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Larissa Healey, Grass Dancer David Cooper photo
Welcome from the Directors 2020-2021 was a year of many challenges and achievements. We hugely re-imagined the 2020 DTES Heart of the City Festival in response to pandemic realities with the support of hard working and deeply committed festival staff We successfully shifted from a festival that takes place primarily in community gathering places to a festival where 50% of the events took place online, augmented by intimate scale activities taking place indoors and outdoors. For community members with no internet access, we set up public viewing rooms for online programming, pop-up performances, open-air ceremony on sidewalks and in parks, and street window art displays. We welcomed partnering opportunities to expand community outreach in the DTES, and for cultural sharing with artists and knowledge keepers from the Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, Downtown Eastside and beyond, and from Manitoba, Ontario, Ireland. We encouraged audiences and artists to respect COVID safety guidelines. With the help of an excellent team and partnerships, staff, artists and audiences were kept safe during a pandemic. VMT sustained core operations, programs and services that benefit our community with the existing financial operating support received from all three levels of government. These were augmented by COVID relief funding from all three levels of government, and project grants, sponsors, community partners and donations. The additional COVID support enabled us to meet the costs of adding staff time to build capacity and knowledge in order to shift online, for acquiring new equipment for online technical needs, for managing safety protocols and for streaming online content. As needed, we canceled, delayed, adapted or down-scaled planned artistic activity, and – in collaboration with community partners – brought in new artistic programming and developed new strategies of engagement to improve accessibility. Festival highlights included: Tribute to Carnegie’s 40th Anniversary; Libby Davies’ workshop on Using the Political Structure to Make Change; DTES Irish cultural exchange Hearts Beat 2020; the ceremony Honouring Downtown Eastside Warriorsin Crab Park; Dia De Los Muertos Ofrendas at Oppenheimer Park; Grounds for Goodness DTES virtual residency and window displays (Toronto’s Jumblies Theatre); ArtTalk Chinatown with artists Madeleine Thien, Alice Ping Yee & Paul Yee (City Opera); reading of scenes and music from we the same, a new play by Sangeeta Wylie (Ruby Slippers); and In the Beginning: A Cultural Sharing (VMT/Firehall Arts Centre).
In addition to our festival programming partnerships, VMT undertook cultural and physical restoration of a memorial totem pole and house posts in Oppenheimer Park (June-Sept. 2021), Partnerships with the City of Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation and Carnegie Community Centre were inclusive of opening and closing ceremonies with witnesses. We note that over the years, VMT’s practice has expanded to embrace evolving galleries, digital art, opera, cultural ceremonies/feasts, canoe launches with protocol, art installations, symposiums, mentoring/internships/ leadership training. VMT’s practice has evolved from programming BIPOC artists and cultural speakers, to co-writing with BIPOC artists, collaborating on productions, contributing support to co-productions, and contributing support to indigenous led and culturally specific projects. The successes of VMT are rooted in deep listening; histories of collaboration with artists and non-artists; partnerships of cross-support and inter-connections; established processes to co-determine goals, values, responsibilities; and building networks of trust and relationships. VMT is evolving into a DTES “mother tree”, sharing resources, providing support/consultation, nourishing cultural practices: a co-presenting seedbed for new creation and development. Moving towards successions, we (VMT’s co-founders) are contributing to oral history projects and are in discussion with SFU Library’s Special Collections and Archives to house our personal records and VMT’s records to benefit future generations. “Hyper-local, widely impactful…the immersive history experienced and shaped by Walling and Hunter…produces a profound and far-reaching impact.” – Dance Current (Toronto) Fall 2021. We are so grateful for the support that VMT has received this year from wonderful partners, artists, colleagues, community participants, audiences, and Vancouver Moving Theatre’s Board of Directors and staff. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Sincerely Savannah Walling Co-Founder | Artistic Director Terry Hunter Co-Founder | Executive Director
Vancouver Moving Theatre traditions, heritage, activism, people and great stories of the Downtown Eastside.
Vancouver Moving Theatre (VMT) was founded in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside in 1983 by Executive Director Terry Hunter and Artistic Director Savannah Walling. We live and work on the unceded and ancestral homelands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ / sel̓íl̓ witulh (Tsleil-Waututh).
The festival: • collaborates and partners with artists and organizations of many genres, techniques and cultural traditions; • profiles the historic district’s arts, culture and history (e.g. Coast Salish, Urban Indigenous, and artists of Asian, African, European and American ancestry); • includes programming designed and implemented by artists and organizations from its cultural communities; • engages artists with cultural roots in the DTES district, from inside and outside the neighbourhood.
VMT creates art that celebrates the power of the human spirit. VMT: • collaborates with artists from many cultural traditions and artistic disciplines; • shares stories that give voice to the diverse communities of the Downtown Eastside and beyond; • builds shared experiences between cultural traditions and social groups; • generates legacies for the future. VMT creates, produces and partners on original theatre; multi-disciplinary events, festivals and special projects; provides cultural services, educational programs and legacy resources; and provides professional service with an attitude of partnership, cooperation and respect for community needs.
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 selfproduced and presented under the festival umbrella. The festival also supports and partners with arts-based community development projects that give birth to new art and voice local concerns.
Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival VMT produces the annual Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival in association with the Carnegie Community Centre, Association of United Ukrainian Canadians and a host of community partners. The Festival is a flagship event that serves as a bridgebuilding force that gives voice to the Downtown Eastside and its low-income residents, cultural communities and neighbourhoods. The festival promotes, presents and facilitates the development of artists, art forms, cultural
The Downtown Eastside District Vancouver’s Oldest Neighbourhood & Historic Heart of the City Founded on unceded Coast Salish homelands and ancient seasonal village sites, today’s Downtown Eastside district is made up of several historic neighbourhoods: Victory Square, Gastown, Hastings Street Corridor, Chinatown Strathcona, Thornton Park, Powell Street/Oppenheimer (aka Nihon-machi, Paueru Gai or Japantown), North Hastings and the Port of Vancouver.
'The Gathering', by Richard Tetrault.
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Vancouver Moving Theatre with the Carnegie Community Centre and the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians along with a host of community partners presents
OWNTOWN EASTS D L A U N N IDE 1 7 A OF THE Photo: David Cooper Photography. Design: John Endo Greenaway.
heartofthecityfestival.com John Endo Greenaway design | David Cooper photo
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COVID-19 PROTOCOLS IN PLACE
Photo: David Cooper Photography. Design: John Endo Greenaway.
live & online
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What Partners and Participants Said Our Grounds for Goodness residency was for Jumblies a highlight of this strange year. It was very exciting and meaningful to our staff, artists and community participants to be able to “go to Vancouver” and perform for an event there in synchronous online modes. In fact, it allowed many Toronto and Ontario people to be part of a Vancouver community arts experience who wouldn’t have been able to in a real-life tour. For myself, it was a huge delight to connect/reconnect with good friends, artists, colleagues and DTES community people and places, and to continue Jumblies long-standing relationship with VMT despite all the obstacles. It allowed us to experiment with new forms of storytelling and artmaking in a way that was invigorating and gratifying for all involved.
