The virtual event list is probably the shortest it has been in a long time, meanwhile our daily COVID number are the highest we’ve seen since the pandemic started. Staying close to home, there are still some fun options for online entertainment this weekend, including Friday night’s Virtual Trivia Night for a cause, and some in-person physically distanced galleries and exhibits. Find these and more things to do in Vancouver this weekend listed below:
Capilano University Students of the Arts & Entertainment Management Program are officially debuting Dragstravaganza, a drag artist competition and fundraiser. This event will feature Vancouver’s local drag artists competing for the title “Mx. Honey”.
Dragstravaganza
When: Sunday, April 18, 2021 at 7:30pm Where: Livestreamed on Vimeo – BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts, Capilano University Tickets:Available online now, pay what you can. Proceeds support the Queer Arts Festival.
This event will be livestreamed for the audience to enjoy from the comfort of their homes. Performers will be showcasing their improvisation skills, runway style and special talents. Audience members will vote for their favourite performers during this event, with the winning contestant receiving a $500 cash prize, plus all competing artists will have opportunities to win exciting prizes.
The mission is to generate a positive and inclusive event to celebrate this vibrant art form in Vancouver and give students real-life experience in the arts and entertainment industry. This event also shines a spotlight on the wonderful work of the Queer Arts Festival – as the only transdisciplinary professional arts festival in Vancouver dedicated to showing the work of Queer artists.
Vancouver’s Drag Superstar Gia Metric will be hosting the performance and Alex Dooley from Dooley Noted Productions is providing his consulting services for this event.
Featured Performers
Bromley B is YYJ drag’s premiere Broadway drag thing! Bromley is known for their ability to flip from campy musical theatre numbers, to performing in edgy emo shows. Bromley may not be the brightest bulb in the bunch, but they’ll make sure to win you over with their bright thembo smile.
Amanda Tori Meating is the winner of the 2008 Franklin Montessori Hotdog Eating contest. She has dazzled audiences around the world in the touring company of Kinky Boots, and one day hopes to become a successful dominatrix and/or dog whisperer.
Krystle Beth was born behind a dumpster in an alley in Toronto. Crawling her way to the West Coast during an acid trip, she was reborn on Wreck Beach and rode a sea lion to the West End in search of a steady gig. She can be found screaming “Babbabooey” and “Go Leafs Go” from her balcony during the 7PM shoutout to Front Line Workers, and when the Pandemic is over, she hopes to become a GoGo Dancer at Celebrities who is paid in Tequila Shots.
Lola Perez claimed her presence a year ago. She is kind, fierce and bounces back. She may be young but don’t underestimate her, she is ready to bring her all, darling!
Fresh out of the clown car, Jester Minute is a 19-year-old queen from Abbotsford. They only started doing drag one year ago but have always had a passion for the performing arts.
Entity Ecstasy – Eccentric, erratic and all around dramatic, entity is a being of cosmic absurdity sent to leave us with more questions than we started. Far from the expected, this queen will leave you inspired, yet confused in the best way possible.
Shyenne Pepper is a drag performer who likes to toe the line between fashion and comedy, often failing in both. She first emerged in Vancouver at the age of 22, but only after moving back there she grew up in Mumbai, India. She has performed in and hosted ~30 shows in Mumbai and digitally, and now she is ready to make her Vancouver debut!
Esme Inhaler is a brand-new Queen to the scene and is so excited to perform with all these amazing folx and have a ton of fun. A lip sync assassin who is no stranger to comedy, Esme’s years of musical theatre training really pays off on stage! Fun fact: Esme’s alter ego is a proud Musical Theatre student at Capilano.
The one-year certificate and two-year diploma in Arts & Entertainment Management at Capilano University allow students to immerse themselves in the business side of the arts and entertainment industry and get ready for a fast-paced career in a growing and dynamic sector, including real-world experience in external practicum with professional organizations.
As the province urges physical distancing measures aimed at slowing the third wave of COVID-19, Girl Guides of Canada’s BC Council has faced challenges with public and door-to-door cookie sales for the second year in a row. Today, they announced an exclusive, safe distribution partnership with London Drugs in British Columbia which will see Girl Guide classic chocolate and vanilla sandwich cookies available exclusively at all stores in BC as well as online.
Girl Guide Cookies Exclusively at London Drugs
The cookie fundraiser, which is the largest source of fundraising support for non-profit Girl Guides programs across BC, is set to bring in over $600,000 through the sale of 120,000 boxes of cookies at London Drugs. All sales will go directly to BC Girl Guides to support their ongoing programs that empower girls and young women in the province.
