After being cancelled in 2020, the Vancouver Sun Run is back as a virtual run for 2021. Canada’s largest 10K road race can be joined from anywhere, anytime. From April 18th to 30th, registered participants can share their race results and photos with the community.
You can register as an Individual, as part of the Shaw Team Division, the Youth Team Challenge, or the Shaw Mini Sun Run 2.5K. All participants who complete their own run, and log their results, will receive a t-shirt and for the first time, a commemorative virtual run medal.
Registered participants can also select a charity of choice, hosting a fundraiser alongside their run efforts. Setup a virtual pledge page to benefit: Ronald McDonald House BC and Yukon, Vancouver Food Bank, BC Cancer Foundation, BC Children’s Hospital Foundation, Family Services of Greater Vancouver, or the BC SPCA.
Early bird pricing for registration ($35) is available until January 31, 2021. Follow the Vancouver Sun Run on Facebook for more info.
The Vancouver Sun Run has been Canada’s largest 10k road race since its inception in 1985, and is currently the third largest timed 10k in North America. Founded by former Canadian Olympians Dr. Doug and Diane Clement along with Dr. Jack Taunton. The run’s purpose was to promote the benefits of running, to improve health and fitness, as well as support elite amateur athletics.
If you’re looking to stay local but also stimulate your mind with some art and culture in a safe environment, here are five gallery exhibitions you can visit this winter, while staying in your own community:
5 Gallery Exhibitions to Visit This Winter
Jaswant Guzder, Prayer spaces and portrait 1, 2016, ink, cloth on natural linen. On at the Surrey Art Gallery.
Surrey Art Gallery Where: 13750 88 Ave, Surrey Admission: Free What’s On:Searching for Surrey (until January 22, 2021) The Colour Collective presents their vision of many sites throughout Surrey and its surrounding region; Varvara and Mar We Are the Clouds (until January 31, 2021) See yourself in the clouds in this interactive outdoor artwork; Carol Sawyer: Proscenium (until February 14, 2021) Explore this playful foray into narrative, perspective, performance, appearance and truth; Facing Time (until March 27, 2021) Get up close to faces this winter in paintings, photographs, textiles, and more. This exhibit invites you to consider the importance of faces in a time of virtual gatherings, selfies, and mask-wearing.
Place des Arts in Coquitlam Where: 1120 Brunette Ave, Coquitlam Admission: Individuals/core bubbles can call ahead to book visits (604) 664-1636 ext. 0. What’s On: Three new exhibitions, from local artist, in a variety of mediums, January 22 to March 18, 2021. These include Capturing Moments: Chronicling Our Lives, various mediums curated by the Coquitlam Heritage Society; Into the Woods: BC Nature in Woodcut, woodcut printmaking by Rick Herdman; Remnants, photography and sculpture by Laura Clark.
Vancouver Art Gallery Where: 750 Hornby St, Vancouver Admission: Regular admission applies, time entry must be booked What’s On:Victor Vasarely (until April 5, 2021) Celebrated as the father of Op Art (Optical Art), the Hungarian-French artist Vasarely is internationally renowned for his colourful abstract patterns and playful Pop aesthetic; Where do we go from here?(until May 30, 2021) proposes that we think critically about the role of both art and exhibition making in the production of narratives about our past, present and future; Drawn primarily from the Vancouver Art Gallery’s collection, Rapture, Rhythm and the Tree of Life: Emily Carr and Her Female Contemporaries(until January 22, 2021) focuses on artwork from the first half of the twentieth century by women artists based in British Columbia, and presents an expanded account of the context in which modernism developed on the Canadian West Coast during the early to mid-1900s.
PoMo Arts: A New Resilience – Sonay Iwasiuk
PoMo Arts Centre Where: 2425 St. Johns Street, Port Moody Admission: Free What’s On:A New Resilience – Sonay Iwasiuk (January 12 to February 15, 2021) A body of work that corresponds with one of the most pressing current world issues – people fleeing their turbulent homelands searching for peace and prosperity. Iwasiuk’s multi-media installation is based on the First Wave of Ukrainian immigrants to Canada. Timeless Pastimes – Mat Holmstrom (January 14 to February 15, 2021) Imagery and objects that reflect the interests and traditions that inspire the artist and many Canadians across the land; Are We Still Together? Ghislain Brown-Kossi (January 14 to February 15, 2021) A French artist based in Vancouver, Ghislain Brown-Kossi’s work aims to understand how individuals interact with each other and how social relationships are transformed.
The Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art Where: 639 Hornby St, Vancouver Admission: Regular admission applies, pre-booking encouraged What’s On:Resurgence: Indigequeer Identities (until January 24, 2021) curated by Jordana Luggi, celebrating the deeply personal and profound work of four 2Spirit artists and their unique identities and stories as queer Indigenous people; Lifeways : Reimagining Community, Spirit and Place (until January 24, 2021) The Bill Reid Gallery is pleased to partner on Lifeways, a film exhibition featuring the work of UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture Master students; To Speak With a Golden Voice (until April 11, 2021) celebrates the milestone centennial birthday of Bill Reid (1920–1998) with an exhibition about his extraordinary life and legacy.