Thank you for your creativity, patience, endurance and support in the lead-up and execution of the festival. We all explored and executed new and innovative ways of celebrating and creating art and culture this year. – Karla Kloepper, Director, Carnegie Community Centre
Congratulations on a very innovative, creative and successful COVID Festival! – Rika Uto, Acting Manager of Centre Operations, Carnegie Community Centre
Nice to hear of so many people involved and happy with the results of work done together, as a community, with respect and goodness in our hearts and minds. May the whole world learn to act this way. – Audrey Moysiuk Association of United Ukrainian Canadians
It was an outstanding example of what we’ve learned this year: that the core values and aesthetics that we uphold at the core of community arts practice are resilient and transferable to virtual modes. Many thanks once again for including Jumblies in the 2020 DTES Heart of the City Festival! – Ruth Howard, Artistic Director, Jumblies Theatre & Arts
Loving the gorgeous sounds and words of East End Blues…so great to see you together in this beautiful retelling of history and song. – Audience member
Thank you again for this wonderful opportunity to be a part of the Heart of the City Festival this year. Aptly named, it’s evident how the heart leads. Very well organized and professionally done. – Sangeeta Wylie, playwright, “we the same”
I have seen East End Blues live twice in the past years! Great show and amazing talent. – Audience member
Being involved in community arts has been a saving grace and a new way of life for me, and a great comfort, a sense of well-being and being a part of a greater community. – Tom Quirk, photographer
Son of James is extremely blessed to be a part of this diverse festival and are extremely honoured to be one of five bands showcasing our cultural roots that are intertwined with the Downtown Eastside. – Shon Wong, musician
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Selected 2020 Festival Highlights Rosa Cheng. David Cooperr photo
Woody Morrison. David Cooper photo
In the Beginning: A Cultural Sharing
Indigenous guests from Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh and from over the mountains and across the waters shared stories of pre-contact, recent history and lived experiences of Indigenous people today. An inperson event at the Firehall Arts Centre co-produced by Firehall Arts Centre and Vancouver Moving Theatre.
The Art of Water Sleeves
This bilingual virtual opera party explored the fascinating Chinese opera stage technique of “water sleeves”. Presented by Vancouver Cantonese Opera.
Les Nelson. David Cooperr photo
Jenifer Brouuseau
Jenifer Reads Anne Frank’s “The Diary of a Young Girl”
Hearts Beat 2020
An exploration of the shared traditions of song and drumming between Indigenous and Irish cultures, Livestreamed from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and Ireland, Presented in partnership with the Carnegie Community Centre, UBC Learning Exchange and the Irish Consulate.
This virtual residency with multiple online broadcasts featured Jenifer Brousseau, youth and special guests from diverse communities engaging with Anne Frank’s book through an Indigenous lens. An Imagi’Nation Collective production with Vancouver Moving Theatre. Iwrin Osstindie producer.
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Jen St. Denis photo, Tyee News David Cooper photo
Illicit in Space
The Downtown Eastside shadow theatre ensemble Illicit Theatre presented an original and satirical workshop performance in which the cast navigates their way into space where they explore the overdose crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic and what a world without stigma and racism.
Spotlight on the East End
Tom Quirk photo
An online event prerecorded at the legendary Afterlife Studio, featuring five exceptionally talented Downtown Eastside-involved musicians and groups: interdisciplinary musician Ruby Sidhu, Son of James Band (Shon Wong), klezmer-punk accordionist Geoff Berner, art-folk musician Hannah Walker, and soul and gospel musician Khari Wendell McClelland and band. Video by Ayua Garcia. Curated and hosted by Khari Wendell McClelland.
Chinatown, City Opera ArtTalk
A new opera-in-development produced by City Opera, CHINATOWN is a story of racism and resistance, family and neighbourhood, set in Vancouver’s Chinatown. Librettist Madeleine Thien (who danced with a Chinatown traditional dance troupe when she was young) and composer Alice Ping Yee Ho were joined by translator Paul Yee (who grew up in Chinatown), as they discussed their new work.
Honouring Downtown Eastside Warriors
This open-air ceremony at Crab Park honoured those who have worked unconditionally for the betterment of our community: Veronica Butler, Yuen, Wendy Pederson, Don Larsen, Erica Grant, John Wolf Sam, Christopher ukws k’ots Livingstone and Kiefer Dolan. Emceed by Festival Elder-in-Residence Kat Norris, the ceremony featured the Love Medicine Drum Group.and grass and fancy dancers. Produced in partnership with Vines Art Festival.
“It’s a quiet history that I don’t think many Canadians know about.” – Madeleine Thien “For my parents, the Chinatown enclave was both a magical kingdom and a refuge, perhaps the only place in which they could forget their worries for a while.” – Madeleine Thien, Post Magazine, 2017 Madeleine Thien
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17th Annual Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival 125 Events (50% online and 50% in person) 38 Venues, 4 Viewing Rooms, 7 Recording Studios 181 Volunteers 78 Community Partners 919 Artists & Cultural Presenters 53 staff 5,145 Live attendance & Viewing Rooms 19,939 Broadcast 25,084 Total Attendance
East End Blues & All That Jazz (online remount) Loving the gorgeous sounds and words….so great to see you all together in this beautiful retelling of history and song. Hearts Beat 2020 An incredible model of music, language, tradition and respect. The Art of Watersleeves So lovely to see this traditional Cantonese opera and to see the performers having such fun with the form! I love the history, stories, seeing the dances and performers.
Audiences came from Downtown Eastside and Metro Vancouver, 5 provinces, West Coast USA, Ireland, Mexico, Peru, Hong Kong and Australia.
City Opera Vancouver I am a physician working at the Downtown Community Health Centre. One of your artists performed some pieces today outside of our clinic. In the midst of a very stressful and intense day (and week and month) I heard some beautiful music and was fortunate enough to run outside and caught the last song. It was a beautiful respite and brought me, and a number of other people who were watching close to tears.
WHAT PEOPLE SAID Community Partners Aptly named, it’s evident how the heart leads. Very well organized and professionally done. Nice to hear of so many people involved and happy with the results of work done together, as a community, with respect and goodness in our hearts and minds. May the whole world learn to act this way. Megaphone Getting to the Heart of Healing: the 17th annual Heart of the City Festival goes virtual, and packs a powerful creative punch that aims to soothe what ails you.
THE STORY OF THE DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE HEART OF THE CITY FESTIVAL
In 2003, in response to urban challenges and calls for community-led renewal, the Carnegie Community Centre partnered with Vancouver Moving Theatre to co-produce In the Heart of a City: The Downtown Eastside Community Play.
STIR Arts and Culture Ever since the festival began seventeen years ago, it has been a welcome, direly needed, and galvanizing event for a community that’s oft maligned and commonly misunderstood. The remarkably diverse event shows another side of the neighbourhood, a vibrant place that’s resilient and creative.
