The sleigh bells have begun, the colourful lights have turned on, and it’s time to start scheduling all the holiday sparkle, Christmas markets, and Santa visits you can handle from now until the end of December. Canyon Lights, Peak of Christmas, Aurora, Glow Gardens and more begin this weekend, alongside favourites like East Van Panto, Indigenous Fashion Week, and Fuse all happen this weekend as well!
Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Ongoing
Friday November 22
The Vancouver Art Gallery presents FUSE: Resonances
Where: The Vancouver Art Gallery
What: Vancouver’s favourite, after-dark art party returns with FUSE: Resonances. This edition of FUSE will transform the Vancouver Art Gallery’s spaces into THE place for art, music and live performance in the city. In dialogue with the Gallery’s fall exhibitions, FUSE: Resonances will awaken guests to a new consciousness around the radical presence of the body, language and sound. Participating artists look to performance as a tool through which to consider an undoing of past, a positioning of the present, and visions of a collective future.
Where: Jack Poole Plaza
What: The city’s authentic German market amplifies its festive offerings with more than 80 huts stuffed with sweets, treats, and treasures. Wander the market’s winding alleys and discover German delicacies: sizzling sausages, warming Glühwein (mulled wine), handcrafted gifts, and so much more. Share food and drink in the cozy Alpine Lounge, indulge in winter cocktails and holiday-inspired bites in the WunderBAR’s winter oasis, and venture down Lovers’ Lane — an Instagram-worthy, newly extended 40-foot long tunnel adorned with 20,000 twinkling lights and mistletoe. Don’t miss everyone’s favourite glittering carousel, and a multitude of festive family activities, including daily seasonal entertainment performed on the Christmas Pyramid’s Flying Stage.
Runs Until: Tuesday December 24, 2019
It’s A Wonderful Christmas-ish Holiday Miracle
Where: Goldcorp Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre
What: The holidays are all about loved ones. But what happens when your parents get divorced, your kid brother is best friends with a stick bug named Ralphie, and your dead grandma starts appearing with advice—and her iPhone? OMG! It’s a Wonderful Life meets Modern Family in this new Canadian comedy about a blended family during a complicated season.
Runs Until: Sunday December 22, 2019
Photo by Brandon Artis
Where: Hastings Park
What: This holiday season, Hastings Park/PNE will be transformed into a magical winter wonderland. Experience Canada’s Largest Winter Festival. Escape to a hidden village with a beautiful skating rink, a tube park, massive light displays, a Christmas Market, amusement rides, food gardens, magical characters, and plenty of other exciting activities.
Runs Until: Sunday January 5, 2020
Courtesy of The Capilano Suspension Bridge Park
Canyon Lights at Capilano Suspension Bridge
Where: Capilano Suspension Bridge Park
What: Re-capture the feeling of wonder and excitement of the holiday season and be amazed by the hundreds of thousands of lights throughout the park. The suspension bridge, Treetops Adventure, Cliffwalk, the rainforest and canyon are transformed into a world of festive lights and visual enchantment. Once again the 30-ton Douglas firs of Treetops Adventure will receive star treatment. Treetops Adventure is a series of seven suspension bridges attached to eight 250 years old Douglas-firs with viewing platforms, reaching up to 110 feet above the forest floor. These magnificent Douglas firs will be lit above and below the collars, making these trees the eight tallest Christmas trees in the world!
Runs Until: Sunday January 26, 2020
Photo by Jam Hamidi
Fado – The Saddest Music in the World
Where: Firehall Arts Centre
What: Written by Elaine Avila, Fado is a tale of love and ghosts told through the saddest music in the world, Portuguese Fado. When Luisa goes to Portugal she discovers her mother’s favorite fado is fascist and when she meets her long lost cousin and discovers he is a fadista and a Drag Queen, she is inspired to sing fados of resistance.
Runs Until: Saturday December 14, 2019
Where: Harbour Convention Centre
What: The world’s largest indoor Christmas festival is now even closer to you, brightening up 11 cities in 3 countries. Join the joyous 1.6 million guests ready to Glow and celebrate the warmth of the season! Bring together the people you love to stroll, laugh and play under the twinkle of a million lights. Our playgrounds and interactive features will entertain the kids for hours, while the adults kick back at our licensed bar and enjoy some seasonal beverages, delicious food, and live music. Glow’s illuminated sculptures are the perfect backdrop for selfies and holiday family photos.
