Kids can experience the joys of the great outdoors this spring break at Stanley Park EcoCamps. They’ll uncover mysteries of the natural world, engage in curious exploration, and have fun with other children with these fun nature-based adventures.
Stanley Park Spring Break EcoCamps
These week-long adventure day camps for campers aged 7 to 11 will explore the wetlands, beaches, and forests of Stanley Park.
March 13 to 17, 2023: Forest Explorers (ages 7 to 11)
Venture into the forests of Stanley Park during this week of exploration. Get to know the local trees, plants, and animals that live in our local forests. Where do birds nest? How do species work together? What lives on the forest floor? Play games and expand your knowledge under nature’s canopy.
March 20 to 24, 2023: Signs of Spring (ages 7 to 11)
Spring in Stanley Park means vibrant greens, fresh air, and an abundance of growth. We’ll hone our senses to unlock its seasonal secrets and changes. Which plants are blooming? Who has migrated back? Where are the frogs? What’s making that sound? The forest, wetlands, and beaches are a wondrous place with many exciting mysteries just waiting to be explored.
The Stanley Park Ecology Society is a registered non-profit that promotes awareness of and respect for the natural world through collaborative environmental education, research, and conservation in Stanley Park. Visit the Nature House at Lost Lagoon on weekends, 10:00am to 4:00pm.
Jack Harlow and ODESZA headline the FVDED in the Park lineup June 23-24, 2023 at Surrey’s Holland Park. Tickets will go on sale January 27, 2023. Following a triumphant return in 2022, Blueprint Events and Live Nation Canada have announced that more of the hottest acts in electronic, dance, and hip-hop music will hit the festival’s stage this summer.
FVDED in the Park Lineup 2023
Jack Harlow ODESZA DJ Snake Metro Boomin A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie Ski Mask the Slump God Lane 8 FERG BIA SG Lewis Channel Tres Wax Motif Mariah The Scientist Jeleel! Deathpact Apashe
LP Giobbi Kasablanca ATLiens Golden Features LŪN Ivy Lab Baynk Capozzi HoneyLuv Eprom Kompany Nostalgix SkiiTour The Homies Ravenscoon Calcium
General Admission, GA+ and VIP tickets will be on sale beginning January 27 at 10:00am. Single day lineup will be announced in the coming weeks with single day tickets also available at that time.
FVDED in the Park first launched in 2015 with headliners Deadmau5 and The Weeknd and it’s been a staple of the summer music scene in Metro Vancouver ever since.
The Family Day long weekend is coming up February 18-20, 2023 I have have curated list of all of the awesome, fun things, to enjoy with your loved ones right here!
Family Day Long Weekend Events in Vancouver 2023
This list will be updated over the next few weeks. If you have an event you’d like to include, please feel free to send it in for a free listing.
Burnaby
There will be events and activities all across the city at recreation centres and rinks. Burnaby Village Museum will be open for the day, and you can also join a Toonie Skate, Family Basketball, Family Hike, Family Pickleball and more.
Coquitlam
On February 18th, celebrate the dynamic and varied cultures of the African diaspora in Coquitlam and the Lower Mainland during the 4th annual Black History Month Family Day. Enjoy dance, crafts, and amazing foods together in community.
Enjoy Family Day at Maillardville Community Centre on February 20th. Take part in family oriented crafts, games, activities, face painting, and more, all for free! Light refreshments will be served.
Join in the fun at Lights at Lafarge with a Pirate Parrr-ty on Friday, February 17th from 5:30pm to 8:30pm. Park Spark staff at the TD Community Plaza will host pirate-themed activities, music and fun games. Then grab a map and go on a treasure hunt around Lafarge Lake. February 18th will be the final night of Lights at Lafarge this season!
New Westminster
Registration for a wide array of Family Day activities opens February 2, 2023. Enjoy a day at the Queen’s Park Green House, workshops at the Anvil Centre, and much more from February 18th to 20th.
On February 18th, Family Services of Greater Vancouver will host a pop-up at the New Westminster Public Library Main Branch (716 6th Avenue). Free and open to the public, the event will discuss the many challenges facing families today, while offering targeted supports.
Enjoy free admission to the Fraser River Discovery Centre on February 20th. Investigate the biodiversity hiding under the surface of the living, working Fraser River. Colour a creature to add to a Fraser River habitat map, see what you can spot in the Fraser River, and join for storytime.
North Vancouver
MONOVA hosts a Virtual Family Day Coast Salish Wool Weaving workshop on February 20th. Your family can learn to weave a wool bracelet in the Coast Salish style with Tsawasiya Spukwus of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Nation on Family Day.