Created with, for and about the Downtown Eastside, the play was presented at the Vancouver Japanese Language School and Japanese Hall with the help of 80 community performers representative of the neighbourhood’s diversity and a professional production team. The transformative production premiered to sold-out houses and standing ovations and launched the annual Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival (2004-present).
APTN National News In the Beginning gives people a chance to reflect on the history of Vancouver and look at where Indigenous people stand today…. featuring some of the brightest minds in the Indigenous community. Welcome to Grounds for Goodness: the premier of BESA
The festival in produced by Vancouver Moving Theatre in partnerships with the Carnegie Community Centre, the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians and a host of Downtown EAstside-involved artists and organizations. The festival’s long-standing success rests upon the community’s talents and relationships formed and the numerous generous partnerships that support the festival’s goals, values and programming.
A really gorgeous choir – a joy to hear and watch. Hauntingly beautiful. Absolutely stunning, beautiful and visceral! Great story and performances! Beautifully done. Humanity at its best.
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2020 Festival Staff Elder in Residence Kat Norris Executive Artistic Producer Terry Hunter Artist in Residence Khari Wendell McClelland Associate Artistic Producer Teresa Vandertuin Associate Programmer Gunargie O’Sullivan Associate Artistic Director Savannah Walling Event Coordinators & Outreach (Grounds for Operations Manager Lalia Fraser Goodness DTES) Oliva C. Davies & Rianne Svelnis Production Manager Theo Hunter Bell Designer John Endo Greenaway (Big Wave Design) Publicist & Marketing Jodi Smith (JLS Entertainment) Program Liaison & Associate Administrator Tracy Moromisato Social Media & Eventbrite Manager Louise Ma Streaming Engineer Robert Wilson Production Staff Andy McAvoy, Neal Miskin, Kimit Sekhon, Elwin Xie Operations Staff Patti Allan, Gerardo Avila, Gilles Cyrenne, Amita Daniels, Ada Dennis, Colleen Gorrie, Kitra Jeanne, Cat Rey, Jan TSe, Alex Watts, Jeff Wilson Marketing, Social Media & Eventbrite Strategist Graeme Boyd (Emanation Consulting) Social Media Julia Siedlanowska, Jeff Wilson Studio & Onsite Photographer David Cooper On Site Photographers Terry Hunter, Tom Quirk, Jeff Wilson Videographers Danny Fung, Aya Garcia, Chris Randle, Patrick Wakefield, Elwin Xie, Aboriginal Front Door, KW Studios (Jessica Han, Dan Loan, Jo Passed) 2020 FESTIVAL COMMUNITY PARTNERS 312 Main Street | 360 Riot Walk | Aboriginal Front Door | Afterlife Studios | All Bodies Dance | Art Action Earwig | Art Tent & Peer Outreach (Strathcona Tent City) | Association of United Ukrainian Canadians, Vancouver Branch |Atira/EWMA (Enterprising Women Making Art) | Audain Gallery | Benny’s Market | |Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art| CADA West (Canadian Association of Dance Artists) Carnegie Community Centre | Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP) | Carnegie Cultural Sharing| Carnegie Learning Centre|Carnegie Newsletter| Centre A | City Opera Vancouver | Co-op Radio CFRO-100.5 FM | Community Thrift & Vintage| Compaigni V’ni Dansi |Connection Salon | Creative Cultural Collaborations Society | Dr. Sun Yat-sen Classical Chinese Garden | Downtown Community Health Centre| Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood House | DTES Response |DTES Small Arts Grants | DTES Writers Collective | | Downtown Eastside Writer’s Collective | EartHand Gleaners Society | EMBERS Eastside Works | Evelyne Saller Centre | Firehall Arts Centre | Gallery Gachet | Illicit | Imagin’NATION Collective | International Web Express | InterUrban Art Gallery/Culture Saves Lives | Jenifer Reads | Jumblies Theatre & Arts | Kokoro Dance/ KW Studios | Listening Post | Massy Books | | NOW Society | O.Dela Arts | Oppenheimer Park | Or Gallery | Overdose Prevention Society | Pan Asian Staged Reading Society | Portland Hotel Society | Powell Street Festival Society | PTC (Playwrights Theatre Centre) | Pulling Together Canoe Society | Radix Theatre | Raise the Rates | Red Jam Slam Society | Right to Remain | Ruby Slippers Theatre | Sacred Circle Society | Skwachàys Lodge Hotel & Gallery | SFU Institute for the Humanities | SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement | SFU Woodwards Cultural Programs | SPIRIT | SRO Collaborative | St. James’ Anglican Church | SUm Gallery | Tasai Collective | Theatre Terrific | UBC Learning Exchange | Vancouver Cantonese Opera| Vancouver Japanese Language School & Japanese Hall | Vancouver Police Museum & Archives | Vancouver Public Library (Carnegie Reading Room) | Vines Art Festival | Voor Urban Labs | Watari Youth & Family Services, WePress, WISH, Woodward’s Atrium (Westbank Corporation) 2020 FESTIVAL ARTISTS INCLUDE, AMONG OTHERS: Afro Van Connect |Alice Ping Yee, Paul Yee & Madeleine Thien (Chinatown) | Anthony McNab Favel |Art Action Earwig’s Potent City | Beverly Dobrinsky | Bob Baker | Byron Cruz | Carnegie Jazz Band Alumni Quintet and Brad Muirhead |C.J. Gatchalian (Pan Asian Staged Reading) | Dalannah Gail Bowen Band & Michael Creber | Diane Wood | ora Prieto |Downtown Eastside Writers’ Collective |Downtown Eastside Music Theatre Showcase | Earle Peach |EarthHand Gleaners Society | Firehall Arts Centre & Rosemary Georgeson | Geoff Berner | Geoff McMurchy Retrospective |Gunargie O’Sullivan & Red Jam Slam | Haisla Collins | Hannah Walker |Hastings Street Band | |Illicit Ensemble | I Putu Gede Sukaryana & Gamelan Turtle Bliss | Irwin Oostindie & Cease Wyss | Jenifer Brousseau and Imagi’Nation Collective |John Atkin, Bob Sung & Hayne Wai (The Three Amigos) | Jumblies Theatre & Arts (Ruth Howard, Martin van de Ven, and others |Juan Perdomo | Kat Norris | Kendall Yan (Maiden China), David Ng & Jen Sungshine (Love Interactions) | Khari Wendell McClelland Band |Larissa Healey with John Wolf | lexwst’l:lem Drum Group | Les Nelson | Libby Davies |Libby Griffin | Louis Riel Metis Dancers with J.J. Lavalee & Fagen Furlong | Olivia C. Davies (O.Dela Arts} | Pavel Ryslovsky| Rap Sidhu | Renae Morriseau |Richard Tetrault | Richard Tylman |Sangeeta Wylie & Ruby Slippers Theatre | Shifra Cooper | Skundaal Bernie Williams and Susanne Tabata | Shon Wong & Son of James | Sid Chow Tan & Elwin Xie | Suzie O’Shea | Suzanne Steele, Neil Weisensel, Jules & Yvonne Chartrand |Tasai Artist Collective | Theatre Terrific | Tom Pickett, Candus Churchill, Thelma Gibson (East End Blues & All That Jazz} ||Tracey Kim Bonneau | Vancouver Cantonese Opera | Vines Art Festival 7
6th Symposium on Reconciliation and Redress in the Arts - 2020
Indigenous Presenters and Facilitators Amy George Tsleil-Waututh elder, daughter of Chief Dan George, and activist whose long view of history and her community’s resilience stands as inspiration for Indigenous and settlers alike.