All of these galleries also offer online programming, to enjoy from the comfort of your home. If you are visiting in person, read each gallery’s COVID protocols online, which includes mandatory face coverings.
A Future for Memory: Art and Life After the Great East Japan Earthquake
When: February 11 to September 5, 2021 Where: MOA (6393 NW Marine Drive, Vancouver) Admission: Pre-booked timed-entry tickets to MOA (which includes admission to this exhibition) will be required.
Curated by Fuyubi Nakamura, MOA’s Curator for Asia, the exhibition will open in time to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 2011 triple disaster that saw a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown hit the eastern region of Japan.
The exhibition highlights nature’s destructive impact on humans and its regenerative potential, and explores how humans live in harmony with nature, as well as how new connections and relationships have developed in the aftermath of this tragic event.
“The exhibition is derived from my personal experiences in the disaster region. I spent a few months in the Miyagi Prefecture, which suffered the largest number of casualties, and I have returned every year since. I worked particularly closely on rescuing and cleaning photographs found amid the debris, an experience that led me to reconsider the relationship between memory and objects.”
The PuSh International Performing Arts Festival (“PuSh“) has announced the lineup for the newly formed PuSh Rally, January 28 to February 6, 2021. The PuSh Rally is a free online series designed to respond directly to this deeply uncertain moment in our cultural sector by connecting audiences, artists, and industry leaders in Vancouver and around the globe in vital and meaningful dialogue.
The PuSh Rally
Including a variety of artist encounters and conversations, international artist presentations, and surprise performances from some of the world’s finest artists, thought leaders, and change makers.
Where: Online and on-site (limited) When: January 28 to February 6, 2021 Tickets: Register for free, or booked your timed entry tickets for partner events online
The PuSh Rally, curated by two of Vancouver’s most celebrated theatre artists, Theatre Replacement’s Maiko Yamamoto and Neworld Theatre’s Marcus Youssef, will provide a global platform for meaningful discourse and idea exchange about the challenges and possibilities inherent in conflict, and the future of live performance.
PuSh Rally Events
State of the (PuSh) Union Streaming Online January 28, 2021 at 10:00am
When a community has experienced divisive conflict, how much can its members speak openly about their perception of what happened, without making it worse? Is it possible to do so ethically, showing care and respect for all involved? In this performative conversation, Rally Curators Marcus Youssef and Maiko Yamamoto use their own subjective experiences of what’s taken place at PuSh over the last six months to try to find out.
Who would have guessed a year ago that my favourite new Twitter account to follow would be that of a Municipal Affairs Reporter for CBC Vancouver? Or that he’d create an awesome mega list of Vancouver’s Best Parks?
Over the last seven months, I along with 39.1K other followers have enjoyed the graphs, charts, and details that Justin McElroy provides daily on the microblogging platform. One of his personal side projects in 2020 was to visit and rank every park in the City of Vancouver, and on Christmas Day he unveiled the website where all of his notes will live on in perpetuity.
Vancouver’s Best Parks, Ranked
“In May of 2020, in the middle of a global health pandemic, British Columbia’s chief health officer said it was okay for people in different households to see one another, but “our mantra for the next little while is going to be few faces and big spaces.” So, that’s what we did,” Justin writes on his Vancouver Park Guide.
He ranked 241 parks, over five months with the help of Steve Masuch, Ricardo Bortolon, Isabel Ferreras, Gerald Deo, Andrew Forshner, Geoff Lister, Sam Bruin, Layne Bruin, Nick Rogers, Kat Green, Laura Rodgers and Mary Leong.
“We went to a new neighbourhood each week, making a summer without travel or indoor socializing into one where we explored this amazing and maddening city in a unique way.”
Each park, from the biggest to the smallest, has been scored out of 40, with 10 points each for kids, adults, design and atmosphere. The only park excluded from the rankings was Oppenheimer Park, as it is still boarded up.
The Top Three
#1 Stanley Park (2000 West Georgia St, West End area)
#2 Trout Lake (3300 Victoria Dr, Kensington-Cedar Cottage area)
#3 Jericho Beach (3941 Point Grey Rd, West Point Grey area)
The Bottom Three
#241: Park Site on Quesnel Drive (4301 Quesnel Dr, Arbutus area)
#240: Park Site on Puget Drive (4309 Puget Dr, Arbutus area)
How did Choklit Park or Dude Chilling Park rank? Or what about the Laurel Landbridge, New Brighton or Queen Elizabeth Park? Visit the Vancouver Park Guide and follow Justin on Twitter for more insights.
