Vancouver Moving Theatre Annual Report 2022

Welcome from the Directors

2021-2022 has been a year of accomplishments, personal challenges related to health and family, new developments and loss. Loss of Vancouver Moving Theatre board director Eugene Crain, Festival Elderin-Residence Kat Norris, and long-time community collaborator Sid Chow Tan. Huge losses.

VMT had a full artistic plate with the 18th Annual Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival – our biggest program – while new and in-progress creative projects and the 2022 and 2023 festivals unfold. 2023 will be the 20th Annual Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival, the 20th anniversary of the Downtown Eastside Community Play and the 40th anniversary of Vancouver Moving Theatre.

VMT produced the 18th Annual Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival in 2021: on time, on budget, engaging with hundreds of artists, meeting a very positive response from the community and generating large amounts of media coverage. The resurgence of COIVD informed the extent of live and digital events. The festival adapted to pandemic conditions, followed public health and safety orders, and honoured protocols of host venues. At the request of staff, the festival developed, just for the 2021 festival, a policy that staff and artists be vaccinated. With the help of an excellent team and partnerships, festival staff (thank you Associate Artistic Producer, Teresa Vandertuin!), artists and audiences were kept safe. In the words of Operations Manager Lalia Fraser, “strong leadership from the production and digital teams and lessons learned from 2020, made for a rather smooth, fun, and collaborative festival”. The street distribution program guides continued with programs delivered to DTES vendors, Pigeon and Oppenheimer Parks and to local tent cities. Events were free, by donation, pay-asyou-can or accessible via community tickets.

Festival highlights included: 50 Years of Creative Collaboration by yours truly; performances and ceremony in Oppenheimer and Pigeon Park: Made in Canada: An Agricultural Song Cycle; the Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey launch and Survivors Totem Pole Refurbishment Closing Ceremony. Other highlights included: Vancouver: A Dance Story – Chaos Edition; Fighting for Space: Drug Users’ Response to the Overdose Crisis; We Live Here with its giant-outdoor projections; Pointed Sticks: Up on the Roof!; Chinatown Ghosts Walking

Tour; the 7th Symposium on Reconciliation & Redress in the Arts; a reading of Chiru Sakura by Grace Eiko Thomson; and the theatrical productions #whatnow; Incarcerated: Truth in Shadows; and Indigenous Journeys: Solos by Four Women.

In addition to our festival programming partnership, VMT partnered with Bernie Skundaal Williams and the Vancouver Parks Board in support of cultural and physical restoration of the Survivors Totem Pole; with Bagua Artists Association and Chinatown Generations Society in support of the Eight Immortals

Crossing the Sea lane-way mural repair and social; with Creative Cultural Collaborations Society on creation of The Gathering: a Suite of Murals for the Downtown Eastside; with Runaway Moon Theatre (BC) to co-produce Intangible Treasures of the Downtown Eastside; with Vancouver Cantonese Opera to provide advisory consulting for their new fusion opera The Prop Master’s Dream; and, with Tabata Productions to co-produce the Through Survivor’s Eyes (working

We have learned by lived experience, that just as it takes a village to raise a child through good times and bad times – it takes a community of people and partnerships to pull off the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival, and VMT’s community-engaged projects and art creation.

As a Downtown Eastside ‘mother tree’, we share resources, provide support/consultation, nourish cultural practice: act as a co-presenting seedbed for new creation and development, all the while planning for archiving, legacies and succession over the next five years.

We are so grateful for the support that we’ve received in 2021-2022 from Vancouver Moving Theatre’s Board of Directors, and VMT’s and the Festival’s wonderful staff, colleagues, partners, artists, community participants and audiences Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Sincerely

Terry Hunter (Nang Gulgaa) Co-Founder | Executive Director

Savannah Walling (hl Ghat’saa) Co-Founder | Artistic Director

Photo: David Cooper

Vancouver Moving Theatre

Vancouver Moving Theatre (VMT) was founded in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside in 1983 by Executive Director Terry Hunter (Nang Gulgaa) and Artistic Director Savannah Walling (hl Gat’saa). We live and work on the unceded and ancestral homelands of the xʷməθkʷəyəm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɁɬ / selílwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh).

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.

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 bridge-building 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 traditions, heritage, activism,

people and great stories of the Downtown Eastside.

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, including 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.

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.

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 mural, by Richard Tetrault.

Larissa Healey.

Photo David Cooper. Design John Endo Greenaway.

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

What Partners, Artists & Media Said

We ALL thoroughly enjoy working with each and every one of you and treasure the wonderful relationship we’ve built over the years. Time and again, you’ve demonstrated your commitment to our Strathcona neighbourhood and in helping us to appreciate the rich and vibrant community we all live in. So thank you for being that guiding light.

– Debbie Karras, AUUC Strathcona Ukrainian Hall & Performing Arts Society

The Heart of the City Festival has connected us to so many wonderful neighbours…Growing Community.

– PTC (Playwrights Theatre Centre)

Heart of the City Festival continues to engage and empower. In the process of giving a voice to neighbourhood residents, Hunter and Walling have become community builders. This overlay of ceremony with cultural practices has shaped the couples’ thinking about what constitutes art. And it has deepened with all the connections they’ve made with Indigenous artists over the years.

–Charlie Smith, Georgia Straight

The collaboration has . . . allowed us to develop meaningful relationships with Chinatown today and it looks like it will grow into a continuing project in the future. Thank you for your support and this opportunity to cultivate this work!

– David Ng, VALU CO-OP

There are many talented individuals living in the DTES. The Heart of the City provides opportunities for people to share their gifts and stories in a safe and welcoming space, through words, music, visual art, dance, theatre and more.

