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Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival

jessica — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 22:02:45 +0000

If you love checking out the “East-Van” culture, volunteering on the Downtown East-side, tend to avoid Main & Hastings out of undertainty, or just are interested and intrigued by the mystery that the DTES presents… you should definitely come check out the Heart of the City festival. Starting on Wednesday, over 80 events will be taking place across this corner of the city, squeezed in between Gastown, Strathcona, Chinatown and the ocean. This tiny geographical niche, only a few blocks wide, is widely debated and celebrated in Vancouver. For the 8th year, the DTES’s artists and activists will have their works on display to the rest of the city.

Photo Credit: Beth Taylor (Tiddlywinkervia Flickr)

This year, the festival’s theme will coincide with Vancouver’s 125th anniversary, “Telling Our Story, Building Our Community.” The story-telling part will largely involve documentation and preservation of history. As a very early and foundational part of the city, the DTES is history-rich and it’s story is vital to the picture of Vancouver. The community building part has to do with the continual development within the DTES and all of the contributing players: volunteers at non-profit organizations, students and artists, professionals, and a variety of merging cultures including Aboriginal representatives from the community, and Chinese representatives from the neighbouring (and merging) community of Chinatown.

The festival features twelve days of music, poetry, spoken word, stories, visual arts, cultural celebrations, outdoor festivities, films, dance, processions, forums, workshops, discussions, gallery exhibits, mixed media, hip hop, art talks, history walks and a diverse array of artist showcases.

There are many activities to do at this festival besides be astounded by the complex intricacies of the community. One of the top picks of the events is happening on the opening night: Sweet Soul Sisters of the Downtown Eastside, playing at the Carnegie Hall at 7:3oPM for free (like many of the events of the festival!) A variety of music from jazz to international, and even an accordion concert will happen over the week.

One of my (Jessica’s) favourite events (in any city for any occasion) as well: Walking tours! Yes – by exploring a space by foot and the ability to touch, feel, smell, and listen to a knowledgeable guide, one is able to more comprehensively understand it. These are very popular events, and an entire selection will be available! One of the very coolest, in celebration (again) of Vancouver’s 125th anniversary, is all about Vancouver 125 years ago. How well can you conceptualize the city in 1886? This tour will help you! For the artists out there, there is also a mural tour of the area. Each tour is priced differently, usually locals are free or pay-as-you-can.

The festival runs from October 26 – November 6. Most events are free, but some prices vary.

Powell Street Festival 2011 (July 30th, 31st, 2011)

Raul — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 04:33:01 +0000

Photo credit: kurisurokku, on Flickr

An amazing celebration of Japanese heritage, the Powell Street Festival 2011 will take place this weekend from 11:30am to 7:00pm and it’s entirely FREE. As you may know, I hold a special place in my heart for Japan and I’m really keen to know more about the Japanese heritage that once was settled on Powell Street.

The Powell Street Society puts together the Powell Street Festival this coming weekend with some amazing displays, great food, booths, etc. Events will take place around Oppenheimer Park (400 Block Powell Street), Firehall Arts Centre (280 E. Cordova), Vancouver Japanese Language School & Hall (475 Alexander), Chapel Arts (304 Dunlevy), Japanese Canadian National Museum (6688 Southoaks, Burnaby), Blim (115 East Pender)

From the Powell Street Festival website:

It’s been thirty-five years since the inaugural Powell Street Festival, and in that time we’ve grown from a small community event to a full-blown arts & culture celebration attended by thousands each year. We are grateful to all the participants, volunteers, funders, attendees, and our DTES community for supporting our efforts these past thirty-five years, and we look forward to at least thirty-five more. In the meantime, we look forward to welcoming you to Oppenheimer Park for the 35th Annual Powell Street Festival!

The Powell Street Festival is an annual celebration of Japanese Canadian arts, culture and heritage that features something for everyone: dance, music, film and video, visual arts, martial arts demos, amateur sumo tournament, craft vendors, traditional displays, and of course, tons of scrumptious Japanese food.

PSF is the largest event of its kind in Canada and the longest running community arts festival in the Lower Mainland. We provide a much-needed venue for emerging and established, professional and amateur, and traditional and contemporary artists in the Japanese Canadian and Asian Canadian communities.

I hope you can check it out. I’ve previously written about the events leading up to the Powell Street Festival 2011 but it wasn’t until today that it’s coming up this weekend alongside Pride Festival and Parade 2011. Hopefully people will check them both out!

The Wilder Snail (Strathcona)

Raul — Mon, 09 May 2011 20:45:37 +0000

My friend Lorraine and I had already been to The Wilder Snail (not surprisingly, about a year ago) but for some reason I forgot to blog about it. But this time I decided not to forget, particularly because I liked this place and it’s a beautiful location to have coffee, lunch or just hang out (free wifi with purchase, it’s passworded).

We ordered a couple of Montreal smoked-meat sandwiches, which were generous on the Montreal smoked-meat and very tasty (really, how could you screw up a MSMS… but I digress). The service was cordial and friendly and lunch was inexpensive ($5.99 for each one of the sandwiches).

Obviously, as anybody who reads my blog will know, I don’t eat cheese so I had to remove it but otherwise, our lunch was really good. I’d definitely come back for lunch or even just for a coffee and to read a good book. The Wilder Snail is definitely a lovely neighbourhood cafe.

