This weekend is going to be a creative and inspiring one. Cindy Sherman’s work is on display at the Vancouver Art Gallery; the Writer’s Fest is happening on Granville Island; Haida artist, Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson, has an illuminating show on about supernatural beings at the Bill Reid Gallery and… yes, there are even more Halloween shows this weekend than there were last.
Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Ongoing
Friday October 25
2019 Vancouver Writers Festival
Where: Granville Island
What: The Vancouver Writers Fest’s flagship Festival welcomes local and international writers to stages on and around Granville Island for a week of literary events and immersive conversations for all ages.
Runs Until: Sunday October 27, 2019
Xuuya Gaada White Raven by Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson
Bill Reid Gallery: Out of Concealment
Where: Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art
What: Out of Concealment is a solo exhibition featuring the work of Haida artist, performer, activist, and lawyer Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson. Female supernatural beings of Haida Gwaii are re-imagined through photomontages, film, and sound to convey origin stories and oral traditions from the Haida Nation. Passed on from generation to generation, these are important narratives that illustrate the Haida laws, values, customs, rituals and relationships with earthly and metaphysical realms.
Runs Until: Sunday April 5, 2020
The 9th Dancers: Kelly Shaw, Ryan Lee, Connor Mitton | Photo Credit: Aleksandar Antonijevic
Where: Various Venues
What: Now in its 19th year of celebrating culturally rich works in comedy, music, theatre and dance, the Chutzpah! Festival has established a reputation for presenting Vancouver audiences with new and exciting, critically acclaimed artists from all over the world. This year’s festival will also showcase live music with film, and shines a light on artists from the U.K., Israel, Italy, U.S.A., and Canada.
Runs Until: Sunday November 24, 2019
Women Ensemble | Photo by Edward Mulvihill
DanceHouse presents: Spirit – Bangarra Dance Theatre (Australia)
Where: Vancouver Playhouse
What: Drawn from 65,000 years of culture, Australia’s Bangarra Dance Theatre presents foundational work, seemingly pulled from the very land itself. In their first visit to Vancouver, Bangarra brings a selection of their extraordinary 30-year repertoire that weaves together totemic storytelling, performance and rich musical scores.
Runs Until: Saturday October 26, 2019
HUB Cycling presents Bike to Work Week 2019
Where: Various Locations
What: If you’ve ever thought about biking to work, this is the week to start. Get free snacks, coffee, basic bike maintenance and loads of prizes by visiting one of our 40 Celebration Stations in Bike to Work Week. Stations are all over Metro Vancouver on high traffic bike routes. Be part of the change and help make Metro Vancouver a happier, healthier place to live, work and play.
Runs Until: Sunday October 27, 2019
Lessons from the Arctic: How Roald Amundsen won the race to the South Pole
Where: Vancouver Maritime Museum
What: Lessons from the Arctic celebrates Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen, the first person in history to both traverse the Northwest Passage (1903-06) and reach the South Pole (1910-12), paying special attention to the three years that he spent living with the Inuit.
Runs Until: Sunday January 19, 2019
Mozart & Haydn With Albrecht Mayer
Where: Chan Centre For The Performing Arts
What: You haven’t heard oboe till you’ve heard Albrecht Mayer, principal of the Berlin Philharmonic. He leads this delightful concert as both soloist and conductor. Prepare to rediscover the oboe in some wonderful classical repertoire.
Runs Until: Saturday October 26, 2019
Vancouver TheatreSports
Spooktober: Cult Fiction – Everyone Laugh Together
Where: The Improv Centre
What: Cult Fiction – Everyone Laugh Together is framed as a documentary. Hosted by an investigative journalist; the players utilize audience suggestions to spin a spell-binding tale behind the cult including the core cult belief and some of its unique traits – the more ridiculous the suggestions, the more inventive the action and louder the laughter.
Runs Until: Saturday November 2, 2019
Vancouver TheatreSports
Where: The Improv Centre
What: Monster Matches pits teams of monsters against one another in a series of ‘head-to-headless’ short-form scenarios to see who eeeks out the most laughs. Will the werewolves defeat the witches, or zombies overcome the vampires? In this fast-paced roller-ghoster, the winner is determined by audience judges.
Runs Until: Wednesday October 30, 2019
Where: Vancouver Convention Centre West
What: The Vancouver Fall Home Show is a vibrant marketplace where you can shop for home-related products and services, experience stunning displays to help inspire your next home project, connect with industry experts, and enjoy informative presentations from renowned local and international home professionals.
Runs Until: Sunday October 27, 2019
Tom Bonington in The Third Hand
Where: York Theatre
What: After an incredible inaugural year, the Vancouver Horror Show Film Festival is returning for the sequel in 2019! In year two, the VHS will continue to bring creators, diverse audiences, and horror fans together at the York Theatre on Vancouver’s bustling and diverse Commercial Drive.