Co-presented by the SFU Institute for the Humanities, Voor Urban Labs and Vancouver Moving Theatre/Heart of the City Festival. Free, donations appreciated. This symposium is the the sixth of an ongoing series of professional development symposiums on reconciliation and redress presented at the festival since 2015. This year’s symposium centered on Coast Salish cultural sovereignty, place-based cultural planning and how redress can bring structural change. Two sessions involved over 200 Coast Salish, settler and migrant artists, city and cultural workers and policy makers from across Metro Vancouver.
Ronnie Dean Harris Multi-media artist, actor, composer, independent researcher, organizer and program director of reclaiming relations. Kamala Todd Metis-Cree community planner, educator, author, curator, filmmaker and adjunct professor at SFU Urban Studies Program.
PART 1 Coast Salish Cultural Sovereignty (Nov. 4) Co-hosted by Cease Wyss and Irwin Oostindie, participants reflected on lessons shared in the past five symposia. In small group settings they shared self-reflections, organizational inventories, what they have learned about redress, repair and reconciliation, and how they are applying this knowledge in their cultural organizations.
T’ut’T’Tanat Cease Wyss (Sḵwx̱ wú7mesh, Stó:lō, Irish, Métis, Kanaka Maoli, Swiss) Traditionally trained ethnobotanist, educator and an interdisciplinary artist whose work in new media, performance, and community engaged projects spans thirty years.
PART 2 Presence on the land (Nov. 6) Irwin Oostindie and Kamala Todd (SFU Urban Studies) co-hosted this session examining case studies around decolonizing arts policy, and challenges/issues involved in commissioning, curating, and programming land-based practices that place the face of local Indigenous Peoples on the land. Delegates unpacked how their human resources, programming, communications and budgets align (or could align) to support redress and Coast Salish sovereignty and enable making change as a sector.
Emcee Irwin Oostindie – Dutch settler, media artist, curator, researcher working at city repair and decolonization for over 30 years and an associate of SFU’s Institute for Humanities. Two 90 minutes videos from the 6th Symposia are up! Day 1: youtu.be/yuc1OfaoZpg Day 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwoQxOIQeTQ
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Grounds for Goodness in the Downtown Eastside Adventures in Digital Art-making Shifra Cooper, Adrienne Marcus Raja, ALS poet Tamyka Bullen and the Gather Round Singers community choir. Adapting to a pandemic reality, Grounds for Goodness Downtown Eastside featured two weeks of collective story-sharing and art-making including: Zoom Mechanics for Community Artists (online) This a workshop explored the challenges and successes of inter-active art and music making over the zoom platform. Welcome to Grounds for Goodness (online) A sampling of work across Canada, including the world premier of “BESA” by composer Martin van de Ven, inspired by the rescue of Albanian Jews during WW 2 by Albanian Muslims. In Good Hands (online) A participatory rapid creation process workshop that combined words, objects, gestures, stories, music.
An artful exploration of why and how people sometimes do good things towards each other. Produced by Jumblies Theatre & Arts in partnership with Vancouver Moving Theatre this multi-event two week residency took place October 28 – November 12 at the 2020 Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival.
Discovering Grounds for Goodness in the Downtown Eastside (online) Interactive art activities and video inspired by art contributed and created by DTES community
VMT was delighted to collaborate on a Vancouver chapter of this cross-country project with Jumblies Theatre, a Toronto-based community-engaged arts organization who have advised and partnered with Vancouver Moving Theatre since 2003 on national play symposiums and creative projects that involve the Downtown Eastside community.
Community Arts in the Time of Covid with Ruth Howard, Stephen Lytton & others (online) The challenges of making art in isolating times and how values and practices of community arts can be upheld in new and surprising ways. Drop-in Story Card Creation Workshops (in-person at DTES Gathering Places) Sharing stories, drawings and images of times that a person or people helped, protected, sheltered or protected others.
Conceived and guided by artist Ruth Howard, Grounds for Goodness originated in a concept rooted in Jewish perspectives and history – tikkun olam – the imperative to repair the world in which we live. The Jumblies project expanded to invite and include the responses of diverse participants and groups across the country. This multiyear, multi-community national touring project has developed in collaborations with many artists, participants, partners and places (in virtual and real life modes), and will culminate in a celebration in February 2022.
Grounds for Goodness Story Card Exhibitions (in-person and online) These evolving exhibits in the form of window displays at Interurban/Culture Saves Lives galleries and Skwachàys Gallery and a digital exhibition featured art created by Downtown Eastside community members and from across the land
This DTES residency and cultural exchange with Toronto featured over 200 participants including Downtown Eastside-involved Vancouver artists Olivia C. Davies, Beverly Dobrinsky, Khari Wendell McClelland, Renae Morriseau, Rianne Svelnis, Savannah Walling joined by S7aplek Bob Baker (Squamish), creative participants Gilles Cyrenne, Rosanne Gervais, Angela Kruger, Stephen Lytton, Rev. Dr. Victoria Marie, Tarene Thomas, Helen Volkow, Phoenix Winter, Harry Wong and Cole Vandale. Toronto guest artists included Ruth Howard, Martin and Arie van de Ven,
I am always blown away by the wealth of creativity and the depth of feeling that the people DTES involved possess: the stories, their interpretation using objects at hand and the love and patience of the artist teachers. Thank you all. – Dr. Victoria Marie, DTES creative participant
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BAH HUMBUG: An Artist and Community Benefit SFU Woodward’s Cultural Programs, in partnership with Vancouver Moving Theatre and Full Circle: First Nations Performance, presented online in December their contemporary adaptation of Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol. Set in the Downtown Eastside, Bah Humbug! featured blues legend Jim Byrnes (Scrooge), Margo Kane (Narrator, Mrs. Cratchit) Sam Bob, Stephen Lytton and Savannah Walling as the three spirits. The video, recorded in 2019 at a live performance at SFUW Wong Theatre, was streamed on-demand December 15 – 30, 2020. The video also included footage of artistic team sharing their favourite recollections of a decade of Bah Humbug!