The anthropology of poverty in the Downtown East Side

Raul — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:15:13 +0000

In recent weeks, I have had several opportunities to have lunch with a few friends (including Nancy Zimmerman, Lorraine Murphy and J. Karen Parker) at various eateries in the Downtown East Side of Vancouver. If you are not a frequent reader of my blog, you may not know that I have a really hard time walking through the DTES. It’s not that I am afraid or anything. It hurts my soul, to be a witness to the pain and suffering, the poverty. I mentioned how I feel in more detail in this post. The good thing, though, is that having had the chance to eat at places like The Ovaltine, Save on Meats and The Only has given me (at least in part) a new perspective on the DTES.

Credit: Evan Leeson on Flickr

While waiting for Nancy for lunch at Save on Meats, I spent about half an hour waiting right in front of the meat store near Carrall and East Hastings. Not being used to witnessing the day-to-day struggles of people who live in the DTES area, some of which who traverse through a life of drug addiction, sexual abuse, poverty and homelessness, I stood there, leaning against a street light pole, observing the movement around me. While trying to concentrate on not feeling pain, I couldn’t help but reflect on how hard it must be for researchers (particularly anthropologists/ethnographers) to engage in field research in the DTES community. To seriously conduct ethnographies, one needs to immerse oneself in the subject matter to a degree where an in-depth understanding of the issues can be gained.

My time as an observer of the activities that were taking place was brief, at moments overpowering, raw but more than anything, insightful. I was able to recognize my own limitations in regards to the subject matters I feel capable and comfortable of studying. I doubt I will ever feel a competent ethnographer of poverty and homelessness issues, simply because my soul is too sensitive to the pain and suffering of the people who would be my research subjects. I am passionate about alleviating poverty and tackling issues of homelessness, but I think the best use of my research capabilities will be in the public policy realm, not in the field.

One related concept that made me sit down and reflect was the portrayal of poverty in the DTES in the media. I wondered how much of the negative perception of the current state of the DTES is due to the way in which the situation of this Vancouver derelict region is portrayed in the news. I have friends who live in the area who are not only overcoming their challenges but rising, growing, and evolving. Much discussion has been had in the Wikipedia page on the DTES, but I don’t find any conclusive results. So I turned to Google Scholar and found this MA thesis in Communication (SFU) by Kate Rafter, where she finds that the representation of Canadian news outlets of the poverty reinforces beliefs of the paradigm of Structural Responsibility (where socio-economic structures are considered responsible for the creation/maintenance of poverty)

I wonder what the representation of poverty and homelessness in new media is right now, and whether anyone has undertaken an academic study of how poverty is depicted in social media, blogs, etc. Given that analytical tools such as rhetoric and discourse analysis have been applied to traditional media outlets’ portrayal of poverty, I wonder if we could do some content analysis or discourse analysis (anyone need a Masters’, or PhD thesis topic?). I am also curious to know if anybody has read more on the anthropology of poverty. If so, please share.

Beauty Night for Downtown Eastside Residents

Raul — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 20:38:52 +0000

I knew about Beauty Night through both her founder (Caroline MacGillivray, whom I met in person at Rebecca’s talk at Third Tuesday) and from my friend Monica Hamburg.

I was just perusing the Vancouver Sun’s online edition (much better you guys, I hated the previous layout and design) and came across some coverage of the most recent event that Caroline and her crew put together for disenfranchised women in the Downtown Eastside.

Beauty Night celebrates its 8th Anniversary on Monday (that is, tomorrow). I really believe in causes like these because they aim to empower much along the lines of what Sexy In Vancity is all about (in the case of Sexy in VanCity, Emme and Lola write about all things sexy in this our snowy city, from a perspective of empowerment in a normal, day-to-day life context).

Beauty Night Turns 8!
Date: Monday, December 15th, 6 -9pm
Location: Life Skills Centre at 412 East Cordova.

I have about a gazillion other things to do, but I do hope to swing by and say hi to Caroline. Head over to their blog and/or check Caroline’s Twitter stream.

The Hope in Shadows 2009 Calendar – Please buy your calendar

Raul — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 00:08:24 +0000

It’s easy to write and write and write and talk and talk and talk about all the awesome things we COULD be doing to help our brothers and sisters in needs. It’s another thing to actually engage in contributing our time and/or money. Thus, I would like to encourage every one of my readers to purchase a “Hope in Shadows” 2009 Calendar. Consider giving a copy out as a Christmas gift, or a birthday gift.

The Hope in Shadows Calendar is a unique project based around a photography contest for residents in the Downtown East Side of Vancouver. The prize-winning photos are then used to create a calendar that provides a glimpse of the hope, spirit and courage of people living in one of Canada’s poorest neighborhoods. [Paraphrased from their website]

While the calendar is also sold in retailer stores across the Lower Mainland, I personally would prefer it if you bought your calendar from Street Vendors. You’ll see, these people are also residents from the DTES and engage in selling the calendar to make money for their subsistence. From their website:

The Hope in Shadows calendar is sold by street vendors, community groups and retailers. Trained official street vendors will have a blue and white ID licence with their name and photo on it with the Hope in Shadows logo and “08/09″ next to the logo. The Soliciting for Charity licence number from the City of Vancouver will be displayed on the licence.

The best places to find a street seller include:
- Commercial Drive, especially outside the Skytrain station
- West Broadway & Granville
- Howe & Robson
- Capers on 4th Avenue & Vine
- outside any Choices supermarket
- Shoppers Drugmart on West Broadway

Please consider purchasing a Hope in Shadows 2009 Calendar and contribute to improving the livelihood of the residents of the DTES. Thank you.