The Lynn Canyon Ecology Centre is hosting a Family Felting Workshop on February 18th. Learn how to felt a plant or animal using needle felting techniques. Adults and children will work together to learn more about their plant or animal and develop their creations. Suitable for ages 5+.
February 20th is Coast Salish Family Day at Maplewood Flats. The Wild Bird Trust of British Columbia invites families to celebrate nature and culture from these Coast Salish lands and waters. The free public event is 11:00am to 2:00pm and the whole family is welcome.
Richmond
Visit the Steveston Tram’s new exhibit about Interurban rail travel and how it changed the lives of the residents of Richmond, February 17-20 12:00pm to 4:00pm daily, free admission! Climb aboard Tram Car 1220, Richmond’s largest artefact, and imagine what it was like to commute between Steveston and Vancouver on the “Sockeye Special”, in early to mid-1900s. The new exhibit includes many hands-on elements designed to engage visitors of all ages. Learn about the routes and history of the Interurban tram system, stories about its passengers, and how the tram works. During Family Day weekend, free crafts and activities will be offered for younger visitors.
Spend Family Day at Fort Langley National Historic Site. On February 20th you can participate in river and ocean-themed activities and learn about the site’s connection to salmon and killer whales with guests from the Gulf of Georgia Cannery National Historic Site, the Parks Canada Southern Resident Killer Whale team, Salmon River Enhancement Society, Derby Reach Brae Island Parks Association, and more.
In Aldergrove, there’s a Family Open Mic Night on February 18th at the LAC – Aldergrove Kinsmen Community Cente.
The Canadian Museum of Flight invites you to their aviation discovery centre. Check out vintage aircraft and hear stories about the wonders of aviation. Weather permitting, cockpits will be open, to climb in and explore. There will be special activities like crafts, games and aircraft-watching from their front-row seat at the Langley Airport.
The BC Farm Museum in Fort Langley will have activities and demonstrations for all ages plus a scavenger hunt with a “goodie bag” prize for children to take home.
The VMF Winter Arts Festival will also be in full swing, with a variety of free activations and entertainment options around Downtown Vancouver.
The Vancouver Winter Pride Festival is hosting Chosen Family Day on February 20th at the VMF Winter Arts Hub at 850 West Georgia. This free family-friendly event will bring everyone together for a day of celebrating love and community.
Vancouver Civic Theatres is hosting a free family day event at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on February 18th featuring the artwork of Sylvan Hamburger, crafts, a live classical music performance, and more from 10:00am to 1:00pm. Reserve your spot here.
Visit the Chinatown Storytelling Centre from Friday, February 17th through to Monday, February 20th to enjoy 50% off admission and walk back in time, immersing yourself in the culture of Chinese Canadiens who helped shape Canada.
There will be free entry (donations welcome) during Family Day at Old Hastings Mill Store Museum February 18th and 19th. Vancouver’s oldest building (c. 1868) for games, treats, and more!
Vancouver Art Gallery celebrates Family Day on Monday, February 20th. Inspired by the exhibitions Jin-me Yoon: About Time, Marie Khouri – I Love and Guud san glans Robert Davidson: A Line That Bends But Does Not Break – discover ways to learn, dream and connect through art. There will be a series of activities that encourage children and their families to explore how creativity can create the change we want to see in the world.
The Polygon Gallery will present the Vancouver premiere of As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic from February 24 to May 14, 2023. The international touring exhibition, curated by The Polygon Gallery’s Elliott Ramsey, is dedicated entirely to the Wedge Collection as featured in the recently published book by Aperture of more than 100 photographs from African diasporic culture from both sides of the Atlantic.
Kennedi Carter, Untitled (Self-Portrait), 2020
Digital print on Hanhemüle Photo Rag
From As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic (Aperture, 2021)
Courtesy of the artist
As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic
When: February 24 to May 21, 2023
Gallery Hours: Wed, Fri-Sun 10:00am to 5:00pm; Thurs until 8:00pm
Where: The Polygon Gallery (101 Carrie Cates Court, North Vancouver)
Admission: By donation
“The Wedge Collection brings together rare images, iconic photographs, and new works that reach across continents and over decades,” says Ramsey. “From the 1930s’ Harlem Renaissance, through post-colonial Bamako, to contemporary Toronto, As We Rise celebrates the polyphony of Black life — and the nuanced approaches of Black photographers in representing these scenes of love, leisure, and resistance.”
The Wedge Collection was established by Dr. Kenneth Montague in 1997 and is Canada’s largest privately owned collection committed to championing Black artists.