Runs Until: Sunday January 5, 2020
Nahko And Medicine For The People
Where: Commodore Ballroom
What: Nahko And Medicine For The People continue to gather dedicated members of their global Medicine Tribe of like-minded fans as they spread their positive and powerful musical message around the nation on their Take Your Power Back headline tour this fall. Fans and critics alike praise the group’s worldly blend of rock, hip-hop, and alt-folk with OC Weekly calling the group “empowering” and “powerful”, while The Huffington Post compared Nahko to Bob Marley and called him a “musical prophet”.
Merry Kissmas – A Royal Romance
Where: The Improv Centre
What: This is the time of year when screens large and small are filled with sappy, warm-hearted romantic comedies, and the stage at The Improv Centre is no exception. In this instance, the fairy-tale romance is made even more unbelievable by building the plot around an impending Royal Wedding in a heretofore unknown small country – ‘Improvanzia’. Will the dashing Prince Rudolf fall for the beauteous, but non-royal, Meaghan Sparkle? How will the Royal Parents react? How will the suburban in-laws-to-be fit in with the posh Royal Relatives?
Runs Until: Tuesday December 24, 2019
Mozart Requiem And Schubert Unfinished
Where: Orpheum Theatre
What: Maestro Tausk tickles our curiosity with two famously unfinished works that beg the question: what might have come next? Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 seems perfect in its abbreviated imperfection. Perhaps he knew that, leaving the work to write a number of other pieces. Mozart’s haunting final work was left sketched but incomplete at his death, commissioned by a mysterious count.
Runs Until: Saturday November 23, 2019
Photo by Derek Dix
Where: Historic Theatre
What: An innovative multimedia dance work about rebirth and transformation. Integrating narrative, movement, song, and projections, Mînowin connects coastal landscapes with contemporary perspectives of customary Indigenous dance forms. The Dancers of Damelahamid draw from Indigenous foundational stories to explore and redefine contemporary reflections of Indigenous identity.
Runs Until: Sunday November 24, 2019
Soak up the Season at the Vancouver Aquarium
Where: The Vancouver Aquarium
What: Make a splash this festive season at the Vancouver Aquarium. With over 60,000 creatures, appearances from Scuba Clause, our new 4-D movie THE POLAR EXPRESS™ 4D Experience®, and amazing shows daily, there’s something for everyone this holiday season.
Runs Until: Sunday January 5, 2020
Amber Funk Barton’s VAST | Photo by Chris Barton
The Dance Centre Presents the 12th Biennial Dance In Vancouver
Where: Scotiabank Dance Centre
What: The Dance Centre’s biennial Dance In Vancouver provides a great opportunity to experience the ideas and creativity of dance generated by a diverse community of local artists. The 2019 edition features performances by Amber Funk Barton/the response., Joshua Beamish/MoveTheCompany, Ouro Collective, Raven Spirit Dance, and Vision Impure; plus free events and talks.
Runs Until: Sunday November 24, 2019
Where: The Cultch
What: Newly formed theatre company The Search Party presents its debut production, The Father, at the Vancity Culture Lab at The Cultch. The Father is a deeply moving and unsentimental portrayal of the realities of living with dementia. Winner of the 2014 Moliére Award (France’s most prestigious theatre prize) for best new play, The Father took Paris, London and New York by storm, garnering a plethora of awards and accolades along the way. It is a deeply moving, fearless, and humanizing portrayal of a man in mental decline whose daughter desperately tries to care for him as he fights to maintain his autonomy and identity.
