thomson

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FRIDAY NOVEMBER 5 CULTURAL SHARING

HONOURING OUR GRANDMOTHERS HEALING JOURNEY Friday November 5, 10am - 4pm Oppenheimer Park, 400 Powell Free 10am - 4pm, Artwork, Projects and Healing Journey Information 1pm - 1:30pm, Welcome 1pm - 4pm, Travelling Message Chest open to the public See full description on p.34

MUSIC IN THE STREETS HASTINGS STREET BAND Friday November 5, 12pm & 1pm Starts at Keefer & Columbia Free

It’s music in the streets! Join the Hastings Street Band and their upbeat New Orleans style jazz and blues. Led by multi-instrumentalist and composer Brad Muirhead, the band is composed of enthusiastic Downtown Eastside involved musicians. Nothing beats the rhythms of the Hastings Street Band!

MUSIC

DIALOGUE

7th SYMPOSIUM ON RECONCILIATION & REDRESS IN THE ARTS Friday November 5, 10am - 2pm Online, Registration required Free, donations are appreciated The 7th Symposium on Reconciliation & Redress in the Arts, inspired by this year’s festival theme, Stories We Need to Hear, is designed as a training day for settlers and migrants seeking a deeper understanding on applying reconciliation and redress in their own lives, organisations, sector, and community. Produced

by Voor Urban Labs and Vancouver Moving Theatre in partnership with the Heart of the City Festival. There are two sessions today: Making Coast Salish Territorial Acknowledgements Matter The video of the 2016 Symposium on territorial acknowledgements has been watched over 10,000 times. Here we are five years later amid current political dimensions with the failure of Canada's reconciliation program, set against the cultural and economic resurgence of Coast Salish Peoples. We will revisit some of this video’s key questions.

Settler Policy Action on Sovereign Land, Economics & Culture Let's deep dive and hear from senior and emerging Coast Salish artists talk about landback, redress in arts and culture policy, and how your organisation can play a bigger role in resourcing Coast Salish resurgence. Tickets and registration via Eventbrite: redress2021.eventbrite.ca

ART

MUSIC

ART IN THE STREETS

POETS ON THE PATIO Friday November 5, 12pm - 2pm Carnegie Patio, 401 Main Free Outdoor performances of music, poetry and opera from the patio of the Carnegie. Today on Carnegie’s patio we welcome poets of the Downtown Eastside for an afternoon of original poetry and prose. Our host is Diane Wood, artist, poet, DTES resident and community activist. COVID Protocols are in place.

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GUITARS! GUITARS! GUITARS! Open Session Friday November 5, 1pm - 3pm Carnegie Theatre Free Carnegie has guitars and they want to be played! This open session will be a mix of one-on-one instruction, playing songs with your peers, or solo time to shred! Join us to see how people are learning guitar! A great way to spend an afternoon! Limited capacity, first come first serve, COVID measures in place.

EXHIBITION

BEYOND THE FRAME GALLERY DROP-IN Friday November 5, 1pm - 5pm Exhibit tour today 1pm - 2pm InterUrban Gallery, 1 E. Hastings Free Learn more about the ideas and processes behind Beyond the Frame — a collaborative storytelling and comics project organized

by Melanie Kwan and published by Megaphone Magazine. Today at 1pm Melanie will lead a “tour” and discuss the importance of comics as a storytelling form, along with the goals and challenges of forging new creative relationships in an unprecedented time of isolation. Comics have often been underrepresented in traditional publishing, despite being an accessible and dynamic mode of storytelling. Beyond the Frame celebrates the comic medium within a collaborative process, bringing together the unique voices of local storytellers and artists to create original works. Limited capacity, first come first serve, COVID preventions in place.

Joan Morelli

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 5 CULTURAL SHARING

OPEN HOUSE BILL REID GALLERY Friday November 5, 2pm - 5pm Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art, 639 Hornby Free admission 2pm - 5pm Drop by the Bill Reid Gallery to visit the current exhibitions including Sho Sho Esquiro: Doctrine of Discovery. Enjoy crafts, songs and stories with members of the Carnegie Cultural Sharing Program and the lexwst'i:lem Drum Group. The Bill Reid Gallery thanks their Community Access Partner, Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association (DVBIA) for their continued support, and the Festival thanks them for their continuing support of the DTES community.

CEREMONY

SURVIVORS TOTEM POLE REFURBISHMENT CLOSING CEREMONY Friday November 5, 6pm - 7pm Pigeon Park, E. Hastings & Carrall Free The public is welcome to join the closing ceremony to celebrate the refurbishment of the Survivors Totem Pole in Pigeon Park. In 2016, in a process led by Sacred Circle Society and Haida/Coast Salish carver Bernie Skundaal Williams (Gul-Kitt-Jaad / Golden Spruce Woman) and her team of local carvers, the Survivors Pole was raised in ceremony “to connect DTES people with the traditional holders of the land, the Coast Salish people. The pole is a celebration of where we are as a community and will be a lasting symbol of resistance, persistence and inclusion.” The physical and cultural refurbishment of the Survivors Totem Pole has been led by Bernie working with her team, and supported by Vancouver Moving Theatre and the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation.

MUSIC

100 BLOCK ROCK II Friday November 5, 7:30pm - 9:30pm Carnegie Theatre, 401 Main Live stream, Registration available Free, donations are appreciated Join Emcee Eris Nyx for the launch of 100 Block Rock II, a compilation LP featuring music from some of Vancouver's most marginalized community of artists – people working, living and creating in the Downtown Eastside. The evening’s roster includes pre-recorded performances with Chaos Disorder and Panic, Big City, DTES GF, Ian Cameron, Karen Colville, Keifer Tribe, Iceman, Robert William, Tangent Quo and more. From folk to punk and pop to funk, 100 Block Rock is the platform for these people to speak for themselves: in the voices of a community constantly on the verge of extinction from a drug war, colonial genocide, gentrification and the lack of political will to create substantial change. We are unable to invite everyone to join us indoors in the Carnegie Theatre, so we will live stream the program on the Festival website. Limited in-person capacity. First come first serve.

COVID preventions in place.

Karen Colville

THEATRE

#WHATNOW Friday November 5, 8pm Thurs Oct 28 to Sun Oct 31, Wed Nov 3 to Sun Nov 7 Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Tickets from $15 Tickets: www.alleytheatre.ca/productions/whatnow See Friday October 29 for full description.

Keifer Tribe

CULTURAL SHARING

OPENINGS: Canoe Power Friday November 5, 7:30pm Also November 3, 4 & 6 Firehall Arts Centre, 280 E. Cordova Sliding scale from $15-$35 (incl s/c & GST) Tickets at door or advance sales: 604-689-0926; boxoffice@firehallartscentre.ca, or www.firehallartcentre.ca

Kim

See full description on p.28

2021 Heart of tHe City festival 33

HONOURING OUR GRANDMOTHERS HEALING JOURNEY LAUNCH OF HONOURING OUR GRANDMOTHERS HEALING JOURNEY November 5 – 7, 2021 Oppenheimer Park and Strathcona Park All events are free Further We Rise Collective/Sacred Rock launch the three year project Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey with three days of ceremony, teachings and storytelling respecting Mother Earth including a day with the 7th Annual Wild Salmon Caravan.

[We] are remembering and acknowledging the Grandmothers who traveled to the Downtown Eastside, the Grandmas who passed on, and the Grandmas who are with us now and their life stories. – Nadine Spence Through arts and ceremony, we honour the important role of grandmothers in caring for us all: the land, water, wild salmon and people, plants and animals that provide us with food.

Some activities are private ceremonies for family members, some are community ceremonies and cultural sharing open to the public, and some activities are by invitation. Everyone is invited to contribute messages to the travelling message chests at Oppenheimer and Strathcona Parks. A private tent and emotional support will be available during the times the Honouring Our Grandmothers travelling message chests are open to the public.

HONOURING OUR GRANDMOTHERS HEALING JOURNEY 2021-2023 Further We Rise Collective is an art, history and language collaboration between four Indigenous generations.

Sacred Rock is a supporter of Further We Rise with their projects and programs. The vision of Sacred Rock is to connect Nlaka’pamux arts, cultural heritage, language, health, education, and the natural environment.

Further We Rise/Sacred Rock are inviting Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, grassroots organizations, businesses and communities to participate and support the future journey of the travelling message chests over the next three years.

The Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey will culminate in 2023 with ceremonies at the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival, then continue up the Fraser and Thomson River watersheds back to the grandmothers’ homelands in the mountains where their spirits and memories will be respectfully laid to rest.

The Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey launch is produced by Further We Rise Collective/Sacred Rock in partnership with Vancouver Moving Theatre/Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival, and co-hosted on November 6 by the Wild Salmon Caravan, Working Group on Indigenous Food Sovereignty and Vancouver Parks Board. For more information visit www.sacredrock.ca

Nothing would warm our hearts more then meeting you in person as you place your offering in the Travelling Message Chests. We understand this will not be possible for everyone to do, especially in these times. You are welcome to mail your letter for the travelling message chest to: Sacred Rock Box 116, Spences Bridge, BC, V0K 2L0

34 Heart of tHe City festival 2021

Honourary Grandmother Eilene (Albert) Spence with son Roger Patrick Spence

HONOURING OUR GRANDMOTHERS HEALING JOURNEY

Further We Rise Collective/Sacred Rock HONOURING OUR GRANDMOTHERS HEALING JOURNEY Oppenheimer Park, 400 Powell Friday November 5 10am – 4pm Artwork, Projects and Healing Journey Information Artwork by Irene Adams, Nadine Spence, Roger Spence, Autumn Walkem, Tamara Archie and other guests.

1pm - 1:30pm Welcome Stephen Lytton and Festival Elder in Residence Kat Norris welcome Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey travelling message chests and their creators to Oppenheimer Park in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

Everyone is invited to contribute messages to the travelling message chests, in honour, grief and celebration: letters, stories, songs, images, or poems addressed to grandmothers, ancestors, and families, to the lands, waters and salmon. These messages will be properly respected, released and laid to rest.

Saturday November 6 10am – 4pm Artwork, Projects and Healing Journey Information 2pm - 4pm Stories from Our Grandmothers Honouring the history and vision of Our Grandmothers Healing Journey. With a welcome and land acknowledgement by Victor Guerin (Musqueam), and with MC Suzette Amaya, Stephen Lytton, Autumn Walkem, honor chest youth guardians, and guests from throughout BC.

Sunday November 7 10am - 12pm Sending Off Ceremony Ceremony to release with cleansings and blessings, the Honouring Our Grandmothers travelling message chests for their three-year journey travelling BC.

7th Annual Wild Salmon Caravan A celebration of the spirit of wild salmon!

HONOURING OUR GRANDMOTHERS Strathcona Park, 857 Malkin Avenue Street parking on Malkin, Hawks Ave, Raymur Ave The Working Group on Indigenous Food Sovereignty, in partnership with Vancouver Parks Board, Further We Rise, Vancouver Moving Theatre and Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival, presents the 7th Annual Celebration of the spirit of wild salmon & launch of Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey 2021, supported by Sacred Rock.

Saturday November 6 9am Cedar Planting Ceremony and Honouring Our Grandmothers Travelling Message Chest 11am - 3:45pm Travelling Message Chest, open to all to share letters of honour We invite you to join us to honour those who have survived and those we have lost, and the wisdom, knowledge and values encoded within Grandmother’s Law, an Indigenous system of governance that preserves the health and integrity of our land and food systems (needed more than ever when systems of wild salmon fisheries governance are eroding their health).

– Dawn Morrison (Secwepemc), Wild Salmon Caravan The Working Group on Indigenous Food Sovereignty, artists in residence at the Strathcona Park Field House, are supporting restoration of Indigenous foodlands to breathe social and ecological resilience into Vancouver parks.

For more information contact: german.ocampo@wgifs.org or dawn.morrison@wgifs.org

2021 Heart of tHe City festival 35

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 6 7th Annual Wild Salmon Caravan A celebration of the spirit of wild salmon!

HONOURING OUR GRANDMOTHERS & Launch of Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey Saturday November 6, 9am - 4pm Strathcona Park, 857 Malkin Avenue Free 9am Cedar Planting Ceremony and Honouring Our Grandmothers Travelling Message Chest 11am - 3:45pm Travelling Message Chest, open to all to share letters of honour.

See full description on p.34

CULTURAL SHARING

HONOURING OUR GRANDMOTHERS HEALING JOURNEY Saturday November 6, 10am - 4pm Oppenheimer Park, 400 Powell Free 10am – 4pm Artwork, Projects and Healing Journey Information, Travelling Message Chest open to the public 2pm - 4pm Stories from Our Grandmothers See full description on p.34

VISUAL ARTS

Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival Touring Show Meet the artists, Saturday November 6, 12pm - 3pm Exhibition Oct 29 - Dec 29 Lost + Found Cafe, 33 W. Hastings Free Meet the artists of the Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival Touring Show! This year the Outsider Arts Festival, presented by the Community Arts Council of Vancouver, inaugurates an exhibit that features up to twelve visual artists and three performers selected by their fellow participating festival artists. The first stop on the tour is Vancouver’s Lost + Found Café and in the new year will tour to places beyond. The Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival offers visual and performing artists facing social exclusion and other barriers opportunities for exhibition and sales, performance and participation, connection, and learning. VOAF is Canada’s first and only festival for Outsider Art. Limited capacity, first come first serve, proof of vaccination required.

MUSIC

MUSIC IN THE STREETS

Hastings Street Band Saturday November 6, 12pm & 1pm Starts at Pigeon Park, Hastings & Carroll Free

It’s music in the streets! Join the Hastings Street Band and their upbeat New Orleans style jazz and blues. Led by multi-instrumentalist and composer Brad Muirhead, the band is composed of enthusiastic Downtown Eastside involved musicians. Nothing beats the rhythms of the Hastings Street Band!

CONVERSATION

FIGHTING FOR SPACE: DRUG USERS’ RESPONSE TO THE OVERDOSE CRISIS Saturday November 6, 1pm - 2:30pm Online, Registration required Free, donations are appreciated Author and award-winning journalist Travis Lupick shares stories from his book Fighting for Space: How a Group of Drug Users Transformed One City’s Struggle with Addiction (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2018). He then brings the narrative to the current day with stories from his recent book Light Up the Night: America’s Drug Overdose Crisis and the Drug Users Fighting for Survival (New Press, 2021). Joining Travis in conversation is Ann Livingston, a leader in the movement for harm-reduction and co-founder of VANDU, and Eris Nyx, artist, producer, iconoclast, and activist for safe drug use and decriminalization. Registration required, go to Festival website for Eventbrite information.

EXHIBITION

BEYOND THE FRAME GALLERY DROP-IN Saturday November 6, 1pm - 5pm Exhibit runs November 3 - November 6 InterUrban Gallery, 1 E. Hastings, entrance on Carrall Free Beyond the Frame is a collaborative project led by Megaphone Magazine connecting community storytellers with local artists to create original comic works. At this exhibition, view process works from initial sketches to final comics, of storyteller and artist collaborators Yvonne Mark and Louie Wilson; Kris Cronk and Tajliya Jamal; Joan Morelli and Tiffany Muñoz; Suzanne Kilroy/Huculak and Whess Harmon; and Mark Irvine and TJ Felix.

Since August 2021, one comic has been published each month in Megaphone, concluding with a final issue in December. Limited capacity, first come first serve, COVID measures in place.

36 Heart of tHe City festival 2021

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 6 GAMES

SHOWCASE

Today the fine folks at EWMA lead the community in fun and games with Drag Bingo. Expect the unexpected; prizes to be won at everyone’s favourite game of chance – BINGO! EWMA Studio's goal is to create Safe Space for arts-based wellness activities for anyone who identifies and lives full-time as a woman, including trans, two spirit and intersex women, and/ or those in the Downtown Eastside who identify with a femmeof-centre non-binary gender to express themselves. The Studio allows for individuals to make art, learn new skills, and create marketable products, all while having fun and networking. Limited capacity, COVID measures in place.

Downtown Eastside poets and writers have been meeting on the first Saturday of the month for many years, with an open mic hosted by Diane Wood. They've been forced into hiatus by the COVID pandemic but that hasn't stopped the poets from writing.

They are eager to return and share their words with you. The evening is free, friendly, for local talent both on the microphone and in the audience. Diane returns as host and invites you to sign up for a 10 minute spot at the Open Mic. The theatre has limited capacity so first come first serve. COVID practices in place.

DRAG BINGO Saturday November 6, 2pm - 4pm EWMA Studio, 800 E. Hastings Free

DTES POETRY NIGHT Saturday November 6, 7pm - 9:30pm Carnegie Theatre, 401 Main Free

FILM

WILDFIBRES: Clothing from Undomesticated Plants in the City Saturday November 6, 3:30pm - 5pm Online, Registration available Free, donations are appreciated In this short film, filmmaker Martin Borden follows Sharon Kallis, lead artist and executive director of EartHand Gleaners, step by step as she realizes her dream of creating a coat from nettles. From the seeding and planting, to the carding and knitting, Borden documents the process in the fascinating film Wildfibres, produced by Union Street Films and EartHand Gleaners Society.

Join Martin and Sharon for the web premiere and in conversation about their long time collaboration, with a live Q&A.

Diane Wood

Sharon Kallis, EartHand Gleaners

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SATURDAY NOVEMBER 6 CULTURAL SHARING

OPENINGS: Is That Really Funny?

Saturday November 6, 7:30pm Also November 3, 4 & 5 Firehall Arts Centre, 280 E. Cordova Sliding scale from $15-$35 (incl s/c & GST) Tickets at door or advance sales: 604-689-0926; boxoffice@ firehallartscentre.ca, or www.firehallartcentre.ca See p. 28 for full description.