Runs Until: Saturday October 26, 2019
Yuk Yuks presents Eddie Della Siepe
Where: Yuk Yuks
What: Toronto native Eddie Della Siepe is a comedian, actor and television personality. An emerging talent who quickly became a mainstay on the Canadian comedy scene with two successful 15-city national stand-up tours under his belt.
Runs Until: Saturday October 26, 2019
Comedy Bang! Bang! Live! Starring Scott Aukerman with Guests
Where: Queen Elizabeth Theatre
What: Scott Aukerman got his start as a writer and performer on the HBO cult classic sketch series Mr. Show with Bob and David. Since 2009, he has hosted the podcast Comedy Bang! Bang!, which has been downloaded over fifty million times and was turned into a television show on the IFC network. He is the co-creator and director of the acclaimed and Emmy-winning Funny or Die web series Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis.
Where: Chan Shun Concert Hall at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
What: With a voice like no other and an omnivorous taste for jazz, folk, rock, electronica, and world music, Mari Boine’s trailblazing sound swells with shamanic beats, bold expressionism, and an earthy mysticism. Hailing from the northern tip of Norway and active since the mid-80s, Boine has collaborated with Peter Gabriel, Bugge Wesseltoft, and Jan Garbarek, while working tirelessly toward the recognition and resurgence of her Indigenous Sámi language and culture.
Where: Commodore Ballroom
What: Shovels & Rope are an American folk duo from Charleston, South Carolina composed of husband and wife Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hears. The duo is on tour to support their latest release “By Blood”.
Photo Credit – Vancouver Canucks
Vancouver Canucks vs Washington Capitals
Where: Rogers Arena
What: The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League.
Where: Tsawwassen Mills
What: The Tsawwassen Mills Halloween experience allows visitors to not only shop and dine at the mall’s many vendors, but experience a family-friendly Halloween event. Boasting 1600 sq. feet of Halloween fun, including the pop-up Halloween shop, Mr. Halloween, the experience will also feature a pumpkin patch with proceeds from the sale of each pumpkin going to the Delta Hospital and Community Health Foundation. Other attractions will include an indoor Halloween maze, contests, and activations with prize winnings totaling over $10,000.
Runs Until: Thursday October 31, 2019
Saturday October 26
Vancouver Art gallery presents Cindy Sherman
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: This major exhibition explores the development of Cindy Sherman’s work from the beginning of her career in the mid-1970s to the present day. Widely regarded as one of the world’s leading contemporary artists, Sherman (b. 1954) manipulates her own appearance by deploying material inspired by a range of cultural sources, including film, advertising, and fashion.
Runs Until: Sunday March 8, 2020
Where: The Improv Centre
What: Kreepy Kitty sees the action of the show directed by an evil kitty from its window perch. This is one fur-midable kitty with plenty of cat-titude whose claw-ver commands lead to plenty of comedic hiss-terics.
Runs Until: Thursday October 31, 2019
Photo by Lauren Garbutt (2019)
The Incredible Adventures Of Mary Jane Mosquito
Where: Presentation House Theatre
What: Mary Jane Mosquito has no wings. At home and at school she is teased by the other mosquitos, and then she is sent away live with her auntie in the city. What she really wants to do is sing her songs, share her Cree language, and make friends. But how will she fit in without wings? Renowned Indigenous playwright Tomson Highway weaves and shares Cree words and phrases throughout the story.
Runs Until: Sunday October 27, 2019
BC Gay and Lesbian Archives Photo Identification
Where: SUM Gallery
What: The BC Gay and Lesbian Archives (BCGLA) is a diverse collection of LGBTQ2+ history, started by Ron Dutton in 1970s and recently donated to the City of Vancouver Archives. Of the over 5,400 images that have been digitized, about 1,000 photographs depict people and events that are currently unidentified. The City of Vancouver Archives is coming to SUM Gallery and asking for help to identify the people and events in the BCGLA photo collection. Spanning from the 1940s to the 2000s, capturing moments from drag performances to City Hall protests, these photos tell the story of a long and powerful history of LGBTQ2+ resistance, solidarity, and strength. Join us to look through these photos and by sharing your stories, enhance access to the collection.
CAG Family Day | Dynamic Drawing
Where: Contemporary Art Gallery
What: On the last Saturday of every month, CAG invites all ages to drop-in for short exhibition tours and free art-making activities that respond to our current exhibitions. Drop in for a creative workshop based on Ingrid Koenig’s exhibition Navigating the Uncertainty Principle. Using a variety of materials, we will explore the wonder of physics and movement through dynamic approaches to drawing.
