Heart of the City Festival

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An annual celebration of the people, cultures, art forms, and history of the Downtown Eastside.

11/01/2026

Day 2 of the DTES Heart of the City Festival ensues! Today was filled with spooky and spectacular events!

Reimagining Justice from the The Circle Project had their Opening Ceremonies; What Fools These Mortals Be & Harlequino’s Folly AND Time Freed! Don’t forget to check out their exhibitions and other event days, there's still time! The day continued with mask, pumpkin and pipe organ workshops. All wrapped up in the beautiful poetry of Muriel's Journey; with Muriel Marjorie. The Writing of Finn and the Salmon of Knowledge; with Stephen Lytton and Deirdre Keohane. Along with the music of Drag Storytime Sing-along; with the Magic Triangle and the Legion of Flying Monkeys. Today we got to see lots of the city! Walking tours through the DTES neighborhood, Return of the Three Amigos Chinatown Tour and Recycling Stories with Vancouver’s Binners!

On a beautiful celebratory note, we had a Dia de Los Mu***os Ofrenda workshop; with CJ Santana and Catrina & Catrine mask making workshop;with Gerardo Avila. Finishing off the day with a big Halloween Gala at the Carnegie with DJ Maxi (AKA Lance Lim), great music, amazing refreshments and an even better time.

We hope to see more of everyone in the next 8 days. Thank you so much for coming out, participating, creating and belonging with us! See you tomorrow!

Don’t forget to get a copy of this year's program and event details at The Carnegie Community Center or through the link in our bio!

If any photos are taken during the festival that you would like us to share on our page, DM them to us right here and we’ll get them! Feel free to post about your time during the festival as much as your heart contents and don't forget to tag us Heart of the City Festival!

10/31/2026

Welcome to this year's DTES Heart of the City Festival! Step into the spirit of the season as we launch the 23rd Annual Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival! We invite you to create Belonging with us — and celebrate the creative heart of the Downtown Eastside!

Today was filled with a heartwarming HOTC Festival Launch filled with amazing performers and artist. Beginning the festival we had a curational tour at Bill Reid Gallery with Aliya Boubard, cardmaking, bookmaking and postcard exchange at EWMA Studio, a tour of the St. James Anglican Church, The Summer City Street Mural reveal and celebration with Richard Tetrault. Ending off the lovely first day with Famous Last Words! We can’t wait to see you all around town over the next 9 days. Have fun, connect, create, cherish and enjoy!

Don’t forget to get a copy of this year's program and event details at The Carnegie Community Center or through the link in our bio!

If any photos are taken during the festival that you would like us to share on our page, DM them to us right here and we’ll get them! Feel free to post about your time during the festival as much as your heart contents and don't forget to tag us !

10/30/2026

Festival planning at its finest

We’re so excited to share this year's festival with you all. So many phenomenal artists coming together to share their practices and there is no one else we’d rather do it with than the Downtown Eastside. Come out and join us for a few events when you have the time. Community and art are one in the same. Come belong with us, celebrate with us, create and share with us. We’re so grateful for all of you; artists, attendees, staff, volunteers. So let’s do this festival together!

Don’t forget to get a copy of this year's program and details at The Carnegie Community Center and online at heartofthecityfestival.com or the link in our bio

See you there!

10/27/2026

Death Café invites participants to share tea and engage in open, respectful conversations about death and dying in a warm, inclusive space.

| Sunday November 1
| The Listening Post (382 Main St)
| 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
| Free Admission

Hosted by photographer and filmmaker Tallulah, this year’s Death Café invites participants to share tea and snacks and engage in open, respectful conversations about death and dying in a warm and inclusive space. Rooted in compassion and curiosity, the Death Café creates space for dialogue that is rarely found in daily life. Reflect on dignity, community, and the connections that make life meaningful. This is a non-religious event.

For more details and to reserve free tickets, visit the HOTCF Event Ticket link in our bio and save this post to come back to later!

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/death-cafe-dignity-in-community-tickets-2003224288773?aff=ebdsshcopyurl&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-source=cp&utm-term=listing

10/26/2026

Join Edie Reaney Chunn for this creative letter writing workshop, I Hope This Finds You: The Art of the Letter.

| Wednesday November 4
| Vancouver Public Library - nə́c̓aʔmat ct Strathcona Branch
| 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
| Free Admission

This class will investigate what effects letter-writing can have in one’s creative practice. We will consider the hopeful risk involved in sending a letter, as it may never find its recipient; and how the act of writing can deepen connections and belonging, strengthen curiosity, and give rise to action.

This class is generously funded by the Canadian Poetry Fund, a local donor-advised fund which fosters accessible public educational outreach for poetry and other forms of creative writing through the services of the Vancouver Public Library.

For more details and to reserve free tickets, visit the HOTCF Event Ticket link below and save this post to come back to later!

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/i-hope-this-finds-you-the-art-of-the-letter-tickets-2002390814830?aff=ebdsshcopyurl&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-source=cp&utm-term=listing

10/25/2026

Dispatches by Jenny Simpson is a raw story of crisis, caregiving, and the human cost of the ongoing opioid epidemic.

| Saturday November 7
| The Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre (SFU Woodwards)
| 1:00 PM - 2:15 PM
| $0 - $35

The new play by Jenny Simpson, Dispatches, follows a woman caught between caring for her dying mother and supporting her niece in crisis. As a disjointed family encounters the threats of addiction, this play offers an intimate portrayal of reconnection and recovery in a system ill-equipped to support them. Dispatches is an unflinching look at the human cost of the ongoing poisoned drug epidemic.