– Priscillia Tait, artist, Indigenous Journeys

Thanks for all the great insights and perspectives

Thanks to all the panelists for sharing your stories and knowledge…I feel nourished in strength to continue.

– Symposium participants, 7th Symposium on Reconciliation & the Arts in Vancouver

Leaders in Vancouver’s arts community, Hunter and Walling are celebrating their 50th anniversary of creativity and togetherness this year. Everythings these artists do today can be traced back to the 1970s, when values of collaboration, sharing and breaking and stirring boundaries prevailed. These values continue to inform their work.

– Theatre Fests, CREATE A STIR

Hyper-local, widely impactful…attention to the hyper-local produces a profound and far-reaching impact.

– Dance Current

I thank you for the great adventure I have had with VMT and having gratefully been a part of every Heart of the City Festival since its inception in 2004, either as a singing actor or documentarian, and given a chance to work with the best art, music, and theatre directors, artists and be a part of a vital colourful creation community in the Downtown Eastside.

– Tom Quirk, photographer

Selected 2021 Festival Highlights

50 Years of Creative Collaboration: Terry Hunter and Savannah Walling

A celebration of the collaborative creative journey of Terry Hunter (Nang Gulgaa) and Savannah Walling (hl Gat’saa), co-founders of Vancouver Moving Theatre and the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival. Designer Mildred Grace German artfully displayed at the Carnegie Centre Gallery a retrospective exhibition of photos from their work history. Long-time colleagues joined Terry and Savannah for an online ArtTalk acknowledging transformational artistic encounters and turning points.

Produced by Vancouver Moving Theatre.

Openings: Women Standing Their Ground in the Arts – A Cultural Sharing

In-person conversations centered Indigenous elders, knowledge keepers and artists sharing stories of resilience, hope and humour. Guests included Loretta Todd, Cheri Maracle, Renae Morriseau, Billy Merasty, Keith Nahanee and Bob Baker. Produced by the Firehall Arts Centre with Vancouver Moving Theatre.

Incarcerated: Truth in Shadows

Three shadow plays dedicated to people who have faced unjust treatment in Canada’s incarceration system. Produced online by the innovative shadow ensemble Illicit Projects in partnership with the UBC Transformative Health & Justice Research Cluster and Megaphone Magazine

We Live Here

A dramatic large-scale open-air exhibition of visual art created by twenty-eight Downtown Eastside artists of diverse ancestry. Their paintings were projected onto the side of the historic Lim Sai Hor Kow Mock Association clan building at Carrall and Pender. Produced by Radix Theatre in partnership with the Portland Hotel Society and the festival.

Renae Morriseau

Terry Hunter, Savannah Walling

Martha Kahnapace

We Live Here

#whatnow

A Vancouver Dance Story: Coming Out of Chaos

The launch of an oral history and web-based archival research project, included a screening of the documentary film Terminal City Dance at Work followed by a conversation with co-founding members Terry Hunter, Karen Jamieson, Savannah Walling with Kaija Pepper. Stories included the origins of Terminal City Dance Society and its evolution into the VDC Centre Society, Karen Jamieson Dance Company and Vancouver Moving Theatre. Presented by Karen Jamieson Dance in partnership with the Dance Centre and the festival.

Hearts Beat 2021

A musical exploration of the shared traditions of drums, dance and song between Indigenous and Irish cultures, featuring performances by lexwst’l:lem drum group, Haida drum group and Ceol Abu Irish musicians. Produced by the Carnegie Community Centre Indigenous Programs , the UBC Learning Exchange and the Irish Consulate.

Made in Canada: An Agricultural Song Cycle

This bilingual music theatre production (Spanish and English) shared narratives of the people who harvested our food and nourished us through the pandemic. Produced by Rice and Beans Theatre and presented at

A multi-perspective verbatim documentary theatre and dance creation about the #metoo movement. Produced by Alley Theatre at the Russian Hall.



Terminal City Dance, The Last Dance, Rimmer, Walling, Hunter. David Cooper Photo

7th Symposium on Reconciliation and Redress in the Arts - 2021

CO-PRODUCED by Salish Coast LIVE, VOOR Urban Labs and Vancouver Moving Theatre in partnership with the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival

This seventh annual symposium on reconciliation and redress presented at the festival since 2015, was designed as a training day for settlers and migrants who seek a deeper understanding on how to make change by practicing place-based redress in their own lives, organizations, sector and community.

The symposium featured two programs with film, panel discussions and breakout small group discussions. Discussions involved a deep dive and hearing from senior and emerging Coast Salish artists talk about landback, redress in arts and culture policy, and how participant organizations could play a bigger role in resourcing Coast Salish resurgence.

The day-long session was for people who understand that the reconciliation process is broken in Canada and want to be inspired with knowledge and tools to go past reconciliation and focus on redress. The annual symposiums are a safe place to discuss how to take the next steps into policy action, and work alongside peers to do this work.

INDIGENOUS SPEAKERS

Shadae Johnson

Community program developer, grant writer, radio host and workshop facilitator

Senaquila Wyss

Ethnobotanist and cultural programmer

Roxanne Charles

Mixed media artist, contemporary storyteller and cultural historian

Jonas Jones

Visual artist and carver

Cease Wyss

Traditionally trained ethnobotanist, practicing media artist, activist and educator

EMCEE

Irwin Oostindie

Media artist, curator, researcher

WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS

“Thank you to all the panelists for sharing your stories and knowledge… feel nourished in strength to continue on…Thank you to everyone on the panel and organizing team for keeping this conversation going.”

Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey 2021

Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey 2021 featured three days of ceremony, teachings and storytelling in Oppenheimer Park, a longtime community gathering place for Indigenous peoples from across Turtle Island.

Art Displays and Projects & Healing Journey information

Artwork by Irene Adams, Nadine Spence, Roger Spence, Autumn Walkem and Tarmara Archie.

Honouring Our Grandmothers travelling message chest open to community.

Opening Welcome Ceremony

With Stephen Lytton (Nlaka’pamux), Mary Point (Musqueam), David Michael Archie (secwepemc), Nadine Spence, Savannah Walling, and Sandra Archie

HONOURING OUR GRANDMOTHERS HEALING JOURNEY

November 5-7, 2021, Oppenheimer Park

Further We Rise Indigenous Artists Collective/Sacred Rock launched the multi-year, multi-community, multi-generational Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey. This healing journey brings together communities of the Interior Salish and Coast Salish peoples with neighbouring nations connected to the Fraser and Thompson rivers, watersheds, mountains and salmon. At the heart of the journey are histories told through visual art on travelling chests that visit different communities and collect messages. Through arts and ceremony, Honouring our Grandmothers Healing Journey brings together family members and residents who work to restore relationships between generations and communities.

“We’re acknowledging Grandmothers who travelled to the Downtown Eastside, Grandma’s who passed on, and Grandmothers who are with us now. We’re honouring their lived experiences, stories and legacies left for us to discover and share. Many don’t know the stories of entire generations before.”

– Nadine Spence, lead visionary, artist, producer, curator

All attending were invited to contribute – into a community travelling chest – messages for their Grandmothers, families, lands and waters: to help celebrate, bring closure, and guide spirits home to lay in rest in ceremony at journey’s end.

The launch was produced by Further We Rise Indigenous Artists Collective/Sacred Rock in partnership with VMT/ Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival.

Stories & Songs from Our Grandmothers: The History and Vision

With Victor Guerin (Musqueam), Bob Baker (Squamish), Joe Chilchrist (Interior Salish Firekeepers Society), Stephen Lytton, Autumn Walken, Brenda Celesta, Elders Ernie & Paulie Michel (Nlaka’pamux)

Voices of the Youth and Sending Off Ceremony

Ceremony to release – with cleansings and blessing – the Honouring Our Grandmothers community message chest on its multi-year journey travelling BC

Further We Rise Indigenous Artists 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 re-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 future journeys of the community travelling message chest over upcoming years. When the Honouring Our Grandmothers’ Healing Journey completes, closing ceremonies will take place in the Downtown Eastside, and then voyage up the river watersheds back to the mountains where spirits and memories will be respectfully laid to rest.

- Sacred Rock, Box 116, Spences Bridge, BC, V0K 2L0

Launch of Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey

18th Annual Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival

Zoom Shadow

Visually and aurally engaging….the puppets, sets, music and story-tellers of Zoom Shadow were compelling and hauntingly beautiful.

Survivors Totem Pole Refurbishment Closing Ceremony

This was the most important event of the festival and a moment to remember. This is our pole, our park, and this is for us.

WHAT PARTNERS SAID

Thank you for your creativity, patience, endurance and support. We all explored and executed new and innovative ways of celebrating and creating arts and culture this past year.

– Carnegie Community Centre

We love how this festival continues to challenge us to look at the neighbourhood through different eyes, including this year through the experience of the ancestors. It was a fun morning engaging in living memory with some wonderful participants from near and as far away as Port Moody.

– Doris Chow & June Chow, Chinatown Ghosts Walking Tour

WHAT AUDIENCES SAID

50 Years of Creative Collaboration

Such amazing stories! Love to know more about the collaboration of design, too, and who created all of these incredible costumes and masks! Just exquisite!

Thanks everyone for an amazing trip through the history of this project that continues to deliver to all of us!

The most interesting event of all was your presentation of the 50-year history of your artistic partnership….I was left with an enormous appreciation for your huge body of work.

#whatnow

A powerful amazing show, I highly recommend it! Please get tickets and go see this show!

Compelling paradigm shifting stuff… Alley Theatre’s engrossing new #whatnow feels so authentic.

Costume Treasures – From Baba’s Trunk to the Stage

Visually stunning – and so much fun!...a good geography lesson and the fashion show by the Barvinok dancers was vivacious and exciting.

Hearts Beat 2021

The rhythms of Hearts Beat (from both traditions) had me singing and dancing along, and the beautiful regalia was a feast for my eyes.

We Live Here

Wow! Huge screening area and great sound!

The vibrancy of seeing this work projected, the energetic music that was curated to accompany it, and the delight of those who came and witnessed it and honoured the artists that created; this work really speaks to the community that is the DTES.

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 the groundbreaking In the Heart of a City: The Downtown Eastside Community Play. Created with, for and about the Downtown Eastside, the play was presented at the Vancouver Japanese Language School and Japanese Hall. The cast of eighty community performers representative of the neighbourhood’s diversity worked with a team of professional artists and production personnel. This transformative production premiered to sold-out houses and standing ovations, and launched the annual Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival (2004-present).

The festival is 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 goals, values and programs of the festival.

