Unlike the recent fog, January is swiftly moving along and filling the calendar with plenty of picks to entertain audiences.
Lights: For another few weeks one of Metro Vancouver’s largest festive light displays, Lights at Lafarge keeps the illuminations on at Coquitlam’s Town Centre Park until February 16th
Premiere: The Vancouver Playhouse welcomes the North American premiere of Recirquel’s Paradisum, presented by DanceHouse and The Cultch January 21-24, a daring, full-length work, directed and choreographed by Recirquel’s Artistic Director, Bence Vági, fuses circus, contemporary dance, and physical theatre.
Classroom: January 23 to February 1, Firehall Arts Centre welcomes Blackout Art Society’s English, , written by Sanaz Toosi, is a quietly powerful and deeply human play about four Iranian adults preparing for an English proficiency exam in a storefront classroom near Tehran.
Reading: Winter nights are great for curling up with a good book, find inspiration for your 2026 reading list with The Vancouver Writers Fest Digital Festival on now until February 2
Performing: The 21st PuSh Festival opens tomorrow, January 22, running until February 8 – two and a half weeks of creative performing arts by local and Canadian artists along with Indigenous creators and international collaborators.
Dine: Dine Out Vancouver Festival also opens this week, until February 8, with hundreds of prix-fixe menus and culinary events spread around the city, creating perfect pairings of Dine Out X PuSh Festival performances.
Chocolate: The 16th annual Hot Chocolate Festival is underway now, warming hearts and cups around the region until February 14, with over 100 locations in 234 creative variations of the cozy cups of comforting cocoa
Pucks: Can Vancouver Canucks regain any composure to bring a win back to Rogers Arena when they play host Washington Capitals, tonight
Golden: Thursday, PWHL Vancouver Goldeneyes, host Toronto Sceptres at Pacific Coliseum, celebrating its Lunar New Year game night
Reading: Today, Massey Theatre starts a new season of its Reading Theatre series with a reading of Innocence Lost by Beverley Cooper led by Senior Artist in Residence Allan Morgan
Ancestry: Based on his album of the same name JUNO-nominated singer-songwriter Adrian Glynn McMorran’s, You’re Just a Place That I Know, opening January 21 at Olympic Village Stage, traces the history of his Ukrainian grandparents, who left their homeland during World War II to begin life anew in Montreal.
Cottage: The Arts Club’s second opening of the week, January 22 at Granville Island Stage The Golden Anniversaries finds Glen and Sandy Golden heading to the cottage where they have celebrated every wedding anniversary but is their 50th, Golden?
Mom: The Arts Club Theatre Company brilliant one-mom play, Burning Mom by Mieko Ouchi is on tour around the region, continuing its run at Surrey Art Centre until January 24, then moving to Burnaby’s Shadbolt Centre for the Arts.
Comedy: Canadian funny-man Tom Green’s Stompin’ Comedy Tour brings his unique brand of humour to Vogue Theatre on Friday, January 23
Country: Jade Eagleson is a Canadian country singer and songwriter plays Commodore Ballroom on Saturday, January 24
Opening: January 23, Place Des Arts January Exhibition Opening Reception celebrates the opening of four new exhibitions: Emerging Talent 28, various mediums by SD43 Art Students; Creative Connections, various mediums by SD43 Teachers; Fragments of Self: Reconstructing Identity Through Art, paintings, drawings and photography by Jeidn Winkler; and One Month. Just Spoons, ceramics by Susan Wallace.
Barefoot: From January 23 to February 14, Metro Theatre brings Neil Simon’s beloved romantic comedy, Barefoot in the Park, a witty, warm look at newlywed life — love, compromise, and the humour found in learning how to live together, set in 1960’s New York City
Shadbolt: Coming up next week, Advance Theatre Festival January 26 to 30, co-presented by Ruby Slippers Theatre, Shadbolt Centre for the Arts and Playwrights Guild of Canada, the innovative and inspiring festival, presents five new staged readings over five days all written and directed by female identifying and gender non-conforming artists who also identify as Black, Indigenous or People of Colour.
Colours: Richmond Art Gallery presents major new group exhibition, The Chromophiliacs, from January 24–April 5 – featuring major works by Diyan Achjadi, Moozhan Ahmadzadegan, Charlene Vickers, and Jan Wade, alongside new commissions by Maru Aponte, Sandeep Johal, Yaimel López Zaldívar, Laura Meza Orozco, Osvaldo Ramirez Castillo, and Malina Sintnicolaas.
NGN: Wrapping up Sunday, the world premiere of NDN Giver at Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art a look at consider how the act of giving is tied to identity, responsibility, resistance, and renewal, curated by the gallery’s Assistant Curator Amelia Rea in her solo curatorial debut.
Haida: Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art presents the Vancouver premiere of the retrospective exhibition Kihl ‘Yahda Christian White: Master Haida Artist running until February 1, 2026.
Photographer: Take a glimpse through the lens of an iconic 20th century photographer as The Polygon Gallery presents Lee Miller: A Photographer at Work (1932–1945) on display until February 1, 2026
Gibson: The Marianne and Edward Gibson Art Museum – The Gibson – Simon Fraser University’s new culture hub – features an inaugural group exhibition, Edge Effects, showcasing 15 acclaimed Canadian artists until February 15, 2026
Enemy: The Vancouver Art Gallery presents Enemy Alien the first major solo exhibition and retrospective of works by documentary photographer Tamio Wakayama, on display until February 22, 2026
Sustainability: MONOVA’s Feature Exhibit ‘Are We There Yet? The Sustainable Transportation Journey’ exploring the ever-evolving landscape of urban transportation in North Vancouver until March 1, 2026
Tibet: On display until March 29, 2026 at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC (MOA), discover the world premiere exhibition of Entangled Territories: Tibet Through Images, curated by Dr. Fuyubi Nakamura, MOA Curator, Asia, in collaboration with Tibetan-Canadian community members and artists, the bilingual exhibition reimagines Tibet and its future through the perspectives of the Tibetan-Canadian community
Mother: Until March 29, 2026, The Museum of Anthropology at UBC (MOA) presents the world premiere of Jaad Kuujus: Everyone Says I Look Like My Mother an exhibition featuring a varied collection of naaxiin (Chilkat) weavings and their digital translations.
Border: On view until May 30, 2026, The Reach Gallery Museum in Abbotsford presents Parallax(e): Perspectives on the Canada–U.S. Border / Perspectives sur la frontière Canada–É.-U., an ambitious exhibition that looks at the history of the 49th parallel that separates Canada and the US, and its lasting impacts on Indigenous communities