As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to create uncertainty, the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival (PuSh) has announced it will pivot for the 2021 season with the launch of PuSh Rally, from January 28 to February 6, 2021. PuSh Rally is a free online series designed to respond directly to this challenging time for the cultural community by connecting PuSh audiences, artists, and industry leaders in Vancouver and around the globe in vital and meaningful dialogue. While the 2021 Festival is not proceeding as planned, audiences will still have an opportunity to experience originally scheduled PuSh Festival Partner Presentations this winter.
“The heart of PuSh has always been community, collaboration, and partnerships. And while the challenges presented by the pandemic mean that we have had to cancel much of the original 2021 program, we continue to invest in the work of our partners and artists who were slated to be a part of the Festival,” says Jason Dubois, Managing Director. “This will see PuSh co-presenting partner presentations, and providing online experiences, to connect artists and audiences. We also know the PuSh Rally – which will ask tough but essential questions at a critical time within our organization and for our cultural community at large – will be of interest to the PuSh audience.”
The PuSh Rally, curated by two of Vancouver’s most celebrated theatre artists, Theatre Replacement’s Maiko Yamamoto and Neworld Theatre’s Marcus Youssef, will provide a global platform for meaningful discourse and idea exchange about the challenges and possibilities inherent in conflict, and the future of live performance. The Rally will include a variety of artist encounters and conversations, international artist presentations, and surprise performances from some of the world’s finest artists, thought leaders, and change makers.
“As we contemplate the possible end of the pandemic and being together again, the PuSh Rally leans into what long-time PuSh partner Erin Boberg, Co-Director of the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, calls this “season of reckonings,” says Marcus Youssef, PuSh Rally Co-Curator. “The Rally’s all-digital platform will offer Vancouver audiences an unprecedented opportunity to hear directly from some of the best-known and most provocative artists and thinkers, from New York to East Van to Sydney, Iqaluit, and Berlin.”
Adds Rally Co-Curator Maiko Yamamoto: “We’re thrilled to present playwright, novelist, social historian and world-renowned AIDS activist Sarah Schulman, best-selling writer and playwright Carmen Aguirre, Inuk creator-performer Laakuluk Williamson Bathory, Pulitzer Prize winner Jackie Sibblies Drury, grunt gallery director Vanessa Kwan, and Canadian theatre icon Ravi Jain, among many others.”
2021 PuSh RALLY EVENTS
All PuSh Rally Events are free of charge
State of the (PuSh) Union
Streaming Online January 28, 2021 at 10am PST (approx 40 min)
Reports from the Field
Online various times January 28 – February 6, 2021
Artist Talks: Carmen Aguirre & Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory
Streaming Online
Laakkuluk: January 29, 2021 at 10am PST (approx 45 min including live Q&A)
Carmen: February 6, 2021 at 11am PST (approx 45 min including live Q&A)
Trauma Informed Systems Change
Streaming Online January 30, 2021 at 12pm PST (approx 60 min)
Artist Encounters
Live Online various times January 30 and February 4 – 6, 2021
Supremacy Ideology and the Pleasure of Feeling Uncomfortable: A public conversation with Sarah Schulman
Live Online February 4, 2021 at 10am PST (approx 60 min including Q&A)
I’ve Been Trying to Talk to You: Jackie Sibblies Drury’s Fairview and the power of the “white gaze”
Streaming Online February 5, 2021 at 10am PST (approx 60 min)
For detailed event descriptions, schedule and to register for PuSh Rally visit pushfestival.ca or call the PuSh Festival Audience Services info line at 604.449.6000.