THEATRE

#WHATNOW Saturday November 6, 8pm Thurs Oct 28 to Sun Oct 31, Wed Nov 3 to Sun Nov 7 Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Tickets from $15 Tickets: www.alleytheatre.ca/productions/whatnow See Friday October 29 for full description.

Martha Kahnapace

THEATRE

INCARCERATED: TRUTH IN SHADOWS (ILLICIT PROJECTS) Saturday November 6, 8pm Online, Registration available Free, donations are appreciated The Festival is pleased to welcome back the innovative shadow theatre ensemble Illicit Projects with a new creation. Illicit presents three shadow plays dedicated to people who have faced unjust treatment in Canada’s incarceration system: Full Circle, written and performed by Martha Kahnapace; Without Prejudice by Dennis Gates; and The Revolving Door by Kerri Moore. Created with shadow designers, original music, sound design and videography, these stories of systemic racism and inequities are also stories of strength, the search for belonging, and the fiery hope that we can create a better kinder world together. An Illicit Projects production in partnership with the UBC Transformative Health & Justice Research Cluster, Megaphone Magazine and Vancouver Foundation. Pre-recorded, presented online, followed by live Q&A with participating storytellers and other guests.

Go to the Festival website for registration and viewing information.

38 Heart of tHe City festival 2021

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 7 CULTURAL SHARING

THEATRE

HONOURING OUR GRANDMOTHERS HEALING JOURNEY Sunday November 7, 10am - 12noon Sending Off Ceremony Oppenheimer Park, 400 Powell Free

#WHATNOW Sunday November 7, 3pm matinee ASL performance today Thurs Oct 28 to Sun Oct 31, Wed Nov 3 to Sun Nov 7 Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Tickets from $15 Tickets: www.alleytheatre.ca/productions/whatnow

See on p.34 for full description.

See Friday October 29 for full description.

MUSIC

POINTED STICKS Up On The Roof!

Sunday November 7, 4:45pm Chapel Arts, 304 Dunlevy Free Things are looking up! Way up! On Sunday, November 7th, the legendary power punk pop band are performing a special set from the Chapel Arts rooftop!

Vancouver’s Pointed Sticks have been bringing their acclaimed rock n’ roll fun around town and around Pointed Sticks the world since 1978. They have toured Japan (twice), Europe, as well as headlining festivals around North America. They are currently in the midst of recording a brand new album this year, their fourth, and have a new European tour slated for 2022. The boys are proud to be closing this year's Heart of the City Festival and the Festival thanks Chapel Arts for presenting a wonderful finale! Don’t miss this unique performance from one of Vancouver's most celebrated bands. Rain or shine.

DID YOU KNOW? Gallery Gachet has been active in the Downtown Eastside creative and cultural community for over twenty years, helping overcome stigma around mental health, disability, gender, race and identity. The artist collective continues to offer programs promoting and exhibiting art relevant to the issues of the day. They support artists by giving voice to the marginalized, and educating the public and themselves about the importance and business of art. Art redeems and empowers, gives voice to the challenged, and celebrates equality, diversity, inclusion and the healing inherent in making and sharing art.

Photo by Tom Quick

2021 Heart of tHe City festival 39

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 7 CULTURAL SHARING

UKRAINIAN DAY Sunday November 7, 10am – 4pm Online, Registration Available Free / donations appreciated A day of cultural sharing featuring Ukrainian arts, cuisine, personal stories and more.

The final day of the Heart of the City Festival is a celebration of the resilience of community as the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians Vancouver (AUUC) shares their beautiful Ukrainian culture for the festival’s special Ukrainian Day. The AUUC invites us to join them online to share their recipes and history through thought-provoking reflections and discussion, and timeless traditional crafts handed down through generations. The day’s events culminate at the Festival Closing Ceremony, which will include a lovely video that documents the continuing dance classes for children and young people that showcase the rich and diverse Ukrainian culture.

Go to the Festival website to pre-register via Eventbrite or for viewing details.

Libby Griffin and Leona Levchuk serving pyrohy

40 Heart of tHe City festival 2021

10am – 11am Ukrainian Kitchen: Pyrohy Making Workshop

Dumplings, those delectable little parcels usually made of dough and filled with a variety of fillings, can be found across many cultures. But none conjure up images of delicious Ukrainian pyrohy smothered in sauteed onions with a generous dollop of sour cream quite like the ones served at our Pyrohy Lunches and Dinners. Today we will share the AUUC Vancouver Hall’s pyrohy recipe and the method we use to make them. While we make hundreds for our Lunches and Dinners, we will provide you with a recipe for a family-sized portion. Following the demonstration, our culinary experts will be on hand to take your questions live on Zoom.

11am – 2pm Pyrohy, Borshch and Craft Sales

If you wish to purchase some of the pyrohy we will be demonstrating, come to the Ukrainian Hall, 805 E. Pender Street, between 11am and 2pm to purchase a frozen takeout portion. As a special bonus, you can also purchase our famous homemade borshch. Online pre-orders can be made by visiting: auuc-vancouver.square.site/online-sales.

In addition, our very talented crafters will have items for you to purchase so be sure to visit them when you come to purchase your food items. Homemade soaps, candles, Christmas decorations as well as old treasures will be available for sale.

At this time, we are requiring all those who wish to enter our building to be masked and fully vaccinated. For those who wish to make purchases but are unable to enter our building, we will provide alternate means for the pick-up of pyrohy and borshch orders/sales. Please inform us when you arrive and one of our volunteers will be happy to assist with orders and payments if required.

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 7 11:30am - 12:30pm Elders’ Stories

Join host Beverly Dobrinsky with guests Larry Kleparchuk, Audrey Moysiuk and Libby Griffin for a lively and fun interweaving of stories, legends and personal histories, with a song or two added to the mix. Larry, Audrey and Libby are longstanding members of the Ukrainian Hall with whom Beverly has had the honour since 2001 of conducting and singing in the Barvinok Choir. Beverly met all three in the 1980s when she first joined the choir herself as a singer. She has gathered them together to share stories of their lives, all originating in Alberta and eventually coming here to Vancouver. Beverly, also a prairie import (from Manitoba), interestingly collected songs from Ukrainian elders in Alberta in the 90s, where she ended up in the rural area where Libby was born and raised. We look forward to learning about their journeys and how this affects all of us today. There will be an opportunity for the viewers to ask questions.

L- R Larry Kleparchuk, Audrey Moysiuk, Beverly Dobrinsky, Libby Griffin

Dovbush Dancers

3pm Festival Closing Ceremony

We invite everyone to the Closing Ceremony, live streamed on the Festival website. Join the dynamic hosting duo of Terry Hunter, Festival Artistic Producer, and Dianna Kleparchuk, AUUC Vancouver Board President, who will introduce the closing afternoon.

1pm – 2:30pm Costume Treasures: From Baba’s Trunk to the Stage

This multimedia presentation will open a window into the roots, influences and evolution of Ukrainian clothing, and its development into the beautiful, intricate costumes you see on stage today. In this 65-minute presentation, the Dovbush Dancers model both historical pieces and pieces from their current wardrobe, with short dance excerpts from the regions where these costumes originated. A Q&A will be part of this event, culminating in a Fashion Show highlighting the Dovbush Dancers’ wardrobe, fusing Ukrainian pieces with current fashion. Join us and immerse yourself in the beauty of Ukrainian cultural clothing. Following the presentation, members of the AUUC costume team will be on hand to take your questions live on Zoom.

Ukrainian Dancers Centennial School 2018

The Festival is pleased to present a video documenting performances by the Dovbush School of Ukrainian Dance, produced by Orange Pulp Projects. After a year and a half of dancers’ dashed hopes, cancelled performances, and isolated online classes, they created a video to share with the community. A video that reveals the young dancers’ commitment, adaptability, and the joy they find in dance and celebrating Ukrainian culture.

Get ready to share good cheer, live music and many thanks; online so you can take part wherever you are, keep safe, physically distant and know that the Heart of the City Festival is strong because of our Downtown Eastside community!

Terry Hunter, Dianna Kleparchuk

2021 Heart of tHe City festival 41

VISUAL ARTS WINDOW DISPLAY

RESILIENCE IS WHEN THE DIFFICULTIES OF SURVIVAL BECOME MUNDANE October 27 - November 20 VALU CO-OP, 525 Carrall Free This piece was originally created by artist Tray Ma after the summer of 2020, during which his mom received intensive cancer treatment. A year later in 2021, his mother passed away but the theme stays the same. In the midst of COVID-19 and the grief that comes with each wave, resilience is surviving through extended difficult times. It's a pivot and an adjustment to a different world.

Resilience is taking care of each other, showing up consistently, and adjusting the routines of life to account for the uncertainties of an illness, a pandemic, a death, a colonial police state. Tray Ma is a queer Chinese-Canadian comic creator and sticker enthusiast living on the unceded lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh nations. They make what makes them happy, even if it’s a little sad. This is the first of a series of window displays highlighting intersectional and intergenerational stories produced by VALU CO-OP x Love Intersections in collaboration with Chinatown Today. They are grateful to the DTES Heart of the City Festival for supporting the launch of this series!

