Heritage Week is celebrated across Canada and this year’s Vancouver Heritage Week (on now, February 15 to 21, 2021) includes virtual, community events, workshop and strolls.
Join the Vancouver Heritage Foundation (“VHF”) for storytelling and a look at the first 10 years of the Places That Matter project. The program includes: Musqueam Welcome with Alec Guerin and the story of Musqueam with Mack Paul, Heritage Proclamation by Deputy Mayor, Councillor Carr, stories directly from Collingwood Neighbourhood House, the family of Nellie Yip Quong and family-owned East India Carpets about the First Sikh Gurdwara on West 2nd Avenue.
Urban Sketching Workshop When: Thursday, February 18, 2021 12:00pm to 1:00pm Where: Online Tickets:Register for $15
Learn how to sketch with confidence with Emma FitzGerald, author and illustrator of Hand Drawn Vancouver. Explore how drawings can be a prompt for storytelling and get inspired to go outside to sketch your favourite neighbourhood spots or local heritage buildings and places! Emma will also share tips for drawing on location, including intimidating architecture.
Discovering Heritage Places: A Virtual Stroll When: Saturday, February 20, 2021 10:00am to 11:00am Where: Online Tickets: Register for $12
Heritage is all around us – sometimes you just need to look closely! Join local historian, author and seasoned walking tour guide, John Atkin, as he explores some of Vancouver’s lesser-known heritage spots and shares the history of some of the buildings that make our neighbourhoods unique on this virtual walk.
Zee Zee Theatre presents the world premiere of Virtual Humanity, streaming online from March 6 to 28, 2021. The deeply personal, one-on-one experience adapts the company’s annual Human Library project into the digital space, where participants can ‘check out’ a human for a candid conversation about their life experiences, culture and beliefs—including such titles as Porn Actor, Two-Spirit Foster Child, The Taxidermist’s Son, and more.
Virtual Humanity Illustration by Isa Rodrigues
Zee Zee Theatre Presents Virtual Humanity
When: Over four weekends, March 6 to 28, 2021 Where: Online Tickets:Purchase a day pass for $5, with a subsequent “Pay What It’s Worth” option after the show. The full roster of titles available each day for bookings will be announced the morning of through a secret portal on the Zee Zee Theatre website, accessed after reservations have been secured.
Co-curated by Sam Chimes and Bunny (Daisy Joe), the online edition will feature an array of new and returning ‘Virtual Humans’—with a particular emphasis on representation from BIPOC individuals—available for 20-minute loans over the course of four weekends.
“Virtual Humanity creates a digital space that allows for a kind of open conversation and learning,” says Producer Jordy Matheson. “The kind which can be difficult to come by in the intense and polarized online world. A great deal of division is created from people not engaging with each other and really listening.”
Human Library began in 2000 in Copenhagen by a collective called Stop the Violence and since then, the hugely popular “open source” project has popped up in more than 70 countries. The original Human Library project was ignited by a brutal hate crime perpetrated against a friend—and this act of healing for four people became a global movement. It was a commitment to end violence—one person at a time—by narrowing the ideological gaps that divide us.
In the past eight years of Zee Zee’s edition of Human Library, public response has been tremendous, creating lasting memories, relationships, and shifting people’s understanding of otherness and difference. This new digital pivot becomes an opportunity to welcome those outside of the Lower Mainland to participate as virtual humans and audience, and become part of the broader conversation on challenging prejudice.
In Virtual Humanity audience members will select a title from the collection of 20+ ‘Virtual Humans’—something that intrigues or confounds them. They will then proceed into a one-one-one digital conversation over Zoom with their Virtual Human, a person who will share their true personal story that is reflected in their title, over the course of 20 minutes.
As with Human Library, the project is designed to shatter preconceived notions about otherhood, to challenge our biases and misunderstandings and to put a human face to difference as a means to foster empathy. The breadth of individuals extends from Zee Zee Theatre’s core philosophy: everyone has a story worth sharing, if we simply take the time to sit down and listen to them.
About the Curators
Bunny (Daisy Joe) is a 2 spirit indigenous award-winning musician from the Stl’atl’imx and Gitxsan Nations. They are a vocalist with The Spiritual Warriors, recipients of Best World Recording at the 2019 Native American Music Awards, a co-creator of the Stl’atl’imx Friends singing group, who were awarded the 2019 Best Historical Linguistics from the NAMA’s for the album “The Kindness Project.” Bunny applies storytelling through song to address topics such as decolonization, indigenous empowerment, and to advocate for the revitalization of language through music.
