THAT'S A WRAP!

A huge thanks to the host of community partners, funders, donors, staff, volunteers, incredible artists and knowledge keepers, and all the festival audiences and participants for making the 20th Annual Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival such a great and memorable success!

The 2023  Festival theme was "Grounded in Community: Carrying it Forward." It was so wonderful to see the community coming back out again after years of COVID-19 for live events. To be together, grounded in community, sharing our culture, our stories, our lived experience, and our artistic and cultural practice. Together, grounded in community, we build community.

Thank you one and all!

PS: to view the live-streamed events that were recorded, click HERE

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Selected 2023 Festival Highlights


The Homeless Project, a multi-media event, led by guitarist and composer Tony Wilson, features ten of Vancouver’s finest musicians, photography, narration, sign language interpretation, with film by award winning filmmaker Michael McKinlay. Tony’s hope is this event will raise empathy and awareness of the serious housing struggles that people face in the Downtown Eastside and across Canada. In association with Coastal Jazz & Blues Society.

Thursday October 26, 7:30pm
Carnegie Community Centre Theatre, 401 Main


Famous Last Words features five raconteurs attempting to win their way into the heart of master of ceremonies Sara Bynoe through games designed to test their literary and comedic merit. With the assistance of the audience and her trusty sidekick Uni the Unicorn, the mistress of mirth will decide who performs best. Taking the stage are Dina Del Bucchia, Elliott Slinn, Hari Alluri, Marie Metaphor and RC Weslowski. Presented by Death Rides a Unicorn, with SFU Office of Community Engagement.

Friday October 27, 7pm
SFU Woodwards, 149 W Hastings


Battle of Ballantyne Pier is a staged workshop presentation of a new musical about the 1935 Vancouver longshore workers’ strike, and the bloody confrontation known in Canadian labour history as the ‘Battle of Ballantyne Pier’. Book by Sherry MacDonald, songs by Thomas Jones, Sherry MacDonald and Russell Wallace. MacDonald is an award-winning playwright and filmmaker; Jones is an actor, songwriter and recording artist with an extensive body of work; and award-winning composer Wallace is a producer and traditional singer from the Lil’wat Nation.

Friday & Saturday, October 27 & 28, 7pm
Maritime Labour Centre, 1880 Triumph


Spontaneous Street Poetry returns this year following the successful debut in 2022. Poet, writer and activist Gilles Cyrenne and Vancouver’s Poet Laureate Fiona Tinwei Lam host three days of responsive writing from the sidewalk outside the Carnegie Community Centre. Have you ever wondered what a poet could do with one of your thoughts or ideas? Here’s your chance to find out!

Friday, Saturday & Sunday, October 27, 28 & 29, 1pm
Carnegie Community Centre outdoor sidewalk, 401 Main


Cultural Tributaries Building Tour is a guided walk through Chinatown’s historic Lim Association building led by Orville Lim on the history of the building, the Lim clan and Chinatown; a presentation by current tenants David Ng (Love Intersections) and Jonny Sopotiuk (Union Cooperative Initiative) on the intersection of art, community and labour movements in Chinatown; and a special performance of Drum Mother (weather permitting) by former tenant Terry Hunter of Vancouver Moving Theater (VMT), founded in 1983 when Terry and VMT were in residence on the Lim Building second floor.

Sunday October 29, 11am
Lim Sai Hor Kow Mock Association Building, 525 Carrall


Insite 20: Then and Now is an online and interactive Speakers’ Corner-style documentary and discussion with community members, drug users, activists, law enforcement and politicians on the impact of North America's first legal injection site that opened its doors in 2003. Post-show discussion with Insite and PHS founders Mark Townsend and Liz Evans, former City Councillor Jean Swanson, and author and former member of Parliament for Vancouver East, Libby Davies. Produced by Illicit Projects.

Sunday October 29, 7pm
Online event


We Live Here II, a breathtaking, large-scale outdoor installation of hyper-speed videos run twenty minutes on a continuous loop and projected onto a large wall of a local building. This year the installation features new artwork by local BIPOC youth along with other Downtown Eastside artists, all inspired by the phrase “we live here.” Produced by Radix Theatre, with curator Gunargie O’Sullivan.