EXHIBITION

50 YEARS OF CREATIVE COLLABORATION October 27 - November 27 Meet the artists, Wed Oct 27, 5pm - 7pm Carnegie 3rd floor Gallery, 401 Main Free Terry Hunter (Nang Gulgaa) and Savannah Walling (hl Gat’saa), co-founders of Vancouver Moving Theatre (1983) and Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival (2004), invite you to visit this retrospective photo exhibit designed by Mildred Grace German to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their collaborative creative journey. This exhibit is an intergenerational collaboration between multidisciplinary artists Mildred German, born and raised in the Philippines, Savannah Walling, Oklahoma-born Vietnam War migrant, and Terry Hunter, born in Nelson, BC. Born just before Terry and Savannah founded Vancouver Moving Theatre, Mildred is excited to learn about their history. Terry and Savannah share Mildred’s belief that “Art not only inspires and moves mountains, but also heals and makes amends”. Gallery hours: Monday to Sunday, 9am to 9pm

Savannah Walling and Karen Jamieson

42 Heart of tHe City festival 2021

EXHIBITION

MASS REINCARNATION OF WISH FRAGMENTS 願片大量転生 (GANHEN TAIRYOU TENSEI) October 28 - December 15 Opening Reception, Thurs Oct 28, 6pm - 8pm SUM Gallery, #425 - 268 Keefer Free Eva Wong and Naoko Fukumaru’s collaboration brings together the traditional Japanese practices of origami and kintsugi to tell a tale of queer transformation. This exhibit showcases 1000 origami butterflies, made by community members from our Butterfly Workshops, bursting out of a kintsugi cocoon. The written wishes of the workshop participants are hidden within the folds of each butterfly, carried away to be answered by the gods. Kintsugi, long considered a metaphor for the embracing of one’s imperfections, is the art of repairing broken pottery by mending the cracks with gold. Paired with the butterfly’s story of transformation, Mass Reincarnation of Wish Fragments reflects themes that are common in 2SLGBTQ+ culture, especially the transgender experience. For more information: https://sumgallery.ca/mass-reincarnation-oƒwish-fragments/ Gallery hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 12pm - 6pm.

VISUAL ARTS

VANCOUVER OUTSIDER ARTS FESTIVAL TOURING SHOW October 29 - December 29 Meet the artists, Sat Nov 6, 12pm - 3pm Lost + Found Cafe, 33 W. Hastings Free This year the Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival, presented October 15-17 by the Community Arts Council of Vancouver, inaugurates a Touring Show that features up to twelve visual artists and three performers selected by their fellow participating festival artists.

The first stop on the tour is Vancouver’s Lost + Found Café, where you will have the opportunity to meet the artists on Sat Nov 6.

The Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival offers visual and performing artists facing social exclusion and other barriers opportunities for exhibition and sales, performance and participation, connection, and learning. VOAF is Canada’s first and only festival for Outsider Art. Cafe hours: Mon to Fri 8:30am - 3:30pm; Sat 9am - 3:30pm.

VISUAL ARTS VISUAL ARTS

SPIRIT WORKS: THE ART OF NOVIADI ANGKASAPURA Until October 31 Outsiders and Others, 716 E. Hastings Free

EXHIBITION

BEYOND THE FRAME November 3 - November 6 Drop in tour, Fri Nov 5, 1pm - 2pm InterUrban Gallery, 1 E. Hastings, entrance on Carrall Free

Outsiders and Others is thrilled to feature works by Indonesian artist Noviadi Angkasapura, whose work has never been shown in Vancouver. Born in Jayapura, West Papua – Eastern Indonesia, Angkasapura is not a trained artist. He began drawing seriously in 2001 after a mystical experience; he was visited by a spirit-like being who gave him the name KI RADEN SASTRO INGGIL. This name is often written into his drawings. The presence of this spirit is always with Angkasapura when he draws. The figures in his drawings are encounters with internal and external forces, and though he senses the dramas played out, he does not know much more about them. He thinks that those who understand the spirit’s intentions will understand the drawings. For more information: www.outsidersandothers.com. Gallery hours: Friday to Sunday, 11am - 4pm.

Beyond the Frame is a collaborative project connecting community storytellers with local artists to create original comic works, led by Megaphone Magazine. At this exhibition, view process works from initial sketches to final comics, of storyteller and artist collaborators Yvonne Mark and Louie Wilson; Kris Cronk and Tajliya Jamal; Joan Morelli and Tiffany Muñoz; Suzanne Kilroy/Huculak and Whess Harmon; and Mark Irvine and TJ Felix. The storytellers come from diverse backgrounds and all are Megaphone vendors with a lived experience of poverty and marginalization. This is the first time their spoken words have been showcased in the medium of comics.

Each storyteller was paired with an artist, who over the course of multiple meetings, visually interpreted the vendors’ stories in their own illustrative styles. Since August 2021, one comic has been published each month in Megaphone, concluding with a final issue in December. Limited capacity, first come first serve, COVID measures in place. Gallery hours: Wednesday to Saturday, 1pm - 5pm.

Illustration by Tajliya Jamal

2021 Heart of tHe City festival 43

VISUAL ARTS EXHIBITION

COLOUR THEORY: AN ANTI-RACISM ART EXHIBIT Until November 9 Massy Arts Gallery, 23 E. Pender Free Colour Theory: An Anti-Racist Art Exhibit is a travelling visual arts exhibit curated by Angelique Bulosan. This anti-racism program and art exhibit themes include social justice, racial justice, Indigenous reconciliation, showcasing multiculturalism in the arts, and highlighting the experiences of BIPOC artists in Canada. Developed out of a series of facilitated discussions that explore experiences around racism, the exhibit showcases visual art and storytelling pieces that are shared with the general public to spark dialogues around racism. For more information: https://massyarts.com/event/colour-theory/. Gallery hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 12pm - 5pm.

EXHIBITION

REVOLVING: A FAMILY TALE Until November 27 Centre A, #205 - 268 Keefer Free Revolving: a family tale is a multimedia exhibit by Toronto-based artist Sona Safaei-Sooreh that revisits the semi-colonial history of the Iranian oil industry. In part, it takes the form of a comic script printed in traditional tabloid-size newspapers, attempting to compare the story of the nationalization of the Iranian oil industry with present-day political affairs. Curated by Henry Heng Lu. For more information: centrea.org. Gallery hours: Wednesday to Saturday, 12pm - 6pm.

EXHIBITION

LAWRENCE ABU HAMDAN: FOR THE OTHERWISE UNACCOUNTED Until December 4 Audain Gallery, 149 W. Hastings Free In this solo exhibition, Dubai-based artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan explores reincarnation as a medium for justice. Once Removed (2019) offers a video portrait of the young writer and historian who amassed a startling archive of material in an effort to understand his “memories” of fighting in the Lebanese Civil War — a war he was not yet alive to experience. The image and text work For the Otherwise Unaccounted (2020) considers claims of reincarnation in people whose birthmarks indicate a violent death in their previous life: the only enduring trace of trauma that otherwise escaped the historical record. Together, Abu Hamdan’s works examine how testimony is stored in the body, and attempt to make visible and audible a new category of witness, one that has yet to be accepted into the generation of history. For more information: www.sfu.ca/galleries/audain-gallery/FtOU.html

44 Heart of tHe City festival 2021

L-R Lam Wong, Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, Sarah Ling

VISUAL ARTS

LOOK TOWARDS THE SUN Until December 23 Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, 578 Carrall Look Towards the Sun is an artistic exchange between Lam Wong, a Chinese Canadian diaspora artist from Hong Kong and Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, an artist of Cowichan and Syilx First Nations ancestry. All living beings and spirits are interconnected.

We reside under the same sun. Creating reflection and dialogue on environmental concerns and the interconnectedness of place, people, and culture is at the essence of this exhibition.

Yuxweluptun’s bold paintings unreservedly celebrate and assert Indigenous ways of living and being. His work shines a powerful light on Indigenous title, rights, and sovereignty on unceded territories. Wong’s expressive paintings and contemplations as an immigrant shape his practice as the artist-in-residence at Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden. This show includes a personal response to the horrific findings of the remains of 215 children buried at the Kamloops Indian Residential School, the school that Yuxweluptun is a survivor of. For ticket information and Garden hours, go to vancouverchinesegarden.com

VISUAL ARTS

WAVE HANDS, LIKE CLOUDS, NOT EYES Until January 15, 2022 Or Gallery, 236 E. Pender Free wave hands, like clouds, not eyes is an exhibition by Serena Lee that offers an atmosphere of sound, scent, and substances in flux, reflecting the feeling of taijiquan internal martial arts practice, Daoist principles and yin yang cosmology. This 'speculative spa' convenes Vancouver artists and invites guests to take off their shoes, recalibrate their senses and experience of time in an intimate, immersive space. Playfully critical of the neo-liberal imperative of relaxation towards optimized productivity, this 'spa' is a slippery and contradictory space – and embraces the qualities of sinking, rising, expanding, flowing, and emptying, as aspects of an embodied knowledge practice that softly resists colonial logic. Limited entry, no appointments required, short wait may be necessary. COVID measures in place. For more info: http:// orgallery.org. Gallery hours: Tues to Sat, 12pm-5pm.