The exhibition’s title is borrowed from a phrase that Montague’s father would often invoke: “Lifting as we rise.” By this, he emphasized the importance of parlaying one’s personal success into communal good. He believed in investing back in the community to which he and his family belonged. As an ethic, “lifting as we rise” suggests an expanded sense of family, one that reaches beyond close relatives. As an exhibition, As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic embraces this expansive sensibility, centring the familial alongside the familiar.
Familiarity resides not just in the exhibition collectively, but in the photographs themselves. Black subjects are depicted by Black photographers, presented as they wish to be seen. Largely, these subjects are aware of the camera, and yet never seem rigid or unnatural. The gaze is mutual and consensual. But the imagery produced is far from uniform. It is as varied, surprising, and heterogeneous as the Black Atlantic itself. Like a family album, it is idiosyncratic. The concepts of community, identity, and power intersect and merge, discernable in many of the photographs not as features to be singled out but rather as a recognizable essence; a recognition of the complex strength, beauty, vulnerability, and irreducibility of Black life.
Select highlights from the exhibition include:
’70s Lifestyle (1975–78) by Samuel Fosso, a legendary photographer known for self-portraiture in various personas, is seen here as a young teenager, styling himself in fashions of the day
Sunday Morning, Detroit, Michigan (1950) by Gordon Parks, an icon of civil rights-era photography
Rude Boy, Brooklyn, New York (1982) by Jamel Shabazz, who was photographing in Brooklyn as hip hop was emerging a force in the global music industry
Nuit de Noël (1963) by Malick Sidibé, one of the most important photographers of post-colonial Africa who was recognized with the Hasselblad Award the Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement
My Name Is My Name I (2016) by Texas Isaiah, a rising star in contemporary photography, and the first trans photographer to shoot an edition cover for Vogue Magazine in 2020
First Self-Portrait (1975) by Carrie Mae Weems, among the most significant photographers of our time and renowned for her self-portraiture
After Sir Joshua Reynolds’ “Portrait of Doctor Samuel Johnson” (2009) by Kehinde Wiley, a Nigerian-American artist known for referencing art historical portraiture in his photographs and paintings, and Barack Obama’s official portrait in Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery
The exhibition first opened at the Art Museum at the University of Toronto in fall 2022 and will travel to the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts in June 2023.
As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic is part of Capture Photography Festival in Vancouver April 1–30, 2023. Follow The Polygon on Facebook for more information about this exhibition, and others.
Vancouver Opera continues its 2022-2023 season with the company premiere of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Benjamin Britten, directed by Aria Umezawa with Conductor Jacques Lacombe. Based on Shakespeare’s fantastical story, A Midsummer Night’s Dream follows a myriad of hilarious characters in a whimsical whirlwind of magic potions, love triangles and mistaken identities.
Vancouver Opera Presents A Midsummer Night’s Dream
When: February 11 & 16, 2023 at 7:30pm & Sunday, February 19 at 2:00pm
Where: Queen Elizabeth Theatre (630 Hamilton St, Vancouver)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is sung in English with English SURTITLES™ projected above the stage.
Dream is the story of four lovers, a feuding King and Queen of the fairies, and a comedic ensemble of Mechanicals. Each group is beautifully captured by Britten’s contrasting sound worlds, resulting in an accessible operatic fairy tale complete with plenty of comedy.
“Presenting this magical production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a thrill for us at Vancouver Opera,” said Tom Wright, Vancouver Opera General Director. “Audiences are familiar with the story and we hope that familiarity will encourage patrons to come experience this fantastical opera. In our cast for Dream we are thrilled to have a descendant of composer Benjamin Britten join our company; Spencer Britten will be singing in the role of Lysander. This is a treat for audiences to have a multi-generational connection to this production here in Vancouver.”
Conductor Jacques Lacombe makes his return to Vancouver Opera after conducting Turandot in 2017. Director Aria Umezawa makes her debut with Vancouver Opera bringing her innovative work to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre stage.
Cast in the role of Oberon is Daniel Moody, with his faithful servant Puck portrayed by Kunji Ikeda. Magali Simard-Galdes is Tytania, Queen of the Faeries. The four lovers are Spencer Britten as Lysander, Clarence Frazer as Demetrius, Jonelle Sills as Helena, and Hillary Tufford as Hermia. Royal Court members include Neil Craighead as Theseus and Stephanie Tritchew as Hippolyta. Peter McGillivray plays Bottom, who becomes entangled with Tytania as she falls under a love spell. Fellow Mechanicals include Ian Cleary as Snout, Jason Cook as Starveling, Luka Kawabata as Quince, Peter Monaghan as Snug and Asitha Tennekoon as Flute.
Follow Vancouver Opera on Facebook for more information about this performance, the rest of the season, and more.
