Things to Do in Vancouver This Weekend: March 22, 2018

It’s JUNO Week in Vancouver, so of course the streets and stages are filled with live music from award nominees and local musicians all weekend! In between the music there’s also an Easter train, a soccer game, and arts and crafts for the whole family in museums and galleries that will inspire budding scientists, artists, and historians.

Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Ongoing

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Friday March 23

JUNO Fest  day 1 of 2
Where: Various locations
What: Over 95 artists are set to heat up the streets of Vancouver on 15 stages.
Runs until: Saturday March 24

Stanley Park Easter Train
Where: Stanley Park
What: Ride the Easter train, meet the bunny, and check out a bunny burrow maze.
Runs until: Monday April 2, 2018 (weekends+holidays)

Haida Now Guided Tour
Where: Museum of Vancouver
What: Join Haida curator Kwiaahwah Jones on an intimate tour of Haida Now, an unparalleled collection of Haida art featuring more than 450 works by carvers, weavers, photographers and print makers.

JUNO Comedy Show
Where: 1015 Burrard
What: Sets by this year’s Comedy Album of the Year nominees Charlie Demers, DJ Demers and Rebecca Kohler, hosted by Graham Clark.

Spring Break at the Space Centre
Where: HR MacMillan Space Centre
What: Do you have what it takes to be a Mars colonist or an asteroid geologist? Learn about living on Mars and the future of space exploration with family friendly activities running from 11:30am to 4:00pm, and the film Asteroid: Mission Extreme in the Planetarium Star Theatre.
Runs until: Monday April 2, 2018

JUNO Cup
Where: Bill Copeland Sports Centre (Burnaby, BC)
What: Canadian music stars such as Jim Cuddy (Blue Rodeo), Darryl James (The Strumbellas), and Adrienne LaBelle (Supermoon) will be going head to head with NHL players such as BJ MacDonald (Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver Canucks), Danielle Dube (Canadian National Women’s Hockey Team), Gary Nylund (Toronto Maple Leafs, Chicago Blackhawks, New York Islanders) and Kaillie Humphries (Team Canada Olympic Bobsleigh).

Butcher
Where: The Cultch
What: Who is the Butcher? At a police station a mysterious old man is found wearing a foreign military uniform and a Santa hat. A butcher’s hook hangs around his neck, and gouged on the end is a business card with the words, “Arrest me,” scrawled on it. In her foreward to the play, former chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and Yugoslavia and former Supreme Court justice, Louise Arbour asks, “where can victims find peace if justice is elusive? Can offenders find closure if punishment is not extended to them?”
Runs until: Saturday March 31, 2018

Let’s Hear It BC Celebration Site  day 1 of 2
Where: North Plaza of the Vancouver Art Gallery
What: Two days of diverse and inclusive live music representing various music scenes from across the province. This free festival site will offer an accessible venue for all of Vancouver to enjoy, incorporating family-focused programming including music for all ages.
Runs until: Saturday March 24, 2017

The Humans
Where: Arts Club Theatre
What: When three generations of the Blake clan descend on a rundown lower Manhattan duplex for Thanksgiving dinner, much more is simmering than the gravy. As the holiday gaiety subsides, the pressures weighing on the family members reach a boiling point.
Runs until: Sunday April 22, 2018

One Sings, The Other Doesn’t
Where: The Cinematheque
What: Bona fide living legend Agnès Varda, who turns 90 this year, drew a line in the sand with this spritely feminist musical-cum-manifesto about women’s reproductive rights, made at a time when a new law legalizing abortion in France was still at risk of repeal. (The law wouldn’t be made permanent until 1979.)
Runs until: Thursday March 29, 2018

Vancouver Gem & Mineral Show
Where: PNE Forum
What: Western Canada’s largest gem & mineral show featuring unique gems, fine minerals, rare fossils, lapidary art, handmade jewelry, lectures, demonstrations, and over 100 exhibitors from across the country and abroad.
Runs until: Sunday March 25, 2018

March Break Bird Tour
Where: UBC Botanical Gardens
What: A family-inclusive and beginner-friendly search for exciting birds and listen for their melodious calls. This workshop will take place outdoors so make sure you come prepared for the weather.

