With non-essential travel not allowed between BC’s 3 travel zones, stay close to home and enjoy some local restaurants (for patio, takeout or delivery), our beautiful outdoors spaces, featured attractions, and more right in our own backyard. Miss604 is a proud sponsor of Summer at Burnaby Village Museum and you can find this and many more things to do in (Greater) Vancouver May Long Weekend right here:
Commit Us to Memory: Black Women Curators Interrupting the Canon
When: Thursday, May 27, 2021 at 4:00 Where: Vancouver Art Gallery ZOOM channel Tickets:RSVP here
The roundtable stems in part from Commit Us to Memory (2020), a provocative site-specific installation by Lewis conceived specifically for Where do we go from here? in response to the Gallery’s colonialist architecture and history. Located at the centre of the exhibition, this monumental text-based work functions as a kind of manifesto, poem, and testimony, which speak to the complexity of Black Canadian expression and experience. Lewis integrates into the installation the titles of important exhibitions curated by Black curators in Canada, proposing a groundwork for an art history of Black artistic production across Canada. For this important roundtable discussion, Lewis and her peers will reflect on the ongoing work—both past and present—of building a Black art history for the future.
About the Speakers
Alyssa Fearon currently holds the position of Director/Curator at the Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina Public Library. Integral to Fearon’s curatorial practice is a community-based approach that prioritizes the voices of historically underrepresented audiences. In 2018, Fearon was the inaugural Curator of Nuit Blanche Toronto’s Scarborough zone. Fearon was also a Curator at the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba (2018-2020). She has held lecturer positions at York University, University of Toronto Scarborough, and Brandon University. Raised in Scarborough, Ont., Fearon is now based on Treaty 4 territory in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Nya Lewis is a Vancouver-based, independent curator and MFA candidate at OCAD. Moved by the goal of equitable access to art and diverse stories in Canada, her work is the culmination of African resistance, love questions, actions, study, and embrace. Currently, she serves as the Founder and Director of Black Art Gastown, a year-round programmer Vancouver Queer Film Festival, and contributing curator at the Vancouver Art Gallery and UBC Museum of Anthropology. A writer, activist, and community organizer committed to building just and inclusive cultural and social infrastructure in Vancouver – her work celebrates the strength and perseverance of Black Canadian culture, history, and its diversity.
Kosisochukwu Nnebe is a Nigerian-Canadian visual artist. An economist by training and a policy analyst by profession, her visual arts practice aims to engage viewers on issues both personal and structural in ways that bring awareness to their own complicity. Her work has been exhibited at AXENEO7, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Place des Arts, the Art Gallery of Guelph, the Nia Centre, Studio Sixty Six, Z-Art Space, Station 16, and the Mohr Gallery in Mountain View, California, She has given presentations on her artistic practice and research at universities across Quebec, including Laval, McGill, and Concordia, and has facilitated workshops at the National Gallery of Canada, the Ottawa Art Gallery, and Redwood City High School in California. She is currently based in Ottawa.
Geneviève Wallen is a Tiohtiá:ke Mooniyang/Montreal and Tkaronto/Toronto-based independent curator, writer, and researcher. Wallen’s practice is informed by diasporic narratives, intersectional feminism, intergenerational dialogues, BIPOC alternative healing platforms. Her ongoing research focuses on the intersections of longevity and pleasure as contemplative spaces for care work in the arts. Wallen is the Exhibition Coordinator at FOFA Gallery. She is also part of the collective YTB (Younger than Beyoncé) Gallery; the co-initiator (with Marsya Maharani) of Souped Up; a member of the Black Curators Forum; an advisory committee member for the BLACK PORTRAITURE[S]: Toronto, Absent/ed Presence conference and she recently joined the advisory board of the Centre for the Study of Black Canadian Diaspora.
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by Rebecca BollwittDisclosure: Sponsored Post — Sponsored by Kal Tire Please review the Policy & Disclosure section for further information.
With warmer weather and the potential for reduced COVID-19 restrictions on the horizon, many Canadian drivers will be looking to hit the open road and safely explore their regions. For many, that means getting back into a vehicle that’s been sitting idle save for short trips for essentials. I spent the afternoon sharing an Instagram Live with my followers, getting some super helpful vehicle maintenance tips for summer from Kal Tire.
Barrie checking tire depth at Kal Tire in New West
Vehicle Maintenance Tips for Summer
“Now that drivers are likely going to be heading out on road trips again, we want to help ensure their vehicles are safe and highway ready,” says Mike Butcher, regional director for urban retail stores, Kal Tire. “When vehicles go long periods of not being driven or missing some of those seasonal inspection points—especially after winter—there’s a risk that critical components haven’t had the attention they need.”