OD ON-DEMAND PROGRAMMING VIDEO

VIDEO

MascallDance offers three short films to watch online about our connection to water. MascallDance is researching water stories and ancestral knowledge. Like water, their exploration flows – across countries (New Zealand, Canada), disciplines – science, performance, our own bodies – and pretty much anywhere. Presented highlights interweave marine biology, eco-activism, dance, art, writing, and storytelling from Coast Salish, Métis, Ojibway, Māori and pākehā / settler participants guided by knowledgekeepers. Featuring Claire O’Neil, Jennifer Mascall, Aline LaFlamme, Alison East, Dr. Joanne Ashworth, Cathy Livermore, Andrea Grant, Rachel Ruckstuhl-Mann, Nicholas Macfarlane and others. Edited by videographers Darryl Ayhe and Bea Orbegoso.

I Am Here Grandmother was created in collaboration with memory holder Rosemary Georgeson, sound designer Olivia C. Davies and videographer Safoura Rigi-Ladiz. The video honours the creative process Rosemary embarked on at Vancouver’s Firehall Arts Centre that led to her finding an ancestor who had been forgotten by history. As an invocation of the world of blood memory and personal transformation, the soundscape holds ambient sounds of the Downtown Eastside city corner of Powell and Gore, fires, smoke, and ocean, along with music from Canadian composer Michael Red and original poetry written in response to Rosemary’s memory. Commissioned and created for Indigenous Cities, National Arts Centre Indigenous Theatre June 2021, in partnership with Savage Society (Vancouver). For more information: www. nac-cna.ca/en/indigenouscities/city/vancouver/story/i-am-heregrandmother

WATER STORIES Online, Festival Website

VIDEO

GOLD MOUNTAIN SAM’S YOUTUBE TREASURES Online, Festival Website

I AM HERE GRANDMOTHER Online, Festival Website

Longtime community member and Heart of the City Festival crew member, Elwin Xie aka Gold Mountain Sam is blessed with many talents. You will see him around the neighbourhood, or sometimes at Burnaby Village Museum, often behind the camera or powerpoint for a variety of organizations. The Festival shares with you links to a small enticing selection of videos that Elwin has posted to YouTube that explore and record stories of the Lower Mainland.

Take some time over the long fall season to view these videos, we hope you enjoy!

BC Historical Federation • Virtual Field Trip of Surrey's Peace Arch, with Barbara Hynek (38:33) bit.ly/HOTC-Hynek • Traditional Boat building, with Pat Calihou (48:26) bit.ly/HOTC-Calihou Vancouver Historical Society • Through A Wide Lens: the Hidden Photographs of Yucho Chow, with Catherine Clement (55:06) bit.ly/HOTC_Clement • Understanding Indigenous History, with Lee Maracle (1:06:39) bit.ly/HOTC-Maracle Vancouver Heritage Foundation • A Century of Planning Vancouver: From Bartholomew to City Plan, with Michael Kluckner (58:21) bit.ly/HOTC-Kluckner • Japanese Hall 1928-2018: The Story of Resistance, Survival and Transformation, with Laura Saimoto (1:04:50) bit.ly/HOTCSaimoto Ricepaper Magazine • LiterASIAN 2018 Remembering Jim Wong Chu: The Art and Memory of Writing (31:14) bit.ly/HOTC-Chu • Is There Such Thing as a Canon? The Evolution of Asian Canadian Writing (1:17:51) HOTC-Canon

Solidarity Notes Labour Choir

VIDEO

SOLIDARITY NOTES LABOUR CHOIR: 20 YEARS OF MUSICAL RESISTANCE Online, Festival Website Welcome to history and stories of one of the longtime mainstays of Vancouver’s activist movement, the Solidarity Notes Labour Choir.

The Choir has been in existence since the year 2000, and since that time has been involved in many of the city’s resistance struggles. They’ve also travelled to Cuba and San Francisco, sung on picket lines and raised funds for worthy causes. In 2020, to celebrate their 20th year of existence, they produced a video telling some of the stories of the choir’s work during those years. They released the video in January as a fundraiser for DTES Response and for the Choir, and raised $2,061 for DTES Response! The video features interviews with almost all of the Choir members, many of whom have surprising stories to tell. The video ends with a “quarantune” version of the Choir singing one of their standards.

2021 Heart of tHe City festival 45

OD ON-DEMAND PROGRAMMING VIDEO

HEARTS SPEAK Online, Festival Website “At the heart of culture lives language.” As part of the cultural event Hearts Beat this year, the festival honours and celebrates Indigenous and Irish languages and shares a mini-series of video clips called Hearts Speak. Learn some phrases, expressions and greetings from Indigenous and Irish community members. Prepared by UBC Learning Exchange and Carnegie Community Centre Indigenous Programs. The series will feature on the Hearts Beat Facebook event page, and on the Heart of the City festival website.

VIDEO L-R Liisa Atva, Barbara Burnet, Joan Morelli, Carolyn Jerome, Muggs Sigurgeirson

PODCAST

CAROLYN JEROME: A MILITANT MOM Online, Festival website The pandemic hasn't stopped the kids at RayCam Community Centre – they've found creative new ways to learn about their neighbourhood, share stories and learn new media techniques.

The children interviewed Carolyn Jerome by phone and asked her about actions she and the group of mothers living in Raymur took fifty years ago. For this year's Heart of the City Festival, Carolyn shares the Militant Mothers of Raymur story in a podcast. Back In 1971, after all their other efforts failed, the Mothers blocked the train tracks between Raymur and Glen Drive to demand an overpass be built so their children could get to school safely. They won! You’ll also hear from community members on what that victory meant to them. Available on the Festival website for listening anytime.

STORIES WE NEED TO HEAR ABOUT CRAB PARK Online, Festival Website CRAB Park is under a lot of pressure and duress, and the Festival wanted to hear from those who know the Park. We asked Don Larson, president of CRAB Water for Life Society, and Veronica Butler to look back on the park’s history to share some stories.

They gave us a “whole lotta truth”. Both Don and Veronica were part of the 1984 campout on the landfill and were pivotal in the creation of Create a Real Available Beach, that is, CRAB Park.

They continue to steward the park: Veronica shares the story she has as firekeeper of the sacred fire and carrier of oral histories for reconciliation; and Don continues to hold the feet of the powers-that-be to the fire! He says these are stories we need to hear about the central waterfront of Vancouver, it’s not just the Downtown Eastside. They share their dreams for the future of the Park including an expanded fresh-water bird marsh and a native healing lodge. Pre-recorded in the park.

VIDEO

REVISING AND ENVISIONING: A SPECIAL EDITION OF AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER Online, Festival Website Revising and Envisioning captures community reactions to Lynda Nakashima's film As Long As I Can Remember that commemorated the Powell Street Festival's 25th anniversary and was presented at this past summer’s 45th annual Festival. Twenty years later and in the midst of the COVID pandemic, longtime Powell Street Festival volunteers came together virtually to reflect on Lynda's film. What do they think the future of the Powell Street Festival will look like? What surprised them? What are they most proud of? Take a trip down memory lane with the Powell Street Festival and envision what twenty more years might look like.

We encourage you to respond with your hopes and vision for the future! Tag them with your response using #powellfest on social media or send your written, audio, or video responses to info@ powellstreetfestival.com!

46 Heart of tHe City festival 2021

Don Larson

OD ON-DEMAND PROGRAMMING VIDEO

VIDEO

Carnegie Community Centre’s Matriarch in Residence Marr Dorvault and Elder in Residence Leslie Nelson share personal stories, reflections and a song about their lived experience. Elder Les speaks to how he came to learn to play and respect the drum, and to learn about his culture; and Matriarch Marr speaks with heartfelt emotion about the impact of colonization on her people, her own life, and how cultural medicine protects her and other survivors.

Indigenous elders, knowledge-keepers and artists from many Nations share stories of the land from the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh homelands, and from those who came down the rivers, across the waters or over the mountains. The voices heard on this short film by Chris Randle are compiled from In the Beginning: A Cultural Sharing, a five part series presented during last year’s Heart of the City Festival by the Firehall Arts Centre and Vancouver Moving Theatre. For more information and to book the five part series, contact Firehall Arts Centre: firehall@firehallartscentre.ca or 604-689-0926.

