City Opera Vancouver presents Chinatown, the company’s fifth commission in ten years, September 13-17, 2022 at the Vancouver Playhouse. This is a ground-breaking new work comes at a time of anti-Asian racism, a struggle to preserve Chinatown itself, and a need to tell the Canadian story it embodies.
Chinatown Opera graphic courtesy Estella Lum at City Opera
City Opera Vancouver Presents Chinatown
When: September 13 to 16, 2022 at 7:30pm; September 17 at 2:00pm
Where: The Vancouver Playhouse (600 Hamilton St, Vancouver)
Tickets: Available online now for $20-$60 (plus taxes & fees)
Chinatown builds on the eloquence of one of Canada’s greatest writers, Madeleine Thien, the music of award-winning composer Alice Ping Yee Ho, and the subtle and brilliant translations of Paul Yee.
“Although a Western opera, it incorporates traditional Chinese themes, sounds and sensibilities,” says City Opera’s artistic director Charles Barber. “It is a story of racism and resistance, neighbourhood and family. And it is a love story. It will have wide appeal.”
The fusion orchestra plays both Chinese and Western instruments. English and Chinese supertitles will be provided throughout.
“In two acts and two hours it examines six characters, two families, and a chorus of ghosts, from the building of the CPR through to our own times,” adds Barber. “It deals with violence and despair, the Head Tax, the Exclusion Act, paper sons, and paper promises. This opera is a story of family and neighbourhood, racism and resistance, history and tomorrow.”
Chinatown is the first opera written about any Chinatown in Canada and is believed to be the first opera written in English, Cantonese, and Hoisan combined. This will be City Opera’s first presentation at the Playhouse Theatre, chosen partly because of its proximity to Chinatown.
Staged Concert Format
Originally conceived as a full-scale production and delayed one year by COVID, City Opera recently announced that due to casting and production issues, Chinatown will now give a complete presentation of the opera, but in a staged concert format.
The company was unable to acquire the services of the additional cast members needed and to resolve related production issues. Running out of time to offer the version originally intended, this revised format is the best-possible solution available in this complicated environment. The only alternative would have been to postpone it another year.
All the elements of this meaningful and timely opera are intact, and stage director Desdemona Chiang will bring an active energy and imagination to the production.
Current ticket-holders who would prefer not to see this revised presentation are invited to contact 1-888-961-6111 ext. 101 to arrange their choice of a full refund, or a voucher of identical value for a future production.
There will also be a free event, Finding Chinatown, on opening day September 13th at the CNL Auditorium (537 Main St, Vancouver).
YWCA Metro Vancouver will host Reimagining Our Cities on September 22nd at SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts. This free event invites the public to listen to lively discussions featuring keynote speaker Maria Vassilakou, Former Deputy Mayor of Vienna, Austria, and a panel discussion that brings together diverse, multi-sectoral community leaders to boldly and creatively reimagine what our cities could be.
Imagine what our cities could be if equity, inclusion and justice were at the heart of decision-making.
YWCA Metro Vancouver Reimagining Our Cities
When: Thursday, September 22, 2022 6:30pm to 8:30pm
Where: SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema and World Art Centre (149 West Hastings Street, Vancouver)
Maria Vassilakou, Vienna’s former Deputy Mayor from 2010-2019, responsible for Urban Planning, Traffic & Transport, Climate Protection, Energy and Public Participation will be the keynote speaker. Vienna continually ranks as one of the top most livable cities in the world. Vassilakou will share how her administration achieved this through unique practices in urban planning that ensured all genders were equally accounted for in policy, legislation and resource allocation. From public transportation and social housing to walkable streets, Vienna is a city that considers all citizen’s needs.
Andrea Reimer, Founder and Principal of Tawâw Strategies, former three-term Vancouver Councillor, Metro Vancouver Director and one-time school trustee, will host the evening’s discussions. An instructor at both UBC and SFU on how power works in practice, Andrea makes for an experienced facilitator for discussions surrounding what could be possible for Metro Vancouver cities through more balanced decision-making for all gender identities.
