For Beverly Nann, multiculturalism is a two-way street.
Nann, the vice president of the Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society, has spent her whole career working on multiculturalism as a former social worker who in 1989 helped found the Laurier Institution, a non-profit organization that supports research and education on diversity in Canada.
As Asian Heritage Month begins its 17th year in Vancouver with more than 30 arts and culture events in the Lower Mainland in May, Nann hopes it will demonstrate the richness and diversity of Asian culture in a city with the world’s largest Asian minority population.
But she also wants the month to encourage those communities to collaborate with each other as well as with non-Asian groups, and that multiculturalism has a long way to go in Vancouver.
“The issue now with the huge ethnic silos that are developing is that they are institutionally complete,” Nann told the Courier. “They don’t have to go outside of the community for anything. When are they going to integrate?”
The society aims to help ethnic communities to collaborate more with other communities. This month’s festivities provide the opportunity for these communities to showcase their cultures both to each other, and to mainstream Canadian society.
“We want to promote that collaboration between different cultures and with the mainstream cultures,” said Nann.
In the past, focus has been on Canadian society accepting newcomers, but we are missing the other piece of the puzzle, according to Nann. She hopes that Asian communities learn, through Asian Heritage Month, that they need to open themselves up to people outside of their communities. “It’s a two-way street,” she said.
The official opening of Vancouver Asian Heritage Month features an art exhibition of works created by first generation immigrants.
In each piece of artwork, they answer the question of what being Canadian means to them.
“The Asian immigrants who live in ethnic silos have a very strong ethnic identity. But what about your Canadian identity?” said Nann.
Vancouver is no stranger to Asian immigration, with Chinese migrants first coming to the area during the Gold Rush of the mid 1800s.
According to Statistics Canada reports, 43 per cent of people living in Metro Vancouver have an Asian heritage. This includes people who identify as ethnicities ranging from Persian to Korean.
VANCOUVER ASIAN HERITAGE MONTH EVENTS THIS YEAR INCLUDE:
Official opening and Generation One Art
Exhibit International Village Mall
May 3, 2 p.m. | Admission: Free
- This art exhibit on the second flood of Tinseltown showcases more than 60 works of art created by first generation Asian immigrants. The exhibit “So This is Canada” features artists showing what Canada means to them. This exhibit will be up until May 16. A second exhibit called “Vancouver” will begin May 17 and feature watercolour paintings by Water Poon.
First Families, First stories:
Research workshops
May 7 and 14 6:30-8 p.m.
Vancouver Public Library Central Branch
May 10 1-4 p.m.
UBC Learning Exchange, 610 Main St.
Admission: Free
- For those who want to learn more about their family and community’s history. Participants will learn how to use search engines, Ancestry Library Edition, special collections, and the VPL catalogue. Jim Wog-Chu is a pioneer in Asian-Canadian writing and a well-known historian. He will be presenting his latest research at 2 p.m. Admission is $20.
Sound of Dragon Music Festival
Yaletown Roundhouse Community
Arts & Recreation Centre
May 9-11, various show times
Admission: starts at $20,
$70 for a weekend pass
- This is Vancouver’s first music festival devoted to Chinese music. Performances will showcase diverse musical styles, including ancient folk, jazz, chamber, orchestral, and more. Audiences will hear an unusual combination of instruments from a variety of cultures. The festival features musicians and composers from different ethnicities and musical genres. There will also be a musical instrument petting zoo. There are a number of outreach events open to the public for free, in the week leading up to the festival. For event details visit soundofdragon.com/outreach.
Kate Bowie, World Premiere
Shadbolt Centre for the Arts Studio Theatre
May 28-31, 8 p.m. | Admission: $20
- In 1981, Kate Bush and David Bowie rented a secluded mansion in a remote part of England to work on an album together. Neither of them has ever spoken publicly about what happened during this time. Thirty years later, Maiko Bae Yamamoto and James Long spent a month together in a remote cabin in northern British Columbia with a keyboard, an electric guitar and a lot of gin, recreating that mythic collaboration to examine the complexities of an 18-year old partnership. Kate Bowie examines the nature of collaboration, the difficulties of artistic creation and ultimately, what it means to become someone else. For event details visit theatrereplacement.org
#BhangraLove, City of Bhangra Festival
May 29 – June 7
Various locations throughout Vancouver, Burnaby, and Surrey
- Vancouver International Bhangra Celebration presents a 10-day festival showcasing the music and dance of the Punjab regions of India and Pakistan. This year’s theme is #BhangraLove, representing the idea of love crossing all boundaries: social, cultural, sexual, religious, and geographic. The festival ends with a bang in downtown Vancouver June 6 and 7. You can watch performances from local and international bhangra groups from 5-10 p.m. For event details visit vibc.org.