Runs Until: Saturday November 30, 2019
Where: PNE Forum
What: Imagine the PNE Forum, a 50,000 sq. ft. venue, filled with thousands of guests, all attending for the same reason: a great time based on the tasting and education on libations! For 24 years, the Grand Tasting Hall has come alive with thousands of different Craft and Premium Beers, Spirits from around the globe, the most delicious of Scotch and other Whiskies, as well as a selection of wines and spectacular foods
Runs Until: Sunday November 24, 2019
Théâtre la Seizième present Gamètes
Where: Studio 16
What: Lou and Aude are two friends in their thirties who have been inseparable since infancy. One is a civil engineer: the other is a feminist blogger. When Aude learns that she is carrying a child with Down Syndrome, she runs straight to her childhood friend. What follows is an all-out war of words and emotions, as the women unexpectedly clash about their fundamental visions of themselves and the world. In this fresh and original comedy, the company Les Biches Pensives tackles the question of what self-fulfillment looks like for women. Can you be a “real” woman without being a mother?
Runs Until: Saturday November 23, 2019
Where: Hard Rock Casino Vancouver
What: With their heavily orchestrated, sweet ballads, the Australian soft rock group Air Supply became a staple of early-’80s radio, scoring a string of seven straight Top Five singles. Air Supply, for most intents and purposes, was the duo of vocalists Russell Hitchcock and Graham Russell. The two singers formed a partnership and with the addition of four supporting musicians — keyboardist Frank Esler-Smith, guitarist David Moyse, bassist David Green, and drummer Ralph Cooper — Air Supply was born.
Where: The York Theatre
What: When a lonely old ice-cream seller named Gelatto is given a puppet by the mysterious Beckwoman of Commercial Drive, his dreams of having a child suddenly come true. Join a locally famous cricket, an angry orca, and a dastardly fox as poor Pinocchio does his best to tell everyone the truth and become a real boy. But why are Pinocchio’s limbs always growing? Will there be a Cappuccino War between the Abruzzos and the Calabrias? And why are all those kids ditching class to go to Hastings Racecourse? Don’t worry, Pinocchio—just follow your nose!
Runs Until: Sunday January 5, 2020
Photo by Juan Contreras
Dance In Vancouver presents: Amber Funk Barton’s Vast
Where: Scotiabank Dance Centre
What: Inspired by personal travels, Amber Funk Barton’s atmospheric solo Vast is an ode to the explorer that resides in all of us, the traveler and the dreamer who wonders what resides beyond the edge. The choreography fuses seamlessly with lighting, sound and set design to create an evocative meditation on our limitations as human beings, and how despite these limitations we still desire to propel ourselves forward into unknown territory.
MOA Presents Playing with Fire: Ceramics of the Extraordinary
Where: Museum of Anthropology (MOA) at UBC
What: Showcasing a group of 11 highly celebrated BC-based artists, this premiere exhibition of ceramic works, expresses strong opinions on urgent social issues and offers subtle perspectives on the state of our contemporary world. In Playing with Fire, the artists defiantly challenge the notion that all things made of clay are required to be functional; in their works, clay is released from this constraint and elevated into extraordinary works of art. Visitors are invited to explore the many layers of understanding each of these provocative works embody, boldly demonstrating clay’s myriad discursive possibilities.
Runs Until: Sunday March 29, 2020
Photo courtesy of Grouse Mountain
Grouse Mountain’s Peak of Christmas
Where: Grouse Mountain
What: Celebrate the festive season at Grouse Mountain’s annual Peak of Christmas. At Santa’s Workshop, believers young and old can share their special Christmas wishes and take a photo. Visits are by donation with all proceeds raised going to BC Children’s Hospital. Take a spin on Grouse Mountain’s 8,000-square foot Mountaintop Skating Pond surrounded by trees adorned with glimmering lights. When evening falls, visitors will marvel as stunning light installations bring radiance to the winter night on Grouse Mountain’s popular Light Walk. The elves have also been busy decorating in the Peak Chalet, which will feature masterful creations in the Gingerbread Village. Guests are encouraged to vote for their favourite Gingerbread Village creation to select a grand prize winner, with funds raised also benefiting BC Children’s Hospital.