Wednesday, Thursday & Friday, November 1, 2 & 3, 8pm – 9:30pm
Keefer & Columbia, NE corner


9th Symposium on Reconciliation & Redress in the Arts brings together Coast Salish cultural leaders and accomplices to share lessons, build settler and Indigenous solidarity practices, and create training opportunitiesfor those seeking to practice place-based redress in the arts and culture context. An in-person panel will activate UNDRIP for cultural policies in cities, and present the "In the Way/Out of the Way: Toolkit for Redressing Arts Policy" publication to mobilize the significant learnings from eight previous symposiums. Meet & Greet and lunch provided. Produced by Voor Urban Labs.

Thursday November 2, 10am-3pm
Creekside Community Recreation Centre, 1 Athletes Way


Etuaptmumk / Two-eyed Ways of Being & Seeing is a series of cultural gatherings that bring together Indigenous knowledge holders, environmental activists, academics and community to address environmental destruction, climate change and justice. The two-hour workshop on Sunday invites audience members inspired by one or more of the cultural gatherings to develop personal actions to address climate change. Guided by Rosemary Georgeson and Lara Aysal, produced by The Only Animal with Firehall Arts Centre and Vancouver Moving Theatre.

Thursday & Friday, November 2 & 3, 7:30pm / Saturday November 4, 3pm & 7pm
Workshop: Sunday November 5, 11am
Firehall Arts Centre, 280 E Cordova. Box Office: 604.689.0926


Reweaving our Words, explores weaving techniques and our connections to language. This afternoon event is a showcase of pieces created by participants and the culmination of a fall weaving series. Try hands-on demo activities: working with wool, plant fibres, and the Land Loom; join a discussion on the experience of losing language; and enjoy music and food! A  collaboration of the UBC Learning Exchange and EartHand Gleaners.

Friday November 3, 1pm
Trillium Park, Malkin & Thornton


Once Upon a Time on a Chinatown Night follows the personal journey of Shon Wong and his search for family, identity and purpose. The production features original Chynatruckerfunk music by the Son of James Band, historical projections by Elwin Xie, story by Shon Wong, with narrator Ramona Mar and special guests. A Son of James production in association with Vancouver Moving Theatre.

Friday November 3, 7:30pm
STRETCH Studio, 180 E Pender 2nd floor. Not wheelchair accessible


Stop the Sweeps, a documentary by Ryan Sudds, a Vancouver-based filmmaker and organizer,  chronicles the violent decampments of unhoused people in the DTES and subsequent community resistance against the ongoing state-sanctioned violence and neglect. Followed by an informal townhall conversation moderated by the Stop the Sweeps team. Presented with Gallery Gachet.

Saturday November 4, 3:30pm
Carnegie Community Centre Theatre, 401 Main


Smokey Devil – Underworld Street Reporter, an insightful and engaging film by Nathaniel Canuel, focuses on the life of Smokey D, a locally-renowned Downtown Eastside icon and street artist known for his murals that depict memorials, the toxic drug crisis, MMIWG2S and other issues. Followed by a conversation with the artist and filmmaker.

Saturday November 4, 7:30pm
Carnegie Community Centre Theatre, 401 Main


The mandate of the Festival is to promote, present and facilitate the development of artists, art forms, cultural traditions, history, activism, people and great stories about Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. The Festival involves professional, community, emerging and student artists, and lovers of the arts.


Thanks to our funders and media sponsors for their generous support: Canada Council for the Arts; Canadian Heritage (Building Communities Through Arts and Heritage); BC Arts Council; Government of British Columbia through BC Gaming and BC Festival Fairs and Events Recovery Fund; City of Vancouver through Cultural Services, Homelessness Services and DTES Capital Fund; artsvest; CLICK; Deux Milles Foundation; Hamber Foundation; Vancouver Fraser Port Authority Community Investment Fund; VanCity Community Foundation (Lepawsky Family Fund, Lulu Fund); Quesnel Community Foundation; SFU Woodward's Cultural Programs; and media sponsors Georgia Straight, OMNI Television, City TV and STIR Vancouver.

 

HATS OFF TO OUR FUNDING AND IN-KIND PARTNERS AND SPONSORS!

The Heart of the City Festival gratefully acknowledges the financial and in-kind support of our 2023 Festival partners and sponsors.