Vancouver Mural Festival announces plans for more than 60 new public artworks, including major projects at Cathedral Square, Strathcona, and Punjabi market

Event unveils programming for August 4 to 22, including 40 live open-air performances

Mural by Jocelyn Wong. Photo by Mavreen David.

SIXTY NEW MURALS and 40 live outdoor performances were announced by the Vancouver Mural Festival today.

Plans for its programming, August 4 to 22, include daily mural tours, in-person and online public talks, and over 40 live performances at an open-air, pop-up patio in Mount Pleasant.

Community projects include Punjabi Market: Murals In The Market, storytelling and discussion around racism and discrimination through public art by local BIPOC artists; the Black Strathcona Resurgence Project, in which Black artists, curators, businesses and communities to embark on a multi-year project centring on Black storytelling through public murals; and Blanketing The City IV: Cathedral Square, a major semi-permanent public-art collaboration on seven landmark murals by weavers from the three local nations, xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səl’ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh).

Meanwhile, the VMF Pop-Up Patio, will serve as a licensed, outdoor venue featuring 40-plus live shows over three weeks. Its lineup includes live music, drag, burlesque, and graffiti jams. Details on the performances and tickets will be announced on July 7. You can find more info here.

Featured

Janet Smith

Janet Smith is founding partner and editorial director of Stir. She is an award-winning arts journalist who has spent more than two decades immersed in Vancouver’s dance, screen, design, theatre, music, opera, and gallery scenes. She sits on the Vancouver Film Critics’ Circle.

Articles

Astro Arts Festival celebrates the spirit of street art with new murals and a gallery show, August 7 to 9

Hosted by the Astro Club Artist facility, the event—now in its second year—continues to pick up where the Vancouver Mural Festival left off

At The Polygon, remarkable new exhibition connects Greg Girard’s images from across the decades, and across the Pacific

In Greg Girard: Photographs 1972–2026, Vancouver artist’s well-known nighttime hideaways and cityscapes share space with his affecting, lesser-known shots of urban dwellers

Labour dispute at Centre A sparks lockout and public rally

Negotiations reached an impasse in recent weeks and illustrate challenges facing small artistic nonprofit workplaces

Dona Nabata highlights Japanese-Canadian history at VisualSpace Gallery, July 18 to 25

The local artist’s new exhibition is based on a collection of photographs of Japanese Canadians taken in the years before the Second World War

Keerat Kaur brings a season of gathering to Surrey Art Gallery with If Gardens Could Dream

Vivid painting, sculpture, digital media, embroidery, poetry, and architectural forms examine generational ties within the South Asian diaspora

Eastside Arts Festival expands, opening the studio doors and public spaces of Vancouver’s arts scene

Marking its sixth year, the celebration brings communities together with more walking tours and hands-on workshops, from indigo dyeing to plein air drawing

Becoming: The Art of Gu Xiong is now on view at the Museum of Vancouver

Open until February 2027, the exhibition celebrates the Chinese-Canadian artist’s life and work, connecting personal memory and histories of migration

Stir Cheat Sheet: Beach concerts to artisan market, 5 happenings to hit at Harrison Festival of the Arts

Hawksley Workman, plus mesmerizing cultural melds from El Balcón, Benin International Musical, and more

Keerat Kaur's If Gardens Could Dream celebrates lush language and nature at Surrey Art Gallery, July 4 to August 30

Solo exhibition spans painting, sculpture, digital media, embroidery, poetry, and architectural forms

Stir Cheat Sheet: 5 design-minded happenings to catch at West Coast Modern Week

From walking tours through upper Ambleside’s Modernist landmarks to a screening about an unsung mid-century design maverick at Kay Meek Arts Centre, architectural celebrations abound