The Vancouver Mural Festival (“VMF”) is celebrating its 5th anniversary by reaching beyond its home in Mount Pleasant and into nine neighbourhoods all across the city. The expanded 3-week festival will feature over 60 new murals and a new mobile app to help you discover them all.
Vancouver Mural Festival
When: August 18 to September 7, 2020
Over the past few months, we’ve witnessed the power of street art to lift spirits, inspire hope, heal and connect individuals and communities – locally and around the world.
This year, instead of a massive Street Party, Vancouver Mural Festival has been reimagined to share the positivity and spirit of VMF with even more people and communities across our city. You’ll find new murals in Mount Pleasant, South Granville, Robson, West End, Downtown, Strathcona, Gastown, Marpole and River District.
Highlights for the 2020 Vancouver Mural Festival include:
VMF Pop-Up Patiofeaturing Live Music, Comedy, Drag, and more.
VMF: Year 5 Art Exhibit(online) featuring 100+ original works of art by VMF alumni and local artists. All originals and limited prints will be available for sale.
August 18, 2020
VMF Curator Talks (online) Learn about VMF’s curation process with Lead Curator Drew Young, Graffiti Curator Scott Sueme and 2020 Guest Curators, Krystal Paraboo and Sierra Tasi Baker.
August 18 to September 7, 2020
Free Daily Mural Tours presented by Herschel Supply.
August 18 to September 18, 2020
Downtown Shopfront Mural Exhibit at the Pendulum Gallery.
On-going
Artists painting 60+ murals throughout the city
The goal of this year’s festival is to support artists, communities and local businesses. Expanding to more neighbourhoods enables more people to enjoy murals within their own communities while encouraging “staycation” mural exploration throughout the city.
We’ve been sitting on this extraordinary list of nominees since March and now a date has been set for the postponed YWCA Women of Distinction Awards! Along with honouring this year’s nominees, YWCA Metro Vancouver has selected Dr. Bonnie Henry to receive this year’s Icon Award.
YWCA Women of Distinction Awards Honours Dr Bonnie Henry and More
When: Wednesday, September 23, 2020 at 7:00pm Where: Virtual (unique link to be provided upon registration)
Pay tribute to the 2020 nominees, which include 73 outstanding women and five workplaces, and celebrate the winners during this live virtual event.
Dr Bonnie Henry, Icon
BC Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, MD MPH, FRCPC, will be the recipient of the 2020 Icon Award. Selected internally by the YWCA, the Icon Award recognizes an extraordinary woman for her achievements throughout her lifetime. Dr. Henry has become a household name as she led the province’s successful and life-saving COVID-19 response.
She has also brought leadership and much-needed attention to the continued overdose crisis. The YWCA applauds her contributions to public health here in BC, across Canada and internationally throughout her career. Her track record of excellence is an inspiration to so many.
To celebrate Dr. Henry’s many achievements, she will join Lesly Tayles, Senior Vice President, BC & Yukon Region at Scotiabank, for a special conversation. This exclusive interview will cover Dr. Henry’s significant contributions to public health and her experiences leading British Columbia through this complex time. Tickets to view this exclusive interview are on sale now.
Follow the YWCA of Vancouver on Facebook and Twitter for more information.
YWCA Metro Vancouver is dedicated to achieving women’s equality. Their mission is to touch lives and build better futures for women and their families through advocacy and integrated services that foster economic independence, wellness and equal opportunities.
Miss604 is a proud sponsor of the YWCA Women of Distinction Awards, since 2010.
Due to high visitor volumes resulting in crowding of facilities, packed parking lots and safety issues, you will now need to sign up online for day passes for some BC Parks.
Golden Ears – Photo by Jenny Miles
Free Day Passes Required for Some BC Parks
As of July 27, 2020, new free day-use passes for six popular BC Parks are available for reservation through the “day-use passes” tab on the Discover Camping website as a part of a pilot project. These parks are:
Cypress: Upper mountain trails including the Howe Sound Crest Trail, Hollyburn Mountain trails, and the Black Mountain Plateau trails.
Garibaldi: Diamond Head (Elfin Lakes), Rubble Creek (Garibaldi Lake) and Cheakamus trailheads
Golden Ears: South Beach Day-Use Parking Lot, Alouette Lake Boat Launch Parking, East and West Canyon Trailhead Parking Lot (including Lower Falls Trail).
Mount Robson: Berg Lake Trail
Mount Seymour: Upper mountain trails including the Seymour Main Trail, Mystery Lake Trail, and Dog Mountain Trail.
Stawamus Chief: Chief Peaks Trail (also called the Backside Trail)
These environments do not easily allow for physical distancing and large numbers of visitors also have increased environmental impacts. The trail systems within these parks can become crowded at narrow pass points and view points which can lead to congestion and difficulties maintaining physical distancing.
