Archive | June, 2018

Next Year “Skip The Clubs and Go Dance on The Drive”- Italian Day 2018 Is Now In The Books

12 Jun

ItalianDay2018Back again for its 9th consecutive year, Italian Day on The Drive delighted thousands of festival attendees with the sights, sounds and tastes of Italy. From Venables Street to Grandview Cut, Commercial Drive was transformed into a lively festa – the largest one day cultural street festival in Vancouver! Home to Little Italy, The Drive comes alive annually in green, white and red with piazza style animated zones, live music, food, patios, fashion, retail vendors, vehicles, activities, children’s zones and more.

Each year the festival is organized around a central theme and this year it was Musica! With three main stages spread throughout the 14 blocks, every few blocks you were greeted with a new performance showcasing local and national artists from Italy. Italy’s music has traditionally been considered one of the cultural markers of Italian national and ethnic identity and festival goers could be seen dancing and singing in the middle of the street all the way down The Drive. Of course the dozens of restaurants, bakeries and beer gardens were also packed with Vancouverites devouring traditional Italian delicacies! Whether you wanted to see the brilliant performances or just kick back on a Sunday with a slice of pizza and a cannoli – Italian Day 2018 was not to be missed!

 

By Contributing Writer: Nicole Alivojvodic

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June 15th Italian Market & Pizza Making Workshops

11 Jun

ItalianMarket2018This Friday, June 15th is the first Italian Market of the season. These outdoor markets are held monthly in the parking lot in front of the Italian Cultural Centre from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm. They have a distinctly Italian taste to them which includes the food and the music. At the same time you will see many favourite local vendors in the mix with food, produce and handmade goods. Running along side this Italian Market this Friday, with be Pizza Making Workshops in Beaconsfield Park located directly behind the Italian Cultural Centre.  You will have the opportunity to stretch and cook your own pizza with pizza master, Giueseppe Cortinovis, in their beautiful outdoor pizza oven.  This is a hands-on event that is suitable for all ages.  Two basic pizzas are being offered, but you are invited to bring or buy extra toppings from the market to make the pizza distinctly yours.  Cost of the Pizza Making Workshop is $13 online or $15 at the event.  There will be 4 pizza workshops starting at 5:00 pm. They will continue at 5:45 pm, 6:30 pm and 7:15 pm. To reserve your spot, visit the Italian Cultural Centre online.

ThinCrustPizza

 

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Eat.Drink.Play. At The Firehall Arts Centre June 14, 2018

6 Jun

EatDrinkPlay2018The Firehall Arts Centre invites you to Eat.Drink.Play. being held on Thursday, June 14th from 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm at the Firehall Arts Centre, 280 East Cordova Street.  This annual fundraiser brings together some of East Van’s best restaurants, craft brewers, small-batch distillers and performers for an evening of sampling and sharing.  The event takes over the Firehall’s entire premises including theatre, lobby, studio, courtyard as well as the dressing rooms.  Throughout the Firehall, you will find an array of delectable treats, eclectic dance, music and performances as well as a silent auction.  Eat.Drink.Play will feature selections of food from neighbourhood hot spots including The Pint, Tuc Craft Kitchen, Cadeaux Baker, Crab Park Chowdery, Kofta, Elephant & Castle.  Libations will be provided the kind folks at Steamworks Brewery nand Odd Society Spirits as well as Hoochy Boooch kombucha.  You can expect a smorgasbord of delectable treats and enjoyable performances as you roam through the heritage building sampling food, enjoying libations, and bidding on some amazing silent auction items. For music and laughter, Krystle Dos Santos, recently seen in the Chelsea Hotel will be on hand as will Andy Toth seen in the Firehall’s Urinetown The Musical and a few more guests. The Firehall Arts Centre has been producing performing arts for 35 years in this beautiful heritage building at the corner of Cordova and Gore. We invite you to lend your support for our City’s vibrant and innovative arts community. Tickets for Eat.Drink.Play are $49 and $25 for artists and are available online at Firehall Arts Centre.

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Brews, Tunes & Tech At The 9th Annual Vancouver Craft Beer Week Festival

5 Jun

VCBW1

The ninth annual Vancouver Craft Beer Week Festival (VCBW) at the PNE Fairgrounds attracted thousands of craft beer and cider enthusiasts this past weekend. The two day beer fest capped off a 10-day citywide celebration of craft beer culture and community. But it’s about so much more than beer! VCBW is outdoor entertainment at it’s finest – live music, games, food trucks and over 100 craft breweries and cideries. Nine years in and VCBW has evolved from Canada’s first-ever craft beer week to become the most anticipated craft beer and cider festival in Western Canada.

For those who have attended a beer festival in the past, you’ll know that it’s difficult to keep track of which brews you’ve tasted, which you liked and which you didn’t – and the more you drink, the more challenging it gets. With more than 300 beers and ciders to try, VCBW offered festival goers an easy way to keep track on their website! On the participating breweries page, each brewery is listed, showing its location on the festival map, the 2-4 brews being poured, as well as giving users the ability to “favourite” a brewery. This meant that you could go through beforehand, choose all the ones you wanted to try and systematically work your way through the festival. If you’re like me and prefer a more spontaneous experience, you could have the webpage open on your phone, “favourite” as you go, and check back later to see which 6-packs you’ll be picking up for your next summer BBQ.

