The Heart of the City Festival celebrates its 20th Anniversary with the 2023 Downtown Eastside Festival running October 25th – November 5th.
Co-produced by Vancouver Moving Theatre, which is celebrating its 40th Anniversary this year, the Heart of the City Festival is focused on listening and learning from the cultural practices of the Downtown Eastside community. The Festival works with, for and about the community to carry forward the community’s stories, ancestral memory, cultural traditions, lived experiences, and artistic processes to illuminate pathways of resistance and resilience.
The 2023 Festival, themed Grounded in Community, Carrying it Forward, features 100 plus events at over 40 local venues over twelve days of live and online events – both indoors and out – including music, stories, poetry, theatre, ceremony, films, dance, readings, forums, workshops, discussions, gallery exhibits, art talks, history walks and more.
The mandate of the Festival is to promote, present and facilitate the development of artists, art forms, cultural traditions, history, activism, people and great stories about Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. The Festival involves professional, community, emerging and student artists, and lovers of the arts.
Offering something for everyone, with ticket prices including many pay-what-you-can and free events. Some free event highlights from the 12 days of the 2023 Festival include:
The Homeless Project , led by guitarist and composer Tony Wilson, this multimedia event features ten of Vancouver’s finest musicians, photography, narration, sign language interpretation, with film by award-winning filmmaker Michael McKinlay. Tony’s hope is this event will raise empathy and awareness of the serious housing struggles that people face in the Downtown Eastside and across Canada. With J.P. Carter, trumpet; Josh Zubot, violin; Patsy Klein, vocals; Russell Sholberg, bass; Kenton Loewen, drums; Cole Schmidt, guitar; Michael McNamara, narration; Jessica Heuchert, sign language; and Zsofin Sheehy, projectionist. In association with Coastal Jazz & Blues Society.
Thursday October 26, 7:30pm. Free
Also live streamed, info on Festival website early October
Carnegie Community Centre Theatre, 401 Main Street
Spontaneous Street Poetry, returns this year following the successful debut in 2022. Poet, writer and activist Gilles Cyrenne, and Vancouver’s Poet Laureate Fiona Tinwei Lam, host three days of responsive writing from the sidewalk outside the Carnegie Community Centre. Have you ever wondered what a poet could do with one of your thoughts or ideas? Here’s your chance to find out!
Friday, Saturday & Sunday, October 27, 28 & 29, 1pm. Free
Carnegie Community Centre outdoor sidewalk, 401 Main Street
Insite 20: Then and Now, an online and interactive Speakers’ Corner-style documentary and discussion with community members, drug users, activists, law enforcement and politicians on the impact of North America’s first legal injection site that opened its doors in 2003. Post-show discussion with Insite and PHS founders Mark Townsend and Liz Evans, former City Councillor Jean Swanson, and author and former member of Parliament for Vancouver East, Libby Davies. Produced by Illicit Projects.
Sunday October 29, 7pm. Free
Online event, registration info on Festival website
We Live Here II, a breathtaking large-scale outdoor installation of hyper-speed videos run twenty minutes on a continuous loop and projected onto a large wall of a local building. This year the installation features new artwork by local BIPOC youth along with other Downtown Eastside artists, all inspired by the phrase “we live here.” Produced by Radix Theatre, with curator Gunargie O’Sullivan.
Wednesday, Thursday & Friday, November 1, 2 & 3, 8pm – 9:30pm. Free
Outdoor parking lot at Columbia & Keefer Streets (dress for the weather)
Reweaving our Words, explores weaving techniques and our connections to language. This afternoon event is a showcase of pieces created by participants and the culmination of a fall weaving series. Try hands-on demo activities: working with wool, plant fibres, and the Land Loom; join a discussion on the experience of losing language; and enjoy music and food! A collaboration of the UBC Learning Exchange and EartHand Gleaners Society.
Friday November 3, 1pm. Free
Trillium Park, Malkin Avenue & Thornton Street
Stop the Sweeps, this documentary by Ryan Sudds, a Vancouver-based filmmaker and organizer, chronicles the violent decampments of the unhoused people in the DTES and subsequent community resistance against the ongoing state-sanctioned violence and neglect. Followed by an informal townhall conversation moderated by the Stop the Sweeps team. Presented with Gallery Gachet.
Saturday November 4, 3:30pm. Free
Carnegie Community Centre Theatre, 401 Main Street
Smokey Devil – Underworld Street Reporter, this insightful and engaging film by Nathaniel Canuel focuses on the life of Smokey D, a locally renowned Downtown Eastside icon and artist known for his murals that depict memorials, the toxic drug crisis, MMIWG2S and other issues. Followed by a conversation with the artist and filmmaker.
Saturday November 4, 7:30pm. Free
Carnegie Community Centre Theatre, 401 Main Street
20th Annual Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival runs Wednesday, October 25 to Sunday, November 5, 2023 at various location throughout the Downtown Eastside. For full program details visit heartofthecityfestival.com