Where: Queen Elizabeth Theatre
What: The year is 1959, shoppers are on the hunt for the latest in mod fashion at the newly opened Oakridge Shopping Centre. In the background, children are buzzing over the first Barbie doll just about to hit the shelves and an eerie theme song from The Twilight Zone, a newly introduced television show, plays in the distance. This is the year that Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre welcomes its first guests. Join us for “Mid-Century Madness” a dress-up party celebrating 60 years at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Dress up in your favourite 60’s attire, think the stylings of one “Don Draper” or rather, “Peggy Olson”, and prepare for a journey in our time machine.
Where: Commodore Ballroom
What: Noah Kahan is an American singer-songwriter of folk-infused pop
Piolo & Inigo Pascual in Father & Son
Where: The Centre
What: The Philippines’ most sought-after heartthrob, multi-awarded actor and singer is heading to Vancouver, BC this October! Get ready to swoon as father and son serenades you with their guests, Pinoy Big Brother (PBB )2nd Big Placer, the “Singing Sunshine of Davao”, Maris Racal, and Filipino comedian-actress-television host and singer Pokwang.
Where: Massey Theatre
What: “You Used to Call me Marie…” by Tai Grauman follows two souls in eight different Métis love stories at eight distinct periods in history. Moving through different lives, we watch Iskwewo, Napew and Mistatim before and after the creation of Treaty 6. Through English, French, Cree and Michif, an ensemble of dancers and music written by Andrea Menard this historical epic shares the stories of Alberta’s Metis women.
Where: West Vancouver Yacht Club
What: We warmly invite you to the Illumination Gala, hosted by the Pneuma Institute Foundation of Canada. Enjoy an uplifting and elegant evening of gourmet vegetarian Indian cuisine, dynamic speakers including Dona Maria Apaza, the 93 year-old High priestess of Peru’s great Q’ero nation, the only remaining descendants of the Incans, and an inspiring cultural performance. The fundraiser will benefit the Pneuma Institute Foundation, a non-profit working to preserve some of the world’s most ancient cultures, including the Tibetan Buddhist monks living in exile in India, and the Q’eros.
Women Ensemble | Photo by Edward Mulvihill
DanceHouse presents: Spirit – Bangarra Dance Theatre (Australia)
Where: Vancouver Playhouse
What: Drawn from 65,000 years of culture, Australia’s Bangarra Dance Theatre presents foundational work, seemingly pulled from the very land itself. In their first visit to Vancouver, Bangarra brings a selection of their extraordinary 30-year repertoire that weaves together totemic storytelling, performance and rich musical scores.
Runs Until: Saturday October 26, 2019
Mozart & Haydn With Albrecht Mayer
Where: Chan Centre For The Performing Arts
What: You haven’t heard oboe till you’ve heard Albrecht Mayer, principal of the Berlin Philharmonic. He leads this delightful concert as both soloist and conductor. Prepare to rediscover the oboe in some wonderful classical repertoire.
Runs Until: Saturday October 26, 2019
Tom Bonington in The Third Hand
Where: York Theatre
What: After an incredible inaugural year, the Vancouver Horror Show Film Festival is returning for the sequel in 2019! In year two, the VHS will continue to bring creators, diverse audiences, and horror fans together at the York Theatre on Vancouver’s bustling and diverse Commercial Drive.
Runs Until: Saturday October 26, 2019
Yuk Yuks presents Eddie Della Siepe
Where: Yuk Yuks
What: Toronto native Eddie Della Siepe is a comedian, actor and television personality. An emerging talent who quickly became a mainstay on the Canadian comedy scene with two successful 15-city national stand-up tours under his belt.
Runs Until: Saturday October 26, 2019
Where: Culture Lab
What: Jiv is “Canadian.” And “Indian.” And “Hindu.” And “West Indian.” “Trinidadian” too. Or maybe he’s just colonized. In Take d Milk, Nah?, Parasram blends personal storytelling and ritual to walk an audience through the Hin-do’s and Hin-don’ts at the intersections of these cultures. The show is a refreshingly candid and delightfully funny look at race, religion, and nationalism(s): what divides us—and what we’re willing to accept in the desire to belong. Oh, and there’s a cow.
Runs Until: Saturday October 26, 2019
The Gateway Theatre presents China Doll
Where: Gateway Theatre
What: Bound by tradition, Su-Ling’s world is closing in around her. Her grandmother is determined that she will marry well and bring prosperity to them both. But when she learns to read, Su-Ling’s mind is opened to new possibilities, setting her on a dangerous path to independence.
Runs Until: Saturday October 26, 2019
Where: Chinatown
What: A speakeasy-style performance venue hidden behind a fake business facade in Chinatown; part of a new trend in magic entertainment that focuses less on grand-scale illusions and more on intimate experiences that leave the audience awestruck and moved. Confirmed guest will only be given the address for the venue once their tickets have been purchased.
Runs Until: Saturday October 26, 2019
Where: Lonsdale Quay
What: Stroll the boardwalk and take in ocean and city skyline views from North Vancouver’s Lonsdale Quay while you check out fresh, locally grown produce, delicious baked goods and nifty crafts created by local growers, bakers, and crafters.
Runs Until: Saturday October 26, 2019 (Saturdays)
Sunday October 27
Where: Hollywood Theatre
What: This past February marked 20 years since indie rock band Built to Spill released their fourth studio album, Keep It Like a Secret. Today, the Idaho outfit revealed a lengthy 83-date tour itinerary split into three separate legs, beginning with their previously announced show alongside the Claypool Lennon Delirium in Missoula, MT, on June 22.
CAG | Four Eyes Portraits
Where: Contemporary Art Gallery
What: Join CAG Visitor Coordinator Jocelyn Statia for a Sunday afternoon tour of the current exhibitions: Ingrid Koenig’s Navigating the Uncertainty Principle, Sreshta Rit Premnath’s Those Who Wait, and Olivia Whetung’s Sugarbush Shrapnel.
Where: Memorial Peace Park, Maple Ridge
What: Join us for the fourth annual Celebrate the Night Festival & Fireworks! This free family-friendly festival will transform Memorial Peace Park into a wonderland of lights, lanterns, artwork, storytelling, Halloween pumpkins, crafts, games, food trucks and a popular fireworks finale. This year’s theme is “Light and Shadow” and includes a Light Labyrinth created by the Secret Lantern Society. Come join the fun and be part of this magical experience!
Where: Fort Langley National Historic Site of Canada
What: Trick-or-treat at Fort Langley National Historic Site on October 27, 2019 and enjoy a relaxed family-friendly fall event. Don’t forget to wear your costumes for great photo opportunities. $7.80/adult, $6.55/senior, and free for youth and annual pass holders.
Where: Commodore Ballroom
What: Juno award-winning Canadian rock band Sloan is coming to Vancouver. Sloan has released twelve full-length albums, two EPs, a live album, a greatest hits album and more than 30 singles. The band has received nine Juno Award nominations, winning one.
The Rocky Mountain Halloween Party
Where: Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co.
What: The Rocky Mountain Halloween Party is back this year on October 27 with tons of fun lined up for the kids including Halloween pizza making, creepy crawly candy bar, potion and drinks bar, and face painting. Halloween parties are being held at Rocky Mountain Flatbread’s three Metro Vancouver locations – Kitsilano and Main Street in Vancouver, and the recently opened South Surrey restaurant!
Yuk Yuks presents Best Kind Comedy Tour
Where: Yuk Yuks
What: The b’ys are back with Best Kind Comedy Tour 2! Three of Newfoundland’s top comedians; Mike Lynch, Brian Aylward, and Colin Hollett are hitting the road again this fall with a brand new show. Building off last year’s success and numerous sold out shows this is an event not to be missed!
2019 Vancouver Writers Festival
Where: Granville Island
What: The Vancouver Writers Fest’s flagship Festival welcomes local and international writers to stages on and around Granville Island for a week of literary events and immersive conversations for all ages.
Runs Until: Sunday October 27, 2019
HUB Cycling presents Bike to Work Week 2019
Where: Various Locations
What: If you’ve ever thought about biking to work, this is the week to start. Get free snacks, coffee, basic bike maintenance and loads of prizes by visiting one of our 40 Celebration Stations in Bike to Work Week. Stations are all over Metro Vancouver on high traffic bike routes. Be part of the change and help make Metro Vancouver a happier, healthier place to live, work and play.
Runs Until: Sunday October 27, 2019
Where: Vancouver Convention Centre West
What: The Vancouver Fall Home Show is a vibrant marketplace where you can shop for home-related products and services, experience stunning displays to help inspire your next home project, connect with industry experts, and enjoy informative presentations from renowned local and international home professionals.
Runs Until: Sunday October 27, 2019
Photo by Lauren Garbutt (2019)
The Incredible Adventures Of Mary Jane Mosquito
Where: Presentation House Theatre
What: Mary Jane Mosquito has no wings. At home and at school she is teased by the other mosquitos, and then she is sent away live with her auntie in the city. What she really wants to do is sing her songs, share her Cree language, and make friends. But how will she fit in without wings? Renowned Indigenous playwright Tomson Highway weaves and shares Cree words and phrases throughout the story.
Runs Until: Sunday October 27, 2019
Ongoing
Where: Queen Elizabeth Theatre
What: Canadian conductor Yves Abel, whose international career spans more than twenty years—including appearances at the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House and the Vienna State Opera—makes his Vancouver Opera debut. Last performed eight years ago at Vancouver Opera, La Traviata makes its glorious return.
Runs Until: Sunday October 27, 2019
Spook-Tacular Halloween Weekend
Where: Britannia Mine Museum
What: It’s the witching hour at Britannia Mine Museum this Halloween with two weekends full of fun, family-friendly activities for all ages. All Halloween weekend, the Museum will feature: a spooky train & tour, strange science show, cabinet of curiosities, mill thrills, costume photo booth and more!
Runs Until: Sunday October 27, 2019
Where: Maple Ridge
What: Celebrating the Harvest Season is a world-wide, ancient tradition that generally falls near the Sunday of the Harvest Moon (generally late September or early October). Here in Maple Ridge, it is a popular time for festivities and food celebrations that highlight our appreciation for our beautiful country-side, bountiful crops, community and family connections. Don’t miss the many Harvest Season Celebrations taking place in early Fall.
Runs Until: Monday October 28, 2019
Where: The Improv Centre
What: Monster Matches pits teams of monsters against one another in a series of ‘head-to-headless’ short-form scenarios to see who eeeks out the most laughs. Will the werewolves defeat the witches, or zombies overcome the vampires? In this fast-paced roller-ghoster, the winner is determined by audience judges.
Runs Until: Wednesday October 30, 2019
Where: Tsawwassen Mills
What: The Tsawwassen Mills Halloween experience allows visitors to not only shop and dine at the mall’s many vendors, but experience a family-friendly Halloween event. Boasting 1600 sq. feet of Halloween fun, including the pop-up Halloween shop, Mr. Halloween, the experience will also feature a pumpkin patch with proceeds from the sale of each pumpkin going to the Delta Hospital and Community Health Foundation. Other attractions will include an indoor Halloween maze, contests, and activations with prize winnings totaling over $10,000.
Runs Until: Thursday October 31, 2019
Halloween at the Vancouver Aquarium
Where: Vancouver Aquarium
What: Feeling brave? Come face-to-face with all of the Spooktacular creatures here at the Vancouver Aquarium, including spiders, snakes and bats. Check out our special Halloween programs and learn all about the world’s creepiest creatures.
Runs Until: Thursday October 31, 2019
Where: Stanley Park Miniature Train
What: Each year the Stanley Park Ghost Train takes our riders on a journey through a mystical and magical world, inspired by Hallowe’en and other spooky tales.
Runs Until: Thursday October 31, 2019
Haunted Halloween Trolley Tour
Haunted Vancouver Trolley Tour
Where: Canada Place
What: As the night falls and shadows begin to appear, you will be whisked away by San Francisco-style Trolley where you will see streets and homes, which seem normal, but if you look and listen close enough you will hear echoes of murders and other devastating events. Your host will tell the historic crime tales that took place in familiar neighbourhoods of Stanley Park, Gastown, Shaughnessy and more.
Runs Until: Thursday October 31, 2019
Where: Pacific National Exhibition
What: Fright Nights at the PNE is Western Canada’s Scariest Haunt; having multiple Haunted Houses and other attractions on-site in Playland.
Runs Until: Thursday October 31, 2019
Where: Gastown
What: Thirteen years ago Jimmy Capello was found dead in his downtown Vancouver apartment — strangled, poisoned, and stabbed. Now the Police Department has re-opened the cold case and it’s up to you to solve it. Was the killer casino boss Greg Flament? World famous psychiatrist Susan Slater? Or party girl heiress Janet Evans? Armed with your detective kit, a map and a team of your closest friends, you’ll try to prove you have what it takes to work homicide in the big city.
Runs until:Thursday October 31, 2019
Where: The Improv Centre
What: Kreepy Kitty sees the action of the show directed by an evil kitty from its window perch. This is one fur-midable kitty with plenty of cat-titude whose claw-ver commands lead to plenty of comedic hiss-terics.
Runs Until: Thursday October 31, 2019
The Empty Chest Haunted Adventure
Where: 31515 Harris Rd. (Abbotsford, BC)
What: Leave the humble city of Vancouver and adventure into the depths of your nightmares. It begins like any other journey, in a tavern with Fuggles and Warlock beer. But it quickly dissolves into a fight for your life. You will receive your life force and you must protect it at all cost. You’ll be traversing the evil woods with nothing but a bow and arrow to defend yourselves. Evil lurks around every tree in this haunted experience. Do you have what it takes to make it to the final chapter
Runs Until: Thursday October 31, 2019
Vancouver TheatreSports
Spooktober: Cult Fiction – Everyone Laugh Together
Where: The Improv Centre
What: Cult Fiction – Everyone Laugh Together is framed as a documentary. Hosted by an investigative journalist; the players utilize audience suggestions to spin a spell-binding tale behind the cult including the core cult belief and some of its unique traits – the more ridiculous the suggestions, the more inventive the action and louder the laughter.
Runs Until: Saturday November 2, 2019
Pacific Theatre presents Frankenstein: Lost In Darkness
Where: Pacific Theatre
What: Captain Robert Walton has a nightmarish tale to tell – the story of young Victor Frankenstein and his quest to create life. Mary Shelly’s haunting fable of hubris and loss is re-interpreted as an immersive audio drama for the Pacific theatre stage.
Runs Until: Saturday November 2, 2019
Arts Club Theatre Company presents Bed & Breakfast
Where: Granville Island Stage
What: When Brett inherits a family estate, he and his partner, Drew, move to a quiet little tourist town to set up a B&B. But will these big city boys face friction in their new community? With dozens of hilarious characters all portrayed by two actors, it’s a heartfelt comedy about “being out,” skeletons in the closet, and finding a place to call home
Runs Until: Sunday November 2, 2019
Where: Potter’s Farm & Nursery
What: Every fall, Potter’s Farm & Nursery staff converts the grounds from an enjoyable, plant-filled garden centre into a maze of terror, with all the latest animatronics, digital sounds, high-tech scares and trained actors to put on a fun and scary event that sends chills down the spine of all those who enter
Runs Until: Saturday November 2, 2019
Maan Farms Haunted Corn Maze and Pitch Black
Where: Maan Farms, Abbotsford
What: Maan Farms Haunted Corn Maze, features nightmarish installations, shocking and gory scenes as well as intimate scares. Creating a surreal world in which guests may find themselves unsure of where reality ends and the show begins. Pitch Black is an interactive multi-sensory separate ticketed attraction where the actors can touch you! Touching is NOT full contact, but you may be grabbed, held back, sent into hidden passageways, and even temporarily removed from your group.
Runs until: Saturday November 2, 2019
Where: Fort Langley National Historic Site of Canada
What: Fort Langley’s talented storytellers spin tales of love, mysterious burials, and hair-raising amputations during Fort Langley National Historic Site’s annual Grave Tales Historic Walking Tours. Grave Tales is a historic walking tour through the village of Fort Langley, ending inside the historic Big House in the national historic site. Heritage interpreters tell tales of misfortune in Fort Langley’s cemeteries, streets, and inside the Hudson’s Bay Company fort.
Runs Until: Sunday November 3, 2019
Where: The Polygon Gallery
What: without a word presents a selection of portrait photographs from the private collection of Bill Wu, the first display of this remarkable, yet unknown, Vancouver collection of photography. Representing an international cross-section of acclaimed twentieth-century artists including Berenice Abbott, Robert Doisneau, Walker Evans, Graciela Iturbide, and Mary Ellen Mark, the exhibition includes some of modern photography’s most iconic and memorable portraits, with a specific focus on people caught in unguarded moments of contemplation and preoccupation.
Runs Until: Sunday November 3, 2019
Arts Club Theatre Company presents Cost Of Living
Where: Goldcorp Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre
What: What does it mean to give care? A shave, a helping hand, and forgiveness in the face of faults. This 2018 Pulitzer Prize–winning play about relationships and living with physical disabilities is tucked with surprise humour. A wealthy student is cared for by a young woman down on her luck, and a man rebuilds an old bond by providing aid to his ex-wife. These achingly human stories delve into the social divides between people, even as they strive to help.
Runs Until: Sunday November 3, 2019
Where: Various locations in Vancouver and Surrey
What: At the core of Diwali Fest’s mandate is the objective of breaking cultural barriers and encouraging participation from all communities. The celebration and spirit of Diwali is truly universal. The message it engenders of promoting inclusiveness motivates us to bring the festival to the Lower Mainland, as well as bringing the Lower Mainland to our festival. This can be demonstrated through the number of fusion acts, as well as artists we highlight through our programming.
Runs Until: Sunday November 3, 2019
The 9th Dancers: Kelly Shaw, Ryan Lee, Connor Mitton | Photo Credit: Aleksandar Antonijevic
Where: Various Venues
What: Now in its 19th year of celebrating culturally rich works in comedy, music, theatre and dance, the Chutzpah! Festival has established a reputation for presenting Vancouver audiences with new and exciting, critically acclaimed artists from all over the world. This year’s festival will also showcase live music with film, and shines a light on artists from the U.K., Israel, Italy, U.S.A., and Canada.
Runs Until: Sunday November 24, 2019
Forbidden Vancouver presents Lost Souls of Gastown
Where: Cathedral Square
What: Step inside a world of murder, revenge, and true grit in a dramatic history of Victorian Gastown. Stories of deadly fire and smallpox emerge from the shadows as you venture through cobblestone streets to the shocking finale in this unique performance-theatre experience.
Runs Until: Saturday November 30, 2019
The Dark Secrets of Stanley Park
Where: Stanley Park
What: There’s more to Stanley Park than incredible scenery. It’s also recently been home to crime, riots, persecution, political intrigue, class warfare, logging, hunting, disease, military installations, remarkable public art, ecological catastrophes, secret construction mega-projects, poetry, scandal, and murder.
Runs until: Saturday November 30, 2019 (Saturdays)
Mollie Burke: Unfolded
Opening Reception for New Exhibitions from Kate Metten, Ryan Quast and Mollie Burke
Where: Burrard Arts Foundation Gallery
What: On Friday, October 18, three new art exhibitions will open at Burrard Arts Foundation (BAF), a local visual arts nonprofit and gallery. Two of the shows were produced by the latest participants in BAF’s Residency Program, Kate Metten and Ryan Quast. During the program, the two artists worked side-by-side in the two studios at BAF’s purpose-designed facility in the False Creek Flats. Also opening is new work from Mollie Burke in BAF’s Garage; this street facing exhibition window displays art to the public 24 hours a day and showcases early-career artists.
Runs Until: Saturday December 14, 2019
Where: Central Library
What: pîkiskwe-speak is both an art and film installation, and an invitation to have conversations about reconciliation. Features the works of Beth MacKenzie and Lana Whiskeyjack. The exhibition runs during Library hours in the Samuel and Frances Belzberg Family Exhibition Space on Level 9.
Runs Until: Sunday December 15, 2019
Where: Concord Pacific Place
What: Cirque du Soleil’s delightfully-imaginative and visually-stunning production Luzia is coming to Vancouver. Audiences are invited to a redesigned white-and-gold Big Top at Concord Pacific Place to escape to an imaginary Mexico – a sumptuous world suspended somewhere between dreams and reality.
Runs Until: Sunday December 29, 2019
Image sourced from Jazz Vespers | Facebook.com
Where: First Baptist Church
What: St. Andrew’s Wesley’s Jazz Vespers, is celebrating its 26th Anniversary. Every Sunday from 4-5 PM, you’ll be tapping your toes and clapping your hands to the amazing sounds of local and international jazz giants. It’s an hour of jazz interspersed with reflections on love, faith and hope given by Rev. Dan Chambers or Very Rev. Dr. Gary Paterson.
Runs Until: Sunday December 29, 2019
Samuel Roy-Bois
Samuel Roy-Bois: Reward Friends, Punish Enemies
Where: The Polygon Gallery
What: Reward Friends, Punish Enemies is a site-responsive installation – imagined as an intervention into the architectural space of The Polygon—that invokes histories of resource extraction and the forest industry on the North Shore. Roy-Bois’ rustic, handcrafted aesthetic rubs against the steel-and-glass design of the gallery and the surrounding waterfront developments, upending distinctions between interior and exterior, private and public.
Runs Until: December 30, 2019
How Far Do You Travel
Where: Select B-Line TransLink busses
What: Five Canadian artists — Diyan Achjadi, Patrick Cruz, Rolande Souliere, Erdem Tasdelen and Anna Torma — are being commissioned to graphically wrap the exterior of a series of articulated buses traveling on major routes in Metro Vancouver.
Runs until: Tuesday December 31, 2019
Emily Carr | Trevor Mills, Vancouver Art Gallery
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: The Vancouver Art Gallery is home to the finest collection of art by Emily Carr (1871–1945) in the world. Our collection is particularly rich in her forest paintings from the 1930s. This installation in the Gallery’s rotunda reflects Carr’s direct engagement with and great affection for British Columbia’s landscape—for her, a site of artistic and spiritual inquiry. This installation brings together four of Carr’s iconic paintings: Big Raven (1931); Red Cedar (1931); Scorned as Timber, Beloved of the Sky (1935); and Above the Gravel Pit (1937).
Runs Until: Tuesday December 31, 2019
Where: Vancouver International Film Centre
What: Year-round VIFF presents some of the world’s best cinema fused with related talks and events in a unique Films+ model.
Runs Until: Tuesday December 31, 2019
Olivia Whetung – Sugarbush Shrapnel
CAG Presents Olivia Whetung | Sugarbush Shrapnel
Where: Contemporary Art Gallery
What: The Contemporary Art Gallery will present the first solo exhibition in a major public institution of Chemong Lake based Anishinaabe artist Olivia Whetung. Whetung’s artistic practice examines, in her words, “acts of/active native presence.” A significant strand of recent research has manifested in beadwork, and explores Whetung’s deep concerns for knowledge as held and carried by land, bodies of water and language.
Runs Until: Sunday January 5, 2020
Sreshta Rit Premnath – Those Who Wait
CAG Presents Sreshta Rit Premnath | Those Who Wait
Where: Contemporary Art Gallery
What: For his first solo exhibition in Canada, Sreshta Rit Premnath will develop new work in an ongoing series of material and conceptual investigations on the “knot” between ownership and occupation of space, and the conditions of invisibility and misrecognition that define migrant subjectivity. Premnath works across multiple media including sculpture, video, photography and drawing.