Following Maria’s Keynote, Reimer will host a panel discussion featuring local community leaders with diverse lived and professional experience, including:
Ginger Gosnell Myers, Fellow focused on Decolonization and Urban Indigenous Planning, SFU Morris J Wosk Centre for Dialogue
Kevin Huang, Executive Director, Hua Foundation
Nic Wayara, Founder, Hook or Crook Consulting
Tiffany Muller Myrdahl, Expert in urban and feminist geography, Senior Lecturer, SFU
The event will conclude with a reading by Elliott Slinn, Poet Laureate, City of New Westminster, who will create an original piece based on the evening’s discussions.
For those not able to attend in person, discussions are available by livestream.
About YWCA City Shift
YWCA City Shift aims to make our region more equitable, prosperous, and just by supporting Metro Vancouver cities to challenge assumptions, incorporate diverse perspectives, and support actions that serve the entire community. YWCA City Shift is funded by Women and Gender Equality Canada.
Culture Days, a national celebration of arts and culture, are back September 23 to October 16, 2022 and in the City of Surrey they are offering a lineup of free programs designed to connect people with arts and heritage.
Culture Days programs invite the public to get hands-on and behind-the-scenes to highlight the importance of arts and culture in our communities. The City of Surrey, in collaboration with Surrey’s diverse cultural organizations and artists has a variety of arts and culture activities as part of this national celebration of the arts. Programming includes a range of free activities and events organized by Community Arts, Surrey Civic Theatres, Surrey Art Gallery, Historic Stewart Farm, Museum of Surrey, and Surrey Archives.
Surrey Celebrates Culture Days
Surrey’s Culture Days events include interactive, online, and digital presentations and activities, as well as in-person experiences at several City arts and heritage facilities. You can view a full schedule of events around the city online here.
Surrey Art Gallery
Sketch in the Gallery September 23 to October 16, 2022
Ancestral Echoes: In Conversation with Atheana Picha Saturday, October 1, 2022 from 2:00pm to 3:00pm
Thursday Artist Talk: Gloria Jue-Youn Han, “Making Pots for Good Ancestors” Thursday, October 6, 2022 from 7:30pm to 9:00pm
Film Screening and Art Performance with the Black Arts Centre Saturday, October 8, 2022 from 2:00pm to 4:00pm
Britannia Mine Museum’s 18th annual Copper and Fire Arts community event returns September 17th featuring talented local BC artists and their unique metal and earthen crafts. The event features earth-inspired jewelry, sculpture, copper work, gemstone art, pottery and painting, all inspired by the landscape of the Pacific Northwest. Visitors can experience the unique and creative ways minerals from the Earth can be showcased through art.
Britannia Mine Copper and Fire Arts
Where: 150 Copper Dr, Britannia Beach
Located 45 minutes north of Vancouver on the picturesque Sea-to-Sky highway
When: Saturday, September 17, 2022 10:00am to 3:00pm
Admission: Purchase tickets here for the event only, which include access to the lower museum site.
If you wish to take in the full museum experience including BOOM! and the underground tour, book your full admission ticket here (entrance will include access to Copper and Fire).
Live Music
Canadian indie folk/rock musicians Coldwater Road will be performing two 45-minute sets at 11:45am and 1:00pm. The duo is known for their rich storytelling lyrics deeply rooted in Canada’s western frontier, and their foot-stomping ballads and love songs will give visitors a reason to dance. The band will be releasing a new album this year focusing on Canadian History, including the song “The Mine and the Mill”, which was inspired by a visit to the Britannia Mine Museum.
Photos submitted
Featured Artists
Brackendale-based painter Angela Muellers is a classically trained portrait and landscape artist, who is best known for painting natural forms and the effects of light like mountain landscapes, nature, animals on copper.
Ania Kyte‘s TurtleBead Studios is based in Mission, and uses torch flames to melt and create beautiful jewelry, glass beads and her signature glass turtle. In addition to her own artwork, Ania is also a passionate teacher, providing hands-on instruction to students interested in the art of glass beadmaking.
