Thursday October 25

Workshop Series
MAKING ART THROUGH DIALOGUE
& MOSAIC PROJECT
Launch: Thursday October 25, 10am – 2pm
EWMA Studio, 54 E. Cordova

Enterprising Women Making Art (EWMA), a program of Atira Women’s Resource Society, is happy to announce the 3rd Annual Making Art Through Dialogue Series. The project for this year is a three panel mosaic inspired by the theme of this year’s Heart of the City Festival, ‘Voices from the Heart.’ Ann Thorsteinsson, the lead artist, with co-facilitator Jessica Numminen, will create a design based on the dialogue ‘Telling Herstories of food in the Downtown Eastside’ and on visual material created at the workshops. The series is open to women on five Thursdays November 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29 from 10am to 2pm. The community will then build and install the mosaics in the sidewalks of the Downtown Eastside in the spring of 2013. No experience necessary; refreshments provided. Space is limited; sign up at the EWMA studio, call 604-685-8043 or email: jessica_numminen@atira.bc.ca. Series is free

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Conversation
TALK WITH THE TAILORS
Thursday October 25, 5pm – 6pm
Modernize Tailors, 5 W. Pender

Modernize Tailors is the last Chinese tailor shop in Vancouver’s Chinatown. Brothers Bill Wong and Jack Wong, whose father first opened the shop in 1913, run this legendary local tailor store. As you can imagine, the shop has a long history in the Downtown Eastside; they’ve created suits for all occasions and all walks of life, from movie stars to lumberjacks. Mr. Wong and Mr. Wong have generously opened their doors to the Festival at the end of their workday for an intimate show and tell. See the production side and the creative side of the timeless skill and expert craft of the tailors in our midst. Limited space, please arrive on time. Free


Comedy
HOWLING COMEDY with Stand Up For Mental Health
Thursday October 25, 7pm – 9pm
Gallery Gachet, 88 E. Cordova

The Heart of the City Festival is tickled silly to present an evening of clowning and stand-up comedy that celebrates the resilience and diversity of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. The lineup features comics from Stand Up for Mental Health and founder David Granirer; along with Canadian comedy legend Gina Bastone of Basta! and local favourite Muriel Marjorie with the unique outside eye of Gena Thompson; the wild and hilarious actor and comedian Sam Bob of the SnawNaw-us First Nation; and storyteller, stand-up and general raconteur Erin Graham. What’s so funny about mental health? Let’s find out! Free

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Music
THE LONGHAND TRIO
Thursday October 25, 9pm – 10:30pm
LanaLou’s Rock & Roll Eatery, 362 Powell

The Festival is pleased to present some fine musicians and improvisers for an evening of original music and arrangements. The Longhand Trio, formed in 2008, will feature Tony Wilson on guitar, André Lachance on bass and Skye Brooks on drums. The band’s varied repertoire consists of original tunes as well as covers of Motown classics and arrangements of jazz composers like Ornette Coleman and Charles Mingus. For the 2012 Heart of the City Festival the trio will perform music inspired by Wilson’s book, A Day’s Life, as well as some Beatles covers. Hailed as “one of the most original guitar stylists on the Canadian scene”, Tony Wilson’s novella, written in 2011, was inspired by his life on the streets of the Downtown Eastside in the 1990s.
Restaurant and bar will be open.
Suggested donation at the door $5


Radio
ARTS RATIONAL
Thursday October 25, 9pm – 10pm
Co-op Radio 100.5FM

The Downtown Eastside is flowing with creative writers and talented songwriters. We’ve invited a few local writers to read and sing some of their work, to talk about writing in the Downtown Eastside, and what it means to write your own words. There will be time for the writers to share their experiences of getting their work published, reading in public (or on the radio), and the power of giving voice through original words and songs. Hear what just a few of the wonderful local writers are saying in our community as they offer their perspective on Co-op Radio’s Arts Rational with grassroots interviewer Jay Hamburger.