The last weekend of September marks Culture Days across the province and there are more than 200 free, interactive activities planned across Metro Vancouver alone to encourage residents to get involved with culture, heritage, the arts and artists in their communities.
The fifth annual Culture Days will be celebrated in hundreds of cities and towns across Canada with events in more than 50 communities across B.C., from rural towns to major urban hubs. To make it official, many B.C. mayors and councils will officially proclaim Culture Days celebrations to support this growing cultural phenomenon.
Programming represents all disciplines and cultural interests, including visual arts, music, dance, theatre, architecture, heritage, film and video, literature, culinary arts and new media.
In Vancouver there are too many events and activities planned to name here, but some family-focused highlights include Hapa-palooza Festival 2014 at various locations, featuring the works of talented hapa artists; Mixed Voices Raised: Stories that Shape Us with speakers including CBC’s Margaret Gallagher and Delhi2Dublin’s Tarun Nayar; Mixed Flicks with Kip Fulbeck and Jeff
Chiba Stearns; and the Hapa Pop-up Party. (“Hapa” is a word used to describe a person of mixed ethnic heritage.) Visit hapapalooza.com.
Meanwhile, MetamorFest takes place at Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House with installations and performances for the whole family featuring Sonic Playground, which includes an instrument-building table for kids and demonstrations showcasing analogue synthesizers built by students from Burnaby North secondary school. Visit metamorfest.tumblr.com.
For a full Culture Days: British Columbia schedule of events and ticket information, visit bc.culturedays.ca. All events are free of charge.
Strathcona
Who needs MasterChef?
A new Vancouver cooking competition is offering home cooks an opportunity to compete head-to-head alongside a couple of the best chefs in town. Chef Alvin Pillay of Blackbird Public House and Oyster Bar and chef Nathan Lowey of Campagnolo are inviting aspiring chefs to partner with them in a friendly pro-am competition at the Main Street Station Farmers Market, Sept. 24.
To enter for a chance to join either Team Pillay or Team Lowey, submit an image featuring a dish you’ve created using local ingredients, along with a comment detailing why you want to compete, on social media using the hashtag #VFMProAm. Deadline to enter is this Friday, Sept. 19 and final selections will be made by Pillay and Lowey. The winner will receive $50 gift certificates to both the Blackbird and Campagnolo restaurants.
Teams will be required to use three main ingredients in their dishes and will have 10 minutes to discuss what they should prepare and compile a shopping list.
Teams will have 20 minutes to shop the market to get all the ingredients they need and then have 30 minutes to prepare a dish large enough for five samples.
For more information, visit eatlocal.org/category/markets.
Downtown
This Thursday, Sept. 18, a fundraising event for Canuck Place Children’s Hospice and the 60 Minute Kids Club takes place at the Vancouver Fan Club nightclub on Granville Street.
The party includes performances by Abandon Paris, the Jardines and Franklins Dealers, a silent auction, 50-50 draws, a raffle, mystery events, games of chance and special guests. Exercise Your Therapy and Rock for Kids is presented by the Exercise is Therapy Foundation. For more information, visit exercise-is-therapy.ca.
Secret location
On Death’s Door: Plague of the Zombie Syndrome is a Virtual Stage production presenting Andy Thompson’s all-new ghoulish, interactive, roving theatre Oct. 7 to Nov. 2 at a top-secret location somewhere in the city. Armed with only their wits and a smartphone, teams of audience members must race against the clock and elude the undead while unravelling a nefarious plot to flood Vancouver’s streets with zombies. Shows run Tuesday through Sunday, with performances beginning every 30 minutes from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tickets range from $12.50 to $50 at thevirtualstage.org/tickets. Don’t miss Two-for-One Tuesdays.
For more information, visit zombiesyndrome.com.
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