“Girl Guides teach adaptability and preparedness to handle unexpected situations with a sense of confidence and self-assuredness. These are the same principles that have been critically important for all of us over the last year,” said Clint Mahlman, London Drugs President and Chief Operating Officer. “Whether you have close ties to the Girl Guides in your own family or not, by purchasing a box of cookies, you are helping build resiliency and future leaders in your community.”
Funds raised will support Girl Guide programming at the local level as well as inclusion resources and membership subsidies for girls with financial need. It will also support newly adopted initiatives to provide safe outdoor, virtual, and at-home activities that keep Guiding going no matter what health conditions arise and provide essential connection for girls during the pandemic and beyond.
“Now more than ever, we need funding to keep girls connected with supportive peers and caring adult role models who mentor them during these unusual times,” said Diamond Isinger, provincial commissioner for BC, Girl Guides of Canada. “Our non-profit Guiding programs are fully volunteer-powered and rely on amazing support from our communities. We are grateful to London Drugs for providing a safe distribution network to sell our cookies, and we are grateful to British Columbians for their continued support through the purchase of Girl Guide cookies.”
Girl Guides cookies are now available at all London Drugs in BC and online.
The Burrard Arts Foundation (“BAF”) has announced the six Vancouver-based emerging artists who will fulfill its programming and exhibition space in 2021. The selected artists are Rydel Cerezo, Kriss Munsya, Parvin Peivandi, Maria-Margaretta, Sara Khan, and Karin Jones.
Rydel Cerezo, Kriss Munsya at work behind the scenes. Their BAF exhibitions start this month.
Burrard Arts Foundation Announces 2021 Artists in Residence
When: Exhibition dates throughout 2021 Where: Burrard Arts Foundation, #2 —258 East 1st Ave, Vancouver Admission: Free The Vancouver community is encouraged to support local artists by visiting the BAF Residency Program Exhibition for a COVID-19 safe experience. Discover up-and-coming artists who are seeking exposure to new and/or local audiences.
With the launch of its 2021 Residency Program, BAF continues to further its goal of supporting emerging artists and spotlight creative work that elevates Vancouver’s culture. Building on the necessary conversations highlighted in 2020, this year’s artists, whose practice includes photography, sculpture, multimedia, jewelry, and personal history, will explore themes alluding to important social and cultural issues, including cultural identity, social progress, social justice, and urbanism.
A diverse committee representing the local arts, media, and business communities selected each of the residency participants. Each residency is tailored to the individual artist, and artists can work out of BAF’s Vancouver studios for up to 14 weeks. BAF provides resources and support to artists inclusive of a materials budget, multimedia production, and a solo exhibition in the adjacent gallery space to showcase the new bodies of work produced by the artists during their residencies.
The Artists
Rydel Cerezo Residency Dates: January 11 – April 19 Exhibition Dates: April 22 – June 18
Rydel Cerezo is a Filipino-born emerging artist working in Vancouver. His work investigates the space between sexuality and religion, race and beauty, and identity and culture. He is interested in how these disparate themes metaphorically and visually coalesce. Aware of the historical ethnographic use of photography as a tool to ‘capture’ particular cultures, he works to reposition this practice by employing the camera to reflect on his own identity that has equally lived in the Philippines and Canada through immigration. Cerezo holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts Degree from Emily Carr University of Arts and Design. Rydel Cerezo’s upcoming exhibition at BAF, opens April 22nd. Developed through the BAF Residency Program, the series features new photographic works that delve deeper into the artist’s recent explorations of religion, identity, and trauma, through the lens of failure and coming-of-age.
Kriss Munsya Residency Dates: January 11 – April 19 Exhibition Dates: April 22 – June 18
Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and raised in Brussels, 34-year-old Kriss Munsya is a graphic designer, photographer and award-winning filmmaker now living in Vancouver. Through his photographic works, Munsya explores complicated issues around race, gender, and identity, often focusing his lens on the trauma and discrimination he experienced as a child born in The Congo, but raised in Brussels, Belgium. His photographs are sharp and colorful, yet dark and whimsical.
His film work also delves into issues of race. His first feature film, Us and Them, told the story of his travels from New York to Los Angeles and the experiences he had as a Black non-citizen. His second film, All That You Need, spoke about his deep love of music and indie bands.
Monolithic Introspection is a photography project by conceptual artist Kriss Munsya that centers the experiences of communities disproportionately impacted by environmental racism to illustrate the tensions that exist between white exceptionalism, entitlement to land (its resources and peoples), and the finitude of such exploitation.
Karin Jones Residency Dates: August 16 – November 22 Exhibition Dates: January 2022
Karin Jones is a multidisciplinary artist with a background in jewellery. Her recent work examines the ways in which historical narratives shape our identities. Jones holds a Master of Fine Arts in Craft from NSCAD University in Halifax and has exhibited at museums and galleries including the Vancouver Art Gallery, The Royal Ontario Museum, The Reach Gallery in Abbotsford, Circle Craft Gallery, and Evergreen Cultural Centre. Her work is held in permanent collections at the Royal Ontario Museum, National Ornamental Metal Museum, and Cambridge Galleries Idea/Exchange in Ontario.