Sam Chimes is a multi-talented individual, expressing his talents as a sound technician in film, a DJ, and a music producer and performer. Born in Africa, Chimes lived in Brunei and South East Asia before coming to reside in Canada. With his jazzy, soulful vibes, he uses a looper and a microkorg synthesizer to create instrumentals on the spot, layers his voice, and performs for his audience. Chimes has performed in eight countries outside of Canada and recently came back from his second world tour, performing at showcases in Australia, and street performing in between.
LunarFest Vancouver is celebrating the Year of the Ox with an array of visual arts programming February 11 to 28, 2021. From lanterns in the city, to crafts at home, and a ballet performance, the theme of this year’s event series is Family.
LunarFest Vancouver
Whispers of the Soul – Coastal Ballet Free, online, February 22, 2021 Choreographed by Justine Fraser, performed by Coastal City Ballet. “Whispers of the Soul” is a story about a young girl who goes on a magical adventure, learning both the importance of respecting values and honouring all communities.
Lunar Craft Studio: Watch online instructions for creating ox footprints, knitted tangerines, paper fire-breathing dragon, hanging stars, flower petal lanterns and a zodiac board game at home. There’s also a paper firecracker workshop for schools, and registration is now closed.
Ox-picious Lanterns: Taiwanese artist Yen-Chun Lu returns with another paper-art mastery in the Ox-Picious Lanterns. Co-organized by SWACT, Ox-Picious Lanterns have an AR element. Download the UniteAR app, available on iOs and Android, and share your photos and #yearoftheox with the Ox-Picious lanterns to be part of a virtual lantern parade.
Pick up your lantern at select Xing-Fu Tang and Shoppers Drug Mart locations while supplies last.
Coming soon online:
The Bullish Future fortune telling: Get a reading of the fortune designed by TAIWANfest artist Kuan-Chih Su for the year to come whether it is for love, career, health or wealth.
Starting today, Science World presents Arctic Voices, the exhibition that takes visitors on an immersive journey into the arctic. Enjoy an immersive experience of the fascinating, changing Arctic through its many voices: its people, ecology, wildlife and way of life.
Science World Presents Arctic Voices
When: Opens February 11, 2021. 7 days a week, 10:00am to 5:00pm Where: Science World (1455 Quebec St, Vancouver) Tickets: Regular admission rates apply, book online in advance
Presented by RBC with supporting partner Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, this 8,000 square foot exhibition takes visitors on a riveting journey over the tundra and into the world’s northernmost biome.
Developed by Science North, in partnership with the Canadian Museum of Nature, Arctic Voices invites you to marvel at the sights and sounds of this tremendous and fragile region. Dance with auroras, hop on ice floes and learn just how deeply connected our everyday lives are to the Arctic through this feature exhibition that will leave you awestruck and inspired.
Arctic Voices will allow visitors to explore the impact of the changing climate in the far North through many lenses, including the land, sea, and ice. They will connect with the remarkable animals that live in the Arctic, the resilient people that inhabit this region, and the dedicated scientists who are helping to reveal what makes this place so unique.
Interactive elements of the exhibition include:
Relax and appreciate the wonder of Arctic whales in the Whales in the Arctic Theatre, and visit the interactive exhibit stations about each whale species.
Enjoy Arctic Animal Adaptations by participating in a multiplayer quiz where you take on the role of the researcher and interpret the behaviours of Arctic animals.
Participate in Bear Facts and study real skull and claw specimens to compare the paws, claws, and jaws of the three North American bears.
Win Passes
I have a Family Pass of four tickets to give away so you can experience Arctic Voices! Here’s how you can enter to win:
Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
Click below to post an entry on Twitter
[clickToTweet tweet=”RT to enter to win passes to check out the new #ArcticVoices exhibition at @ScienceWorldca http://ow.ly/eOXz50DxZ3x” quote=” Click to enter via Twitter” theme=”style6″]
I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Thursday, February 18, 2021.
It’s Family Day Long Weekend in Vancouver which has contributed to an excellent line up events and activities for you to enjoy online and beyond this Friday to Monday. There is Valentine’s Day entertainment, Lunar New Year programs, Black History Month talks, take-home activities and crafts, free admission at some local attractions, and much more:
