The Vancouver Mural Festival (VMF) is hosting the Winter Arts Fest in two cities for the first time ever. VMF debuts the Winter Arts Festival in Victoria and Vancouver February, 2024.
Winter Arts Festival 2024
Victoria: February 16 – 19, 2024
Vancouver: February 22 – 27, 2024
The Fest is a celebration of light, art, and storytelling, featuring sculpture, projection mapping, augmented reality (AR), laser art, performance, and more. Free to attend (except for select 19+ events) the festival creates a rhythm of indoor and outdoor experiences that inspire a sense of rediscovery of familiar streets and city spaces, providing a series of warm spaces to gather and connect around art and creativity.
Amidst the daily urban backdrop of neon signs, street names, and plaques, the 2024 Winter Arts Festival sharpens its focus on the intersection of communication, technology, and illumination, unveiling the stories woven in Victoria and Vancouver’s historic alleyways and streets.
Victoria
Art Walk | February 16 – 19 (FREE /All Ages) Throughout the Family Day long weekend, explore downtown Victoria’s historic downtown core by going on the Art Walk to discover new and existing art installations, alongside a series of pop-up events at select locations.
VMF After Dark Victoria | February 17 (Ticketed/19+) Of course there’s a dance party, and you’re invited! Purchase tickets for VMF After Dark Victoria online.
Vancouver
Blanketing the City: Lighting the Way | February 23 – 27 (FREE/All Ages) Blanketing the City: Lighting the Way, the on-going public art series will once again illuminate the Vancouver night sky. Created by acclaimed xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) weaver and designer Debra Sparrow, and co-produced in collaboration with VMF, Blanketing the City: Lighting The Way uses building facade lighting to create Coast Salish blanket weaving patterns on major Vancouver landmarks including TELUS Garden, BC Place, Canada Place, Science World and more.
More information about Installations is is available online.
This holiday season tap into a world of wonders with this lineup of fairytales, folkslore, and fantasy films presented by VIFF. These classics and cult favouries are told and retold by Hans Christian Andersen, the Brothers Grimm, Scheherazade, Walt Disney, Jean Cocteau, Guillermo del Toro, Tim Burton and Steven Spielberg, to name but a few.
The Wonders Film Series Featuring Fairy Tales, Folklore, and Fantasy
Dates: December 20, 2023 to January 4, 2024
Address: VIFF Centre (1181 Seymour St, Vancouver)
Tickets: Available online now. $8 for youth, and adults can save on multi-ticket packs and passes.
Family-Friendly Highlights in the Series
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Walt Disney’s first animated feature film is a Technicolor musical adapted from the Brothers Grimm tale, first published in 1812. The movie premiered December 21, 1937 before an audience that included Judy Garland, Charles Laughton and Marlene Dietrich, and proved a smash hit. Get tickets »
Wolfwalkers People don’t talk about Tomm Moore the way they talk about Hayao Miyazaki or Pixar, but they should. Each of the Irish animator’s three features is a precious jewel, firmly planted in ancient Celtic mythology but shimmering with vitality and intelligence. Wolfwalkers is a worthy follow up to The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea. Get tickets »
La Belle et la Bête Jean Cocteau’s sublime adaptation of Mme. Leprince de Beaumont’s fairy-tale masterpiece. Cocteau’s film begins with a plea for “childlike simplicity”. And who could resist such an exquisite fairy tale, a medieval tableau brought to life? Superbly shot in limpid monochrome by the great DP Henri Alekan, it’s a tender, romantic film with living statuary (the baroque castle is courtesy of designer Christian Bérard) and an elegant — yet cuddly — beast (played by the director’s lover and muse, Jean Marais and modelled after the latter’s Alaskan husky). It’s every bit as enchanting as Cocteau intended, and an enduring influence on directors like Guillermo del Toro and Peter Jackson. Get tickets »
Into the Woods Mix and matching Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel, Steven Sondheim and James Lapine’s musical is like Shrek for grownups: smart, sophisticated, imbuing these classic characters with psychological depth and emotional complexity. Disney’s screen version – directed by Rob Marshall (Chicago; Nine) stays close to the structure and intent of the original stage version, and doesn’t soften the shift to a darker register in the second half. It also comes jam-packed with rich character parts performed by an all-star cast: Meryl Streep as the witch, Emily Blunt as the baker’s wife, Johnny Depp as the wolf, for starters. As for the music, it’s never sounded better. Get tickets »