Pull Festival
Where: Little Mountain Gallery
What: An annual play Festival featuring a repertoire of seven ten-minute plays.
Runs until: Saturday March 24, 2018

Festival du Bois
Where: Mackin Park (Coquitlam, BC)
What: A weekend celebration of francophone and French-Canadian culture – the largest in BC. Enjoy French-Canadian music, dance, traditional food, shows for kids, and activities.
Runs until: Sunday March 25, 2018

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Saturday March 24

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Coast Salish Weaving with Indigenous Plant-Dyed Yarns
Where: Museum of Anthropology
What: Dr. Susan Pavel ~ sa’hLa mitsa learned to weave in the Coast Salish style during the summer of 1996. Her master teacher was subiyay (Bruce Miller) of the Skokomish Nation. She will give a presentation on Coast Salish weaving, plant dyes, her creative practice, and will demonstrate weaving on a Salish two-bar loom with yarns dyed from native plants.

Junior JUNOs
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery Plaza
What: Join featured Children’s Album of the Year JUNO Award nominees for a morning  in the heart of the city. Hosted by CBC Kids stars Tony and Gary the Unicorn, this free festival site will be brought to life with crafts, interactive activities, and the opportunity to meet favourite CBC Kids friends PJ Masks for hugs and photos.

Family Day: Abstract Tapestry
Where: Contemporary Art Gallery
What: Inspired by Brent Wadden’s abstract woven work, bring the kids to deconstruct and layer pieces of wool, adding soap and water to transform the wool into their own felt textile.

JUNO Fan Fare
Where: Metropolis at Metrotown (Burnaby, BC)
What: Get a selfie with a nominee or see live performances by Jess Moskaluke, High Valley, Ria Mae, Scott Helman, and Tim Hicks.

Vancouver Whitecaps vs. LA Galaxy
Where: BC Place Stadium
What: It’s a soccer game.

In the Intense Now
Where: VanCity Theatre
What: Made following the discovery of amateur footage shot in China in 1966 during the first and most radical stage of the Cultural Revolution, In The Intense Now speaks to the fleeting nature of moments of great intensity. Scenes of China are set alongside archival images of the events of 1968 in France, Czechoslovakia, and, to a lesser extent, Brazil. In keeping with the tradition of the film-essay, they serve to investigate how the people who took part in those events continued onward after passions had cooled.
Runs until: Wednesday March 28, 2018

JUNO Fest  day 2 of 2
Where: Various locations
What: Over 95 artists are set to heat up the streets of Vancouver on 15 stages.

Let’s Hear It BC Celebration Site  day 2 of 2
Where: North Plaza of the Vancouver Art Gallery
What: Two days of diverse and inclusive live music representing various music scenes from across the province. This free festival site will offer an accessible venue for all of Vancouver to enjoy, incorporating family-focused programming including music for all ages.

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Sunday March 25

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JUNO Songwriters Circle
Where: The Orpheum, 12:00pm
What: Eight-time JUNO Award-winning artist Jann Arden and Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductee Bob Rock will co-host and perform. Joining them on stage will be current and past JUNO Award nominees Iskwé (Indigenous Music Album of the Year), Jim Cuddy (13x JUNO Award winner), Rose Cousins (Songwriter of the Year), Ruth B (Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, Pop Album of the Year), and Scott Helman (Songwriter of the Year, Pop Album of the Year).

The 2018 JUNO Awards
Where: Rogers Arena
What: Hosted by Michael Buble, the awards show will feature performances by Diana Krall, Arcade File, Lights, Arkells, Barenaked Ladies and more.

Foxtrot
Where: VanCity Theatre
What: It is a film about grief. Michael and Dafna are stunned when army officials show up at their door – the movie’s very first shot – to inform them their son Jonathan is dead. What follows falls into three main parts: the immediate aftermath of the news, with all its horror and rage, is succeeded by a very different and weirdly compelling flashback to Jonathan’s military posting at a remote, isolated checkpoint… And the final section, about which the less you know in advance, the better.
Runs until: Sunday April 1, 2018

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Ongoing

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Vancouver International Dance Festival
Where: Various locations
What: Four Canadian premieres from New York’s acclaimed contemporary companies Shen Wei Dance Arts and White Wave Dance, Mexico’s Compañía de Danza Experimental de Lola Lince, and Hungary’s Ferenc Fehér; a West Coast premiere from Montreal’s Lucie Grégoire Danse; and a world premiere from Vancouver’s own Amber Funk Barton, among many others.
Runs until: Saturday March 24, 2018

