“Don’t walk away from a field of rice. After one plants nice seed in a field, they must be protected and nourished in order to provide a good harvest.” Bessie Lee, one of the founding members of SPOTA (Strathcona Property Owners and Tenants Association)
The 6th Annual Downtown Eastside
Heart of the City Festival
Wed. 28 October – Sun. 8 November 2009
Over 80 events at over 30 venues
throughout the Downtown Eastside
With a focus on the rich and diverse communities of the Downtown Eastside, the sixth annual Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival celebrates the creative and committed artists and activists that thrive in the heart of Vancouver.
The festival features twelve days of play readings, musical showcases, coffee houses, spoken word, writers writing, processions, forums, workshops, discussions, gallery exhibits, mixed media viewings, art talks, history talks, and history walks.
The theme of the 2009 festival is Illuminating the Four Corners – the intersection of Main and Hastings Street, at the very heart of the Downtown Eastside- and this year the festival will feature numerous events at the Four Corners and throughout the surrounding four neighbourhoods (Gastown, North Hastings, Strathcona and Chinatown). The 2009 Festival also offers a special spotlight on Downtown Eastside, First Nation and Asian Canadian artists, producers, curators and residents and their perspective on ‘standing proud’ at the Four Corners.
2009 Festival highlights include:
- Downtown Eastside Music Theatre Showcase- thirty extraordinary songs from seven extraordinary music theatre productions produced in the Downtown Eastside, including the DTES Community Play (2003), DTES Romeo and Juliet (2008), Condemned: The Opera (2006) and Bruce: The Musical (2008);
- Downtown Eastside Samba Band, the spirit lifting, body-shakin’ percussion ensemble led by percussion maestro Joseph ‘Pepe’ Danza;
- Illuminating the Four Corners, an outdoor multi level event at Main and Hastings featuring visual projections on buildings and through windows, along with DTES musicians and poets performing from windows, rooftops and soap boxes;
- Sandy Scofield, award-winning Métis artist/singer/composer;
- Comedy Night at Carnegie featuring sketch comedy, stand-up and theatre improv with professional and community performers;
- In Our Backyard – photos and multimedia from Oppenheimer artists, and photo contest winners from PIVOT and after homelessness… at gallery gachet.
Printed program guides will be available by Friday Oct 16 throughout the Downtown Eastside (including: Carnegie, Strathcona and Raycam Community Centres), and in selected shops along Commercial Drive (between Venables and Broadway) and Main Street (between Broadway and 33rd).
…a cultural rejoicing of what is here, from poets, musicians, artists, dancers and actors, to a rich history of those who stood out, fit in and helped along the way.
Lynn Mitges – The Province
Downtown Eastside Arts4All Institute
Vancouver Moving Theatre and Jumblies Theatre, in cooperation with the Community Arts Council of Vancouver is pleased to announce the first Downtown Eastside Arts4All Institute (November 12-19, 2009), a intensive creative laboratory and practicum for art that engages and celebrates community. Faculty includes three of Canada’s leading community artists – directors Savannah Walling (Vancouver Moving Theatre), Ruth Howard (Jumblies Theatre, Toronto) and special quest Cathy Stubington (Runaway Moon Theatre, Enderby BC).
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