The Eastside Arts Society in ready to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Eastside Culture Crawl, and its impact on the Eastside Arts District community over the past quarter century. The 25th annual Eastside Culture Crawl Visual Art, Design & Craft Festival welcomes art enthusiasts to participate in-person or online, over two consecutive weekends, November 12-14 (preview by appointment) and November 18-21, 2021.
For its 25th edition, the Culture Crawl allows patrons to create their own customized experience with a new artist livestream schedule, a dedicated appointment-based preview weekend, along with the Culture Crawl’s traditional open studios to visit the spaces of 400+ artists.
“As we look back on the past 25 years of the Eastside Culture Crawl, we are incredibly proud of the strong, resilient, and inspiring visual arts community we have helped to support. Through our annual Culture Crawl celebration, we have not only boosted the careers and livelihoods of countless artists who enrich our city through creative vitality, but we have provided an essential outlet for the public to experience artistic expression and creative connection,” says Esther Rausenberg, Artistic & Executive Director of the Eastside Arts Society. “The 25th annual Culture Crawl presents a special opportunity to acknowledge, pay tribute to, and showcase the extraordinary talents and accomplishments of the visual arts community, while looking forward to an even brighter future ahead with the development of the Eastside Arts District.”
As cultural spaces, especially, continue to adapt to COVID era, the Eastside Arts Society aims to maximize the Culture Crawl experience and accessibility for all patrons near and far. It has further enhanced its digital presence, including a newly designed and user-friendly website, an artist livestream schedule, appointment booking software, and increased access to artists through 360° virtual studio tours.
For those visitors who wish to attend in-person, the Culture Crawl features two options in 2021. After positive feedback from the need for studio appointment bookings for the first-time in 2020, this year’s event will also provide a by-appointment only preview weekend November 12-14. For those Culture Crawl enthusiasts wishing for a more traditional event experience, the dynamic open studios will return for the event’s main weekend November 18-21.
Also returning in 2021, after a one-year hiatus, is the Culture Crawl’s multi-venue preview exhibition series, hosted at Eastside Arts District venues Firehall Arts Centre (280 E Cordova St), Alternative Creations (1659 Venables St) and The Cultch (1895 Venables St), as well as a new venue at the Pendulum Gallery (885 W Georgia St) in Downtown Vancouver. Featuring works from 75 + artists curated by a jury of their peers, the exhibition Surfacing will harness the creative force gestated in this pandemic period and chronicle the new directions of recent works. The exhibit will explore these challenging times through art created out of moments of frustration, vulnerability, strength, hope, and gratitude.
The Eastside Culture Crawl presents patrons with unparalleled access to visual artists practicing a variety of different art forms, including painting, sculpture, pottery, photography, jewelry, glass art, furniture, and more. For full details on the Eastside Culture Crawl, to register for events and artists studios on the preview weekend, or to download crawl maps visit culturecrawl.org. Stay tuned for the 2021 Guide to be available online soon. Before heading our on your Cutlure Crawl, review the Eastside Arts Society’s health and safety protocols — in strict compliance with provincial health orders