This month there will be a series of pop-up concerts in Mount Pleasant Park (West 16th Avenue at Ontario Street in Vancouver) hosted by Music on Main. Admission is free and each concert starts at 6:30pm, just bring a chair and enjoy wonderful music in the open air, from talented local musicians.
Photo courtesy of Music on Main
Pop-Up Concerts in Mount Pleasant Park
Monday, August 9, 2021 Saxophilia Saxophone Quartet featuring: Julia Nolan, soprano saxophone; Kris Covlin, alto saxophone; David Branter, tenor saxophone; Colin MacDonald, baritone saxophone
Tuesday, August 10, 2021 Microcosmos String Quartet featuring: Marc Destrubé, violin; Andrea Siradze, violin; Tawnya Popoff, viola; Rebecca Wenham, cello
Thursday, August 26, 2021 Terry Riley’s In C with the Music on Main All-Star Band
Tuesday, August 31, 2021 J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations with Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa, piano
All ages are welcome.
To help everyone feel as comfortable and welcome as possible, organizers encourage audience members to stay 6-feet apart from people outside their own social circles. Follow Music on Main for more info.
Canadian Paralympians are ready for their moment in the spotlight as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics take place August 24 to September 5, 2021. A total of 128 athletes, including guides, have been officially named to the Tokyo 2020 Canadian Paralympic Team.
Canada will be competing in 18 sports in Tokyo: wheelchair basketball (23 athletes), Para swimming (19), Para athletics (16), wheelchair rugby (12), sitting volleyball (11), Para cycling (9), Para rowing (7), goalball (6), boccia (4), Para equestrian (4), Para triathlon (4), wheelchair fencing (4), Para canoe (3), Shooting Para sport (2), Para archery (1), Para badminton (1), Para judo (1), and wheelchair tennis (1). The team will be supported in Tokyo by 113 coaches and support staff.
Audiences across the country will be able to watch their favourite athletes compete and discover their new Paralympic heroes with comprehensive coverage. Paralympic.ca will be the hub of all things Canadian Paralympic Team, while live coverage will be available from the Canadian Paralympic Media Consortium, including broadcast partners CBC/Radio-Canada, AMI, and Sportsnet, and digital partners Twitter, Facebook, and MXZN. The complete broadcast schedule, which will include primetime coverage for the first time, and details on how to watch will be announced closer to the start of the Games.
The Arts Club Theatre Company has announced their full 2021–2022 season programming, including a total of five in-person shows at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage (2750 Granville St, Vancouver).
Kim’s Convenience – James Yi. Photo by David Cooper
Arts Club 2021-2022 Season
This November will mark the first time that the company’s largest and most popular venue will be open to the public since the start of the pandemic.
The Arts Club’s post-pandemic transitional season will kick off with the Canadian premiere of Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol, which was revealed last month. This heartwarming new musical, adapted from Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, features music and lyrics by the iconic Dolly Parton.
The four other shows are Made in Italy, a musical coming of age in 1970s Alberta; Kim’s Convenience, the Canadian comedy phenomenon; ‘Da Kink in my Hair, a resonant musical celebration of women of colour; and Kinky Boots, the big-hearted blockbuster musical.
In addition to these in-person productions, the Arts Club will advance the audio play initiative that was created during the pandemic. Listen to This: Audio Play Series will feature four original Canadian scripts commissioned by the company.
The focus this weekend is on… the weather forecast! We will most likely get some much-needed showers between Friday and Sunday, and I think almost everyone will be happy about that. Fortunately, the Queer Arts Festival (Miss604 is proud to be a sponsor) has plenty of online programming and you can mid more things to do in Vancouver this weekend below:
Indigenous rights charity Respecting Aboriginal Values and Environmental Needs (“RAVEN”) presents Festival Afloat Vancouver, a unique, pandemic-friendly floating concert in the waters just off Jericho Beach. Featuring soul songstress Desirée Dawson, paddlers will surround the “Providence,” a gorgeous wooden sailing ship that serves as the ‘stage’ for the evening’s performance.
Festival Afloat Vancouver
When: Saturday, August 14, 2021 at 7:00pm
Where: Jericho Beach, Vancouver
Registration: Pay what you want online. Donations can still be made if you cannot attend.
Bring your canoe, kayak, stand-up paddleboard or rowboat to launch at Jericho Beach, or paddle over from Spanish Banks, Kits Beach or False Creek. It’s summertime parking, so plan to arrive early and go for a swim or paddle before the 7:00pm start time. Facilitators will help load and unload boats and direct traffic.
This socially distanced, on-the-water concert offers people a way to come together in a creative, safe, and supportive way while offering a tangible way to stand in support of First Nations’ access to justice.
This promises to be a joyous community gathering to raise funds for Heiltsuk Nation‘s “Step Up for Coast Heroes” campaign. The central-coast Nation is in the midst of a groundbreaking Indigenous Environmental Assessment project that pairs western science with traditional knowledge to uncover the full impacts of the Nathan E. Stewart disaster while charting a way forward to restore ecosystem health. The legal challenge – with support from RAVEN – is part of that path, as the case aims to enshrine the caretaker values and stewardship plans of Heiltsuk Nation into law.
For more information about this fundraiser and event, follow RAVEN on Facebook and Twitter.
A CBC radio favorite, Desirée Dawson’s music has been featured on numerous CBC programs, has her songs on regular rotation and won the CBC Searchlight contest in 2016. Over the last couple of years, Desirée has been chosen for numerous high profile opportunities across the industry, whether as a songwriter in the Discovery Song Camp with Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, a participant in the Allan Slaight JUNO Masterclass, artist in the Vancouver Folk Fest, a juror in the inaugural Black Canadian Music Awards, or various sync placements. Desirée passionately supports her community through a variety of music-based workshops and gatherings. Whether performing solo with her baritone Ukulele, in harmony with her band or leading sound healing workshops, Desirée’s music is made to get us feeling and healing.
