The weather is making us think summer is just around the corner, so too is the 11th Indian Summer Festival (ISF2021), opening June 17th 2021. Vancouver’s ‘festival for the curious mind’ continues its mission to offer daring, multi-arts events bringing together diverse artists and audiences through five weeks of curated events, streaming most Thursdays and Saturdays until July 17th (except July 1st).
This year’s festival, adapted to the pandemic times, includes door-delivered food and special gift boxes, as well as two special projects allowing for Covid-safe hybrid experiences with digital and in-person components.
The Limited Edition ISF2021 Premium Pass is $325, provides access to all ISF2021 digital events, including the Opening Party performances, exclusive access to the chatroulette afterparty, food from Vij’s, and wine from Volcanic Hills all delivered to Lower Mainland residences, and a special artist-curated Punjabi Market Premium Gift Box. The $50 Digital Pass allows access all online events at the festival without the extra treats and events. Individual tickets to all ISF2021 events are available on a sliding scale of no fee, $10 or $20, as the festival understands that this is a difficult time for many.
“For this 11th year for the 2021 Indian Summer Festival, we thought that our theme should be “Shapeshifting,” says Sirish Rao, Indian Summer Festival’s Artistic Director. “It’s something that we’ve all had to do in the last year, and shapeshifters have existed in almost every culture.”
“For ISF2021, we have created ten distinct events for all of us to experience music, performing arts and literary discussions so we can experience the true transformative power of the arts. The arts give us levity, solace and help us make sense of our predicament and imagine our futures.”
“As with most of us working in arts and culture, we’ve become very creative this year with ways that our audience can experience Indian Summer Festival,” adds Rao, “From premium passes that include door-delivered dinner and wine, to digital passes to access shows, we’ve become our own Shapeshifters to deliver an innovative digital and hybrid experience.”
This year, the festival offers live digital event premieres (where audiences can interact through chat functionality) with an on-demand digital platform that makes it possible for events to be viewable until the end of the festival. The festival sees a stunning global cast of talent from beatboxers to tabla maestros, novelists and actors.
2021 Indian Summer Festival gets underway at 7pm Thursday, June 17th with the Indian Summer Festival Opening Party – Metamorphosis featuring Laydy Jams, Shamik Bilgi, Her Tribal Roots and Kamal Pandya. Hosted by ISF’s Sirish Rao and CBC’s Anita Bathe, opening night features brilliant, beautiful performances by some of Vancouver’s finest talents.
Then each Thursday and Saturday (except July 1st) features another dynamic performance before wrapping up at 7pm Saturday, July 17th for the Indian Summer Festival Finale – A Night at the Orpheum- musical performance by Naadaleela Ensemble and Mohamed Assani & Friends, a grand, one-night-only finale performed at the historic Orpheum Theatre and delivered digitally to your living room.
For the full festival line-up, tickets for access and visit indiansummerfest.ca