The Downtown Eastside Small Arts Grant program, funded by Vancouver Foundation and in partnership with Carnegie Community Centre, gives artists of all disciplines in the Downtown Eastside the opportunity to advance their careers by expanding and showcasing their work. We partner with the DTES SAG and provided support through application writing, distributing funds, as well as holding workshops on Social Media Basics, Invoices & Contracts, and Bios & Headshots.
Workshop series and Conversations that provide foundational and introductory training for careers in the arts. As our sector begins to bloom with queer, disabled, and BIPOC artists, we look to find more intentional ways of holding our environments and training our communities to take up space in performing arts—specifically, in various roles in production and creative teams.
Workshops throughout the years which invite Elders and knowledge keepers to lead workshops on plant medicine, Indigenous practices, dance, and storytelling. These sessions emphasize intergenerational learning, cultural revitalization, and the integration of ancestral knowledge into creative practice. These workshops honour the strength, courage, and beauty of Elders, recognizing them as part of a long lineage of ancestors who have carried forward essential teachings and medicines. Workshops have included: Cedar Weaving, Water Ceremonies, Dancing from the Village, Intro to Ayurveda and more!
A training program for emerging creatives of all experiences and all artistic practice to explore their relationship to community and the systems that hold us up and hold us back. A weekly summer program that is a collaborative, artist-facilitated space to create performance/installation pieces that are featured at the Annual Vines Art Festival. This free, multi-week program includes a variety of art practice workshops and a dedicated team of mentors.
A chance to explore your artistic process and revel in the spirit of play in the Vines Youth Program! Over the course of eight weeks we will explore different avenues into storytelling and creation. From oral storytelling, to the written word, collaborative creation, and music and poetry, participants will root themselves in value based creation, ground in communal practice, and align their hearts with the magic of imagination and play. Rooted in futurisms and the revolutions of the everyday, participants will leave with a deeper understanding of their work, practice, and the power of the worlds they create.
Three one week courses that build foundations for careers in the arts. Participants learned the basic tools that can be applied to concerts, fundraisers, celebrations, poetry shows and more.
This workshop is for folks who are artists and need support/ have questions about filing taxes! We answered questions like: How much should I save for my income tax bill? Do I need a GST number? How to claim personal expenses?
This workshop is for folks who are new to grant writing and those who face systemic barriers entering the grant writing system. Focusing on setting up Canada Council portals. Discussing grants and deadlines, what you need to begin grant writing.
A collaboration with Arts BC, and the Vines and PLEO Societyl. PALC an in-depth web resource with questions and answers on a variety of legal and contractual issues faced by performing artists. Resources and limited legal advice were provided.
During this dialogue, Audrey Siegl, S F Ho and melannie monorecos shared how supplements and supports are fail people with Disabilities and how institutional bureaucracy is endangering more lives than saving them. There is so much to do as this isn’t the only barrier, the larger community has and still remains apathetic and nonresponsive to community members with Disabilities, this dialogue gave us a chance to unpack and witness these perspectives and honour the labour happening before us.
In Partnership with Kiwassa we discussed traditional plant medicine from different cultures! Senaqwila Wyss shared her knowledge on ethnobotany and Indigenous plant medicines from a Squamish Cultural perspective. Rosy Wang will chat about traditional Chinese medicine, particularly herbs, on how to balance the body, mind, and spirit to restore qi and good health.