Online Remounts EAST END BLUES & ALL THAT JAZZ In November 2020, VMT brought back it’s original and ever-popular production of East End Blues & All That Jazz as a pre-recorded online video presentation. The production, written by the late Denis Simpson and Savannah Walling, celebrates the life and contributions of Vancouver’s East End historic Black residential community and the legendary Gibson family. East End Blues features a stellar team of artists: Emcee Khari Wendell McClelland; singers Tom Pickett, Candus Churchill, Dalannah Gail Bowen and by East-end born local legend, the late Thelma Gibson; musical director Bill Costin (piano) and musician Tim Stacey (bass).
2019 was the 10th anniversary of the show and it was filmed for archival purposes with no intention of broadcasting it publicly. But when the pandemic hit, the producers realized that streaming the production could help lift people’s spirits while supporting the artists and community. Director Michael Boucher and his team took on the massive undertaking to edit the footage into a fully produced video. All proceeds from the performances supported the actors and musicians directly, as well as the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival.
This video presentation, originally filmed in 2018 by Chris Randle during a live presentation of the production at the Firehall Arts Centre, was followed by a zoom conversation moderated by Khari Wendell McClelland with the singers, and joined by Thelma Gibson in her last public appearance.
Thelma Gibson. 5 September 1928 - 6 November 2021
If somebody can watch this and get what we’re trying to say about the nature of your relationship with your loved ones and your family and your community- and how to be a responsible community member and how to look out for those less fortunate - that’s what I hope for. Those messages still come through in the video performance. Culture is our medicine and we need it. – Sam Bob (Ghost of Christmas Present/Carver), COVID-19 Survivor Audience I saw it live last year and loved it. And this year, I found it even more poignant. The impact of COVID on the Downtown Eastside has been so profound, that all the script seemed to resonate with our need to connect with and care for one another.
Sam Bob
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Oppenheimer Park Physical and Cultural Restoration of House Posts and Memorial Totem Pole During summer 2021, carver Bernie Williams and her team restored two House Posts and the Memorial Totem Pole in Oppenheimer Park. The House Posts, originally installed in Oppenhiemer Park (2010) by Constants Arts Society with Vancouver Moving Theatre, were carved by the late Chief Henry Robertson (Haisla Nation) with Henry Jr. Robertson and Joseph Robertson; and Chiaxten Wesley Nahanee of the Squamish Nation. On top of Chief Henry’s House Post sits a raven – placed there as a witness to what occurs in the park. Wes Nahanee’s House Post features a bear eating a salmon. Salmon nourish the people, and the carving represents nourishment for the people of the Downtown Eastside.
The Ceremonial Work to open (June) and close (September) the cultural and restoration work were undertaken in collaboration between Vancouver Moving Theatre, Carnegie Community Centre and the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation. The cultural work at the ceremonies was emceed by Terry Hunter and Nicole Bird (Carnegie Community Centre); supported by Elders Les Nelson, Marr Dorvault and Rita Blind; with words by cultural speakers Mary and Cecilia Point (Musqueam), Bob Baker (Squamish), Carleen Thomas (Tsleil-Waututh), Deborah Baker, Richie Baker and Chief Dale Henry (Squamish); and witnessed by representatives from Vancouver Moving Theatre (Savannah Walling), Vancouver Parks Board, City of Vancouver, Consul General of Ireland and the Downtown Eastside community.
Ms Williams and her team also restored the park’s thirty foot Memorial Totem Pole (1996) carved by Richard Baker Sr. of the Squamish Nation with Delbert Weir, Kim Washburn, Dallas Hunt, Luis Joseph, Maynard John, B.C. Matilipe, Matthew Baker and David Laird. “The pole is not only a memorial to our sisters and brothers who have died unnecessarily in the Downtown Eastside. It is also for those who have survived and continue to survive in this neighbourhood. It is for those who stand with Courage, Strength and Pride.” – Memorial Pole Dedication Vancouver Moving Theatre was contracted by the City of Vancouver to provide project management services for these two restoration projects. This initiative, one component of the park's restoration following the dismantling of the two-year Tent City, were undertaken as a means to help heal the park and the community. We share our appreciation for the Elders who brought forward a community-led process to carry out this important work taking place on the unceded and traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Bernie Skundaal Williams
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Upcoming Events 18TH ANNUAL DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE HEART OF THE CITY FESTIVAL 27 October - 7 November 2021 Highlights include: Fifty Years of Creative Collaboration Photo Exhibit & ArtTalk This 50th Anniversary Celebration of Terry Hunter and Savannah Walling’s collaborative creative journey features two activities: an exhibition of photos from Terry and Savannah’s work history, artfully displayed by designer Mildred Gorman at the third floor gallery of the Carnegie Community Centre; and an online ArtTalk with special guests from Terry and Savannah’s work history.
We Live Here
Terminal City Dance, The Last Dance, Rimmer, Walling, Hunter. David Cooper Photo
We Live Here A dramatic large-scale open-air exhibition of visual art created by Downtown Eastside artists and projected on the side of the historic Lim Sai Hor Kow Mock building on Carrall at Pender. Produced by Radix Theatre. #whatnow A multi-perspective verbatim documentary theatre and dance creation about the #metoo movement at the Russian Hall. Produced by Alley Theatre. A Vancouver Dance Story: Chaos Edition This launch of A Vancouver Dance Story, Chaos Edition, includes a screening of the documentary film Terminal City Dance at Work followed by a conversation with original Terminal City Dance members Terry Hunter, Karen Jamieson and Savannah Walling. Stories include the origins of Terminal City Dance Society and its evolution into the VDC Dance Centre Society. Presented by Karen Jamieson Dance at the Scotiabank Dance Centre.
Wah Kwan & Rosa Cheng
Made in Canada: An Agricultural Song Cycle This bilingual music theatre production (Spanish and English) shares narratives of the people who harvest our food and nourish us through the pandemic. Produced by Rice and Beans Theatre and presented at Oppenheimer Park. The Prop Master’s Dream: A Cantonese Opera Workshop A bilingual (Cantonese/English) online opera-in-development workshop inspired by the life of Vancouver’s Wah Kwan, a Cantonese Opera performer and prop maker born of an Indigenous mother and Cantonese father. Produced by Vancouver Cantonese Opera. Openings: A Cultural Sharing In-person conversations that centre Indigenous elders, knowledge keepers and artists sharing stories of resilience, hope and humour. Produced by Firehall Arts Centre with Vancouver Moving Theatre.
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Launch of Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey
Launch of Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey Three days of ceremony, teachings and storytelling to remember and acknowledge the “grandma’s who travelled to the Downtown Eastside, grandma’s who’ve passed on and Grandma’s who are with us now”. This launch of this multi-year, multi-community, intergenerational project is produced by Further We Rise Indigenous Arts Collective/ Sacred Rock Society in partnership with Vancouver Moving Theatre. Costume Treasures: From Baba’s Trunk to the Stage This online multi-media presentation, which features the Dovbush Dancers, offers a window into the roots, influences and evolution of Ukrainian regalia. Produced by the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians.
