Photo via Heart of the City Festival / Facebook
Vancouver’s Heart of the City Festival is a time-honoured fall tradition that celebrates local art, artists, and community in the Downtown Eastside. Now in its 22nd year, the festival brings together neighbours and visitors alike for a chance to explore the community’s stories, culture, and heritage through over 100 events across 40 local venues. This includes intimate concerts, poetry readings, art talks, history walks, dance performances, gallery exhibits, and so much more.
This year’s theme is Dignity in Community, which organizers say honours “the everyday and extraordinary ways people care for each other, resist displacement, and make space to belong.”
By reflecting on what it means to “live with dignity,” the festival aims to foster community strength, creativity, and connection.
Looking for a taste of what’s to come? Festival organizers have already doled out a ton of highlights.
For one, Gerardo Avila’s latest theatrical performance features shadow puppetry, storytelling, comedy, dance, and music in a production entitled Spirit Encounters.
SHELTER is a new community-engaged art show featuring striking visual reflections on housing and homelessness by thirty marginalized, culturally and socially diverse DTES artists. The project is led by Gunargie Ga’axstasalas O’Sullivan and produced by Radix Theatre in partnership with the festival.
Other highlights include an Indigenous Cultural Exhibition hosted by Two-Spirit Grass Dancer Larissa Healey and Powwow Dancer Pavel Desjarlais, Jonathan Paterson’s award-winning comedy How I Met My Mother, and much more.
So mark your calendars and stay tuned for more festival details as they come, including ticket info for individual events.
When: Oct. 31 to Nov. 8, 2025
Time: Various times
Where: Various locations throughout the Downtown Eastside
Cost: Free and ticketed events
Recent Posts:
The ocean’s ‘sparkly glow’: Here’s where to witness bioluminescence in B.C.
The Aritzia Warehouse Sale is coming up in Vancouver and you can shop up to 90% off
Symphony in the Park is a time-honoured summer tradition in Burnaby, transforming Deer Lake Park…
A Retro Silent Disco is taking over The Hangar Flight Museum in Calgary for a…
Rooftop yoga is coming to downtown Calgary this July, and it might just be the…
With the weather warming up and the sun in the sky, summer is the perfect…
It's beautiful!
Looking for weekend plans in Edmonton? You've come to the right place! As we head…