The festival had something for everyone, with extra beer tokens available for purchase and plenty of grassy areas to lounge with your crew, you could kick back with your kombucha infused blonde ale, lime and agave cider, sublime pineapple hefeweizen or beet juice pale ale and revel in the beginning of summer in Vancouver. And not to miss was the “crafts with Craft” tent where you could string pretzels on a string to wear as a necklace – providing endless snackage all while keeping your hands free to hold your beer.

By Contributing Writer: Nicole Alivojvodic

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Our Social Fabric – A Textile Recycling Initiative In East Vancouver

4 Jun

OSFLogoWe recently happened upon a great initiative in East Vancouver. Some of you may already know about it, but if you don’t, you might be happy to. It’s called Our Social Fabric (OSF). It is a textile recycling initiative that has been in operation since 2009. The aim of Our Social Fabric is twofold, one to keep textiles out of the landfill and two, put those materials into the hands of creatives within our community.  This volunteer run organization receives donations of textiles, fabrics and sewing notions including patterns, zippers, buttons and more.  The items come from a variety of sources including the film industry, theatre, estate closures and manufacturing to name a few. Their team of volunteers sort through the donations, organize them and offer them to the public at drastically low prices. We recently attended one of their monthly sales to see what this space was all about. We have to say, they put on a good event. Everything is organized well by colour and similar materials. The fabric is pre-cut and marked as to how many metres and total cost. There was some fabric available on rolls for $5.00 per metre including some beautiful linen.  Although prices vary depending on the material, $3 – $5 per metre was fairly common.  Our Social Fabric works out of a space in the Russell Building located at #270 – 1275 Venables Street at Clark Drive. Their sales happen about once a month, sometimes more. All upcoming sales are posted on their website, Facebook and Instagram.  Their next sale happens Thursday, September 13th from 2:00 pm to 8:00 pm.  If you sew, this is a definite spot worth checking out. If you wish to brush up your sewing or learn, Our Social Fabric also offers workshops every now and again. Check out their Facebook page for upcoming classes. You can also follow them on Instagram to keep an eye on upcoming sales. If you attend their sales, we suggest arriving early to get first dibs on items and do expect a line up.

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Contributing Writer Tiva Quinn Checks Out rEvolver Festival On Until June 3rd

1 Jun

RevolverFestivalContributing writer, Tiva Quinn, checked out a few shows being featured as part of the rEvolver Festival. This festival featuring young contemporary artists is on now at The Cultch until June 3rd.  Get out and see for yourself what’s on. Visit The Cultch for tickets.

BUG 

Bug clearly shows that young Ojibwe artist Yolanda Bonnell is a performer and creator to watch. In this one-woman show about addictions, intergenerational trauma and the foster care system, Yolanda portrays a young woman growing up too fast and accepting abusive relationships into her life as a sign that she matters to someone. She also portrays the young woman’s mother, wrestling with her addictions and with questions about whether or not she deserved to have her child taken away by the government. And in a strange and powerful way, she also gives voice to the power of addiction and intergenerational trauma itself, manifesting as Manidoons – the Ojibwe word for bug or worm. The two human characters, mother and daughter, become stunningly real and complex in a short period of time – while the Manidoons are represented as a simple, genuinely creepy being who cares only about gaining more and more control over human lives.

PROBABILITY

Next I went to Probability, a show about two women who may or may not end up in love, and may or may not succeed in making a go of it if they do. Probability managed to be laugh out loud funny in  several places, while also digging into some pretty deep material about the things we want and the things we fear in intimate relationships. The improv game technique of having two actors represent the characters in the story while another two represent their inner monologues is used to excellent effect here – a lot of the ProbabilityPosterfunniest moments and also the most painful, heart-tugging moments come from the difference between what the characters say and what’s going on in their minds. It also means that we get to see the process in motion both when they try to protect themselves and when they try to reveal themselves. All four actresses do a terrific job here, and the set deserves honorable mention as well.

KITT & JANE

Last, I saw Kitt & Jane: An Interactive Survival Guide to the Near-Post-Apocalyptic Future which was also a mix of comedy and serious themes, but with a lot more emphasis on the comedy. Kitt and Jane depicts the antics of two 8th graders who take over their school assembly and decide to present about the coming eco-apocalypse instead of their assigned topic, the life cycle of the salmon. Like actual 8th graders, the actors are incredibly funny at several points along the way, but they also take their  obsessions a bit too far and wear on our nerves at times. The show’s creators cite Adventure Time, Big Mouth, and Gravity Falls as some of their influences and the show definitely is a lot like watching human cartoons. If you enjoy the humor in characters who never quite realize when they’ve gone too far, you might just love this show.

Photo Credit: Patricia Trinh

 

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