Priscillia Mays Tait
Incarcerated: Truth in Shadows Three shadow plays dedicated to people who have faced unjust treatment in Canada’s incarceration system. Produced online by Illicit Projects in partnership with the UBC Transformative Health & Justice Research Cluster and Megaphone Magazine.
Kat Zu'comulwat Norris
Three Indigenous Journeys: Solos by Three Women Three new solos-in-development by three Downtown Eastside-involved Indigenous women profiling their creative and personal journeys. Recorded at the Firehall Arts Centre and presented online. Survivors Totem Pole Refurbishment Closing Ceremony This in-person ceremony celebrates the physical and cultural refurbishment of the Survivors Totem Pole in Pigeon Park. The refurbishment and the ceremony are led by Haida carver Bernie Skundaal Williams and supported by Vancouver Moving Theatre and Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation.
David Cooper photos Gunargie O’Sullivan aka ga'axstasalas
Survivors Totem Pole Refurbishment Closing Ceremony
Bernie Skundaal Williams
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Upcoming Projects in Development: 2021- 2022 The Gathering Mural: A Visual Tribute
The Gathering Mural: A Visual Tribute Spring-summer 2022 / Unveiled 2022 Festival Produced and funded by Creative Cultural Collaborations (C3) in association with VMT DTES visual artist Richard Tetrault, Cree artist Jerry Whitehead, and collaborating Coast Salsih artists Marissa Nahanee and Charlene Johnny are expanding the existing three triptych The Gathering (3 panels, 6’x11’ each) and adding up to seven additional panels (6’x11’ each). The imagery on the panels will honour the activism and cultural contributions of DTES community members, and reflect Coast Salish ancestral territories and imagery. VMT is providing contextual/photograph research and knowhow. The Gathering Mural is designed for display in the Carnegie Theatre.
Hotpot Talks Bitter Orientals: Chinatown Futures 8 February 2022 Presented by VMT/Heart of the City Festival in partnership with Love Intersections & VALU-Coop An online panel with hosts David Ng and Jen Sungshine and guests Laiwan ( a cultural activist, artist and educator) and Kimberly Wong (race and equity programs manager for Hua Foundation.) Panelists will look at how to honour the past, how to organize against ongoing gentrification and displacement and resurging xenophobia and racism, while collectively imagining and building a better future.
Zoom Shadow Two: Downtown Eastside (working title) | Recordings January - April 2022 / Online premiere 2022 festival Co-production by Runaway Moon Theatre and Vancouver Moving Theatre Zoom Shadow Two: Downtown Eastside explores “Intangible Personal Treasures” via mini-shadow theatre and utilizes a creative process developed by theatre facilitator/ co-creators Cathy Stubington and Sarah May Redmond with composer Joelysa Pankanea. DTES-involved collaborating storytellers are Dallas with Anthony McNab Favel, Elwin Xie, Gunargie O’Sullivan, Mike McNeeley, Stephen Lytton with Nadine Spence, Priscilia Tait, Victoria Marie, Savannah Walling.
Finding Grounds for Goodness in the Downtown Eastside | 23 February 2022 This online screening features interviews of Rosanne Gervais and Savannah Walling and the short film Finding Grounds for Goodness in the Downtown Eastside. This film was created during the 2020 festival by DTES community members and Vancouver and Toronto artists who artfully explored together why and how people sometimes do good things towards each other. This presentation is part of the Grounds for Goodness two-week celebration of the multi-year Jumblies Theatre mobile project developed in collaboration with many partners and people. Through pandemic times the Grounds for Goodness project evolved in virtual as well as real life modes.
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Chinatown Remembers: A Chinatown Historic Laneway Initiative | May - September 2022 A collaboration between Youth Collaborative for Chinatown, VMT, City of Vancouver’s Chinatown Legacy Stewardship Group and the Yee Fung Toy Family Association working with community-connected artists Lawian, Sammy Chien of Chimerik, the BaGua Artists Association and in partnership with City of Vancouver Planning Department. Chinatown Remembers is a site-specific and collaborative project that seeks to explore, uncover and reclaim connections between heritage, place, nature and people in Chinatown. The project involves installing a mural on the side of the Yee Association building, and an unveiling of the mural – accompanied by an integrated multi-media projection, cultural performances and a lighting installation - coinciding with the 2nd annual Mid-Autumn Festival September 9 – 11.
Strategic and Succesion Plannning Lori Baxter, VMT’s Strategic Planning Consultant is working with VMT to revist and update VMT’s five year strategic plan. The work plan and scale of work are in development. Directors Savannah Walling and Terry Hunter are looking at succession within the next five years. As a result, they are looking at a transition process to manage major change and leadership change, while reaching out to a new generation and engaging in pro-active practices to increase demographic/ cultural representation that reflects our community. Their main goals during the transition are • Supporting the future of the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival; • Preserving the history of Vancouver Moving Theatre and its engagement with the Downtown Eastside community; and the important work that Terry and Savannah have created and produced over the last half century.
Prop Makers’ Dream: A fusion opera and documentary Presentation 2022 Festival Produced by Vancouver Cantonese Opera This new bilingual fusion opera is inspired by the true life story of Wah Kwan Gwan, an Indigenous Cantonese opera performer and prop maker who lived in Strathcona. Terry Hunter and Savannah Walling are participating as advisors and providing feedback and ideas on the script, historical and cultural contexts, and questions of community engagement, contracting and presentation. Through Survivors Eyes (working title) Phase I (October 2021) / Phase II (Spring 2022 tbc) Produced by VMT in association with Tabata Productions A documentary-in-development centring on carver Hereditary Chief-in-Waiting Bernie Skundaal Williams – a residential school survivor; the first female apprentice of carver Bill Reid; an advocate for LGBTQ+ and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls; and carver of the Survivors Totem Pole. In Phase I (10-17 Oct. 2021), footage was filmed in Haida GwaiI, exploring what it means to return home, when home is both good and bad. Phase II (funding pending) will focus on Ms. Williams’ life in the Downtown Eastside (activism, art and community support) and interweave with stories of the pole’s creation and the neighbourhood’s cultural communities: lived experiences, challenges, resilience. In Phase 3, existing footage will be edited. 2022 Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival 26 October - 6 November 2022 Guided by the theme “Community is Our Mentor”, programming in development includes Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey residency; We Live Here open air projections of DTES-created art; Billie & Me (Dalannah Gail Bowen and Firehall Arts Centre); and the 8th Annual Symposium on Reconciliation and Redress in the Arts (Voor Urban Labs).