2021 Festival Staff

Executive Artistic Producer Terry Hunter

Associate Artistic Producer Teresa Vandertuin

Associate Artistic Director Savannah Walling

Festival Elder in Residence Zucomul’wat Kat Norris

Operations Manager Lalia Fraser

Production Manager Nicole Lamb

Digital Advisor & Engineer Kimit Sekhon

Designer in Residence John Endo Greenaway (Big Wave Design)

Associate Artist Rosemary Georgeson (In the Beginning: A Cultural Sharing)

Associate Programmer Ga’axstsalas Cheryle Williams aka Gunargie O’Sullivan

Publicist & Marketing Jodi Smith (JLS Entertainment)

Social Media & Eventbrite Manager Louise Ma

Program Guide Liaison Tracy Moromisato

Production Staff Tyler Bangsund, Andy McAvoy, Jack Goodison, Tory Ip, Neal Miskin, Hector Paniagua Baltazar, Jonathan Paterson, Grover Wong, Elwin Xie

Operations Staff Gerardo Avila, Gilles Cyrenne, Amita Daniels, Marvin Delorme, Colleen Gorrie, Mike Mcneeley, Teresa Ng, Cat Rey, Priscillia Tait, Karen Thorpe, Jeff Wilson, Elwin Xie

Marketing, Social Media & Eventbrite Strategist Graeme Boyd (Emanation Consulting)

Social Media Jeff Wilson

Studio Photographer David Cooper

On Site Photographers Terry Hunter, Tom Quirk, Chris Randle, Jeff Wilson

2021 FESTIVAL COMMUNITY PARTNERS

All Bodies Dance | Alley Theatre | Art Action Earwig | Association of United Ukrainian Canadians, Vancouver Branch|

Audain Gallery | Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art| Carnegie Indigenous Programs, Learning Centre, Newsletter |Centre A | Chapel Arts | Chinatown Today | City Opera Vancouver | Co-op Radio CFRO-100.5 FM | Connection Salon/ Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival | CRAB Water for Life Society | Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden | Downtown Eastside Writer’s 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 and 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 | Right to Remain | SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement | SFU Woodwards 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 & Services | WePress | Youth Collaborative for Chinatown

2021 FESTIVAL ARTISTS INCLUDE, AMONG OTHERS:

All Bodies Dance | Alley Theatre | John Atkin | Bob Baker and Darren Blaney | Janice Beck and Dovbush Dancers | Pedro Chamale, Mishelle Cuttler and Rice and Beans Theatre | Rosa Chen and Vancouver Cantonese Opera | Merlin

Cosmos | Olivia C. Davies and Rosemary Georgeson | Beverly Dobrinsky | Eilis Courteny and Blake Williams | Mildred Grace German | Michael Goldberg | Larissa Healey |Terry Hunter | Jay Hamburger | Ruth Howard and Jumblies Theatre | Illicit Projects |Sharon Kallis | Minah Lee | Billie Merasty | Heidi Morgan | Brad Muirhead and Hastings Street Band | Keith Nahanee and Curtis Ahenakew | Travis Lupick | Tray Ma | Kat Zu’comulwat Norris| Gunargie O’Sullivan aka ga’axstasalas | Earle Peach and Barbara Jackson | Karen Jamieson | Pointed Sticks | Nadine Spence, Mary Point and Stephen Lytton | Susanne Steele, Neil Weisensel and Yvonne Chartrand | Cathy Stubington | Sid Chow Tan | Semilites | Hernandez Velasco | Grace Eiko Thomson | Theatre Terrific | Loretta Todd, Renae Morriseau and Cheri Maracle| Savannah Walling | Bernie Skundaal Williams | Diane Wood | Eva Wong and Naoko Fukumaru | Cease Wyss

T’uy t’tanet, Irwin Oostindie and Roxanne Charles | Elwin Xie

2021 Community Partnerships

ported by Vancouver Moving Theatre and the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation. The closing ceremony to celebrate the pole’s refurbishment was witnessed by 170 people, including Elders, Hereditary Chiefs and knowledge-keepers, MLA Melanie Mark, MP Jenny Kwan, Parks Board staff, Sacred Circle and VMT board members, and community members from all walks of life.

REGIONAL

Zoom Shadow

October 28, 2021 | Online Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival

LOCAL

Survivors Totem Pole Refurbishment Closing Ceremony

November 5, 2021, Pigeon Park

Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival

The story why….

The Survivors Totem Pole was created in loving memory and with dedication to all Survivors of all cultures in the Downtown Eastside. The grass-roots three year journey was led by carver Bernie Skundaal Williams and with support by Sacred Circle Society board members Hereditary Chief Bill Williams (Squamish), Haida Elders Woodrow Morrison and Wilfred Price, Audrey Siegl (Squamish), Wendy Pedersen and Sid Chow Tan. They were also supported by, among many others, Portland Hotel Society staff and Mark Townsend.

After three years of hard work and advocacy, the pole raising, potlatch and witnessing ceremony took place on Nov. 5, 2016 with permission from the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations and during the DTES Heart of the City Festival: a ceremony connecting Downtown Eastside People with traditional holders of the land, the Coast Salish Peoples. Cecilia Point (Musqueam), Hereditary Chief Bill Williams (Squamish) and Chief Maureen Thomas (Tsleil-Waututh) provided guidance, direction and led the protocols; and the ceremony was witnessed by dozens of Matriarchs, Elders and Hereditary Chiefs, St’langng Jaana/Laanas Matriarchs from Haida Gwaii, Mayor Gregor Robertson, MP Jenny Kwan, MLA Melanie Marks, Parks Board Commissioners and staff, approximately thirty designated Witnesses, and over 1,000 community members.