The Wizard of Oz A cultural touchstone for generations, MGM’s musical adaptation of Frank L Baum’s turn of the century fantasy novel is so deeply embedded in the popular imagination that some critics have suggested you can find its traces in almost every American movie made in the latter half of the 20th Century. Over the Rainbow won the Academy Award for Best Song that year. Get tickets »
The Red Shoes The son of a shoemaker, Hans Christian Andersen wrote The Red Shoes in 1845, a fable about a young girl possessed by a pair of magical dancing shoes. A century later, the Anglo-Hungarian dream team Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger settled on the fairy tale as the basis for the climactic ballet sequence in what, even now, is recognized as the greatest dance film ever made. The fairy tale’s themes are mirrored in the movie’s backstage drama, a triangle between the great ballet impresario Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook), who demands absolute commitment to the art with no distractions, and young lovers, composer Julian Craster (Marius Goring) and ballerina Vicky Page (Moira Shearer). The stage is set for a showdown, and indeed the 17-minute Red Shoes ballet is one of the most unforgettable cinematic sequences ever committed to celluloid. The film became Powell and Pressburger’s biggest international success and was nominated for 5 Academy Awards including Best Picture. Get tickets »
Pinocchio The Walt Disney Studio hit a creative peak with this second animated feature, a beautifully rendered version of Collodi’s 1883 cautionary tale. Although the character of Pinocchio was significantly changed from the original book (Collodi’s more mischievous Pinocchio accidentally kills the cricket with a hammer), this is the darkest of Disney movies, the visuals influenced by German Expressionism, and with no less than four villains lining up to tempt and exploit the little wooden boy. At its heart, though, it all comes down to what it means to be human… In the summer of 2023, Time Out magazine named Pinocchio the Best Animated Movie of All Time. Get tickets »
Beauty and the Beast After decades in the doldrums, Disney animation enjoyed a renaissance in the 1990s, with Beauty and the Beast setting a new bar. Taking cues from Cocteau’s live action film, the movie has little sympathy for Belle’s human suitor, the arrogant Gaston, and even the Beast has to work on himself before he’s worthy of our feisty and resourceful heroine. This was the first Disney animated feature to be written by a woman (Linda Woolverton), and it became the first to be nominated for Best Picture. Three of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s songs were nominated for Best Original Song, and the title track won. Get tickets »
Presented with a short film: Sleeping Betty (Claude Cloutier, 2007, Canada) 9 min Betty can’t (or won’t) wake up. The King calls on his subjects to rescue her and they all respond to the call: Uncle Henry VIII, Aunt Victoria, an oddly emotional alien, a funky witch and a handsome prince. But will a kiss really be enough to wake the sleeping princess? Winner: Best Animated Short, Genie Awards.
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr T Dr Seuss — Theodore Geisel — wrote the screenplay for this wildly original and deeply Seussian musical. Filmed in “Wonderama” (actually, Technicolor), this unforgettable film’s highlights are numerous, but the Shlim Shlam Ballet — one of numerous songs by composer Frederick Hollander for which Dr Seuss wrote the lyrics — may be the most significant, if only for the crazy instruments, surreal choreography and the debut of future West Side Story star George Chakiris. Intended as a Wizard of Oz fantasia, the movie bombed at the time but has a dedicated cult following. Get tickets »
Trying to see what’s open on Christmas Day in Vancouver? We’ve got a list of a few activities, attractions, and displays that will be available December 25, 2023.
Liven Up Coal Harbour displays will be lit up along the waterfront from Canada Place all the way down to the Westin Bayshore.
The Christmas Tree outside the Vancouver Art Gallery, also the one at Bentall Centre (on Dunsmuir across from Burrard Station)
Granville Island Festive Lights (with complimentary parking after 6:00pm) Walk the expansive grounds of Granville Island’s almost 40 acres covered in lighted displays. Highlights include a stunning oversized star in the centre of the Public Market courtyard, and the Edison bulbs along Railspur Artisan District. NOTE: The market and Net Loft will be closed though.
Activities
The Robson Square Ice Rink will be open for skating on Christmas Day from 11:00am to 5:00pm.