Runs Until: Sunday January 5, 2020
Precious Productions Presents: The History Of Burlesque
Where: The Columbia Theatre
What: Discover how burlesque’s scandalous story has evolved throughout the ages! From powdered wigs to can-can girls, flappers to feather fans, circus to go-go, all the way to the present-day revival, BC’s premiere performers dazzle and delight in this gorgeous, fully restored classic theatre. Join us for a FABULOUS night out featuring live vocals, acrobatics, comedy, couture, drag and much more! The History Of Burlesque is proud to feature professional performers who identify as BIPOC, First Nations, queer and plus-size
Runs Until: Saturday November 23, 2019
Where: Cafe Deux Soleils
What: A fun atmosphere to showcase some of the wonderful QTBIPOC talent in Vancouver.
Saturday November 23
Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week
Where: Museum of Vancouver (MOV)
What: VIFW brings global recognition to Indigenous fashion designers and artisans from the Northwest coast and across Turtle Island. VIFW showcases the power and beauty of authentic Indigenous art and design by supporting talent development and organizing showcases throughout the year, culminating with Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week. The fashion show at MOV will showcase designs not on view during the VIFW’s showcase at the Orpheum. Our event will additionally feature traditional storytelling by local poet laureate, Christie Lee Charles.
Photo by Tim Matheson
Where: Waterfront Theatre
What: Recommended for ages 4 years and older, including grown-ups who believe in fairies and who secretly never wanted to grow-up. You’re never too old to dream big! This bold new adaptation will take audiences on an incredible adventure where they’ll discover the power of make-believe, imagination and…a little pinch of fairy dust.
Runs Until: Sunday January 5, 2020
Elektra Women’s Choir presents Chez Nous: Christmas with Elektra 2019
Where: Pacific Spirit United Church
What: Experience Elektra’s celebrated concert evoking the warmth and wonder of the Christmas season. With special guests, Vetta Chamber Players, Joan Blackman, Artistic Director, and the Vancouver Bach Children’s Chorus, Marisa Gaetanne, Music Director.
Where: Commodore Ballroom
What: After two decades of making waves in the scene, Infected Mushroom has earned their reputation as a groundbreaking legend within electronic dance music.Twice ranked amongst the world’s “10 Best DJ’s” by DJ Magazine, with streaming numbers in the tens of millions and a cult following of die-hard fans, the LA-based, Israeli-bred duo has created one of the most powerful kingdoms in the world of electronic music. While widely recognized as pioneers of psytrance music, over the years Infected has demonstrated their ability to not only break the rules – but create their own rulebook entirely, and inspire other artists to do the same.
Serena Ryder – The Christmas Kisses Tour
Where: The Centre
What: Serena Ryder is an artist adored by fans, peers and critics alike, in part due to her raw and earnest songwriting, and beautifully electric live performances. She has received numerous accolades, including six prestigious JUNO Awards, a MuchMusic Video Award for Best Rock Video for “Stompa.”, and a Canadian Screen Award for Achievement in Music – Original Song. Serena’s 2017 release “Utopia” spawned the gold single “Got Your Number” as well as the hits “Electric Love” and “Ice Age”. In late 2018, Rolling Stone named Ryder’s critically-acclaimed Christmas record, “Christmas Kisses” as the Number 5 Best New Christmas Album of the year.
Where: Massey Theatre
What: Shaun Majumder hails from Burlington, Newfoundland (population 350). He has starred in the Farrelly Brothers Fox comedy Unhitched in 2008 before his Comedy Central Presents special debuted; he’s since appeared on 24, Cedric the Entertainer Presents, and was a cast member of This Hour Has 22 Minutes. In Hate, Shaun uses his quick wit to tackle distressing themes of intolerance and prejudice with unrelenting humour.
Photo by Chris Randle
Dance In Vancouver presents: Raven Spirit Dance’s Gathering Light
Where: Scotiabank Dance Centre
What: Gathering Light follows the journey of seed to flower, beginning with the stirrings of consciousness to the full embrace of transformation. This luminous quartet choreographed by Artistic Director Michelle Olson delves into the impulses rooted in our bodies that travel through us to find the light, while revealing the ceremonies that support our full bloom. Performed in the round, the work creates a distinctive sense of ritual where transformation is an experience we share with the performers.
Photo by Craig Foster
Dance In Vancouver presents: Joshua Beamish/MOVETHECOMPANY’s Saudade
Where: Scotiabank Dance Centre
What: Saudade investigates loss, memory, and the deep longing for something unattainable. Six outstanding male dancers merge elegant balletic lines with street-style dynamism and drive, conjuring up fleeting intimacies in a series of ghostly solos, duets, and group passages, accompanied by a hauntingly beautiful cello score.
Runs Until: Sunday November 24, 2019
The Rainbow Band presents: Comfort and Joy
Where: Vancouver Community College Auditorium
What: Canada’s only LGBT concert band presents fall songs that are sure to bring you warmth on a cool November evening with special guest emcee Ms. Whoopsie Daisy!
Where: Central Library
What: Teens: want to battle to defend the book you absolutely love? Bring one of your favourites and book talk it for 5 minutes in this fun book battle game that’s sweeping Japan. For ages 13-18.
Timothy Findley’s The Wars, Adapted by Dennis Garnhum
Where: Frederic Wood Theatre
What: Adapted for the stage in 2007 by Dennis Garnhum (MFA Directing, 1993), Timothy Findley’s The Wars, his 1977 novel that won the Governor General’s Award for English Language Fiction, retains its poignantly poetic storytelling. When Robert Ross, a tender-hearted idealist who shares a strong bond with his wheelchair-bound sister, trades his comfortable Canadian life for the harsh world of trench warfare in World War I, we watch his slow unravelling. This story takes us deep inside the mind of a soldier and catapults us into the mud, smoke, and chlorine gas of the front line in France during World War I.
Runs Until: Saturday November 23, 2019
Opera Mariposa presents Gianni Schicchi
Where: St. Faith’s Anglican Church
What: When Buoso Donati dies, his relatives embark on a frantic search for his last will and testament, determined to get their hands on his fortune at any cost. Enter Gianni Schicchi, the clever rogue who knows how to solve any problem…but possibly not in the way that this greedy family expects. Mariposa is excited to kick off our eighth season with Puccini’s farcical family drama, which features some of the composer’s most memorable music and is regarded as one of the funniest operas of all time.
Runs Until: Saturday November 23, 2019
The Gateway Theatre presents The Double Axe Murders
Where: Gateway Theatre
What: On an evening colder than frostbite itself, Sarah, Payne, and Pelly wait out a winter storm. Is that a tree branch knocking on the cabin wall? And why does the howling wind sound more like a wailing Banshee? Based on true events, this psychological thriller, steeped in Newfoundland folklore, will have you sleeping with the lights on.
Runs Until: Saturday November 23, 2019
Sunday November 24
Elektra Women’s Choir presents Chez Nous: Christmas with Elektra 2019
Where: Good Shepherd Catholic Church
What: Experience Elektra’s celebrated concert evoking the warmth and wonder of the Christmas season. With special guests, Vetta Chamber Players, Joan Blackman, Artistic Director, and the Vancouver Bach Children’s Chorus, Marisa Gaetanne, Music Director.
Where: Rogers Arena
What: The Black Keys recently debuted the new song “Lo/Hi” (Nonesuch Records), the first new music from the band since their 2014 album, Turn Blue. Listen here. “Lo/Hi” was written and produced by Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, and recorded at Nashville’s Easy Eye Sound studio. Rolling Stone named the track a “Song You Need to Know” and said, “the Keys have officially returned, louder than ever”
Dance In Vancouver presents: Ouro Collective’s Hako
Where: Scotiabank Dance Centre
What: Known for imaginative and original works based on hip hop, waacking, breaking, popping and contemporary dance, Ouro Collective teams up with experiential design studio Tangible for Hako, a multidisciplinary dance experience. Using interactive installations, striking visual effects and exhilarating movement for an ensemble of five virtuosic dancers, the work reframes our relationship to technology, and joyfully re-ignites our capacity for curiosity and play.
Where: Left of Main
What: ᎦᏬᏂᏍᎩ ᏦᎢ Radio III is an indigenous futuristic concert, a beautiful and uncomfortable dance performance and a perverse triangle of shifting power that seeks to be unfaithful to both minimalism and postmodern dance’s claims to so-called “neutrality”. As we live, layer and situate form in our bodies we hurtle through past, present and possible futures. We invite you into a supportive co-existence, separate but aligned, an anthem for xenophilia, a complicit dream, a consensual prophecy.
