Stir Cheat Sheet: 5 events you won’t want to miss during the 12th annual Vines Art Festival

Live music, contemporary dance, drag performances, storytelling, circus arts, and a whole lot more hit Vancouver’s parks and beaches

By John Lucas

(Left to right) Bongganisa; Sunny Daydream Chen

VINES ART FESTIVAL IS about a lot of things. It’s about getting up from whatever screen you’re currently a slave to and touching grass—or sand, or a tree, or a stone—at one of Vancouver’s many beautiful parks and beaches.

It’s about considering what we can give back, and how we can honour the forests and waterways we so often take for granted, and also the Indigenous peoples who were their stewards for so long before everyone else settled on these shores.

And the Vines Art Festival is also about celebrating local creative people of many backgrounds and disciplines, who will be showcasing their talents at a number of events in Vancouver parks from August 5 to 15.

Here’s where and when some of the can’t-miss performances will be taking place. See the Vines Art Society website for the full schedule.

DJ Rita Spirit

#1

Go Freely

August 6 at 6 pm in Pandora Park

Vines is billing this one as “a gathering that embraces the uncertainty of becoming”. We’re not entirely sure we know what that means, but we can tell you that Go Freely puts the spotlight on a diverse range of artists, including Nigerian-Canadian storyteller Kimberly Ihekwoaba, interdisciplinary circus artist and performer Kasha Konaka, 18-year-old singer-songwriter Rowan Cyr, alternative/electronic pop artist Sunny Daydream Chen, and Ukrainian-born DJ Rita Spirit.

Gold Mynd

#2

Golden Rhythms

August 7 at 6 pm in Dude Chilling (Guelph) Park

Now, here’s a description we understand fully: “an evening of soulful melodies and joyful expression.” Those very welcome things come courtesy of spoken word artist and comedian D Fretter, Jamaican-born reggae artist Gold Mynd, hip-hop artist Adam Darko, soul and gospel vocalist Morning Star Trickey, singer-guitarist Leo D. E. Johnson, and Mozambique-born artist and composer Ricardo.

Chloé Chua

#3

Pure Hearted Junction

August 12 at 6 pm in q̓əmq̓émələɬp | Ḵ’emḵ’emel̓áy̓ | Oppenheimer Park

At Oppenheimer Park in the heart of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, this celebration of community and resilience includes Chinese–French Canadian multidisciplinary artist Chloé Chua, Secwépemc 2-Spirit artist and musician TJ Felix, and punk rock band the Heterosexuals.

Kimmortal

#4

We—Are—Everything

August 13 at 6 pm at Sunset Beach

A celebration of drag culture and nonbinary performers, including hyperpop artist Rooms; choreographer-dancer Nathan Coburn; drag artists Bongganisa, Maiden China, and Kingchella; genre-bending musical explorer Kimmortal; and DJ-producer AKAsublime.

20love

#5

Closing Ceremony

August 15 at 1 pm in Trout Lake (John Hendry) Park

The 2026 edition of Vines comes to a close with an interactive live looping performance by Sam Chimes, Indian classical dance by Sudhesna Mohapatra, experimental R&B from Alexia Acuña, contemporary dance by Barbara Wilson, and folk songs by the singer-songwriter duo 20love.  

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