Due to its deep cultural significance as a monument paying tribute to survivors in the Downtown Eastside – and as a lasting marker of resistance, persistence, inclusion and resilience – support gathered to nourish the pole after several years of weather-related wear and tear. So, in fall 2021, carver Bernie Skundaal Williams (Gul Kitt Jaad) and her team undertook the restoration of the Pole, sup-

Runaway Moon Theatre (BC) brought to the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival their newest shadow theatre project. Created over the internet in seven different homes, Zoom Shadow featured BC storytellers recounting memories of something of immeasurable value that helped to shape their lives. Music was composed by Joelysa Pankanea, co-composer/musician for the 2003 Downtown Eastside Community Play.

Based in the tiny city of Enderby/Secwépemc homelands, Runaway Moon Theatre are long-time friends of the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival. Their staff and artists were inspiring mentors for Vancouver Moving Theatre in developing the 2003 Downtown Eastside Community Play; collaborating partners with Vancouver Moving Theatre on The Minotaur Dreams (2010) and the national TRACKS Symposium (2015), and presenter/facilitators at many festival/VMT events over the years.

Zoom Shadow’s compelling and haunting beauty proved to be so inspiring, that Vancouver Moving Theatre has now partnered with Runaway Moon Theatre to co-produce in 2022, Intangible Treasures of the Downtown Eastside, created with collaborating storytellers from the Downtown Eastside.

NATIONAL

Finding

Grounds for Goodness Films

November1, 2021 | Online

Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival

This selection of short films from Jumblies Theatre & Arts (Toronto) and partners across the land shared stories of social goodness. Jumblies multi-year Grounds for Goodness project artfully explored ‘social goodness’: why and how people sometimes act in good ways towards each other – stories that we need to hear now more than ever. The films included the premier of Finding Grounds for Goodness in the Downtown Eastside, created in partnership with DTES community members, VMT, and Toronto and Vancouver artists. Since providing advisory support in 2003 for In the Heart of a City: The Downtown Eastside Community Play, Jumblies Theatre & Arts has advised, collaborated and partnered with Vancouver Moving Theatre on over twenty creative projects and professional development institutes, created, tailored for and/or involving the Downtown Eastside community.

In Memorium

EUGENE CRAIN

(Cree First Nation)

Vancouver Moving Theatre Board Member, 2019 – 2022

Dear friend, Cherished colleague. All around the sweetest guy you would ever want to meet.

Eugene was a big-hearted Cree man that gave so much to his community. I loved him. His friends and community loved him. Kind, Considerate, Compassionate, Caring. We shared family roots on the prairies and we loved to swap stories about our childhood there. Eugene served on the Board of Vancouver Moving Theatre Society for the last four years and brought to the work his extensive knowledge and love of communication, social media, networking and local Indigenous artists, elders and knowledge-keepers. Suddenly passed. Far too soon. Your memory and good spirit live on in my heart dear brother. May you walk in beauty with your ancestors.

– Terry Hunter

KAT ZU-COMULWAT NORRIS (Lyackson First Nation)

Festival Elder-in-Residence, 2017 – 2021

Sadly, Kat Norris, our dear friend, advisor and beloved colleague has crossed the river.

Salish Mom, Grandmother, Urban Aunty, Pow Wow Organizer, Community Activist, Residential School Survivor, Founder of Indigenous Action Movement, Co-founder of Vancouver’s first Aboriginal Day events, Community-builder, Cultural Speaker, Workshop Fa cilitator, Actor, Singer, Dancer, Poet, Writer, Creative Collaborator and Warrior Woman.

Kat’s long relationship with Vancouver Moving The atre and the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival dates back twenty years to In the Heart of a City: The Downtown Eastside Community Play (2003). Over the years, Kat participated in community-en gaged projects that many may remember includ ing Storyweaving, Realms of Refuge, Unsettled, In the Beginning: A Cultural Sharing (From the Waters) and most recently her one-woman performance of Tell Us When They Came.

As Elder-in-Residence for the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival, Kat advised on cultural and community protocol; shared knowledge at the festival’s Opening and Closing Ceremonies; participated in con versations with Elders-in-Residence at the Carnegie Com munity Centre and hosted two events at Crab Park: a Canoe Landing and the Honouring Downtown Eastside Warriors Ceremony.

Kat dedicated her life to raising voice for Indigenous peoples, to nourishing resilience, fighting injustice and ensuring that the Downtown Eastside community is seen, recognized and honoured.

Kat said that taking care to share knowledge with the next generation is a form of activism. She encouraged all of us to support each other, to work towards solutions, and to be examples to the next generation. Her legacies live on through her examples and mentoring: her poems, scripts and interviews; in videos about the festival; through recordings of her lived experiences and cultural teachings; and in the memories of all who were blessed to know her.

– Terry Hunter and Savannah Walling

Upcoming Events

Eight Immortals Cross the Sea Mural: Repair and Social

100 volunteers join artists from the Baqua Artist Association to restore this beloved Chinatown laneway mural damaged by graffiti. Partners: Bagua Artist Association, Chinatown Generations Society and Vancouver Moving Theatre with support from the COV Chinatown Transformation Team.

Chinatown Futures: A Hotpot Talk

An online panel looking at the present and what is needed to organize against ongoing gentrification and displacement, resurging xenophobia and racism, while collectively imagining and building a better future. Panel hosted by David Ng and Jen Sungshine with guests Laiwan and Kimberly Wong. Co-presented by Love Intersections and VMT/Heart of the City Festival.

19th Annual

Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival

October 26 – November 6, 2022

Highlights Include:

The Gathering: A Suite of Murals for Heart of the City Launch of stunning murals honouring Downtown East side Cultural and activist contributors and created by Sal ish artists Marissa Nahanee and Charlene Johnny, Cree artist Jerry Whitehead and Metis artist Richard Tetrault (Lead). Produced by Creative Cultural Collaborations So ciety (C3) in association with Vancouver Moving Theatre.

