Heart of the City Festival

08/25/2026

Artist Spotlight: Jim Sands 🎤📖🤡

Jim Sands is a storyteller, musician, poet, singer and an outstanding member of the DTES community. Jim was raised in Calgary and studied journalism at Carlton University. Ending up in Vancouver, studying communications at SFU and continuing in DTES community development. He’s worked with many non-profits: BC Coalition of People with Disabilities, the 411 Senior Center and SPARK BC. Art was always something Jim did in life but it truly took off in 2011 with his first Fringe show and cross-Canada tour. Including 6 fringe festivals & 100 performances of his show. In 2004 he heard about VMTs Heart Of The City Community Play and got involved as a musician. Since then Jim has been a part of shows in the DTES, VMT, Fringe & across Canada! His favourite performances are the clown shows, finding the characters impactful, creating a meaningful backstory for his own German child character. He is also seasonally Santa Clause! Jim prefers to take an interdisciplinary approach in art. Experimenting and interlacing new forms of storytelling and music and bringing in various elements that inspire him. Inspired by The Bruce Springsteen Well, Utah Phillips and Jan Arden. Jim’s favourite poet is also William Stafford, teaching Jim to lower his standards and to wait for, see and pull on threads. He also resonates with the “The Moth” storytelling organization model: It has to be true, it has to be about you and it has to be under 7 minutes. As a DTES artist he hopes his art brings sharing and connection. Hoping to resonate with people so they can resonate with others and discover within themselves. Connecting with this year’s theme of ‘Belonging’, “..everybody has the right to belong somewhere…the magic of [HOTCF] and the other artist activities, makes it a place where people can feel at home and can be…who they are.” Jim’s words to young artists are to “just do it”. When an opportunity or thread presents, do it. Whether it will work or not, dive in and try. Keep things in motion and keep moving forward.

Jim will be holding a sharing circle and something musical as events in this year’s festival! Follow along with his amazing art and performances!

08/21/2026

Join us tomorrow at the Heart Of The City Festival Summer Karaoke! Free Dinner! Great songs and lots of fun! Everyone is welcome, the more the merrier 🎤🎶🌭

Friday August 21st | 5pm - 8pm
@ 30 W Hastings St (Culture Saves Lives)

08/18/2026

Sign-up to the DTES Heart of the City Newsletter! Stay updated on community events, festival updates, music, poetry, local artists, theatre, ceremonies, films, dance, readings, forums, workshops, discussions, gallery exhibits, performances, art talks, history walks, and so much more!

As the festival approaches, we want to stay in touch! Subscribe Below!

For twenty-three years, the Heart of the City Festival has been grounded in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and focused on listening and learning from the community’s cultural practices. The Festival works with, for, and about the Downtown Eastside community to carry forward our community’s stor...

08/18/2026

Reminder that the HOTCF 2026 Writers Contest deadline is almost closed!

The deadline is August 31st! Get your submissions in quick!

This year’s festival theme is Belonging!

Heart Of The City Festival is hosting a writing contest! Submit a 1 pager, poem, writing blurb, newsletter column, short story, etc. about this years theme of Belonging!

The winning submission will receive a monetary honorarium, their writing piece in the HOTCF 2026 Program Guide and will get the chance to read their piece at the beginning of the Festival Opening Ceremony on October 31st! (If comfortable with it)

Send submissions to [email protected]

Please Keep submissions to approximately 1 page (Submissions that stay within the page limit will be prioritized for selection)

Submissions deadline is August 31.

08/11/2026

Artist Spotlight: Sean McGarragle! 🎤🦄

Sean McGarragle is a teacher, organizer, artist, curator & writer. He has been working in the DTES for 15 years and has enjoyed bringing smiles to people's faces since 2000. Sean & his friends run Death Rides A Unicorn, a literary & spoken word non-profit. Focusing on silly and fun, literature and spoken word shows. During his first teaching gig, Sean began working with MPA Society’s modular housing project. While teaching, working with MPA & COVID, Sean found himself looking for shows to go to, comedy that didn't bring people down. Finding that most comedies made fun of homeless people, people with addictions, the trans community; people in his communities that he loved and appreciated. To find the balance of comedy and uplifting others he decided to create Death Rides A Unicorn, with Andrew Sutherland, the Unicorn! Beginning with 1 to 2 shows a year they've expanded to 25 shows this year! They wanted to make sure they had fun, doing it for the love of the game. A number of communities ranging in age, gender, background, religions & economics have embraced these shows. The root of Death Rides A Unicorn is our DNA as a human species. No matter where we come from, poetry surrounds us, speaking truth to power and giving people a little bit of decadence. At all of their shows they give out chocolate, a little gesture that brings people lots of joy. Their shows are open for everyone, contribute where you can and no worries if you can’t. Outside of work Sean plays softball with his partner & friends, enjoying second base & catching the most. He’s also been walking around in lots of different neighborhoods, playing chess on Saturdays and enjoys curling with poets on Sundays in the winter! Sean promotes hope, “Hope is the ring that marries us to this world. All we have to do is open our eyes”. It's important we don't lose hope despite powers that see fear as more important than love. He continues to share a little bit of hope with those going through a tough time and help others the way people have helped him in his own life.

Check out Sean's shows! Follow him on social media, or email him! All can be found at deathriseunicorn.com

07/28/2026

This month we sent out our Heart Of The City Festival Newsletter! Filled with upcoming community events, festival updates and calls for ideas, volunteers, writers and any promotion that you may need! Starting August 1st we will be sending out 2+ newsletters a month, ramping up as the festival begins. We would love to keep you updated on events, DTES News and the Heart Of The City Festival! Join the Community!

