Stir Vancouver

For myself, as a second-generation Canadian, I have dealt with the mental trauma of feeling like I didn’t belong or ‘wasn’t Black enough’, says Adrian Neblett, co-curator with Mariam Barry, of Us: A Black Peoples Month Festival. My parents emigrated from the West Indies, and I was born here. To some of my West Indian family, I was ‘too Canadian’ to be West Indian; to the other kids at school, I was Black, therefore different, and was reminded of that daily, whether by citi...ng the difference of my hair, the fact that I was a fast runner and attributing it to my Blackness, or just some ignorant remark or joke. When I got to high school, where there was a larger number of black students, society started to measure the degree of my Blackness. Wasn't good at basketball: Not Black enough. Played violin: Not a Black behaviour. Didn’t have the latest in style haircut: Not Black enough. Wore the school ‘uniform’ instead of the latest ‘rap wear’: Not Black." Read more about the festival produced by Ensemble Theatre Company at Stir. https://www.createastir.ca//us-a-black-peoples-month-festi See more

Growing up in Montreal Lake Cree Nation I always felt like I was looking through a one-way glass, says Dwight Ballantyne, founder of The Ballantyne Project. I could see everything the rest of the world was doing but no one could see me To the rest of the world who lived beyond the borders of my remote community, I did not exist. In 2020, he founded the Ballantyne Project, travelling across the nation to share his story with Indigenous youth and to educate urban residents about the reality of life in remote communities. January 11 is the Ballantyne Project's inaugural #WeSeeYou Day. Read more at Stir. https://www.createastir.ca//weseeyouday-indigenous-communi

Everything important in life happens when we gather, says artist Jane Waterous. My Gatherings Series is all about human connection and sharing the lovenever more relevant than now. Read more about works coming out of Whistler Contemporary Gallery at Stir. https://www.createastir.ca//whistler-contemporary-gallery-

DanceHouse presents the online Canadian premiere of Body and Soul (Feb 17-23), from choreographer Crystal Pite and performed by Ballet de l'Opéra de Paris. A work in three distinct parts, Body and Soul articulates Pite’s ongoing fascination with conflict, connectedness and the embodiment of the human spirit. Buy tickets now for this unique opportunity to witness the Paris Opera Ballet from the comfort of your own home. #dancehousevancouver #digidance #digidanse https://dancehouse.ca/event/body-and-soul

I think we feel we are entirely misunderstood in that we are not one-off events; we are professional facility operators with a long-standing tradition of maintaining all manner of safety procedures to keep performers and audiences safe in dynamic settings, says Jessica Schneider, executive director of the Massey Theatre Society, which operates and programs the Massey and the Anvil Centre Theatre. We have Serving It Right [the BC program for responsible liquor sales]. We ha...ve all that stuff in place at all times, and we have people responsible for public safety as well as workplace safety. We’re not volunteer-run. We have professional safety assignments, and we feel misunderstood that precautions are in place. Read more about how BC arts groups are responding to the extension of province-wide restrictions in Stir. Firehall Arts Centre The Rio Theatre Some Assembly Theatre Company MISCELLANEOUS Productions https://www.createastir.ca//theatres-cinemas-restrictions- See more

Breaking: some huge Canadian music names taking part in the February 18 virtual gala to support the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and VSO School of Music, including k.d. lang, Geddy Lee, and Measha Brueggergosman, just announced. https://www.createastir.ca//vso-virtual-gala-kd-lang-geddy

Are arts boards broken? And if they are, is it time to fix them? Theatre artist Yvette Nolan thinks so, and she'll talk about it at a roundtable February 3: Everything else is disrupted this year so why would we stop at the board table?"

Vancouver has lost artist Ken Gerberick, art-car maker and collector-assembler extraordinaire. Condolences are rolling in for the witty genius, who showed at Eastside Culture Crawl, grunt gallery , and elsewhere over the years... https://www.createastir.ca/artic/-artist-ken-gerberick-dies

Stir Newsletter: Looking back at 2020 and stepping bravely into 2021 - https://mailchi.mp//stir-newsletter-looking-back-at-2020-a Despite pandemic lockdowns, we have news of watercolour paintings, Indigenous hip-hop, a royal dessert, and other arts coming from local creatives.

Don't miss this season's offering from PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, featuring dance, theatre, music, walks, and forest. PuSh has always presented work that is visionary, genre-bending, multidisciplinary, and original. That same mandate is in place for 2021, with the pandemic edition shifting to online productionsmostly. The 2021 festival is taking audiences on virtual and real-life journeys, discover them at the link. https://www.createastir.ca/a/sponsoredcontent-push-projects