Intangible Treasures from the Downtown Eastside Premier of a collection of short shadow plays co-created on the zoom platform by Downtown Eastside storytellers of diverse ancestry who shared intangible personal treasures that give them strength. Co-produced in a cross-regional partnership with Runaway Moon Theatre (Enderby BC/Secwepemc Homelands) and VMT.

The Prop Masters’ Dream

Premiere of a new fusion opera in spired by the true story of Wah Kwan Gwan, an Indigenous/ Chinese props master and Chi natown resident. Produced by Vancouver Cantonese Opera.

Hearts Beat 2022

A musical exploration of shared traditions of drums, dance, song and storytelling between Indigenous and Irish Cultures. Supported by a circle of partners including Carnegie Community Centre Indigenous Programs, UBC Learning Exchange, Irish Consulate and

8th Symposium on Reconciliation and Redress in the Arts: Stories Have Always Been Our Governance

An online symposium centred on learning from successful strategies of arts-based redress in policies and systems in building Indigenous cities. Panelists Kevin Loring (Ottawa), Allan Greyeyes (Winnipeg), Daina Warren (Santa Fe), MC Kamala Todd (BC), with breakout sessions facilitated by T’uy’t’tanat Cease Wyss and Irwin Oostindi. Partners- Voor Urban Labs, National Urban Indigenous Coalitions Council and VMT.

Generations of Women and Water

A new exhibit at Massy Arts Gallery by Indigenous visual artist Nadine Spence. One of the highlights of Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey in Residence, this indigenous-led residency featured two weeks of art exhibits, arttalks, ceremony, teachings, storytelling and window display honouring grandmothers past and present. Produced by Further We Rise Indigenous Arts Collective/ Sacred Rock in partnership with VMT/festival, along with community partnerships with Massy Arts Society, VALU CO-OP Community Projects/Love Intersections, Vancouver Aboriginal Community Policing Centre, Vines Art Festival and Carnegie Community Centre/Oppenheimer Park.

Dia de Muertos / Day of the Dead Community Celebration

This celebration of memory that honours an Indigenous tradition common to many Latin American cultures features community altars decorated by local artists and a fiesta with traditional music. Partners included Watari Counselling & Support Services with the Community Death Care Project, Oppenheimer Park, VANDU, Listening Post, Carnegie Community Centre and the festival.

Catfish: A Reading Presentation of an ASL/English Play

A play by Simran Gill and Jess Amy Shead about the life experiences of a Deaf Punjabi woman and her exploration of identity and self. Produced by Alley Theatre.

Gritty City

Concert with urban bandscape and Carnegie Jazz Band Alumni, sharing stories and music from the streets and clubs of Vancouver’s historic East End.

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Survivors Totem Pole Refurbishment Closing Ceremony

Upcoming Projects in Development: 2022- 2023

Through Survivor’s Eyes film (Working title)

Phase III (Spring 2023) Release (2024)

SRO Tenant Convention (May 15-16, 2023)

Arts and cultural exchange programming support for the May 15-16 Tenant Convention, with programming to thread to the 2023 Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival. Led by Right to Remain Research Collective, a project hosted and located in the SRO Collaborative, this work uses arts-based and other research methodology to uncover the history of Single Room Occupancy Housing.

The film-in-development centres on the journey of Bernie Skundaal Williams, carver of the Survivors Totem Pole in Pigeon Park. An hereditary Chief-in-Waiting, Williams is a residential school survivor; the first female apprentice of carver Bill Reid; and an advocate for LGBTQ+ and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. This film traces the roots of her journey to and from Haida Gwaii. These scenes will be juxtaposed against scenes in the Downtown Eastside. We revisit Bernie in her role as an activist in Vancouver and witness what it means to be a survivor from the insights of cross-cultural community members who share common histories of displacement, belonging and alienation, resilience and survival: all as interwoven histories of the Downtown Eastside. Directed by Susanne Tabata and produced in partnership between Tabata Productions and VMT.

Fishes of Saltwater City Mural (working title)

Chinatown laneways are places to uncover: they share and hold many of the community’s stories and histories. This new mural for a Chinatown laneway will be created by Bagua Artist Association: an artist duo (Katharine Meng-Yuan Yi and Sean Cao) founded and currently based in Chinatown, and creators of the Chinatown laneway mural 8 Immortals Crossing the Sea.

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Inheritance: a Pick-thePath Experience (filmed version)

The award-winning immersive play delves into Indigenous sovereignty, entitlement and land rights with humour, interactive technology and audience-determined outcomes. Pivoting to an on-the-land filmed version, Inheritance film will launch in 2024 with interactive-screenings distributed around BC. Produced by Alley Theatre and Mosaic Entertainment in association with VMT. The play script by Daniel Arnold, Darrell Dennis and Medina Hahnand was published by Talon Books and has been short-listed for the 2022 Governor General’s Literary Award.

2023 DTES Heart of the City Festival

25 October – 5 November

Guided by the theme “Grounded in Community: Carrying it Forward!”, programming in development includes the launch of 13 Moons Around the Lake, a group exhibit co-presented by the festival and the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art. Curated by Nadine Spence, the exhibit honours Indigenous grandmothers through creation of seven bentwood boxes and a community box. This third season of Honouring Our Grandmothers Healing Journey will also hold cultural programming throughout the exhibit’s duration and include cultural activity in Oppenheimer Park.

Strategic and Succesion Plannning

Lori Baxter, VMT’s Strategic Planning Consultant is co-developing, with VMT’s staff and Board of Directors, a work plan for VMT’s five year Strategic and Succession Plan.