Pull Festival
Where: Little Mountain Gallery
What: An annual play Festival featuring a repertoire of seven ten-minute plays.
Runs until: Saturday March 24, 2018

Revisioned
Where: Kimoto Gallery
What: Inspired by his West Coast upbringing and love of the ocean, Vancouver artist, Yorke Graham creates art that is a reflection of his passion for nature and his lively, fun-loving imagination. Yorke enjoys the challenge of working with both cherished mementos and objects often forgotten or destined to be destroyed.
Runs until: Saturday March 24, 2018

Sequence
Where: Presentation House Theatre
What: Is our luck programmed in our genes? Is there an innate correctness to biological outcomes that’s rooted in our fundamental DNA? This is a fast-paced, science thriller that explores the intersection of math, nature, and spirituality.
Runs until: Saturday March 24, 2018

The Velveteen Rabbit
Where: The Waterfront Theatre on Granville Island
What: The enchanting story that made generations of children cry into their storybooks. Don’t worry, it ends up a happy ending (except personally, it might have made me a stuffed animal hoarder for a short time). Get ready for a rocking horse, a cavalcade of mechanical toys, a kind-hearted fairy and a toy rabbit who is transformed by one little boy’s love.
Runs until: Sunday March 25, 2018

Vancouver Gem & Mineral Show
Where: PNE Forum
What: Western Canada’s largest gem & mineral show featuring unique gems, fine minerals, rare fossils, lapidary art, handmade jewelry, lectures, demonstrations, and over 100 exhibitors from across the country and abroad.
Runs until: Sunday March 25, 2018

The Lost Fleet Exhibit
Where: Vancouver Maritime Museum
What: On December 7, 1941 the world was shocked when Japan bombed Pearl Harbour, launching the United States into the war. This action also resulted in the confiscation of nearly 1,200 Japanese-Canadian owned fishing boats by Canadian officials on the British Columbia coast, which were eventually sold off to canneries and other non-Japanese fishermen. The Lost Fleet looks at the world of the Japanese-Canadian fishermen in BC and how deep-seated racism played a major role in the seizure, and sale, of Japanese-Canadian property and the internment of an entire people.
Runs until: March 25, 2018

Into the Arctic
Where: Vancouver Maritime Museum
What: This exhibit encompasses over 50 Arctic oil paintings and 3 films from Trepanier’s 4 Arctic expeditions to the furthest reaches of the Canadian North. Its wilderness is so remote and untouched that many of its landscapes have never been documented before.
Runs until: Sunday March 25, 2018

Two Scores
Where: Contemporary Art Gallery
What: A solo exhibition of ambitious new work by Vancouver-based artist Brent Wadden, his first in a public institution. Dominated by singular woven statements upon the floor and walls, in their dramatic scale and graphic simplicity, they mark a point of departure for the artist, but might also be said to reveal both an unseen structure and a complex set of tensions that quietly anchor Wadden’s ongoing practice as a whole.
Runs until: Sunday March 25, 2018

Fin and Feathers
Where: VanDusen Gardens
What: Paintings by Jo Scott-B. Jo’s book: Carved in Oak – Medieval Pew Carvings in English Churches began her study of medieval designs in UK and Europe, continued in this body of work.  Jo’s children played on the old Shaughnessy Golf Course before it became VanDusen Botanical Garden. For her, it is a perfect venue for her humorous images of fish and birds, set in foliage taken from her sketchbooks.
Runs until: Sunday March 25, 2018

Forget About Tomorrow
Where: Arts Club Theatre
What: When Jane’s husband Tom is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, they face a difficult journey ahead. Will love and humour be enough to brace their family for the future? Can Jane reconcile her dreams with today’s reality? Or will she grow to doubt her loyalty to the man who will ultimately forget her name?
Runs until: Sunday March 25, 2018

Festival du Bois
Where: Mackin Park (Coquitlam, BC)
What: A weekend celebration of francophone and French-Canadian culture – the largest in BC. Enjoy French-Canadian music, dance, traditional food, shows for kids, and activities.
Runs until: Sunday March 25, 2018