STORIES WE NEED TO HEAR: LIVED EXPERIENCE Online, Festival Website

VIDEO

GRASS DANCES: HEALING THROUGH PRACTICING CULTURE Online, Festival Website The Festival is honoured to present this video of two grass dances by dancers Larissa Healey (Pequis) and Peter Stillwater, along with the big drum Love Medicine. For Larissa, grass dancing is healing medicine that connects to her culture and her two-spirit identity: “I make my own art music and regalia now. I learned to powwow and dance in powwow circles now. I am also connecting to myself and two-spirit identity. I am holding myself up through sweats, beading, regalia, dancing and my relationship with the creator. You have to dance for your community, not yourself.”

VOICES FROM “IN THE BEGINNING” Online, Festival Website

VIDEO

TERMINAL CITY DANCE…. AT WORK Online, Festival Website Available beginning Sunday October 31 A historic documentary on Terminal City Dance, the ground-breaking innovative dance collective based in Vancouver’s Chinatown, known for its experimental and interdisciplinary explorations. Featuring co-founders Terry Hunter, Karen Jamieson (Rimmer) and Savannah Walling, the video was filmed forty years ago in 1981 by videographer Michael Goldberg, with Paul Wong on camera, at the artists’ studio in the Lim Sai Hor Kow Mock Benevolent Association Building and other locations. This one hour documentary captures their working process: endless dance training, voice and music lessons, and the tense fragmented conception through rehearsal to polished performance, interwoven with its history.

Terminal City Dance 1981

Larissa Healey

2021 Heart of tHe City festival 47

VANCOUVER MOVING THEATRE NEWS This summer, VMT provided management services for the physical and cultural restoration of the Survivors Totem Pole in Pigeon Park, and for the Memorial Totem Pole and House Posts in Oppenheimer Park. Carver Skundaal Bernie Williams, Vancouver Moving Theatre, Carnegie Community Centre, and the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation joined forces to make these projects possible. We are all grateful for the Elders who brought forward a community-led process to carry out this important work.

This fall, Vancouver Moving Theatre is contributing to a number of community-led multi-year projects-in-development including: the Chinatown Historical Laneway Initiative, with Chinatown Legacy Stewardship Group and others; Right to Remain, a participatory research collective supporting tenants organizing for healthier living conditions, hosted and located within the Downtown Eastside SRO Collaborative; the Harm Reduction Community Project, led by theatre artists Renae Morriseau, Jenn Griffiths and Jeremy Waller; and Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey, with Further We Rise Collective/Sacred Rock. In addition, VMT is contributing support to Susanne Tabata/Tabata

1979, Terminal City Dance, 'Klangenfort'

Terry Hunter and Savannah Walling, 2021

48 Heart of tHe City festival 2021

Productions and the development of Through Survivors Eyes, a film-in-process centred on carver Bernie Skundaal Williams and the story of the Survivors Totem Pole.

Legacy has become an important component of VMT’s work.

Recently VMT produced with the Firehall Arts Centre, Voices from “In the Beginning” (25 min, Chris Randle), a video that centres the voices of Indigenous elders, knowledge-keepers and artists from many different Nations sharing their stories of the land.

This video can be viewed On Demand on the Heart of the City Festival website. VMT has been invited to contribute memories and archival materials to legacy projects such as Early Days at SFU, a Simon Fraser University Retirees Association project; and Coming Out of Chaos: A Vancouver Dance Story, a Karen Jamieson Dance Company oral history project.

With the help of VMT board members Ann McDonnel and Ada Con, VMT has entered into conversations with the SFU Archives and the SFU Library’s Special Collections to begin the long process of donating years of records to archive the company’s history, and to serve as a resource for artists, communities, students and researchers.

VANCOUVER MOVING THEATRE NEWS 50 YEARS OF CREATIVE COLLABORATION: TERRY HUNTER & SAVANNAH WALLING In 2021, Vancouver Moving Theatre Directors Terry Hunter (Nang Gulgaa) and Savannah Walling (hl Gat’saa) are celebrating and reflecting upon fifty years of creative collaborations since their relationship began in 1971 when they met in the Simon Fraser Mime Troupe.

Alongside participating in Simon Fraser University’s noncredit arts programs, they co-founded the Mime Caravan with Doug Vernon and others; taught dance (Savannah) and drummed for dance classes (Terry) at Simon Fraser University; co-founded the avant-garde collective Terminal City Dance with Karen Jamieson and others; co-founded the Festival Characters with actors Richard Fowler and Pamela Harris; toured to 40 national and international festivals; originated a unique form of drum dancing; co-produced festivals, theatre and dance productions; collaborated with and learned from

Terry and Montana Hunter, 'Turn Around, Stop, Listen to the Music'

visionary artists and passionate performers from many cultural traditions; gave birth to and raised their son Montana; and have lived and worked on Coast Salish homelands within the Downtown Eastside community since 1976. It's been a fascinating and challenging journey made possible with the collaborative support of so many colleagues and Downtown Eastside organizations and community members.

You are invited to attend three events that celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Terry and Savannah’s creative collaborative journey: a 50-year retrospective photo exhibit designed by Mildred Grace German (Carnegie 3rd floor Gallery Oct 27 to Nov 27); the opening of the photo exhibit with the opportunity to talk with Terry, Savannah and Mildred (Wed Oct 27, 5pm); and an online conversation and photo sharing with Terry, Savannah, Mildred and special guests (Sun Oct 31, 1pm).

Pender Street circa 1975

2021 Heart of tHe City festival 49

IN MEMORIUM GINA BASTONE As a blood-red moon filled the evening sky last May, Gina Bastone –- immaculate clown, everyday genius, fierce mother, and mentor to many –- slipped off this earth. In her way-tooshort lifetime, Gina shared her fertile comic mind from small stages all the way to Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas. In 2007-08 Gina led a motley ensemble of DTES dancers, musicians, comedians, and poets in creating the Downtown Eastside Romeo and Juliet, a heartfelt tale of love, death, and redemption. Sure, it was hours of transformative and intense work. It was also cast dinners featuring exquisite Italian food along with an abundance of music, stories and laughter. Auf Wiedersehen Gina. The world will never see your like again! For more about Gina see: https:// www.facebook.com/groups/ginamemories – Jim Sands

ḴÁAWAN SÁNGAA WOODROW ‘WOODY’ MORRISON, BA, JD I first met Uncle Woody when we worked together on Storyweaving in 2012, he as an actor and I as producer. I soon realized that Woody was a cultural carrier of profound knowledge. A fluent Haida speaker. And a deeply wise and caring man. I was drawn to all this, as I was drawn to his wit, gentle voice and humorous and deeply insightful stories about leadership, responsibility, and relationship to the land and those around us.

Uncle Woody was one of the finest orators I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. In 2015 at VMT’s The Big House cultural feast and community gathering, Uncle Woody brought the house down with: “They have asked me to say a few words. Little do they know that in Haida culture, that means an hour.’ Later when we worked together on the Survivors Totem Pole, Uncle Woody gently mentored me and quietly opened new paths that have profoundly changed my life in ways I am just now coming to understand.

Thank you Uncle Woody. Your spirit lives with me each and every day.

– Terry Hunter (Nang Gulgaa)

ZOE WONG (NÉE CHANG) This has been a tough year. I lost close to 20 dear people in my life, mostly from old age. One of them was Zoe Wong. She passed away in February 2021 at 98 (b. 1923).

Her son, Steven, and I, his siblings, and many close others had to watch her Celebration of Life virtually because of COVID. It was a real challenge to say goodbye in that way. Zoe is 3rd-generation Chinese Canadian (present tense).

She grew up in Chinatown and spent most of her life in Chinatown. She was proud of her roots.

She is a role model. One of Zoe's grandfather's was Yip Sang ... the self-made man who was a CPR broker, later a wealthy merchant, and 'known' for having 4 wives and 23 children.

Zoe's other grandfather built the narrowest building in the world [according to the Guiness Book of World Records]; the-nowJack Chow building. Zoe studied at UBC and was the first nurse hired by the City. She worked at Strathcona Elementary. Zoe met Bill, of Modernize Tailors. They were a lovely couple. I have memories of them holding hands and walking to work together.

Zoe accompanied Bill to work everyday and while he sewed suits, she read everything.

– Judy Lam Maxwell

50 Heart of tHe City festival 2021

IN MEMORIUM PHILIP OWEN It was with great sadness that I learnt of the recent passing of former Mayor, Philip Owen. I had the pleasure of getting to know Mayor Owen when I served as Producer of the Downtown Eastside Community Play in 2003. He was very down to earth, friendly, kind, funny and supportive.

He stood up for the Downtown Eastside and supported the Four Pillars Harm Reduction approach and the establishment in the Downtown Eastside of North America’s first safe injection site for drug users. With this stance, he lost the support of his political party and was replaced as a mayoral candidate. I admired him for that. He was a man of principle and integrity. Thank you Mayor Owen for all you did for the Downtown Eastside!

– Terry Hunter

SHANNON JOHNSON I was sad to hear of Shannon’s passing. She was active in the arts at Oppenheimer Park and with the Ladies Tea Party. Her friends knew her as a great networker and friend; she hugged everybody. The Festival had a wonderful time working with Shannon and her friends from Gallery Gachet and the Downtown Community Health Centre to put on a special fashion show at EWMA studio. She received a Small Arts Grant to produce some of her designs and we were delighted to showcase them.