Directors Savannah Walling and Terry Hunter are creatively supporting a transition process to manage major change and leadership change: an unfolding process that reaches out to a new generation, while engaging in proactive practices to increase demographic/cultural representation that reflects the Downtown Eastside historic district and 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.

Current and Upcoming Legacy Projects

ARCHIVES

Savannah and Terry have donated their SFU-related documentation of creative activity (1969-1979) to the Simon Fraser University Archives. They are now entering into discussions with the SFU Library Special Collections regarding donation of their personal records (including The Mime Caravan and Terminal City Dance) and of Vancouver Moving Theatre Society and Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival records.

DID YOU KNOW?

The Carnegie Centre Downtown Eastside collection, the Vancouver City Archives and the Vancouver Public Library have a selection of program guides for Vancouver Moving Theatre productions and the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival. The Carnegie Downtown Eastside Collection also contains books and binders about the making of the 2003 Downtown Eastside Community Play: In the Heart of a City

WEB PLATFORMS

Coming out of Chaos: A Vancouver Dance Story web-based archive and oral history discussing the emergence of contemporary dance in Vancouver, produced by Karen Jamieson Dance and Creative Director/Archivist Emma Metcalfe Hurst. The archive focuses on the early collaborative work Coming Out of Chaos produced by Terminal City Dance, and it’s enduring resonance through contemporary dance and interdisciplinary arts in Vancouver and beyond.

tioned from Peter Ryan), Peter Bingham, Lola Maclaughlin. (Front) Savannah Walling. Photo Chris Randle.

SFU Early Arts @ SFU 1965-1975 website produced by Simon Fraser University Retirees Association

The most remarkable legacy of the first decade at Simon Fraser University is a creative generation that has become a major influence in the development of Canadian culture. In the past four decades, many of the students who chose to become involved in the arts in the non-credit exhilarating environment of the Centre for Communication and the Arts have continued their creative work and in many cases have become mentors to a new generation of artists.

(Baird, 2016) https://www.sfu.ca/earlyarts.htm

Dances by Karen [Jamieson] Rimmer and Savannah

Walling (Nov. 1974)

Throughout their celebrated careers in the Vancouver arts community, [Karen and Savannah] have gone on to lead their own creative projects while also demonstrating their shared social conscience and deep appreciation of the healing power of the arts.

https://www.kjdchaos.ca

2023 COMMUNITY LEGACY PROJECTS

Two students enrolled in UBC’s Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice (GRSJ) are undertaking independent projects for their field practicums. Both are based on interviews of participants involved in two transformative VMT co-productions centred on stories from the Downtown Eastside community.

Asha Sandhu is focusing on the 2003 Downtown Eastside Community Play: In the Heart of a City, co-produced with the Carnegie Community Centre and the Vancouver Japanese Language School & Japanese Hall. Erika Schiedegger is focusing on Against the Current, a collaborative cross cultural performance co-produced by Vancouver Moving Theatre/Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival in partnership with the Vancouver Taiko Society.

The purposes are to create podcasts and an illustrated booklet or article that speaks to the participants’ experiences and the impact of the enduring ripples of these creations.

Photo: Rehearsal for cross-Canada tour produced by Terminal City Dance Research. Choreographed by Karen (Jamieson) Rimmer with assistance from dancers. (Back L-R) Jennifer Mascall, Ahmed Hassan, Lola Ryan (transi

Choreographed by Karen Rimmer with assistance from dancers. Performer Savannah Walling

Upcoming Engagement Legacies

Congratulations to Dr. Annie Smith and theatre artist Lib Spry on publishing:

Experiences from the Edges of the 8th Fire: Indigenous Sovereignty and Settler Responsibility / Expériences des bords du 8e feu : souveraineté autochtone et responsabilité des colons in the Theatre Research in Canada / Recherches théâtrales au Canada (Volume 43, Issue 2, 2022)

Congratulations to Post Marginal: Inclusive Theatre Practice

In April 2022, Post Marginal launched their first digital project: The Centre Cannot Hold. https://www.centrecannothold.com/about

The pan-Canadian bilingual platform highlights performing artists who are creating between and beyond margins, providing a space to explore connections between artists, aesthetics, working practices and values.

Toronto-based Post Marginal is an artistic movement that believes that all cultural backgrounds, physical/mental differences and gender identities can fuel new approaches to theatre. Since 2017, Post Marginal has brought together performing arts and cultural workers who wish to explore new models of inclusive creative practice. Priscillia Tait, Terry Hunter, Savannah Walling, Karen Jamieson, Mildred Grace German, Caroline Herbert and Renae Morriseau were among the over 35 artists who participated in the 2019 Vancouver Laboratorium.

In a process directed and produced by Peter Farbridge and Crystal Chan, Post Marginal developed this artist-driven platform guided by 35 theatre artists, academics, cultural workers, researchers, digital specialists and community leaders from across Turtle Island. Responding to the community’s need for an online space to share and learn from each other, the platform provides videos, podcasts, interviews, articles and more.

Invitation - Care - Transmission

Terry Hunter and Savannah Walling’s work at Vancouver Moving Theatre are among the artists featured on the web platform, including their profile page: The Mother Tree: Terry Hunter (Nang Gulgaa) and Savannah Walling (hl Gat’saa); and their artist’s statements and reflections on Working on the Margins and Honouring Indigenous Colleagues.