Family Drop-In: “Street Shadows” Book Event
Where: Nature House, Stanley Park
What: Claire Gilchrist, Vancouver-based author and middle school teacher, is celebrating her debut novel Street Shadows, an environmental adventure story about urban coyotes for kids aged 8-13, published by Dundurn Group. A family-friendly coyote adventure afternoon will be held at the Nature House in Stanley Park. Free and open to all ages, the afternoon will feature a coyote walk from 1-2pm followed by coyote-themed games, a photo exhibit, a short reading, and an opportunity to get a copy of the book signed by the author. The Stanley Park Ecology Society is co-hosting this event.
Photo by Derek Dix
Where: Historic Theatre
What: An innovative multimedia dance work about rebirth and transformation. Integrating narrative, movement, song, and projections, Mînowin connects coastal landscapes with contemporary perspectives of customary Indigenous dance forms. The Dancers of Damelahamid draw from Indigenous foundational stories to explore and redefine contemporary reflections of Indigenous identity.
Runs Until: Sunday November 24, 2019
Where: PNE Forum
What: Imagine the PNE Forum, a 50,000 sq. ft. venue, filled with thousands of guests, all attending for the same reason: a great time based on the tasting and education on libations! For 24 years, the Grand Tasting Hall has come alive with thousands of different Craft and Premium Beers, Spirits from around the globe, the most delicious of Scotch and other Whiskies, as well as a selection of wines and spectacular foods
Runs Until: Sunday November 24, 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
Ongoing
Where: The Cultch
What: Newly formed theatre company The Search Party presents its debut production, The Father, at the Vancity Culture Lab at The Cultch. The Father is a deeply moving and unsentimental portrayal of the realities of living with dementia. Winner of the 2014 Moliére Award (France’s most prestigious theatre prize) for best new play, The Father took Paris, London and New York by storm, garnering a plethora of awards and accolades along the way. It is a deeply moving, fearless, and humanizing portrayal of a man in mental decline whose daughter desperately tries to care for him as he fights to maintain his autonomy and identity.
Runs Until: Saturday November 30, 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)
Studio 58 presents ANON(YMOUS)
Where: Studio 58/Langara College
What: A painfully beautiful adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey, ANON(YMOUS) is the story of a present-day teenage refugee who crosses the United States in a quest to find his disappeared mother. This play is an ode to refugees everywhere, and a compelling exploration of the question: what defines home?
Runs Until: Sunday December 1, 2019
Where: Improv Centre
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. The Karen Flamenco Dance Company will perform traditional flamenco group dances, accompanied by live flamenco guitar and singer. The group will also dance classical and modern pieces along with compositions from Bizet, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, as well as contemporary music.
Runs Until: Saturday December 7, 2019
Photo by Jam Hamidi
Firehall Arts Centre presents: Fado – The Saddest Music in the World
Where: Firehall Arts Centre
What: Written by Elaine Avila, Fado is a tale of love and ghosts told through the saddest music in the world, Portuguese Fado. When Luisa goes to Portugal she discovers her mother’s favorite fado is fascist and when she meets her long lost cousin and discovers he is a fadista and a Drag Queen, she is inspired to sing fados of resistance.
Runs Until: Saturday December 14, 2019
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: 550 Malkin Ave.
What: A warehouse decked to the halls with local vendors, two food trucks per day, hot apple cider, spinning prize wheel fundraiser, great gifts from over 50 vendors, stocking stuffers & more.
Runs Until: Sunday December 15, 2019
Vancouver TheatreSports presents Frisky Friday
Where: The Improv Centre
What: Bring the sizzle to your Friday night as improvisers explore the funny side of naughty. From fetishes to threesomes, no subject will be deemed too scandalous to spoof. Based on audience suggestions this is not a show for the faint of heart, those with delicate sensibilities or anyone under the age of 19. It is for mature adults who want to get their laugh off.