Shannon’s glee and enjoyment lives in my memory, and her artwork of stylized cat and flower designs remind me of her good humour and creative energy. She will be missed.

– Teresa Vandertuin

TARAN KOOTENHAYOO Taran "Standing Sunrise” Jerry Kootenhayoo was proud to be Denesuline and Stoney Nakota. Born in Cold Lake, Alberta, and a member of the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation. Taran was like water flowing between many different mediums and disciplines. First and foremost he was a storyteller, and all of his passions filled a big basket that he shared with us. He was an activist standing up for Indigenous rights, weaving his activism and art because he cared about the land and the people. He was an actor and had the gift of captivating an audience by understanding his body's movement and truth to the words he said; he was a poet and spoken word artist. That was a place where he could bring his activism, humour, and powerful voice to life; he was a skateboarder, which was also a considerable part of his film creation. He was a transformer. He was a director. He was a writer. He wrote for the screen and stage. He was a fantastic dancer and had style — the poster boy of Indigenous fashion. He had a popular meme page. Taran was cool and whatever he was involved in. He could steal the show, but he was always generous in his offerings as a person and performer. He just made things better.

– Rob Thomson

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IN MEMORIUM IN MEMORIAM OF ROGER HOWIE – THE VIBRANT REDHEAD

IN MEMORIUM BILL QUINN Our community lost a much-loved elder last summer.

Roger was a person we truly love.

With a keen eye for the Vancouver arts Its theatre, music, dance and poetry scene, A heart often set to the Carnegie

Bill Quinn was a large, quiet, comforting presence at Oppenheimer Park, the 44, the Carnegie Centre and all the streets of the DTES. He was kind, gentle and soft-spoken but when he talked about injustices and genocide, his voice was strong and powerful.

He was a striver attempting To make the better much better With hurdles ahead he encountered With a colourful wit and humour Our daring, lively fellow on a trapeze Of life, taking the dare, turning it Into shared spirited moments of character This talented Canadian brother, We saw him as a bodhisattva One learning from a river’s flow Ferrying those in need over rough waters And across a continent with his dog Shadow Then acting upon the stage And to a mainland swing bridge He worked, wrote watching the world Move at its ever fascinating and fast pace A truthful hand for the keen expression That unforgettable irreplaceable Howie spirit Dearly missed, dearly loved and thought of, The vibrant redhead of our times Rest in peace brother - Jay Hamburger

Bill was Cree from Saskatchewan and forced to attend a residential institution from the age of 7 to 17. He spoke at length about the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual abuses he witnessed and endured there. When he got out he had nothing – no skills, no education and no opportunities. He fell into the terrible cycle of alcohol, heroin, homelessness and prison.

Bill was very proud to escape that cycle when he quit alcohol and heroin in 1972. He credited his grandmother’s teachings with his recovery. She told him to be honest, especially to himself, and that’s what he lived by. But he never judged others who weren’t able to escape.

Somehow he managed to keep his language through all those years of English only. He even taught Cree to others.

Bill was an innovative artist and craftsman. He beaded, carved and painted, and was always gifting people with his treasures. He did an incredible collage of words and images he called From Buffalo Meat to Baloney that was on display in the Carnegie gallery during a Heart of the City Festival. He also participated in a few DTES theatre productions.

Bill was angry that the COVID crisis shut down his building and other SROs to visitors. Not only was he unable to get the physical help and companionship that he needed, people who depended on him were not able to access his spiritual guidance. He blamed a lot of the opiate deaths on loneliness. And he didn’t like Oppenheimer Park in a cage.

But sunny days would find him chilling with his buddies at Pigeon Park or on the corner of Main and Hastings. He said he liked driving his chair around because he always had a place to sit down.

Big Bill Quinn was a hero. He survived and helped others to survive.

– Leith Harris

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25th ANNIVERSARY

DTES

SMALL ARTS GRANTS

EASTSIDE CULTURE CRAWL

The Festival is proud of the Downtown Eastside’s strong, resilient, inspiring visual arts community and their many artforms. And we are delighted that the 25th annual Eastside Culture Crawl Visual Art, Design & Craft Festival will take place November 12 - 14 and November 18 - 21, 2021.

12TH ANNUAL DTES SMALL ARTS GRANTS PROGRAM Awards of $500-$1000 are available for Downtown Eastside community members to create a new original art project.

WHAT IS THE DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE (DTES) SMALL ARTS GRANT PROGRAM? The program is for DTES community members who dem-

DID YOU KNOW? East Vancouver is home to the highest concentration of artists in Canada. The Eastside Arts Society (producers of the Eastside Culture Crawl) are working to implement an Eastside Arts District, to counter the loss of workplaces in the arts and to come up with funding models that offer sustainable solutions for artists.

onstrate a history of original art practice, and show a vital engagement with the community. With small grants, the program is an opportunity for local artists to take their art to the next level. Art can range from painting, music, theatre, writing, photography, pottery, textiles, jewelry making, carving, animation, dance, mixed-media, performance, video and more!

WHO IS INVOLVED IN THE DTES SMALL ARTS GRANTS PROGRAM? Since 2009 Carnegie Community Centre and Vancouver Foundation have partnered to support the DTES Small Arts Grant Program. A DTES Small Arts Grants Volunteer Advisory Com-

DID YOU KNOW? As of this year, Canada’s oath of citizenship now recognizes First Nations, Inuit and Métis rights and the responsibility that all citizens have to uphold the treaties between the Crown and Indigenous nations. Canada is one of only a few countries in the world where Indigenous and treaty rights are entrenched in our Constitution.

mittee (VAC), made up of local DTES artists with diverse interests and experience, is the decision making body in reviewing grant applications.

PROGRAM CONTACT: dtesartsgrants@gmail.com or 604.665.2213

www.vancouverfoundationsmallarts.ca

DID YOU KNOW? As of this year, Indigenous people can now reclaim their traditional names on passports and other documents.

suPpOrt thE DtEs Heart Of thE City festival Downtown Eastsiders love the arts!

Financial donations from our friends like you help fuel this passion.

Join us! Donate via Canada Helps: www.heartofthecityfestival.com And sign up for our informative newsletter at the same time!

Or by cheque to: Vancouver Moving Theatre Chinatown Postal Outlet Box 88270 Coast Salish Territory Vancouver BC, CANADA V6A 4A5 Charitable Tax receipts provided.

2021 Heart of tHe City festival 53

CREDITS + THANKS DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE HEART OF THE CITY FESTIVAL Executive Artistic Producer Terry Hunter Associate Artistic Producer Teresa Vandertuin Associate Artistic Director Savannah Walling Elder in Residence Kat Norris Operations Manager Lalia Fraser Production Manager Nicole Lamb Digital Advisor & Engineer Kimit Sekhon Designer John 遠藤 Endo Greenaway (Big Wave Design) Publicist & Marketing Jodi Smith (JLS Entertainment) Social Media and Eventbrite Manager Louise Ma Production Staff Tyler Bangsund, Andy McAvoy, Neal Miskin, Hector Paniagua Baltazar, Grover Wong, Elwin Xie Operations Staff Gerardo Avila, Gilles Cyrenne, Amita Daniels, Marvin Delorne, Colleen Gorrie, Billie Hopeless, Mike Mcneeley, Teresa Ng, Cat Rey, Priscillia Tait, Karen Thorpe, Jeff Wilson Marketing, Social Media & Eventbrite Strategist Graeme Boyd (Emanation Consulting) Social Media Jeff Wilson Studio Photographer David Cooper On Site Photographers Terry Hunter, Tom Quirk, Jeff Wilson Videographers Danny Fung, Chris Randle, Kimit Sekhon, KW Studios Program Guide Liaison Tracy Moromisato Program Guide Contributors Gilles Cyrenne, John Endo Greenaway, Jay Hamburger, Leith Harris, Terry Hunter, Judy Lam Maxwell, Mike Richter, Jim Sands, Nadine Spence, Rob Thomson, Teresa Vandertuin, Savannah Walling CARNEGIE COMMUNITY CENTRE Acting Director Sharon Belli Acting Manager of Community Centre Operations Rika Uto Acting Community Programmer, Arts & Education Beverly Walker Community Programmer, Cultural & Seniors Doris Chow Community Programmer, Volunteers Huyanne Le Community Programmer, Oppenheimer Park Jennifer Taylor Indigenous Programs Coordinator Nicole Bird Acting Security Coordinator Dan Feeney Food Services Coordinator Steve McKinley Carnegie Learning Centre Lucy Alderson, Betsy Alkenbrack, Emily C Hunter VPL Carnegie Reading Room Danielle LaFrance

Board of Directors: President Ann McDonell, Vice President Eugene Crain, Secretary John Atkin, Treasurer/Human Resources Liaison Louise Leclair; Members at Large Ada Con, Fanna Ye THANK YOU to the Carnegie Community Centre and the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians for their continuing support.