“Experience has taught us that redefining the arts is a political and spiritual act.” – Savannah Walling

Co-curators Annie Smith and Lib Spry have invited non-Indigenous theatre practitioners from across Canada to share experiences of collaborating in “8th Fire” productions, so named by Indigenous theatre artist Yvette Nolan. Sharings (in English or French) highlight contributions from seven settler-Canadian theatre artists and administrators about their experiences with intercultural theatre projects engaging in Indigenous and non-Indigenous collaboration. Contributors include Isaac Thomas, Aurélie Lacassagne, Savannah Walling, Laurence Dauphinais, Sarah Garton Stanley, Kevin Matthew Wong, and Geneviève Pelletier. Smith and Spry situate their own theatre practice, scholarship, and impetus for the discussion, and then give place to the seven contributors who situate themselves, describing theatre projects with which they were involved and responding to the following questions: What did you think you knew when you started? What have you learned? What have you unlearned? What problems have you faced? What would you say to settler theatre practitioners and scholar-artists just beginning this journey? Yvette Nolan provides a response to the contributors’ observations and learnings.

Co-curators Annie Smith and Lib Spry were fellow travellers on the 2015 Train of Thought, along with Terry Hunter, Savannah Walling and Priscillia Tait. Spearheaded by Jumblies Theatre in 2015 with partners across the land (including VMT), Train of Thought was a seven week community arts journey from west to east coast with on-board activities, 25 stops, 75 travellers, 95 partners and hundreds of artists and community participants along the way. The journey’s theme and focus were community arts collaborations and alliances between First Nations and settler/immigrant artists and communities.

Associate Artists & Artists in Residence

Rosemary Georgeson (Coast Salish/Dene)

Festival Associate Artist

Artist, storyteller and facilitator

Supporting development of Openings: A Cultural Sharing.

John Endo Greenaway

Designer in Residence

Graphic designer, desktop publisher, editor, writer, designer VMT program guides, websites, promotion and legacy materials.

Zucomul’wat Kat Norris (Coast Salish) Festival Elder in Residence, 2017 - 2022 Coast Salish grandmother, poet, writer, dancer, social activist, cultural educator

Her traditional name is from her Musqueam Great Great Great Grandmother.

Supported the festival by advising on cultural protocol, sharing knowledge, and participating in events and ceremonies.

Ga’axstsalas Cheryle Williams / Gunargie O’Sullivan (Kwakiutl)

Festival Associate Programmer

Indigenous radio host, media producer, actress and arts organizer

Curating and emceeing; radio programming featuring Indigenous voices (news, interviews, music and cultural teachings).

Jim Sands

Festival Associate Programmer, 2022 East Vancouver storyteller, songwriter, musician, performer, facilitator and project coordinator

Curating, facilitating, emceeing and supporting development of storytelling cabarets and sharings

Louise Ma

Social Media Manager

Supporting festival social media and managing eventbrite

Ali McDougall

Simon Fraser University Practicum and Internship in Community Arts, 2022

Supporting community tickets, assisting with events and administration, and preparing a Statistics Project Report.

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

Congratulations on the celebration of all of the work, joy, dedication you have put into uplifting and sharing the stories and experiences of the DTES community for so many decades. You have helped the wider community realize that there are stories to be told.

– Kat Zu’comulwat Norris, Festival Elder in Residence 2017-2022

Vancouver Moving Theatre & Festival Staff

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)

Jonathon Paterson Festival Production Manager (2022)

Tracey Moromisato Festival Program Liaison (since 2018)

Kimit Sekhon 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)

Gerardo Avila Operations / Production Assistant (since 2013)

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, 2022, 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, 2022, 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 06, 2022

Credits & Thanks

Vancouver Moving Theatre

Co-Founder | Executive Director Terry Hunter (Nang Gulgaa)

Co-Founder | Artistic Director Savannah Walling (hl Gat’saa)

General Manager | Festival Operations Manager & Associate Producer Lalia Fraser

Accountant Lucy Lai

Bookkeeper Maura Doherty

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

Community Funding Partners

SFUW Cultural Programs

Canada Helps - Partner Giving

Foundations

David Lam Centre

Quesnel Community Foundation

VanCity Community Foundation

Vancouver Foundation

Yosef Wosk Family Foundation

Media Sponsors

OMNI TV

CITY TV

Georgia Straight

STIR Arts & Culture

Thank you!

Carnegie Community Centre

Association of United Ukrainian Canadians (Ukrainian Hall)

2021 - 2022 Individual Donors

Anonymous (2), Russell Anthony, Rick Archambault, Charlen Francais Burns, Beth Carter, Katherine Chan, Ellen Gail Claitman, Michael Clague, Olivia C. Davies, Lalia Fraser, Frank Harris, Terry Hunter, Fioana Lam, Louise Leclair, Sherry MacDonald, Ann McDonell, Barbara Pulling, Lenore Rowntree, Roger Seamon, Sandy Scofield, Magda Theriault, Carol Uhte, Robert Wilson

David Cooper photo

Vancouver Moving Theatre

Vancouver Moving Theatre Society

Established 25 October 1983

Vancouver | Chinatown | Lim Sai Hor Kow Mock Association clan building

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 and ancestral homelands of the xʷməθkʷəyəm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɁɬ / selílwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh).

Terry Hunter and Savannah Walling, Lim Sai Hor Kow Mock Association building, 1983 founding home (second floor) of Vancouver Moving Theatre | David Cooper photo

Terry Hunter (Nang Gulgaa) | Co-Founder Executive Director, Vancouver Moving Theatre Artistic Producer, Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival

Savannah Walling (hl Gat’saa) | Co-Founder Artistic Director, Vancouver Moving Theatre Associate Artistic Director, Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival