Event Listings

Vancouver 125 Redress Series


Date: May 22 to November 27, 2011
Location: W2 Community Media Arts
Website: www.creativetechnology.org

W2′s Vancouver 125 Redress Series challenges the readiness of Vancouver to live with cultural harmony when for decades systemic barriers to citizenship have barred immigrants from calling Vancouver home. The program kicked off with the Komagata Maru anniversary in May, continues with A Time for Change (Woodward’s Atrium, June 17 – July 1), a photographic record of South Asian migrant farmworkers who pick our food but do not have equal rights to working conditions. Later this year W2 presents artists working on Japanese internment issues, and presents First Nations filmmakers during the November Vancouver Indigenous Media Arts Festival.

Upcoming Redress Event
Saturday, Nov 12, 2pm | W2 Media Cafe – 111 W Hastings | By Donation

Vancouver 125 Panel & Screenings: Loretta Todd on NDN portrayal in mainstream media and representation throughout Vancouver’s 125 years. This event is part of the W2 Vancouver 125 Redress Series with short films screening: Siwash Rock, Dead Ground, The Last Family, Encroaching Vancouver, Oppenheimer Park and A Proud Lineage.

Earlier this year, at the VIMAF Kickstarter event, W2 and VIMAF screened Reel Injun examining how Indigenous People’s of Turtle Island are portrayed by Hollywood, now with this event, we go hyperlocal on the West Coast on the Unceded Coast Salish Peoples’ Territories.

W2′s mandate includes crosscultural dialogue and redress and therefore the W2/VIMAF rebuild a West Coast indigenous media arts festival, and this panel discussion specifically, is an appropriate use of funding from the City’s 125 grants program. W2 Board member, Sid Tan, a veteran of the Chinese Head Tax Redress movement and a community TV activist will join the discussion. Loretta Todd (Metis/Cree) is an award-winning director, writer and producer. She is a commanding presence known for her powerful, visual storytelling, the highest production standards and professional demeanor.

With support from the City of Vancouver’s 125th Anniversary Grants Program and the participation of the Government of Canada.

Kingsway Project


Date: Project creation: September – December, 2011; project exhibition: December 8, 2011– March 31, 2012. Gallery hours: Tuesday – Friday from 9am – 5pm. Opening: December 8, 2011, 10:30am to 1:00pm
Location: Sir Guy Carleton and Charles Dickens elementary schools. Exhibition at ArtStarts Gallery, 808 Richards Street.
Website: http://artstarts.com/gallery

ArtStarts and professional photographer and media artist Anne Marie Slater bring the history of the Kingsway corridor alive for 120 grade 3 to 7 students at two Kingsway area schools, Sir Guy Carleton and Charles Dickens Elementary. Through urban interpretive walks, archival research, fieldwork and photo sessions, students work with the artist to thoughtfully connect their personal experiences to the rich and important history of the Kingsway corridor. The residency project culminates in a photo-installation exhibition at the ArtStarts gallery in downtown Vancouver, featuring the artwork created by the students in collaboration with the artist.

With support from the City of Vancouver’s 125th Anniversary Grants Program and the participation of the Government of Canada.

Digitizing Major Matthews’ Early Vancouver


Date: Throughout 2011; special event on May 29, 2011
Location: Vancouver Archives
Website: vancouver.ca/archives

Early Vancouver is a popular seven-volume work by Vancouver’s first City Archivist, Major James Skitt Matthews that outlines Vancouver’s early history—before and after incorporation. In collaboration with the Vancouver Historical Society, the Vancouver Archives will produce an online keyword-searchable edition of the entire work and celebrate the launch with a public event.

In celebration of Vancouver’s 125th birthday, and in partnership with the Vancouver Historical Society, the City of Vancouver Archives is pleased to announce the completion of a new online version of Major Matthews’ seven-volume Early Vancouver.

Please join us and author Lee Henderson at the City Archives on Sunday, May 29th from 2:00 PM to 4:30 PM to help us officially launch this new edition of Major Matthews’ work on the early history of Vancouver, one of the most popular resources in the Archives’ holdings.

For further information and to register for this free event, please visit http://earlyvancouver.eventbrite.com

Major Matthews’ Early Vancouver:
Written between 1931 and 1956, the seven-volume Early Vancouver represents years of arduous labour by Vancouver’s first City Archivist, Major James Skitt Matthews. For years, this popular resource documenting Vancouver’s early history was available only in hard copy in the Archives’ Reading Room. It is now available online, as a new, fully searchable 2011 edition: visit the digitized version Major Matthews’ Early Vancouver.