A handful of simple preventative maintenance steps help improve the performance, lifespan and safety of a vehicle’s most important parts. To help drivers keep their tires and vehicle performing at their best, Kal Tire is sharing some spring maintenance steps and ‘How to’ resources:
The second fully virtual Doors Open Richmond is happening online in June, presented by the Richmond Museum. This year’s edition will feature more than 30 sites representing the city’s cultural diversity and heritage, such as places of worship, civic centres, museums, and local businesses. There are seven new sites this year, including Anar Persian Cuisine, the Richmond Chinese Community Society, and the Steveston Harbour Authority.
Left: Richmond Mosque BC Muslim Association. Photo by Julian Rozental.
Top Right: Connections Community Services, Indigenous Led Outreach & Support. Photo courtesy of the site.
Bottom Right: Lingyen Mountain Temple (Canada). Photo by Tharaka Mapalagama.
Virtual Doors Open Richmond 2021
When: June 5–12, 2021 Where: Online Admission: Free! View content through the hashtag #DoorsOpenRichmond on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Doors Open Richmond is a free annual event that raises civic awareness and showcases the diverse, multicultural places and communities of the city. Residents and visitors are provided an opportunity to discover and reconnect with a variety of local programs, services, and businesses.
“We’re thrilled to be able to bring together members of our community virtually through Doors Open once more,” says Greg Walker, chair of the Richmond Museum Society. “As we continue to weather the storm of COVID-19 together, community has become central to all of our mental wellbeing. Doors Open has always been about sharing the stories of the people who make up our city. By going digital, we’re able to offer even more points of connection to local residents while also safely allowing others in Metro Vancouver to explore a new neighbourhood.”
Following on the success of last year’s virtual event, this year’s edition will feature new videos that provide a glimpse behind the curtain of participating sites. The videos will be shared throughout the week-long event on Richmond Museum’s social media channels, and available the following day on the museum website’s new interactive map. Doors Open sites will also share original content on their social media platforms, from virtual tours to fun facts about their organization or business.
Britannia Shipyard, John Bollwitt photo
Some highlights include: a tour of the Richmond Mosque, the first and largest mosque in BC; an inside look at the broadcast station of Fairchild Television and Talentvision; a look at the interesting process of street name selection by the City of Richmond’s Property Records Clerk; and much more.
Behind the Façade, a collection of award-winning shorts by diverse directors, airs on Knowledge Network June 3, 2021. Produced by Lantern Films, the series includes the work of acclaimed directors Banchi Hanuse, Baljit Sangra, Joella Cabalu, Lyana Patrick, Dave Rodden-Shortt, and Rosemary Georgeson.
Behind the Façade
Celebrate the strong, diverse communities that make up British Columbia’s history.
From a whirlwind day at a radio station that is empowering Nuxalk language and nationhood, to a secret gathering space for gay men in 1950s Vancouver, and the oldest Sikh Temple in North America, these films offer a nuanced look at BC’s history and the structures that persist.
Films in the series include Nuxalk Radio (Dir. Banchi Hanuse, Hot Docs, imagineNATIVE, VIFF 2020 Sea to Sky Award Winner), The Train Station (Dir. Lyana Patrick, Hot Docs, Telefilm Clermont-Ferrand, Short Film Market, VIFF), Happytime Social Club (Dir. Dave Rodden-Shortt, VIFF), Ode to a Seafaring People (Dir. Joella Cabalu, Seattle Asian American Film Festival, DisORIENT Asian American Film Festival), and Have You Forgotten Me? (Dir. Baljit Sangra, DOXA, SAAFF).
Ten Award Winning Short Films
The Golden Sheaf nominated Behind the Façade series gets to the heart of historic buildings and neighbourhood touchstones, to share stories of resiliency from diverse communities.
In the emotionally compelling Have You Forgotten Me? (Dir. Baljit Sangra), Nash and Rajinder Gill shine light on the Gur Sikh Temple, North American’s oldest running gurdwara, and the struggle that it represents.
In the beautifully animated The Train Station, director Lyana Patrick narrates her family’s powerful story of love and survival at Lejac Indian Residential School.
Casa Mia: The Headlines (Dir. Dave Rodden-Shortt) uses newspaper headlines to reveal the historic connections between rum running and some of Vancouver’s most iconic landmarks.
The fine line between kitsch and caricature is examined in The Tomahawk (Dir. Lyana Patrick), where Skwxwú7mesh Elder and renowned carver Robert Yelton and restaurant owner Chuck Chamberlain share stories of the oldest family run restaurant in British Columbia.
Ode to a Seafaring People, directed by Joella Cabalu and featuring spoken word artist Sol Diana, poetically reveals the often-hidden world of Filipino seafarers, and in doing so celebrates the resiliency of the Filipino community.
Happytime Social Club (Dir. Dave Rodden-Shortt) provides us with a rare glimpse into life as a gay man in Vancouver in the 1950s.
A Place to Belong (Dir. Lyana Patrick and Rosemary Georgeson) celebrates Christmas at the very first Friendship Centre, located in East Vancouver, and reveals the story behind the Friendship Centre movement.
You can access Behind the Façade on the Knowledge Network starting June 3rd, through your local television provider, or online anytime through the website or Knowledge App.