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Current and Upcoming Legacy Projects COMING OUT OF CHAOS: A VANCOUVER DANCE STORY Savannah Walling and Terry Hunter contributed photographs, written documentation and memories to Coming Out of Chaos: A Vancouver Dance Story. Produced by Karen Jamieson Dance Company, this oral history and web-based archival research project reflects on the collaborative dance Coming Out of Chaos (1982) to unravel its influence and its place in the emergence of contemporary dance and performing arts in Vancouver from the 1960s to the presence day. Terry and Savannah running 2021. David Cooper photo
Coming Out of Chaos was choreographed in 1982 by Karen Rimmer (Jamieson) with choreographic collaboration from the dancers, produced by Terminal City Dance Research, and presented on tour across Canada with dancers Peter Bingham, Karen Jamieson, Lola Ryan (formerly known as Peter Ryan), Jenifer Mascall, Savannah Walling, the late Lola MacLaughlin and the late Ahmed Hassan. ARCHIVES Artistic Director Savannah Walling, Executive Director Terry Hunter, Board President Ann McDonell and Board Member Ada Con are entering into discussions with the SFU Library Special Collections and SFU Archives regarding the donation of Terry and Savannah’s archival documents, including Terry and Savannah records of the SFU non-credit theatre and dance programs; The Mime Caravan; Terminal City Dance; Vancouver Moving Theatre and the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival.
50 YEARS OF CREATIVE COLLABORATION A retrospective photo exhibit and catalogue designed by Mildred Grace German to celebrate and reflect upon the 50th anniversary of Terry Hunter and Savannah Walling and their creative journey. For presentation at the 2021 18th Annual Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival. TERMINAL CITY DANCE: TRACING HISTORY Artistic Director Savannah Walling has taken on the personal project of tracing the history of Terminal City Dance Society, whose co-founders included Terry Hunter, Karen Jamieson and Savannah Walling, and its evolution in 1986 into the VDC Dance Centre Society. Terminal City Dance studio was based in the Lim Sai Hor Kow Mock Association building at 531 Carrall Street from 1978-1983. In 1983, Karen resigned and formed the Karen Jamieson Dance Company, and Terry and Savannah resigned and formed Vancouver Moving Theatre (originally called Special Delivery Dance/Music/Theatre). From 1983 to 1985, Vancouver Moving Theatre was based in the Lim Building, from where Terry and Savannah watched the construction of the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden.
Savannah, Terry, Karen Rimmer (Jamieson) with Michael Goldberg in Lim Sai Hor Kow Mock Association building. 1982 Photo by Paul Wong.
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Engagement Legacies Congratulations to Dr. Klisala Harrison
Congratulations to Dr. Annie Smith
Dr. Harrison was 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 (2020). The award honours both the book and Downtown Eastside musicians and organizations whose work promotes human rights through “musicking”. In creating the book, Dr. Harrison engaged in extensive dialogue with Downtown Eastside community members and musicians including Jim Sands, Ken Tabata, Rika Uto, Savannah Walling and others – and including sending parts of the manuscript for feedback.
On publishing her article Clicking a Collaborative Path: Exploring What (re)Conciliation Can Look Like in Inheritance: a pick-the-path experience in the Theatre Research in Canada-Recherches Theatrales au Canada (Volume 42, Issue 1, 2021) Dr. Smith’s article was based on an interview with members of the creative team for Inheritance: a pick-the-path experience, a 2020 co-production of Alley Theatre and Touchstone Theatre, in association with Vancouver Moving Theatre and community partnership with the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre. Inheritance proposed that its audience explore the dynamics of (re)conciliation by choosing how characters proceed in a story where Indigenous land sovereignty is pitted against settler privilege at the site of a remote cabin in the BC Interior. The interviewer uncovers the genesis and development of this production and how audience participation determines the unfolding of the plot.
Dr. Harrison’s relationship with the Downtown Eastside has a decades long history. She performed as a musician in the VMT co-productions In the Heart of a City: The Downtown Eastside Community Play (2003) and Crime and Punishment (2005). In 2009, she initiated an innovative applied ethnomusicology course for UBC 4th years students, incorporating community service learning as a form of experiential education that combines classroom learning with volunteer work to achieve community goals. Five students created Moments of Beauty, Moments of Grace: Building Community in the Downtown Eastside, an illustrated essay of interviews with DTES community performers involved in the VMT Downtown Eastside Music Theatre Showcase.
Nominated for three Jessie Richardson Theatre awards, including Best Production of the Year, Inheritance received the award for Oustanding Innovative and Immersive Storytelling. In a process guided by outreach/engagement coordinator Eugene Crain (and VMT Board member) and Indigenous cultural advisors, meticulous care was given to relationship building, engagement, education and understanding of Turtle Island’s inheritance.
Today, Dr. Harrison is Associate Professor of Music Anthropology at Aarhus University in Denmark. Vigorously and accessibly written, bravely and humanely researched, this is an important book for ethnomusicologists and policy scholars alike. – Aaron A. Fox, Columbia University
David Cooper photo
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Associate Artists & Artists in Residence Rosemary Georgeson (Coast Salish/Dene) Festival Associate Artist Artist, storyteller and facilitator Supporting development of In the Beginning: A Cultural Sharing. John Endo Greenaway Designer in Residence Graphic designer, desktop publisher, editor, writer: designs VMT’s program guides, websites and promotion, and legacy materials.
Consulting and Mentoring Savannah and Terry provided ongoing consultancy to historians, arts and culture advisories, artists and companies including Vancouver Cantonese Opera and projects such as Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey.
Zucomul’wat Kat Norris (Coast Salish) Festival Elder in Residence Coast Salish grandmother from the Lyackson First Nation, her traditional name is from her Musqueam Great Great Great Grandmother - poet, writer, dancer, social activist, cultural educator. Supports the festival by advising on cultural protocol, sharing knowledge, and participating in events and ceremonies. Louise Ma Digital Communications Associate Intern Supporting festival social media and managing eventbrite. Khari Wendell McClelland 2020-21 Festival Artist in Residence Curator, facilitator, MC and singer Supporting Spotlight on the East End concert, COVID (“Survival Tactics for Artists”) music industry workshop, Grounds for Goodness Downtown Eastside, East End Blues and All That Jazz.
The
nature
of
the
role
was
dynamic
and
brought new learning opportunities for me and development of my own skills as a production
Ga’axstsalas Cheryle Williams / Gunargie O’Sullivan (Kwakiutl) Festival Associate Programmer Indigenous radio host, media producer, actress and arts organizer Curating and emceeing Literally Virtually Live, Red Jam Slam, Instruments of Survival, Red Jam Slam, and radio programming featuring indigenous voices (news, interviews, music and cultural teaching). Olivia C. Davies & Rianne Svelnis Dancers, facilitators, coordinators and outreach Supporting Grounds for Goodness Downtown Eastside: Adventures in Digital Community Art Making. 18
coordinator.