Runs Until: Friday December 20, 2019
Arts Club Theatre Company presents It’s A Wonderful Christmas-ish Holiday Miracle
Where: Goldcorp Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre
What: The holidays are all about loved ones. But what happens when your parents get divorced, your kid brother is best friends with a stick bug named Ralphie, and your dead grandma starts appearing with advice—and her iPhone? OMG! It’s a Wonderful Life meets Modern Family in this new Canadian comedy about a blended family during a complicated season.
Runs Until: Sunday December 22, 2019
Merry Kissmas – A Royal Romance
Where: The Improv Centre
What: This is the time of year when screens large and small are filled with sappy, warm-hearted romantic comedies, and the stage at The Improv Centre is no exception. In this instance, the fairy-tale romance is made even more unbelievable by building the plot around an impending Royal Wedding in a heretofore unknown small country – ‘Improvanzia’. Will the dashing Prince Rudolf fall for the beauteous, but non-royal, Meaghan Sparkle? How will the Royal Parents react? How will the suburban in-laws-to-be fit in with the posh Royal Relatives?
Runs Until: Tuesday December 24, 2019
2019 Vancouver Christmas Market
Where: Jack Poole Plaza
What: The city’s authentic German market amplifies its festive offerings with more than 80 huts stuffed with sweets, treats, and treasures. Wander the market’s winding alleys and discover German delicacies: sizzling sausages, warming Glühwein (mulled wine), handcrafted gifts, and so much more. Share food and drink in the cozy Alpine Lounge, indulge in winter cocktails and holiday-inspired bites in the WunderBAR’s winter oasis, and venture down Lovers’ Lane — an Instagram-worthy, newly extended 40-foot long tunnel adorned with 20,000 twinkling lights and mistletoe. Don’t miss everyone’s favourite glittering carousel, and a multitude of festive family activities, including daily seasonal entertainment performed on the Christmas Pyramid’s Flying Stage.
Runs Until: Tuesday December 24, 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
Photo by Brandon Artis
Where: Hastings Park
What: This holiday season, Hastings Park/PNE will be transformed into a magical winter wonderland. Experience Canada’s Largest Winter Festival. Escape to a hidden village with a beautiful skating rink, a tube park, massive light displays, a Christmas Market, amusement rides, food gardens, magical characters, and plenty of other exciting activities.
Runs Until: Sunday January 5, 2020
Soak up the Season at the Vancouver Aquarium
Where: The Vancouver Aquarium
What: Make a splash this festive season at the Vancouver Aquarium. With over 60,000 creatures, appearances from Scuba Clause, our new 4-D movie THE POLAR EXPRESS™ 4D Experience®, and amazing shows daily, there’s something for everyone this holiday season.
Runs Until: Sunday January 5, 2020
Where: Harbour Convention Centre
What: The world’s largest indoor Christmas festival is now even closer to you, brightening up 11 cities in 3 countries. Join the joyous 1.6 million guests ready to Glow and celebrate the warmth of the season! Bring together the people you love to stroll, laugh and play under the twinkle of a million lights. Our playgrounds and interactive features will entertain the kids for hours, while the adults kick back at our licensed bar and enjoy some seasonal beverages, delicious food, and live music. Glow’s illuminated sculptures are the perfect backdrop for selfies and holiday family photos.
Runs Until: Sunday January 5, 2020
Where: The York Theatre
What: When a lonely old ice-cream seller named Gelatto is given a puppet by the mysterious Beckwoman of Commercial Drive, his dreams of having a child suddenly come true. Join a locally famous cricket, an angry orca, and a dastardly fox as poor Pinocchio does his best to tell everyone the truth and become a real boy. But why are Pinocchio’s limbs always growing? Will there be a Cappuccino War between the Abruzzos and the Calabrias? And why are all those kids ditching class to go to Hastings Racecourse? Don’t worry, Pinocchio—just follow your nose!
