The 21st Annual Chutzpah! Festival returns with concerts, comedy, new dance works, film, theatre, and storytelling, paired with stimulating conversations and opportunities to interact with creative artists. Audiences will have the opportunity to attend in-person performances, with safety protocols in place, or to enjoy digital streams from the comfort of their own homes. With an emphasis on artists from across Canada, the Festival will also present work from Israel, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
21st Annual Chutzpah! Festival
When: November 4 to 24, 2021
Where: Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre, Wosk Auditorium, Sidney & Gertrude Zack Gallery at the JCC, and online
Tickets: Available now. Single tickets start at $18 (plus fees)
The Chutzpah! Festival opens on November 4th with an interactive concert by City Opera Vancouver at the Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre.
What better way to welcome audiences back to the Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre than with the pinnacle of Jewish comedy – a special screening of the Marx Bros. classic A Night at the Opera. To kick off the festivities, City Opera Vancouver will sing the operatic music parodied in the film, with fun and surprises in store. The 30s cinema experience will include festive treats, glamour, and a costume contest. City Opera Vancouver singers Michelle Koebke (soprano) and Martin Renner Wallace (tenor) will be joined tonight by pianist Roger Parton.
More festival highlight include:
Comedy
Avi Liberman November 20 at 7:00pm Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre – digital stream available
Ophira Eisenberg November 10 at 7:00pm Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre – digital stream available
Iris Bahr November 23 at 7:00pm Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre – digital stream available
Dance
Project inTandem – Deep END & moving through, it all amounts to something November 6 & 7 at 7:00pm Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre – digital stream available
Shay Kuebler/Radical System Art – world premiere of Momentum of Isolation November 13 & 14 at 7:00pm Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre – digital stream available
Alexis Fletcher – Vancouver premiere of light in the rafters Ne.Sans Opera & Dance – world premiere of Solo for Orpheus November 16 & 18 at 7:00pm Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre – digital stream available
Theatre/Storytelling
Lilach Dekel-Avneri & The Pathos-Mathos Company The Eichmann Project – Terminal 1 November 8 at 7:00pm Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre – digital stream available
The Flame – Home at Chutzpah! November 17 at 7:00pm, Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre
Surplus Production Unit A Timed Speed-Read of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Trial Transcript November 21 at 6:00pm and November 22 at 11:00am & 7:00pm Wosk Auditorium
Music
Josh “Socalled” Dolgin with Strings – Di Frosh November 19 at 7:00pm Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre – digital stream available
Guy Mintus Trio – A Gershwin Playground November 24 at 7:00pm Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre – digital stream available
Multimedia
Iris Bahr – Artist Conversation Series Throughout the Festival
Tamara Micner – Old Friends November 8-12 Theatre, Installation, Sidney & Gertrude Zack Gallery, By Donation
Enter to Win
I’m giving away a ChutzPack (value $99) to view/attend any 4 online events. Here’s how you can enter to win:
This weekend is the kick-off to all things Halloween and Miss604 is a proud sponsor of Eerie Illusions at Burnaby Village Museum which will be transformed into a magical world bathed in breathtaking colour. Book your tickets today and find this and many more things to do in Vancouver this weekend listed below:
The Rolla Skate Club is excited to announce Rollerland at the PNE! Since the start of Rolla Skate Club almost three years ago, finding a venue to host their in-person rollerskating classes turned out to be a challenging task. From having classes at parking lots, tiny yoga studios, and art galleries, to settling into the late “Skate Church” at Kerrisdale, Rolla has been everywhere.
After many years of looking for a permanent home for Rolla Skate Club, co-founders Carla and Lucy have finally found their long held dream place; a 20,000 sq/ft space to host all of Rolla’s magic at the Rollerland building at the PNE.
With the new space, Rolla Skate Club will be able to host rollerskating classes, events, roller derby games, and even a mini indoor skate park.
In the last year and half the COVID pandemic brought many hits and changes for folks at Rolla. So being able to finally get a big win after many, many lows has brought a lot of happy tears for the Rolla team.
“It’s been a long time in this community that we have been working under one umbrella or another to find a permanent home for roller skating in this city,” says Carla. Having found a space for roller skating not only means a big win for Rolla Skate Club, but also for the growing roller skating community in Vancouver.
“It’s so important to have a place that anyone can go to be active and build strength without judgement, that is also fun and indoors in Vancouver! Especially in the winter I struggle with being active as we all know how gloomy it gets so having a place that isn’t the gym where I feel connected to a community is so beneficial to my (and many others) well being!” Margaret Gravesdale – Rolla Skate Club Customer
The history of the Building at the PNE has shifted a lot, from formerly being known as the Women’s Building to becoming the Rollerland Building in the 1970’s. Being able to settle in a space that has a history for women and of roller skating has also made it more special to bring the skating groove and community back to it.
