From a community that knows daily heartbreak and injustice, we rise with creativity and love that can never be taken. We're grateful to gather in celebration and feast on what endures — a vibrant, powerful hub of culture and self-determination. Together, we share food, song, and dance to honour the deep love that lives here every day in the Downtown Eastside.
In partnership with DTES Small Arts Grants
Featuring
MC
Corvin Mack
6:10PM-6:20PM : Opening
6:20PM - 6:30PM : Michelle Kwan - Chinese Harp // Tradition Goes Electric
Michelle Kwan is a guzheng artist based in Vancouver, Canada, known for blending the traditional Chinese harp with modern sounds to create a style that’s uniquely her own. Classically trained from a young age, Michelle draws from both her Chinese heritage and her love for Western pop and rock music, crafting a genre-crossing sound that resonates across cultures.
6:35PM - 6:55PM: PRNCSS Shulamite - Ascension
PRNCSS Shulamite is a trailblazing artist whose music reflects the richness of their Irish, South African, and Canadian influences. A lesbian, non-binary creative who proudly uses she/they pronouns, Shulamite’s artistry is deeply rooted in her vibrant, multicultural experiences. Her sound defies conventions, blending soul-stirring melodies, intricate rap flows, and vivid storytelling inspired by icons like Michael Jackson and Beyonce. They effortlessly bridge genres and cultures, delivering performances that are as transformative as they are captivating.
7:00PM - 7:25PM: Deborah Charlie and Rianne Svelnis
Deborah Charlie and Rianne Svelnis have been dancing together for the last 5 years through All Bodies Carnegie Group and Karen Jamieson's Carnegie Dance Troupe. Deborah is an accomplished Indigenous actor and dancer who made her debut as an emerging choreographer with “Deer Dance”, which premiered at the Emerge showcase as part of the Downtown Eastside Arts Grant. Deer Dance was featured as part of the Vines Festival, Outsider’s Festival and the Heart of the City Festival in 2024. Rianne is a dance artist, teacher and community facilitator, and has created new choreographic works in collaboration with the Carnegie All Bodies Group for Vines 2023, as well as with Kelly McInnes, Areli Moran, Andrea Cownden, Ziyian Kwan and Zahra Shahab.
7:30PM - 7:50PM: Gabi Tome
Gabi Tomé presents a 20-minute solo performance blending electric guitar, improvisation, and performative gesture. Rooted in free jazz and expanded through clown, theatre, and live-coded visuals (Hydra), her work is spontaneous and immersive. Drawing from her background in jazz and her explorations in physical performance, Gabi creates a raw, ephemeral experience where sound and movement meet in real time.
7:55PM - 8:15PM: DANI YOUR DARLING
DANI YOUR DARLING, utilizes mediums including writing, photography, painting, producing, poetry, illustration, digital art, singing, songwriting, and creative directing. Their intuitive artistic and curatorial practice is informed by their background in community organizing, exploring narratives surrounding Afro-pessimism, Afro-futurism, abolition, Black queerness, the mundane, disability justice, diasporic return, Land Back situated in the African continent, and their relationship with the Downtown Eastside.
COLLABORATORS: Cathy Schultes aka Kitty Prozac on guitar Ethan Darlington on keys Jay Ballack on drums
8:20pm - 8:40pm: Kassandra Lea & Mozaico Flamenco Performance - Flamenco dim sum
"Flamenco dim sum" is an exuberant and truly Vancouver phenomenon - for where else would you expect to see Chinese-Canadian flamenco dancers with percussive footwork, featuring traditional flamenco song yet referencing Chinese silk embroidery and Kung Fu fans? It may sound crazy bringing the two wildly disparate cultures of passionate Spanish flamenco with formal aesthetics of Chinese culture but "Flamenco Dim Sum" succeeds in bringing these forces together in perfect harmony. "Flamenco Dim Sum" is a triumph to behold and has been met with great enthusiasm all through Vancouver! We will be featuring the poetic song "La Tarara" penned by flamenco's greatest poet, Federico García Lorca, danced by Kasandra "La China" with the silk shawl, Manton de Manila. Cyrena "La Sirena" recites 16th century Tang Dynasty poetry in Mandarin before dancing one of flamenco's deep profound songs, Tientos.
Performers: Kasandra "La China", flamenco dancer, singer, Cyrena "La Sirena, flamenco singer, dancer, cellist, Peter Mole, flamenco guitarist
8:45PM - 9:05PM: Rey Rey
MARCELLA J VILACA - land and labour
Land and labour is a large canvas that celebrates the joy and collective power of food: local, diverse, native, and shared.
MONICA CHEEMA - No Past To Long For
Myth and memory intertwine as we trace what remains of Paldi, a logging community founded by Punjabi immigrants in the old-growth forests of Vancouver Island. Situated on unceded Cowichan territory near Duncan, B.C., the town has been memorialized and celebrated as a kind of multicultural utopia, concealing its long history of resource extraction. A closer look at the archives asks us to reconsider what is remembered and what is forgotten.
REGGIE K - Post It Portraits
Reggie will be drawing you! Please come up and ask and I'll be happy to draw. I use a Pentel ink brush to draw black linework images of individuals, with a signature round cheek - because everyone has cute cheeks :)
LUPO - Legacy
JOHN WALKUS GREEN
MANUEL AXEL STRAIN
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