In the Intense Now
Where: VanCity Theatre
What: Made following the discovery of amateur footage shot in China in 1966 during the first and most radical stage of the Cultural Revolution, In The Intense Now speaks to the fleeting nature of moments of great intensity. Scenes of China are set alongside archival images of the events of 1968 in France, Czechoslovakia, and, to a lesser extent, Brazil. In keeping with the tradition of the film-essay, they serve to investigate how the people who took part in those events continued onward after passions had cooled.
Runs until: Wednesday March 28, 2018

Celebrating VanDusen Gardens New Bird Garden
Where: VanDusen Gardens
What: There’s a new destination for birds and birders in Vancouver and it’s a special habitat for resident and migratory birds. To celebrate the garden, up to two children get in free with each paid adult, senior or youth.
Runs until: Thursday March 29, 2018

One Sings, The Other Doesn’t
Where: The Cinematheque
What: Bona fide living legend Agnès Varda, who turns 90 this year, drew a line in the sand with this spritely feminist musical-cum-manifesto about women’s reproductive rights, made at a time when a new law legalizing abortion in France was still at risk of repeal. (The law wouldn’t be made permanent until 1979.)
Runs until: Thursday March 29, 2018

Butcher
Where: The Cultch
What: Who is the Butcher? At a police station a mysterious old man is found wearing a foreign military uniform and a Santa hat. A butcher’s hook hangs around his neck, and gouged on the end is a business card with the words, “Arrest me,” scrawled on it. In her foreward to the play, former chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and Yugoslavia and former Supreme Court justice, Louise Arbour asks, “where can victims find peace if justice is elusive? Can offenders find closure if punishment is not extended to them?”
Runs until: Saturday March 31, 2018

Little Miss Glitz
Where: Performanceworks
What: Little Miss Glitz sets the questionable beauty standards and parenting practices of reality TV’s Toddlers and Tiaras to music in a high-energy musical with a twist: there is no scripted winner. Each night, a panel of judges from the audience will determine who wins, leaving the cast to improvise the end of the show. Comedy flows freely as adults play the reluctant, bratty, and spoiled child contestants forced into competition by their overbearing and viciously over-competitive mothers.
Runs until: Saturday March 31, 2018

Spring Break at the Space Centre
Where: HR MacMillan Space Centre
What: Do you have what it takes to be a Mars colonist or an asteroid geologist? Learn about living on Mars and the future of space exploration with family friendly activities running from 11:30am to 4:00pm, and the film Asteroid: Mission Extreme in the Planetarium Star Theatre.
Runs until: Monday April 2, 2018

Stanley Park Easter Train
Where: Stanley Park
What: Ride the Easter train, meet the bunny, and check out a bunny burrow maze.
Runs until: Monday April 2, 2018 (weekends+holidays)

Chief Dan George: Actor and Activist
Where: North Vancouver Museum
What: An exhibition exploring the life and legacy of Tsleil-Waututh Chief Dan George (1899- 1981) and his influence as an Indigenous rights advocate and his career as an actor. The exhibition was developed in close collaboration with the George family.
Runs until: April 2018

FlyOver America
Where: FlyOver Canada
What: Glide, dive, swoop and soar over some of America’s must-see destinations. This exhilarating 10-minute flight ride showcases 25 incredible locations in a way you’ve never seen them before.
Runs until: Monday April 2, 2018

空 / Emptiness: Emily Carr and Lui Shou Kwan
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: The exhibition pairs Canadian modernist Emily Carr with the founder of the New Ink Movement in Hong Kong Lui Shou Kwan. Looking across culture, geography and time to explore expressions of the sublime in landscape painting, the exhibition draws connections by exploring how each artist experimented with abstraction and spirituality in their respective depictions of nature.
Runs until: Sunday April 8, 2018

The Fabric of Our Land: Salish Weaving
Where: UBC Museum of Anthropology
What: For generations Salish peoples have been harvesting the resources of their territories, transforming them into robes of rare beauty and power. Symbols of identity, they acted as legal documents and were visible signifiers of the presence of knowledge holders and respected people. Now mostly stored away in museums these masterworks are rarely seen. They have much knowledge to share and many stories to tell. Musqueam asked the Museum to bring these weavings to inspire weavers and share part of this rich legacy with all of us.
Runs until: Sunday April 15, 2018

Public Artwork by New Delhi-Based Artist Asim Waqif
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: Inspired by environmental concerns and the pace of human consumption, Waqif will construct an immersive architectural experience from materials collected at re-purpose stores, transfer stations and landfills in the metro Vancouver area. Waqif’s architectural structure will also incorporate an interactive acoustic system using microphones, effects pedals and speakers. Visitors are encouraged to move through the installation maze allowing them to actively experience the architecture instead of passively observing it.
Runs until: Sunday April 15, 2017