Runs Until: Sunday January 5, 2020
Wael Shawky: Al Araba Al Madfuna
Where: The Polygon Gallery
What: This exhibition brings the extraordinary and timely art of Wael Shawky to the west coast for the first time. Shawky’s ambitious, multilayered film productions look at the ways in which history and mythologies are recorded, highlighting the fallibility of cultural memory, while offering critical perspectives on our current narratives of uncertainty and change.
Runs Until: Sunday January 12, 2020
Lessons from the Arctic: How Roald Amundsen won the race to the South Pole
Where: Vancouver Maritime Museum
What: Lessons from the Arctic celebrates Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen, the first person in history to both traverse the Northwest Passage (1903-06) and reach the South Pole (1910-12), paying special attention to the three years that he spent living with the Inuit.
Runs Until: Sunday January 19, 2019
Where: Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coastal Art
What: A solo exhibition of carvings, jewelry, and portraits by contemporary Ts’msyen artist Morgan Asoyuf. Asoyuf challenges the classical definition of the “royal portrait” with new photographs of activists wearing crowns, frontlets and headdresses.
Runs Until: January 19, 2020
Vancouver Art gallery presents Transit and Returns
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: Transits and Returns presents the work of 21 Indigenous artists whose practices are both rooted in the specificities of their cultures and routed via their travels. These forces of situatedness and mobility work in synergy and in tension with one another, shaping the multiple ways of understanding and being Indigenous today. Within the exhibition, these dual realities are explored through themes of movement, territory, kinship and representation, with many artworks inhabiting multiple categories.
Runs Until: Sunday February 23, 2020
Where: 1100 West Georgia Street
What: Vienna-based artist Erwin Wurm alters and re-envisions recognizable forms in order to challenge our psychological perceptions of what is well known, including our bodies and familiar architectural forms. This 19th installation in the Vancouver Art Gallery’s Offsite series will incorporate three sculptural works from Wurm’s oeuvre that highlight his wry sense of humour and his ongoing interest in the body. Throughout the duration of the exhibition, local artist Mike Bourscheid will develop a series of performative interventions.
Runs Until: Sunday February 23, 2020
Being Punjabi: Unfolding the Surrey Story
Where: Museum of Surrey
What: The first major exhibition in Canada to shine a spotlight on Surrey’s Punjabis, showcasing their stories of struggle and success. The exhibition is intended to be a catalyst for discussion and sharing, while also documenting histories of this diverse community.
Runs until: February 23, 2020
Where: Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre
What: Ambassadors, the first exhibition of its kind at the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre, celebrates the staff family and faces of the Cultural Centre while highlighting their strong sense of connection to their land, their cultures, and each other. Visitors to the exhibit will learn about our Ambassadors’ deeply-rooted connections to our immersive Cultural Centre, and the passion they share in belonging to Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Lil’wat7ul.
Runs Until: Sunday March 1, 2019
Vancouver Art gallery presents Cindy Sherman
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: This major exhibition explores the development of Cindy Sherman’s work from the beginning of her career in the mid-1970s to the present day. Widely regarded as one of the world’s leading contemporary artists, Sherman (b. 1954) manipulates her own appearance by deploying material inspired by a range of cultural sources, including film, advertising, and fashion.
Runs Until: Sunday March 8, 2020
Xuuya Gaada White Raven by Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson
Bill Reid Gallery: Out of Concealment
Where: Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art
What: Out of Concealment is a solo exhibition featuring the work of Haida artist, performer, activist, and lawyer Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson. Female Supernatural Beings of Haida Gwaii are re-imagined through photomontages, film, and sound to convey origin stories and oral traditions from the Haida Nation. Passed on from generation to generation, these are important narratives that illustrate the Haida laws, values, customs, rituals and relationships with earthly and metaphysical realms.
Runs Until: Sunday April 5, 2020
Ingrid Koenig – Navigating the Uncertainty Principle
CAG Presents Ingrid Koenig | Navigating the Uncertainty Principle
Where: Contemporary Art Gallery
What: Navigating the Uncertainty Principle is a major solo exhibition by Vancouver-based artist and educator Ingrid Koenig, presenting large scale drawings across the gallery façade and off-site at Yaletown-Roundhouse station.
Runs Until: Sunday April 5, 2020
Teatro Intimo Del Flamenco
Where: The Improv Centre, Granville Island
What: Karen Flamenco brings the glamour and extravagance of a large flamenco dance production onto a small theatrical stage. The one-hour production welcomes audiences of all ages with live traditional flamenco music, dance, storylines, puppetry and magic. With theatre style seating and bistro-style table seats, every audience member will get a close-up and personal experience that is very typical of a traditional Spanish Tablao.
Runs until: Saturday May 1, 2020
What are you up to this weekend? Tell me and the rest of Vancouver in the comments.