Hazel Cruse is a Vancouver jewelry artist who combines textures, shapes, shiny, rough, ancient, organic and sometimes not-so-perfect materials to create pieces that are “perfection in imperfections”. Her custom handmade pieces showcase her passion for South Coast jewelry, North Coast carvings and engraved silver, and ancient Tibertan Turquoise and coral adornment pieces.
Sea-to-Sky-based Martin Vseticka is an award-winning jewelry designer who brings his love of nature into goldsmithing through unique design and environmental ethics. He specializes in the form and forge method for gold and silver work and is best known for his trademark halibut hook design.
North Vancouver’s Wayne Buhler is a local artist who specializes in oil painting on copper, a respected tradition dating back hundreds of years, and his love of nature is visible in his artistic creations which exudes visual depth and richness of transparent oil colours.
BOOM! at Britannia Mine Museum. Photo submitted.
The award-winning Britannia Mine Museum is open seven days a week and provides unique and memorable experiences that engage visitors of all ages. Purchase tickets in advance and plan your visit here. Follow the Britannia Mine Museum on Facebook and Instagram for more information.
Community Arts Council of Vancouver (“CACV”) presents the 6th annual Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival (“VOAF”) at the Roundhouse October 14-16, 2022. As Canada’s first and only outsider art festival, VOAF provides a much-needed platform to celebrate artists who live and work outside of mainstream cultural spaces.
Where: The Roundhouse (181 Roundhouse Mews, Vancouver)
Admission: Free exhibitions, performances, and workshops.
VOAF invites visitors to rethink and experience art often found at the periphery of society. This year’s programming includes more than 60 artists and artist groups from across Metro Vancouver, representing visual artists, performers, art groups, and emerging bands.
Returning artists include the Vancouver Cantonese Opera, multi-disciplinary artist Charlie Sandeman, and visual artist Penny N. Lim, while new artists include singer-songwriter Jason Qiu, the poetry group The Troupe de Poetry, and drag king Heathen.
In addition to visual and performing arts presentations, CiTR & Discorder Magazine will showcase live performances, a workshop titled “Media Ethics for Non-Fiction Storytellers,” and live on-air interviews that will be broadcast on the festival’s opening day, October 14th. Throughout the festival, the public is also invited to attend free workshops focused on felting, Ikebana (Japanese flower arranging), ceramics, and more.
VOAF 2022 Participating Visual Artists Amy J. Dyck, Ankha Sita Qualia, Anoop Dhaliwal, Aryana Neff, Barb Bell, Bay Ribeiro, Blip Photography, Brandy Mars Designs, Charlie Sandeman, Cole Schmidt, Dano Guay, Fateh Creations, Georgia Youngs, Girish Chandok, Glenn Hesse, Hoda Mir, Jacqueline Primeau, John Clinock, Tuyết Ánh Judith Nguyễn, Karen C, Karen Vanon, Katalina Guerrero, Linda Haftner, Margaux Wosk (Retrophiliac), Maureen West, Melanie Stuparyk, MigyB, Mishel Arrieta, myclaraoceans, Nané Jordan, Norman Brule, Norman Watson, Omega Al, Penny N. Lim, Pili, Sam Lynn Gallant, Shamsah Mohamed, Stevie Broome, Taylor Neal, Tianna Hall, Totter, Val Fishman, Varro Arts, Wendy Stewart
VOAF 2022 Participating Performing Artists Angelic Goldsky, Aridonis, Beautiful Losers, Future Star, Heathen, Jason Qiu, Laura Fukumoto, Matthew Presidente, Tamami Maitland Trio, Taz Solace, The Troupe de Poetry, Vancouver Cantonese Opera
VOAF 2022 Participating Partnering Groups Alternative Creations Studio, Atira Women’s Art Society, CiTR & Discorder Magazine, Coast Mental Health, Gallery Gachet, MPA Society
Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival will also present a free concert of past performers at the Annex Theatre (823 Seymour St) on Saturday, October 29 at 6:00pm. A touring exhibition across the Lower Mainland will begin in December 2022 and continue into fall 2023. Venues and dates will be announced on CACV’s social media later this year.