Parvin Peivandi Residency Dates: May 3 – August 9 Exhibition Dates: August 20 – October 15
Parvin Peivandi is an interdisciplinary artist working in sculpture, installation, ceramics, textiles, media, and performance art. Born and raised in Iran and immigrated to North America, Peivandi has continued her journey by studying contemporary art in Canada and the United States and exhibiting her works internationally. Parvin Peivandi’s art expresses a nomadic journey parallel to her own life experience as an immigrant artist: moving from one place to another, deconstructing the old patterns and constructing the new hybrid identity. Employing geometric forms as the common abstract language in artistic practices of diverse cultures, Peivandi aims to bring a middle ground for understanding the others by exploring the endless possibilities that form our communications. Her work is inspired by the comparative literature of Western philosophies of Deleuze and Rosi Bradotti and Iranian Sufi poetries of Attar and Rumi. Her work is in a constant journey of becoming.
Sara Khan Residency Dates: August 16 – November 22 Exhibition Dates: January 2022
Khan was born in Birmingham, England in 1984 and raised in Lahore, Pakistan. She holds a BFA (with honours) from National College of Arts, Lahore (2008). Her work scrutinizes the repulsion and beauty found in ordinary spaces and situations and questions the normalcy of the seemingly mundane matters in life. For example, how a man inside a woman leads to the birth of another human; turning the woman into a mound of soil in which a human germinates like a plant from a seed, and in the process disfigures the woman to the limits of possibility.
It is in dealing with these observations that she draws them out, to find a place for things that are neither here nor there. Slowly laying out translucent layers of watercolour, her work toward pronouncing some areas, while covering others entirely, almost decoratively as if to say, “you didn’t belong, but now you do, or you did belong and now you don’t.” She leaves some questions to chance, answer others more definitively, hovering somewhere between restraint and complete spontaneity. The idea is to develop a space or landscape with both extremes in it; the abhorrent and the fantastic. Coexisting to form one complete picture; thriving in the gray areas, it’s a subtle dance between “is it” and “is it not”.
Maria-Margaretta Residency Dates: May 3 – August 9 Exhibition Dates: August 20 – October 15
Maria-Margaretta is Métis interdisciplinary artist from treaty 6 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She is currently living on the stolen territory of Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations. A recent graduate of Emily Carr University of Art and Design, her work is an exploration of Indigenous representation through social and political issues. Navigating indigeneity through the lenses of both the settler and the settled she attempts to negotiate her sense of self through the implications of existing in a colonial patriarchal system. Utilizing her Métis identity, cultural knowledge, and traditional practice, she challenges assimilation tactics through cultural resurgence and reclamation.
Carousel Theatre for Young People (“CTYP”) is launching its next AudioPLAY蝦仔 Little Shrimp, an interactive audio performance led by theatre artists Nancy Tam and Derek Chan. Listeners are invited to follow along a bilingual audio performance about intergenerational relationships within Chinese culture and families.
Carousel Theatre Launches AudioPLAY About Chinese Traditions
When: April 8 – May 2, 2021 (listen anytime) Where:Online, you can tune in from home or the classroom Tickets: Available for purchase online ($18-$50 with individual or class packs). Recommended for children ages 6+.
蝦仔 Little Shrimp is created and performed by Derek Chan, Howard Dai, Nancy Tam, Natalie T.Y. Gan & Robyn Jacob. Open your imaginations and take part in Qingming and other Chinese traditions!
“What truly connects us to our cultures and families: language, food, or traditions? All of the above, and perhaps entirely something else? Our brave Little Shrimp with a big heart takes us on an adventure through the surprising, musical, and sometimes spooky underwater world to find out.” – Co-creators Nancy Tam & Derek Chan
Where do stories live? How are stories passed on from one generation to the next? Do our ancestors live within us? The show’s Cantonese title, 蝦仔 (“little shrimp” in English), is an endearing, diminutive, and gender neutral term for a small child. Commonly used about two generations ago roughly around the turn of the last century, the term connotes a kinship between the child and the adult.
蝦仔 Little Shrimp is an at-home AudioPLAY experience with interactive elements. It’s the third and final show in CTYP’s 2020/21 season of screen-free audio theatre designed to engage and excite. Follow on Facebook for the latest news and updates.
CTYP is Vancouver’s only mainstage theatre company for young audiences. Its mission is to provide theatrical experiences with lasting impact for young people, families, and artists.
