BC festivals
Heart of City Festival shines light on home and native land: Downtown Eastside festival features carvers, films, workshops, music
The seventh annual Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival continues to celebrate the artists and activists of the neighbourhood with 12 days of performances, films, forums, workshops, visual art and historic walks and talks. This year’s festival focuses more than ever on First Nations artists and will animate sidewalks and parks with music and [...]
Chutzpah! Festival unveils lineup for February 2011
A Broadway musical, improvised klezmer chamber music, and an acclaimed Israeli dance troupe are just a few of the acts announced for next year’s Chutzpah! Festival. The event, subtitled The Lisa Nemetz International Showcase of Jewish Performing Arts, returns to its regular slot, from February 10 to 27, 2011, after having to occur later last [...]
Musicians set to converge on Kelowna for Breakout West festivities: Annual event includes concerts, workshops and the Western Canadian Music Awards
Forget the wine-ing. This weekend, Kelowna is going to be rocking. The Breakout West 2010 Festival and western Canadian Music Awards blast into the Okanagan’s biggest burgh this weekend. Big-name acts from B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Northwest Territories and Yukon showcase at nine city venues, plus there’s the big gala going down on Sunday night [...]
Q&A: Hal Wake, artistic director of the Vancouver International Writers Festival
Founded by Alma Lee over two decades ago, the Vancouver International Writers Festival has grown into one of the continent’s finest and largest literary festivals. Starting Tuesday and running until October 24, the 23rd edition of the festival is expected to draw an audience of over 14,000 to Granville Island, as writers including David Grossman, Yann [...]
Incendies nabs Vancouver film fest top prize
Incendies, directed by Denis Villeneuve and based on a play by Wajdi Mouawad, has captured the Best Canadian Film prize at the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF). The film, which also won the same accolade at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, concerns twins who journey to the Middle East to satisfy their mother’s [...]
Coquitlam: Serving up bliss at chocolate festival
Just close your eyes and savour the experience. Let your senses take over. It may seem simple, but there’s more to eating chocolate than munching on a Mars Bar or devouring a Dairy Milk. There’s an art to the act. A series of seminars at the West Coast Chocolate Festival will teach techniques to truly [...]
Diversity key to the Vancouver International Writers & Readers Festival, Variety of programming has boosted membership of annual event
Like a stable investment portfolio, the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival has looked to diversity as a means to success. “We are still waiting to understand the full consequence of the funding cuts. As you know, the money has been taken away and sometimes it’s given back. You have to be prepared,” said the [...]
Merritt Mountain Music Festival to be revived in B.C., after one year break
The popular Merritt Mountain Music Festival will be bringing country music back to B.C.’s Nicola Valley in 2011. Active Mountain Entertainment owner Claude Lelievre says the four day festival will be revived next summer. He says it will take place at the a Merritt-area outdoor site along the Coldwater River, 270 kilometres northeast of Vancouver. [...]
Vancouver: Improv festival celebrates 11 years of winging it
Puppets, artists who’ve trained at Chicago’s Second City and cheap tickets to not-so-cheap laughs should draw crowds to the 11th annual Vancouver International Improv Festival, says its founder Alistair Cook. “It’s $2 to see an hour-and-a-half performance of a wide-range of international performers and The Sunday Service. Really there is no reason, at all, to [...]
Nanaimo: Maple Sugar Festival skips year
If you want a burst of traditional francophone culture this winter, you’ll have to book plane tickets to Quebec. Nanaimo’s francophone association postponed the annual Maple Sugar Festival du Sucre Érable until 2012. L’Association des francophones de Nanaimo did not feel confident producing a festival after hiring a new coordinator and installing a new board [...]
Terry Fox, Emily Carr films at VIFF
Canadian filmmakers have turned the lens on local heroes in the 2010 lineup for the Vancouver International Film Festival, opening Thursday. Steve Nash, in his first film outing, spotlights Terry Fox in his documentary, Michael Ostroff focuses on artist Emily Carr and Douglas Arrowsmith examines singer Ron Sexsmith. “It’s really a year where a lot [...]
At the Vancouver film fest, even the trailers are art
In a world (continue in deep, breathy big-screen voice-over) where trailers are more than introductions to movies, where intelligent, engaged filmgoers demand more from their pre-film cinema experience than your average 60-second promotional spot, one festival stands alone. This year’s Vancouver International Film Festival promises innovation not just in the features, documentaries and shorts it [...]
Burnaby: Word on the Street features local talent
Ah, words, wonderful words … Readers, writers and all lovers of the written word in every form should remember it’s Word on the Street time again. The free annual festival runs Sunday, Sept. 26 at Library Square and CBC Plaza in Vancouver, with a day full of displays, sales, workshops, discussions, kids’ activities and more [...]
New Westminster: Government of Canada Invests in the Fraser River Discovery Centre
The Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, today announced funding for the Fraser River Discovery Centre. This funding will support the 3rd annual BC Rivers Day Festival taking place September 25 and 26, 2010, in New Westminster. This diverse community event will include live music, children’s entertainment, interactive arts and crafts [...]
Esquimalt: Lanterns to transform popular walking path
A thousand people and hundreds of glowing lanterns will light the Westsong Walkway this weekend. The Esquimalt Lantern Festival is a celebration of community where people of all ages can come together and appreciate the sights of Esquimalt, said Tania Dyck, a member of the festival’s board. “We’re doing this for the citizens of Esquimalt,” [...]