HATS OFF TO OUR SPONSORS & DONORS The Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival gratefully acknowledges the generous contributions of our many sponsors, community partners and individual donors. This festival could not happen without their enthusiastic and generous support. Thank you!

CARNEGIE COMMUNITY CENTRE ASSOCIATION – current at the time of printing Board of Directors: President Gilles Cyrenne, Vice President Mike Tapp, Treasurer Thelma Jack, Secretary Paul Taylor; Member At Large Adrienne Macallum; Board Members James Pau, Emma Price, Lorraine Jack, Elli Taylor, David Jordan

54 Heart of tHe City festival 2021

VANCOUVER MOVING THEATRE Co-founder / Artistic Director Savannah Walling (hl Gat’saa) Co-founder / Executive Director Terry Hunter (Nang Gulgaa) Accountant Lucy Lai Bookkeeper Maura Doherty Financial Review Grant Thornton LLP Designer in Residence John Endo Greenaway (Big Wave Design) Strategic Planning Consultant Lori Baxter Filemaker Tech Support Oak Bay Softrends Computer Technician David Skulski

Supported by the Province of British Columbia

Thelma Jack

CREDITS + THANKS THANKS for the guiding strategies developed by the Heart of the City Festival Strategic and Sustainability Plan Advisory (2007): Allan Cappo, Joe Dzatko, Sophia Freigang, Leslie Kemp, Rick Lam, Renae Morriseau, Robert Olsen, Ruth Sam, Barbara Small, Sid Tan and Kira Gerwing; the DTES Heart of the City Festival Succession and Sustainability Strategic Plan (2012) developed by Dawn Brennan and Linda Gorrie; the VMT Sustainability and Succession Implementation Plan (2014) created with Lori Baxter; and Vancouver Moving Theatre’s Board of Directors who have provided guidance and support with good will ever since the company’s founding over thirty years ago.

PROGRAM GUIDE IMAGE/PHOTO CREDITS AHA Media, Noviadi Angkasapura, Martin Borden, Murray Bush (flux photo), caleighcats, David Cooper, Jonathan Desmond, John Endo Greenaway, Jo Hirabayashi, Terry Hunter, Tajliya Jamal, Judy Lam Maxwell, Claudia Mijares, Mark Montgomery, Orange Pulp Projects, Tom Quirk, Chris Randle, Eric Sanderson, Israel Seone, Valerie Smaller, Roger Spence, Anjali Spooner, Michelle Sproule, Ken Tabata, semillites hernández velasco, Doug Vernon, Jeff Wilson, Paul Wong, Marjo Wright, and many more unknown artists and photographers.

PHOTOSHOOT PARTICIPANTS Gilles Cyrenne, John Endo Greenaway, Terry Hunter, Lorraine Jack, Thelma Jack, David Jordan, Yvonne Mark, Joan Morelli, Kat Norris, Gunargie O’Sullivan, Gary Olver, James Pau, Mike Richter, Priscillia Mays Tait, Sid Chow Tan, Mike Tapp, Paul Taylor, Savannah Walling, Taninli Wright COMMUNITY PARTNERS

All Bodies Dance, Alley Theatre, Art Action Earwig, Audain Gallery, Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art, Carnegie Indigenous Programs, Carnegie Learning Centre, Carnegie Newsletter, Centre A, Chapel Arts, Chinatown Today, City Opera Vancouver, Co-op Radio CFRO 100.5FM, Connection Salon/Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival, CRAB Water for Life Society, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, DTES Writers Collective, EartHand Gleaners Society, EWMA (Enterprising Women Making Art), Federation of Russian Canadians of BC, Fire Writers, Firehall Arts Centre, Further We Rise Collective/Sacred Rock, Illicit Projects, International Web Express, InterUrban Art Gallery/Culture Saves Lives, Jumblies Theatre & Arts, Karen Jamieson Dance, Kokoro Dance/ KW Studios, Lazara Press, Listening Post, Lost + Found Cafe, Mascall Dance, Massy Books & Massy Arts Gallery, Megaphone Magazine, O. Dela Arts, Oppenheimer Park, Or Gallery, Outsiders and Others, PCHC Museum of Migration, PHS (Portland Hotel Society), Powell Street Festival Society, Radix Theatre, Ray-Cam Cooperative Centre, Rice and Beans Theatre, Right to Remain, Runaway Moon Theatre, Sacred Circle Society, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement, SFUW Cultural Programs, SRO Collaborative, St. James’ Anglican Church, SUM Gallery, The Dance Centre, Theatre Terrific, UBC Learning Exchange, VALU Co-op, Vancouver Cantonese Opera, Vancouver Police Museum & Archives, Voor Urban Labs, WAHRS (Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society), Watari Youth & Family Services, WePress, Wild Salmon Caravan/Working Group on Indigenous Food Sovereignty, Youth Collaborative for Chinatown

SPECIAL THANKS BEHIND THE SCENES

Staff and patrons of the Carnegie Community Centre, Paul Taylor and the Carnegie Newsletter, staff of Oppenheimer Park; Lucy Alderson, Betsy Alkenbrack, Julia Aoki, Yuri Arajs, Daniel Arnold, James Ash, Charles Barber, Janice Beck, Nicole Bird, Naomi Brand, Murray Bush, Veronica Butler, Beth Carter, Pedro Chamale, Yvonne Chartrand, Rosa Cheng, Winnie Cheung, Doris Chow, Ada Con, David Cooper, Nic Crier, Byron Cruz, Gilles Cyrenne, Howard Dai, Lisa David, Olivia C. Davies, Beverly Dobrinsky, Marr Dorvault, Tracey Draper, Bonnie Fordyce, Lalia Fraser, Danny Fung, Ocea G, Mo Gaffney, Mildred Grace German, Penny Goldsmith, David Gowman, Rosemary Georgeson, John Endo Greenaway, Jay Hamburger, Joseph Hirabayashi, Ruth Howard, Father Kevin Hunt, Melissa James, Karen Jamieson, Carolyn Jerome, Am Johal, Sharon Kallis, Helen Kang, Debbie Karras, Dianna Kleparchuk, Karla Kloepper, Cheyanna Kootenhayoo, Melanie Kwan, Nicole Lamb, Don Larson, Christopher Lacroix, Andrew Laurenson, Minah Lee, Pierre Leichner, April Liu, Lorraine Lowe, Henry Heng Lu, Travis Lupick, Stephen Lytton, Louise Ma, Charlotte Marr, Patricia Massy, Jeff Masuda, Russell Maynard, Khari Wendell McClelland, David Mendes, Ingrid Mendez, Emiko Morita, Heidi Morgan, Renae Morriseau, Dawn Morrison, Tracy Moromisato, FarLee Mowat, Brad Muirhead, Leslie Nelson, David Ng, Kat Norris, Northern Electric, Eris Nyx, Suzie O’Shea, Gunargie O’Sullivan, German Ocampo, Dana Oikawa, Irwin Oostindie, Beatriz Orbegoso, Diane Panozzo, Earle Peach, Wendy Pedersen, Katie Piasta, Tom Quirk, Chris Randle, Esther Rausenberg, Mike Richter, Denise Ryner, Pavel Rhyzlovsky, Kimit Sekhon, Kathy Shimizu, Julia Siedlanowska, Naomi Singer, Nadine Spence, Donna Spencer, Suzanne Steele, Cathy Stubington, Jen Sungshine, Rianne Svelnis, Susanne Tabata, Priscillia Mays Tait, Pamela Tagle, Sid Chow Tan, Jennifer Taylor, Karen Thorpe, Susanna Uchatius, Rika Uto, Beverly Walker, Neil Weisensel, Nathan Wiens, Jeff Wilson, Phoenix Winter, Lam Wong, Stephen Wong, Diane Wood, Elwin Xie, Fanna Yee, Rafael Zen … and thanks to those we may have unwittingly forgotten, and to those who helped after this program guide went to print.

David Jordan

2021 Heart of tHe City festival 55

Salmon’s Journey Home

by Nadine Spence There is always a new sunrise and a new sunset.

The quiet creek shimmers red with salmon.

The females lay their eggs and the males strengthen them.

Some of the eggs make it through the winter and hatch into fingerlings.

Their swim downstream to the ocean is easy, for they are young.

As they enter the mouth of the sea, some of the fish are excited, some are afraid.

Some don’t leave the delta.

The big blue waters offer many opportunities, good and bad.

If they survive, what stories they will tell.

They grow and enjoy their newfound world.

Then, driven by an unexplainable calling to go home, they start swimming up river.

It isn’t an easy journey back.

They are older now.

They fight currents, low waters and sharp rocks.

Some give up but others keep on, pushed by a force they don’t even understand.

Only the strong end up where it all started, in the calm pools of rest.

Here, they leave the new generation of eggs to continue the salmons’ journey home.

Art by Roger Spence

56 Heart of tHe City festival 2021

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