The grand opening of the new and improved Rolla Skate Club home at Rollerland at the PNE will take place on Saturday, December 4th. If you wish to join the team at Rolla Skate Club to celebrate their new home at the opening and roll the night away you can book tickets online.
Follow Rolla Skate Club on Instagram for more updates and event info.
The Museum of Anthropology (“MOA”) at UBC is hosting the exhibition Sankofa: African Routes, Canadian Roots which will be on display from November 4, 2021–March 27, 2022. The vital exhibition shines a light on the different ways of understanding the world through the lenses of African and Black communities by exploring the relationships between traditional and contemporary African art and Black Canadian contemporary art.
The exhibition is a celebration of these diverse practices and the lasting legacy of African and Black Canadian artists. Sankofais jointly curated by Nya Lewis, founder and director of BlackArt Gastown; Nuno Porto, MOA Curator, Africa and South America; and Titilope Salami, a PhD candidate at UBC’s Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory. It also features one installation curated by Oluwasayo Olowo-Oke, MA candidate at UBC’s Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory.
“Sankofa addresses the uncertain moment that many Black Canadians face when they enter a museum and encounter a historicized version of Africa — how can one relate to these objects that have been removed from contemporary Black culture?” says Lewis. “Sankofa provides a space for viewers to investigate the African collections at MOA and reflect on how the stories, creativity, and traditions that live in these items might be re-examined to find the truth and history of who Black Canadians are now. Sankofa aims to build bridges of recollection and forge new relationships between the many diasporic identities found across the city and beyond.”
There will be 30 works by 16 artists on display alongside more than 100 items from the MOA collection. The exhibition is focused on nine themes — recognition, remembrance, reconnection, restoration, reparation, reclamation, restitution, return, and reconstruction — which are articulated through sections dedicated to wealth, devotion to orishas, Islam, Christianity, looting, and repatriation.
The curatorial variety affirms notions of diversity and resilience by visualizing the continued presence, vitality, and relevance of art from Africa and by Black Canadians. The featured contemporary artists from Vancouver and Lagos are a combination of emerging and established artists, many of whom directly and indirectly address the anonymous works in MOA collections.
Now in its fourth year, the Girls and STEAM symposium at Science World is a virtual day packed with workshops, hands-on activities, panel discussions, and an interactive mentorship component.
Girls and STEAM Symposium at Science World
On Saturday, November 6, 2021, Science World will livestream Girls and STEAM for free, with the aim of preparing British Columbia’s youth for the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art + Design, Math) heavy job landscape of the future. The event will be opened by keynote speaker and popular science communicator, Dr. Samantha Yammine and runs from 9:00am to 12:00pm.
Girls and STEAM gives girls dreaming of future careers in STEAM a space to learn about a variety of scientific topics and careers from experts and mentors. Last year’s digital event saw 2,500 attendees from across the country participate.
With Canada facing a major gap in gender diversity in STEM careers, Girls and STEAM endeavours to inspire, engage and empower girls to pursue research-focused and technical careers by connecting them with female professionals and learning opportunities to help address the major gap in gender diversity that Canada is facing in these fields.
“The gender gap in STEM fields continues to be an issue with only a quarter of jobs today held by women,” said Tracy Redies, President and CEO of Science World.
“Women are less likely to choose a career in STEM than other fields and we believe in the importance of connecting girls to mentors at an early age to transform this. This is our hallmark annual Girls & STEAM event, we added an ‘A’ to include arts & design, and we also now host monthly mentorship events meant to nurture a love for STEAM-related careers on an ongoing basis. Diversity in these fields is essential to ensuring that all voices and ideas are brought to the table and equally respected. It’s imperative that we start this process today.”
Schedule for Girls and STEAM
9:00am: Opening Keynote with Science Sam, followed by interactive Q&A.
10:00am: Interactive workshop exploring how disease researchers track outbreaks. Participants will participate in predictions and surveys during the workshop and learn about free online tools they can use to explore other genetic activities after the event.
10:30am: Interactive mentor panels where participants can ask questions of mentors in a wide range of STEAM career fields.
11:00am: Participants can explore virtual booths from the online industry showcase. Discover amazing careers that are available with some of BC’s top science and technology organizations through videos, images, and links to more information about each group.
11:30am: Second interactive mentor panel session with new mentors and careers.
12:00pm: Closing remarks.
Throughout the online event there will also be spectacular science demonstrations and fun try-at-home activities from Science World. All mentor sessions will be available to stream after the event on Science World’s YouTube channel.
There will also be a 20-minute workshop hosted by Genome BC in which participants will have the chance to solve a fictional viral outbreak with real-world online tools that scientists use to compare DNA sequences and explore how viruses can spread through a community.