Join the newsletter right here or through the link in our bio!!

https://mailchi.mp/ca1e1a9e7829/dtes-heart-of-the-city-festival-update-8339953

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Heart Of The City Writing Contest
Call For Writer Submissions: This year’s festival theme is Belonging! Heart Of The City Festival is hosting a writing contest! Submit a 1 pager, poem, writing blurb, newsletter column, short story, etc. about this years theme of Belonging!

The winning submission will receive a monetary honorarium, be included in the HOTCF 2026 Program Guide, and have the chance to read their piece at the Festival Opening Ceremony on October 30th!

Send submissions to [email protected], Please keep submissions to about one page to be prioritized for selection. Submissions deadline is August 31.
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Pigeon Park Artist In Residence: | July 14 - September 15 | Every Tuesday | 11AM - 1PM | Pigeon Park (399 Carrall St, Vancouver, BC V6B 2J4)
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Art In The Park 2026: July 9th - September 17th | Thursdays & Sundays | 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm | Keefer Place & Taylor St. Plaza
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Call For Donations: Supporting the 2026 Downtown Eastside (DTES) Heart of the City Festival directly empowers over 100 arts and culture events that celebrate the history, resilience, and creativity of the DTES community.
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Call For Festival Ideas: We want to know what you’re up to! We want to hear your vision for events that promote community, culture, and connection. Email your ideas to [email protected] and let’s build the Festival together!
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Call For Promotion: We want to know what events you’re holding and we’d love to promote them! We want our voice to be shaped by your input and activities! Reach out to us at [email protected] with your event or artist details!

07/23/2026

Be ready for our 2026 heart of the city festival.

Belonging is both a feeling and a practice.

It is the experience of being seen, heard, respected, and valued for who you are. It is knowing that your presence matters and that you have a meaningful role in the life of your community.

In the Downtown Eastside, belonging is built every day through relationships of care, mutual support, cultural exchange, creativity, and collective action. It exists in the grassroots networks that sustain one another, the stories we tell, the traditions we carry forward, and the spaces we create together.

Belonging asks us to move beyond acceptance toward connection. It invites us to recognize our interdependence and to honour the many identities, histories, and experiences that shape who we are. It reminds us that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity, compassion, and respect.

The 2026 Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival explores belonging through art, culture, dialogue, and celebration. Together, we gather to share stories, deepen relationships, and imagine communities where everyone has a place.

07/16/2026

There are many EMERGE events coming up from July 7-18. With DTES Small Arts Grants, Come out and support your fellow artists as they showcase their work! All these events are free and open to anyone to attend.

If you have any questions about accessibility to events, or the events themselves please let them know!

Check out their events website: https://vancouverfoundationsmallarts.ca/events/emerge-gallery-show-film-performances-market/

GALLERY SHOW OPENING:
Tuesday, July 7th
6pm-8pm
825 East Hastings

MARKET:
Saturday, July 11
Noon - 5pm
825 East Hastings

PERFORMANCE (Dance, Spoken Word, Music):
Thursday, July 16th
7pm - 9pm
149 West Hastings
2nd Floor SFU World Art Centre

FILM SCREENING:
Saturday, July 18th
1:00pm - 2:00pm
Doors @12:15
Tickets: EMERGE: Film Screening free tix

07/14/2026

Monthly Artist Spotlight: David Granirer 🎤

David Granirer is a stand-up comic with a background in counseling, he runs the award-winning program Stand Up For Mental Health™; alongside Vancouver's FMH Comedy Society. Teaching comedy to those with mental health conditions, to build confidence and fight public stigma. He began the program 22 years ago. David transforms his personal humour and story into stand-up comedy, taking things that we’ve been through and turning into something relatable and inspiring. Seeing comics in everyone that has a story to tell and using humour to help anyone work through a hard time. David aims to help others with their mental health and start hard conversations, with the message of empowerment and hope. David and Stand Up For Mental Health have worked with: corporations, government departments, universities, military, correctional facilities and the Heart Of The City Festival! Starting with a 3 month course and growing to a feature on CBC Voice Award winning documentary, Cracking Up. He has run the program in over 50 cities in Canada, the U.S. and Australia. David has Bipolar 2, growing up as a class clown and slowly losing that while navigating through depression and su***de. He later began seeing a help who guided him towards a medicine that made him feel like himself. Being that class clown again inspired him to do stand-up. (He is NOT pushing medicine onto anyone, this is simply what worked for him in his case). His first show started very slowly, growing to larger shows filled with friends, supporters and laughs that solidified his passion for stand-up comedy. He began teaching a stand-up comedy course at Langara College and from there he knew he wanted to change people's lives with stand-up for mental health. In the Downtown Eastside he features local artists to showcase the talent and role models in the DTES. To aid those with mental health and life struggles that lack the resources they need. Telling them to “keep doing what you're doing and don’t give up” , and to young artists, promote yourselves, put yourselves out there.

David is recruiting for their next class, July 21st. Learn More on his website! https://smhsociety.org

07/09/2026

This is an extract of Carnegie Newsletter (July 1st, 2026, page 2)
Shout out to Paul Taylor, for 40 years of volunteering to publish the Carnegie Newsletter
For 40 years, Paul Taylor has volunteered to publish the Carnegie Newsletter, and “35 years of the resource guide Help in the Downtown Eastside”
Paul’s work has given a platform for the DTES community to be heard. Thank you Paul Taylor for your contribution of four decades! The community is honoured to have you.
For full article and more details, please read the Carnegie Newsletter(July 1st, 2026) and subscribe to their newsletter for more DTES content!