The reservation/pass system opens up each morning at 6:00am and some are valid for a whole vehicle, others require each person in the vehicle to have a pass booked. Passes can only be booked on the day of arrival. Select from AM/PM or all day. Passes do not guarantee a parking spot – visitors should plan accordingly. Find more info here.
The 32nd Vancouver Queer Film Festival (“VQFF”) takes its programming online for an 11-day digital film festival featuring artists from India, Philippines, United States, and Canada.
More than 60 films from 10 countries are featured at VQFF presented by RBC, along with virtual visits from filmmakers, local directors and numerous local performing artists, in addition to virtual parties and post-screening Q&As.
Film Highlights
Curated by Artistic Director Anoushka Ratnarajah, VQFF 2020 opens with director Elegance Bratton’s Pier Kids, an uncut guerilla style documentary that unearths Black queer resourcefulness and resilience at its core. The film follows the life of Black Trans woman, Crystal LaBeija and other Queer and Trans youth of colour at the Christopher Street Pier in New York City.
The unifying effects of the Pier Kids resonate through the veil of safety, solace, and the promise of chosen family. Elegance Bratton will be joining the Festival at a virtual Q&A along with producer Chester Algernal Gordon.
VQFF will also feature two special presentations of seminal queer women’s history. Ahead of the Curve is a documentary about the history of Curve Magazine, the longest running lesbian publication in history, featuring interviews with Andrea Pino-Silva, Kim Katrin, Denice Frohman, Amber Hikes, Jewelle Gomez, Melissa Etheridge and Lea DeLaria, and a score composed by the legendary Meshell Ndegeocello. Ahead of the Curve celebrates, honours, and interrogates the legacy of a movement while considering the shifts and contractions necessary to create a more representative future for all queer women.
In addition, VQFF will screen a retrospective of Long Time Comin’, Dionne Brand’s 1993 documentary that charts the work of two Black queer Canadian artists: folk/jazz singer-songwriter Faith Nolan and multimedia visual artist Grace Channer. Using a combination of interviews and vérité footage of the women at work, Brand showcases their projects as well as their thoughts on art, race, and sexuality.
Festival favourite The Coast is Queerreturns, uplifting and spotlighting the work of emerging and established local queer filmmakers. International programming reflects the urgency of queer rights, with A Worm In The Heart. Shot in six cities along the Trans-Siberian Railway, this gripping documentary follows gay couple Paul Rice and Liam Jackson Montgomery as they embark upon a tense journey to detail the lives and stories from the LGBTQ+ community across Russia. Meeting with Nobel Peace Prize nominees, drag queens and ordinary folks, Paul and Liam learn more about the current state of the Russian queer community — providing both broad social and political overviews as well as deeply personal accounts from activists and non-activists alike.
Georgian documentary March For Dignityfollows a small group of LGBTQ activists in Tbilisi, Georgia, as they plan for the first ever Pride March in the country. And Goodbye Mother is a Vietnamese family dramedy that will charm and delight audiences.
I have passes to give away to the Opening Gala (Pier Kids), Centrepiece (Lingua Franca) and Closing Gala (Breaking Fast). 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 for the @queerfilmfest #VQFF2020 http://ow.ly/9byq50AJwxJ” quote=” Click to enter via Twitter” theme=”style6″]
I will draw one winner at 12:00pm on Tuesday, August 4, 2020. UPDATE The winner is Bonnie!
The first play I saw at The Stanley was Hamlet in 1998, presented by The Arts Club. I had just finished studying the tragedy in AP English and it was a delight to see it come to life on stage, and what a beautiful stage it was. I have since seen many productions, ranging from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast to The Producers, Dreamgirls, White Christmas, Les Miserables, and even A Christmas Story: The Musical. That’s my personal history with the theatre, now here’s a bit more:
Opened in 1930 at 2750 Granville Street, the Moorish-style theatre was “ultra-modern in every respect […] equipped with the latest technology for talking pictures and also a pipe organ” with 1,200 seats.
1951 The Stanley Theatre. Archives# CVA 772-12
It was a landmark movie house for sixty years, and in 1991 when Famous Players closed the venue, it had become the oldest operating movie theatre in Vancouver.
1985 The Stanley Theatre. Archives# CVA 790-2269
Prior to its closure, there was a campaign to “Save Our Stanley” to preserve the building and prevent commercial redevelopment of the space. In 1994, the Stanley Theatre Society was formed to try to buy the Stanley for the Arts Club Theatre Company, and in 1997 it purchased the theatre from Famous Players for $3,173,000.
1986 Stanley Theatre Archives# CVA 791-1359
Shuttered for seven years, it was masterfully renovated to update its art deco style. In 1998, it reopened as a 650-seat playhouse for the Arts Club Theatre Company and in 2005 it took on the name The Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage with the addition of new sponsors.
The restoration of the venue received a 1999 City of Vancouver Heritage Award.
The theatre is quiet once again, due to COVID-19, but as soon as audiences can once again gather The Arts Club will fire up the spotlights under the dome once more. For now, you can enjoy the company’s digital programming here.