Chelsea Hotel
Where: Firehall Arts Centre
What: Leonard Cohen’s powerful and inspirational music is the heartbeat for Chelsea Hotel. Through Cohen’s transcendent songs and the honesty of his lyrics, witness an eclectic cabaret of loves won and lost.
Runs until: Saturday April 21, 2018

Winter Farmers Market
Where: Nat Bailey Stadium
What: Each week you can look forward to finding locally grown vegetables and fruit, meat and seafood from local ranchers and fishermen, artisan cheese and bread, herbs and seasonal nursery items, baked goods, prepared foods and artisanal craft.
Runs until: April 21, 2018 (Saturdays)

The Humans
Where: Arts Club Theatre
What: When three generations of the Blake clan descend on a rundown lower Manhattan duplex for Thanksgiving dinner, much more is simmering than the gravy. As the holiday gaiety subsides, the pressures weighing on the family members reach a boiling point.
Runs until: Sunday April 22, 2018

N. Vancouver
Where: The Polygon Gallery
What: The show in the newly-opened gallery will pay tribute to the evolution of North Vancouver and will feature commissioned works by more than 10 artists, including Andrew Dadson, Gabrielle Hill, Althea Thauberger, Stephen Waddell and Tracy Williams, paired with existing work by Stan Douglas, Greg Girard, Fred Herzog, Curt Lang, and Jeff Wall, among others.
Runs until: Sunday April 29, 2018

In a Different Light
Where: Museum of Anthropology
What: More than 110 historical Indigenous artworks and marks the return of many important works to British Columbia. These objects are amazing artistic achievements. Yet they also transcend the idea of ‘art’ or ‘artifact’. Through the voices of contemporary First Nations artists and community members, this exhibition reflects on the roles historical artworks have today. Featuring immersive storytelling and innovative design, it explores what we can learn from these works and how they relate to Indigenous peoples’ relationships to their lands.
Runs until: Spring 2019

Takashi Murakami: The Octopus Eats Its Own Leg
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: Featuring fifty-five remarkable works, some newly created for the presentation in Vancouver, this retrospective offers a critical and serious meditation on the current state of Japanese society in the midst of a complex, global world, while highlighting Murakami’s important role as a committed and often conflicted commentator on cultural production.
Runs until: Sunday May 6, 2018

Living, Building, Thinking: Art and Expressionism
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: The term Expressionism is invariably associated with the period of art and social activism in Germany between 1905 and 1937, encompassing visual art, literature, philosophy, theatre, film, photography and architecture. Explore the development of Expressionism in art from the early 19th century to the present day through the German Expressionist collection from the McMaster Museum of Art.
Runs until: Monday May 21, 2018

Haida Now
Where: Museum of Vancouver
What: This exhibition features an unparalleled collection of Haida art boasting more than 450 works created as early as 1890. Local Haida artists will share their insights and knowledge about the art pieces, providing visitors with the opportunity to experience a powerful way to engage with the worldview and sensibility of the Haida people while gaining greater appreciation for the role museums can play in the reconciliation movement.
Runs until: Saturday June 16, 2018

Bombhead
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What:  A thematic art exhibition organized by guest curator John O’Brian that explores the emergence and impact of the nuclear age as represented by artists and their art. Encompassing the pre- and postwar period from the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 to the triple meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi in 2011, BOMBHEAD brings together paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture, photographs, film and video that deal with this often dark subject matter.
Runs until: Sunday June 17, 2018

Culture at the Centre
Where: UBC Museum of Anthropology
What: Five Indigenous-run cultural centres in BC will be showcased representing six communities: Musqueam Cultural Education and Resource Centre (Musqueam), Squamish-Lil’wat Cultural Centre (Squamish, Lil’wat), Heiltsuk Cultural Education Centre (Heiltsuk), Nisga’a Museum (Nisga’a), and Haida Gwaii Museum (Haida). Covering a wide geographic expanse from Vancouver to the Nass River Valley, this marks the first time the participating communities will come together to share their diverse cultures in one space.
Runs until: Monday October 8, 2018

What are you up to this weekend? Tell me and the rest of Vancouver in the comments below.