Walking Tours
HISTORIC EAST HASTINGS STREET with Maurice Guibord
Friday October 28, 12pm-2pm
Meet at Victory Square, SW corner of Hastings and Cambie
The Vancouver Heritage Foundation has introduced a new two part series with Maurice Guibord that explores historic Hastings Street. And to our good fortune Maurice just happens to be leading a tour of East Hastings during the Heart of the City Festival. Welcome to the streets of the Downtown Eastside! Maurice has been involved in culture and heritage for almost thirty years and is active in the local and national Francophone media as a spokesperson and chronicler. For this walk only you must pre-register at www.vancouverheritagefoundation.org/projects/walkingtours.html. $10
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MY FASCINATIONS WITH THIS PLACE with Catherine Pulkinghorn
Friday October 28, 3pm-4:30pm
Meet at SE corner of E. Pender and Carrall
Catherine Pulkinghorn, artist and educator, leads a walk through a Downtown Eastside neighbourhood and talks about her experiences directing Walking Home Projects and Artists Walking Home. Topics of discussion on the walk include: Change (history, sustenance/demise, new growth); Access (public/private); and Intersections (class, cultural, street life). Catherine’s passion for creative civic engagement, art, education and living consciously has found a platform in Walking Home Projects – a cooperative, collaborative, experiential education project she designed, implemented and piloted in Vancouver in 2010- 2011. Bring your brief stories/inquiries to share. For more information about the projects visit www.walkinghomeprojects.com and www.artistswalkinghome.ca. $10 for non-residents, pay what you can for local residents
Music
SOPHISTICATED LADIES, A TRIBUTE TO WOMEN IN JAZZ
Friday October 28, 8pm
Radha Yoga, 728 Main 2nd floor
The Heart of the City Festival is thrilled to present this special event featuring the soulful voices of local favourites Thelma Gibson and Dalannah Gail Bowen in a musical tribute to the women of jazz. With Michael Creber on piano, Laurence Mollerup on bass and Chris Nordquist on drums. Thelma grew up in The East End and started singing as a child: it was all her family did – at family reunions and picnics. With big brother Leonard leading the way, she toured internationally as an actor, singer, dancer and choreographer, and worked in nightclubs in Canada, Europe and the West Indies. Recently Thelma has returned to her home community of Strathcona/Downtown Eastside and played a large part in the success of Vancouver Moving Theatre’s East End Blues and All That Jazz. Dalannah has almost as long a list of credentials as Thelma! One of Vancouver’s premier vocalists, she is a proud Downtown Eastside resident and loves working for and in the arts in this community. Now sit back and listen to these ladies sing. For your information – Radha is no longer a bar and eatery. Non-alcoholic refreshments available by donation. $10 suggested donation at door
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Reading
GRANDPA’S GIRLS Nicola I. Campbell
Friday October 28, 11am-12pm
Strathcona Community Library
Join children’s author Nicola Campbell as she reads from her just-released third children’s book, Grandpa’s Girls. Nicola is Interior Salish on her mother’s side, Metis from Saskatchewan on her father’s side, and she gets her name from her home community of Nicola Valley, BC. In her two previous books Nicola worked with elders and survivors of residential schools to document the tragic experiences that many endured. Her new book is a sunny, joyful story based on her own childhood memories. “I heard an elder speak of the importance of our languages and our culture. He said that our words are powerful; our stories are elastic; our languages are music: they dance, they move and they are medicine for our people. He said they are a spirit within themselves and we are only the channel that brings them to life. I write because I know what he said is true.” Free
Community
ST. JAMES’ BARGAIN SALE & Fundraiser
Friday October 28, 11am–12:30pm
St. James’ Anglican Church, 303 E. Cordova
Eagerly anticipated throughout the year, the St. James’ Women’s Guild Bargain Sale is the gold mine event to catch. Don’t miss this hour and a half opportunity in bargain sale heaven to pick up household items, gifts, electronics, clothes and other items, for cheap, cheap, cheap prices. Find a last minute Hallowe’en costume or perhaps that long desired I’ve-been-looking-for-this-but-could-never-afford-it kitchen item! Everyone welcome.
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Community Celebration
HALLOWE’EN DANCE The Mortimers
Friday October 28, 7pm-10pm
Carnegie Theatre, 401 Main
Tonight is Hallowe’en Dance Night and the spooky Carnegie Community Centre invites you to put on your most frightful face and join in the dance! Brush up your best scary moves and frighten the old Carnegie Mummy. Shake, rattle and roll to the live music of The Mortimers, an old time rock n’ roll band singing tunes from the 70s and 80s. A great dance band! Join the ghouls at Carnegie and jangle those bones about! Free
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Showcase
EASTSIDE FRIDAY
Friday October 28, 7pm-10pm
EWMA Studio, 54 E. Cordova
The Downtown Eastside is a community rich in art and culture. Enterprising Women Making Art (EWMA) is honoured to showcase some of the local talent during the Heart of the City Festival this year. Join us to celebrate our rich culture and tradition of “women’s art.” We invite you all to a night of music and art, featuring work by local artisans. EWMA is a development initiative of Atira Women’s Resource Society and works with local women to provide a safe space for the creation of marketable artwork. For more information go to www.atira.bc.ca/enterprising-women-making-art. Free
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Electronic Music and Media Arts
HALLOW2EEN, W2 BLACK LIGHT SERIES
Friday October 28, 10:30pm
W2 Media Café, 111 W. Hastings
W2 presents the Black Light Series, four separate events that showcase distinct and artistic directions of electronic music and media arts, and feature emerging and established artists and producers from Vancouver and abroad. This Friday Oct 28 event during the festival features a three floor, two room indoor black light festival with eight plus performers and installations, including Michael Red, Max Ulis, Amanda Rude. Also featuring Emika, a UK producer and emerging star in the international contemporary electronic music scene. For more information visit www.creativetechnology.org. Early bird $15, $20 advance. $45 for 4-night Blacklight Pass (Oct. 28, 29, Nov. 4, 5)
Theatre
VIMY by Vern Thiessen
Friday October 28, 8pm, free preview
Oct 29/8pm, Oct 30/2pm, Nov 1/8pm half price previews
November 2 to November 19
Firehall Arts Centre, 280 E. Cordova
“VIMY is not a play about war,” explains playwright Vern Thiessen. Rather, VIMY illustrates “how small actions can define us as individuals and as a nation.” Thiessen creates characters with extreme depth and feeling in this exploration of friendship, responsibility and nationalism set during the battle at Vimy Ridge. A Firehall Arts Centre Production, directed by Donna Spencer. For more information or to purchase tickets: call 604-689-0926 or go to www.firehallartscentre.ca