Vancouver
Moving
Theatre
and
Jumblies demonstrated exceptional leadership and management. The project has lifted the hearts and minds of those involved and those who witnessed. – Olivia C. Davies, Grounds for Goodness DTES Event Coordinator
Vancouver Moving Theatre & Festival Staff Victoria Bell (formerly known as Theo Bell) Festival Production Manager (2020) Maura Doherty Bookkeeper (Since 2018) Lalia Fraser Festival Operations Manager (since 2017) Terry Hunter Co-Founder, Executive Director, Festival Executive Artistic Producer (since 1983) Lucilla Lai Accountant (since 1983) Nicole Lamb Festival Production Manager (2021) Tracey Moromisato Festival Program Liaison & Associate Administrator (since 2018) Kimit Sekhon Festival Digital Advisor and Engineer (since 2020) Jody Smith Publicist (since 2002) Teresa Vandertuin Festival Associate Artistic Producer (since 2005) Savannah Walling Co-Founder, Artistic Director Festival Associate Artistic Director (since 1983) Robert Wilson Streaming Engineer (2020)
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TO THE MEMBERS OF VANCOUVER MOVING THEATRE SOCIETY We have reviewed the accompanying financial statements of Vancouver Moving Theatre Society that comprise the statement of financial position as at July 31, 2021, and the statements of operations, changes in fund balances, and cash flows for the year then ended, and a summary of significant accounting policies and other explanatory information. Management’s responsibility for the financial statements Management is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of these financial statements in accordance with Canadian accounting standards for private enterprises, and for such internal control as management determines is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error Practitioner’s responsibility Our responsibility is to express a conclusion on the accompanying financial statements based on our review. We conducted our review in accordance with Canadian generally accepted standards for review engagements, which require us to comply with relevant ethical requirements. A review of financial statements in accordance with Canadian generally accepted standards for review engagements is a limited assurance engagement. The practitioner performs procedures, primarily consisting of making inquiries of management and others with the entity, as appropriate, and applying analytical procedures, and evaluates the evidence obtained. The procedures performed in the review are substantially less in extent that, and vary in nature from, those performed in an audit conducted in accordance with Canadian generally accepted auditing standards. Accordingly, we do not express an audit opinion on these financial statements. Conclusion Based on our review, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the financial statements do not represent fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Vancouver Moving Theatre Society as at July 31, 2020, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended in accordance with Canadian accounting standards for private enterprises. Grant Thornton LLP Chartered Professional Accountants Vancouver, Canada December 09, 2021
REVENUES
2021
2020
56,044
50,116
Earned Box Office and Sales Private 107,631
177,301
Government
Fundraising and Sponsorship
383,799
232,337
Other
282
3,197
$547,756
501,879
279,600
171,766
Total Revenue
EXPENSES Artistic Wages and Fees
63,979
Production Publicity and Promotion Rent Transportation
160,232
109,590
98,285
19,735
13,298
3,348
8,298
476,252
452,514
9,743
3,439
Administration Accounting and Legal Amortization Office Professional Development Total Expenses EXCESS OF REVENUE OVER EXPENSES UNRESTRICTED RESERVES
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9,473
6,477
46,517
36,563
4.460
968
70,193
47,427
546,445
499,951
1,311
1,928
66,408
62,043
Credits & Thanks Vancouver Moving Theatre Co-Founder / Executive Director Terry Hunter Co-Founder / Artistic Director Savannah Walling Accountant Lucy Lai Bookkeeper Maura Doherty Digital Communications and Marketing Intern Louise Ma Financial Review Grant Thorton LLP Designer-in-Residence John Endo Greenaway (Big Wave Design) Publicist Jodi Smith (JLS Entertainment) Strategic Planning Consultant Lori Baxter Filemaker Tech Support Oak Bay Softrends Computer Consultant David Skulski Board of Directors President Ann McDonnell Vice President Eugene Crain Secretary John Atkin Treasurer, Human Resource Liaison Louise Leclair Members at Large Ada Con, Fanna Yee Government Partners Canadian Heritage Canada Council for the Arts BC Arts Council BC Gaming Commission City of Vancouver Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation Media Sponsors OMNI TV CITY TV The Georgia Straight STIR Foundations Yosef Wosk Family Foundation Jewish Community Foundation of Montreal VanCity Community Foundation (Louise Leclair)
Individual Donors: Vancouver Moving Theatre/DTES Heart of the City Festival Anonymous (3), Evan and Ingrid Alderson, Russell Anthony, Ellen Gail Claitman, MIchael Clague, Gilles Cyrenne, Frank Harris, Terry Hunter, Mark Leonard, Shirley Lum, Rose Rueben, Roger Seamon, Magda Theriault, Grace Thomson, Savannah Walling, Rick Archaumbault in memory of June Seto, Individual Donors: Bah Humbug Actors COVID Relief Fund Victoria Marie, Tom Groom, Diane Brown, Judi Florence, Peter Macvrey, Emily Boucher, Roger Brant, Carolyn Hansen, Caroline Orazietti, Jocelyn Pitsch, Tia Mueller, Svend-Erik Eriksen, Michael Lamon, Yvonne Chui, Daniel Grodinsky, Quantum Construction Ltd, Maeve Murphy, Nancy Bryant, Karen Dawson, Chiyomi Takeuchi, Morgan Beier, Patricia Gruben, Vilis Buttuls, Suzanne Crawford, Karina Irvine, Carole Uhte, Clayton Baraaniuk, Jean Kavanagh, Jan White, Karen Anzai, Yin C, Heather Dunbar, Susan Larlee, Lydia Meister, Louise Hutchinson, Donna McClennan, Sandra Rose, Allison Bottomley, Christine Manzer, Siobhan Barker, Ashok and Truss Kotwal, Hellen McMIllan, Gerry Paguette, Anne Downing, S. BIrtwell, Gail Anderson, Ethel Whitty, Brenda Penton, Darby Honeyman, Colin Perreault, Del Lobo, Percilla Droves, M. Simmerman, Susan Gordon, Sigrid Bailey, Sue Hindle, Sherrill Pronuk, Paul Brun, Faith Kubibiwa, Margaret Roberts, Lawrence Malinowkski, Wendy Pedersen, Eric Wilson, Morgan Beier, Judith Coffin, Lisa Leblanc, Vikki Potter, Mary Yarwood, Penny Goldsmith, Kamala Todd, Nicolas Dufort, Liisa Hannus, Pamela Tagle, Halla Bertrand, Rick Lam, Shelia Adams, Jane Good, Jennifer Mascall, Richard and Carol Evans, Wendy Solloway in honour of June Seto,
Community Partners SFUW Canada Helps - Partner Giving
David Cooper photo
Vancouver Moving Theatre Terry Hunter, Co-Founder Executive Director, Vancouver Moving Theatre Artistic Producer, Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival Savannah Walling, Co-Founder Artistic Director, Vancouver Moving Theatre Associate Artistic Director, Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival Vancouver Moving Theatre Society Established 25 October 1983 Office 250-111 W. Hastings St Room #204 Vancouver, BC Canada, V6B 1H4 (604) 682-5672 executivedirector@vancouvermovingtheatre.com Mailing Address 418 Main Street Chinatown Post Office Box 88270 Vancouver, BC Canada, V6A 4A5 www.vancouvermovingtheatre.com www.heartofthecityfestival.com www.weaving-reconcilation-our-way.ca Vancouver Moving Theatre acknowledges and honours that we live and work on the unceded homeland of the Musqeaum, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh.
Egor Marov. David Cooper photo