Content Warning: This performance explores the topics of drug use, overdose, physical violence, and death. Suitable for ages 14+.

For more details and sliding-scale tickets, visit the HOTCF Event Ticket below and save this post to come back to later!

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/dispatches-tickets-2001011613602?aff=ebdsshcopyurl&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-source=cp&utm-term=listing

10/24/2026

INTERGENER8 is a community arts project centering music to bring generations together in Vancouver’s Chinatown.

| Tuesday November 3
| The Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre (SFU Woodwards)
| 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
| Free Admission

Join us for a showcase of intergenerational exchanges, featuring music, visual art, a drag performance, and artist talkbacks. Inspired by a decade-long friendship between a 90-year-old elder and her adopted grandson, the project brings together Chinese-speaking artists, ethnically Chinese English-speaking artists, and Indigenous artists through a process of sharing music, stories, memories, and creative practices. As part of the Heart of the City Festival, their exchanges culminate in a celebration affirming the value of intergenerational friendship and connection. The event will feature music, visual art, a drag performance, and artist talkbacks. Entry is free or by donation, with no one turned away due to lack of funds. This program was created with the support of Yarrow Intergenerational Society of Justice, Normie Corporation, and the City of Vancouver through the Communities and Artists Shifting Culture program.

For more details and to register, visit the HOTCF Event Ticket link below and save this post to come back to later!

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/intergener8-tickets-2002549819417?aff=ebdsshcopyurl&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-source=cp&utm-term=listing

10/23/2026

Artist Spotlight: Richard Tetrault 🎨🌆

Richard Tetrault is an amazing mural artist in the DTES and all across the world! Richard grew up in White Rock and started painting when he was very young, inspired by nature and his mother’s artistic work. His parents participated in the establishment of the White Rock Players' Club Theater. Richard attended Vancouver School of Art but found himself preferring to learn on the road. He travelled around the world to create art and collaborate. Some of the most memorable places Richard lived were Mexico, Germany, Eastern Europe, North Africa, Bangkok, Thailand, Southeast Asia, and Cuba; he's hoping to visit Turkey soon. He loves countries with deep cultures, histories, customs, and art.

Richard has found a lot of his inspiration in the muralism, street culture, expressionism, and epic themes of Mexico. Back in BC, he truly felt the electric street culture that he fell in love with abroad and has been working and painting murals all over the DTES since. In 1977, he and a friend started painting a huge mural at SFU Burnaby, lasted 20 years. In 1979, he started the Summer City Street Mural, a process that began in a studio on Powell Street. He later installed the mural in the Pitt International Gallery, followed by the Carnegie Community Center.

Alongside his mural art, Richard ran a portrait drawing class for over a decade while also teaching about murals in the school system. One day Richard created Walls Of Change, a huge project that took six months and slowly became an ‘impromptu’ interactive-performance mural with multiple locations. All planned out ahead of time, it was painted with the help of community members; empowering and helped them express themselves. Richard and his partner, Esther Rausenberg, also founded the Creative Cultural Collaboration Society (C3), doing artist collabs and teaching about mural wood printing. They also founded the East Side Culture Crawl! In his free time, Richard has a dog, loves travelling, swimming, and kayaking!

In this years Festival, join us on October 30 at Carnegie Community Centre for the unveiling of Summer City Street Mural and check out Richard’s work Richard Tetrault

10/22/2026

The folk opera, Spirit Voices, is a work in progress telling the story of intergenerational trauma spanning five generations.

| Saturday November 7
| Ukranian Hall (805 E Pender St)
| 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
| Free Admission

The story is triggered by the death of the first three children of Anna Yarecky, a Ukrainian immigrant who arrived in Canada in 1909. She went on to have 10 more children and survived great hardship and harsh conditions. Her granddaughter comes to realize many years later that her grandmother’s trauma is the source of her chronic illness, and with this realization comes the possibility of release and healing for her entire lineage. This work is an exploration and meeting ground for this healing.

For more details and free tickets, visit the HOTCF Event Ticket below and save this post to come back to later!

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/spirit-voices-tickets-2002390913124?aff=ebdsshcopyurl&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-source=cp&utm-term=listing

10/21/2026

"Finn and the Salmon of Knowledge" is chapter four of "Finn the Fish Boy," an ongoing story of resilience, disability, identity, and belonging, following a journey down the Fraser River that reflects the life journey of Indigenous storyteller Stephen Lytton, a Nlaka’pamux man from Lytton, BC, and Elder.

| Saturday October 31
| Carnegie Community Centre Theatre (401 Main)
| 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
| Free Admission

Created collaboratively by Stephen and Irish artist and storyteller Deirdre Keohane, the work brings Indigenous and Irish perspectives together. Inspired by the ancient Irish tale, "The Salmon of Knowledge, the story explores how knowledge can be carried through land, water, memory, and community. Together, the artists explore what happens when stories cross cultures and become a shared journey.

For more details visit heartofthecityfestival.com and save this post to come back to later!

Address

250-111 West Hastings
Vancouver, BC
V6B1H4

Website

http://www.heartofthecityfestival.com/, https://linktr.ee/hotcf

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