Christmas at Canada Place is always open! This free, family experience captures the spirit of the season with beautifully decorated Avenue of Christmas Trees, the nostalgic Woodward’s Windows and a winter wonderland display.
Gateway Theatre presents the enchanting Tony Award-Winning Musical, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella this holiday season. This magical production is brought to life with extravagant ball-worthy costumes, an incredible pumpkin carriage and a live band to play this captivating score.
Ali Watson and Kamyar Pazandeh, Photo by David Cooper
With its fresh new take on the beloved tale of a young woman who is transformed from a chambermaid into a princess, this hilarious and romantic Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella combines the story’s classic elements – glass slippers, magic pumpkin carriage, and a beautiful ball – along with some surprising twists. More than just a pretty face with the right shoe size, this Cinderella is a contemporary figure living in a fairy tale setting. She is a spirited young woman with savvy and spark who doesn’t let her rags or her gowns trip her up in her quest for kindness, compassion, and forgiveness.
This enchanting musical will put a spell on audiences of all ages, and showcases some of the songwriting duo’s loveliest tunes, including “In My Own Little Corner,” “Impossible/It’s Possible,” and “Ten Minutes Ago,” as well as some new characters and surprising twists.
Ali Watson is Ella with Kamyar Pazandeh as Prince Topher and Lossen Chambers as Madame. Joining them are Tainui Kuru (Sebastian), Caitriona Murphy (Marie), Danica Kobayashi (Gabrielle), Sarah Cantuba (Charlotte), Ben Brown (Jean-Michel), and Ryan Maschke (Lord Pinkleton). Ensemble members include Holly Bradbury, Megan Greenwood, Jaren Guerreiro, Sarah Lane, Ava Maddison, Darian Ngai, Vuk Prodanovic,Dane Smit, and Alyson Vance. Members of the Children’s Ensemble are Aldryn Saplala, who is currently enrolled in Gateway Academyand Ariel Kuo, a proud Gateway Academy alumni.
Follow Miss604Holidays this season for the latest arts and culture activities, attraction and event news »
The CPKC Holiday Train has been touring Canada and the United States since November 20th and it’s almost at the end of the line in the Fraser Valley and the Tri-Cities!
Now celebrating its 25th anniversary, the Holiday Train raises money, food and awareness for the important work that food banks do in their communities while musicians play free concerts from the brightly decorated train’s stage.
Photo submitted
How the Events Work
When the train arrives it will pull to a safe stop in front of the crowd in attendance. The stage door lowers and the band opens with its first song. After that, a brief presentation takes place with local food bank officials and other dignitaries.
Once complete, the band resumes performing a mix of traditional and modern holiday-themed songs. The whole event lasts about 30 minutes, and once the band plays its farewell show, the boxcar door closes, and the train slips off into the night on its way to the next stop.
Fraser Valley & Metro Vancouver Stops
Tyler Shaw and Kiesza will play the Agassiz stop on Sunday, December 17th at 5:30pm, Maple Ridge at 7:50pm, and Pitt Meadows at 8:55pm. On Monday, December 18th the Holiday Train will finish its journey in Canada by reaching Port Moody at 5:20pm, and Port Coquitlam at 7:05pm.
City
Location
Date/Time
Agassiz
Across from Agra Centre on Pioneer Ave West of Hwy 9
Dec 17th 5:30pm
Maple Ridge (Haney)
Across from Billy Miner pub 22355 River Rd
Dec 17th 7:50pm
Pitt Meadows
Railway crossing corner of Harris Rd & Advent Rd
Dec 17th 8:55pm
Port Moody
300 Ioco Road behind Rec Center
Dec 18th 5:20pm
Port Coquitlam
Kingsway between Mary Hill & Wilson Ave
Dec 18th 7:05pm
This event is free to attend, but audiences are encouraged to bring a cash or non-perishable food donation if you’re able for your local food bank. Local organizations will have collection stations at each events, with donations made going towards the local food bank at each stop to help people in need within the community.
Photo submitted
Since the Holiday Train program launched in 1999, the CPKC Holiday Train has raised more than $22.5 million and more than 5 million pounds of food for community food banks across North America.
Follow the #CPKCholidaytrain on Facebook for more information.