Runs Until: Sunday January 5, 2020
Photo courtesy of Grouse Mountain
Grouse Mountain’s Peak of Christmas
Where: Grouse Mountain
What: Celebrate the festive season at Grouse Mountain’s annual Peak of Christmas. At Santa’s Workshop, believers young and old can share their special Christmas wishes and take a photo. Visits are by donation with all proceeds raised going to BC Children’s Hospital. Take a spin on Grouse Mountain’s 8,000-square foot Mountaintop Skating Pond surrounded by trees adorned with glimmering lights. When evening falls, visitors will marvel as stunning light installations bring radiance to the winter night on Grouse Mountain’s popular Light Walk. The elves have also been busy decorating in the Peak Chalet, which will feature masterful creations in the Gingerbread Village. Guests are encouraged to vote for their favourite Gingerbread Village creation to select a grand prize winner, with funds raised also benefiting BC Children’s Hospital.
Runs Until: Sunday January 5, 2020
Photo by Tim Matheson
Where: Waterfront Theatre
What: Recommended for ages 4 years and older, including grown-ups who believe in fairies and who secretly never wanted to grow-up. You’re never too old to dream big! This bold new adaptation will take audiences on an incredible adventure where they’ll discover the power of make-believe, imagination and…a little pinch of fairy dust.
Runs Until: Sunday January 5, 2020
Arts Club presents The Sound Of Music
Where: Stanley Alliance Industrial Stage
What: The hills are alive! One of the most powerful and romantic musicals of all time, The Sound of Music brims with beloved tunes such as “My Favorite Things,” “Do-Re-Mi,” “Climb Ev’ry Mountain,” and “Edelweiss.” Journey along with the spirited Maria, who takes a governess position with the von Trapp family, falling first for the children and then the widower Captain von Trapp himself, all against the stirring backdrop of pre-WWII Austria.
Runs Until: Sunday January 5, 2020
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
Image Credit: Allison Tanner
The Lights of Hope and the Living Light at St Paul’s Hospital
Where: St Paul’s Hospital
What: Come visit the 22nd annual Lights of Hope at St. Paul’s Hospital! You’ll be in awe as you take in over 200 glimmering stars made up of over 100,000 shining lights that span St. Paul’s. You’ll also be able to light a star yourself with our new Living Light, an interactive art piece that shines brightly when you donate, and fades when it goes too long without support. Explore each star and marvel as this iconic installment lights up the city, and donate to the Living Light to help keep hope alive for the patients of St. Paul’s.
Runs Until: Monday January 6, 2019
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
Where: 43 W Hastings
What: Voted the Number 1 drag show, Absolut’ly Dragulous is a drag show mix of classic glamour to punk rock to legendary ballads. Hosted by Vancouver’s own legendary Queen of the West End Carlotta Gurl.
Runs Until: Saturday January 25, 2019
Courtesy of The Capilano Suspension Bridge Park
Canyon Lights at Capilano Suspension Bridge 2019
Where: Capilano Suspension Bridge Park
What: Re-capture the feeling of wonder and excitement of the holiday season and be amazed by the hundreds of thousands of lights throughout the park. The suspension bridge, Treetops Adventure, Cliffwalk, the rainforest and canyon are transformed into a world of festive lights and visual enchantment. Once again the 30-ton Douglas firs of Treetops Adventure will receive star treatment. Treetops Adventure is a series of seven suspension bridges attached to eight 250 years old Douglas-firs with viewing platforms, reaching up to 110 feet above the forest floor. These magnificent Douglas firs will be lit above and below the collars, making these trees the eight tallest Christmas trees in the world!
Runs Until: Sunday January 26, 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
MOA Presents Playing with Fire: Ceramics of the Extraordinary
Where: Museum of Anthropology (MOA) at UBC
What: Showcasing a group of 11 highly celebrated BC-based artists, this premiere exhibition of ceramic works, expresses strong opinions on urgent social issues and offers subtle perspectives on the state of our contemporary world. In Playing with Fire, the artists defiantly challenge the notion that all things made of clay are required to be functional; in their works, clay is released from this constraint and elevated into extraordinary works of art. Visitors are invited to explore the many layers of understanding each of these provocative works embody, boldly demonstrating clay’s myriad discursive possibilities.
Runs Until: Sunday March 29, 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
What are you up to this weekend? Tell me and the rest of Vancouver in the comments.
