Vines Art Festival unveils free programming set to transform Vancouver parks into open-air stages, August 5 to 15
With live music, drag, dance, art installations, and much more, this year's event explores transformation through performances in conversation with their surroundings
Left, drag artist Bongganisa; right, Jarah Dobbs (photo by Sheng Ho)
DRAG, DANCE, live music, spoken-word, hands-on workshops, and more will animate parks across Vancouver from August 5 to 15, with Vines Art Festival announcing the programming for it multifaceted free outdoor event.
Under the theme “What Does the Spirit of the Setting Sun Say?”, this year’s festival explores transformation through performances that unfold in conversation with their surroundings. Workshops and installations invite audiences to enjoy summer evenings in unexpected ways. No two festival days look quite the same. Each park plays host to a different mix of artists, performances, and participatory experiences, allowing audiences to move from ritual to rave, poetry to powwow dance, and circus to community workshops over the course of 11 days
Opening night on August 5 at Second Beach provides live music, dance, installations, and interactive experiences carrying the evening from daylight into night. A Bharatanatyam invocation moves from quiet ritual into vibrant celebration, while Sierra Tasi Baker (K̓esugwilakw) combines dance, Indigenous storytelling, and environmental design into a single performance. The evening also features Roots of Echoes, Moments of Silence, where Jarah Dobbs and Iris Houngbo blend electronic music, experimental sound, and live performance into a work that explores life's uncertainties from an unexpected perspective.
The following evening, Go Freely, August 6 at Pandora Park, shifts between spoken-word, circus, theatre, and music. Interdisciplinary circus artist Kasha Konaka brings her contortion practice to the park, while singer and songwriter Sunny Daydream Chen blends alternative electronic pop in English and Mandarin with music inspired by hope, healing, and belonging. Throughout the evening, workshops encourage audiences to move beyond watching and become part of the experience.
On the evening of August 7, head to Dude Chilling Park for explorations of music, rhythm, and movement, with featured artists Leo D.E. Johnson, Ricardo, and D Fretter.
On August 8, Honouring the Children moves toward remembrance and celebration, bringing people together through powwow dance sharings, songs on the Big Drum, crafts, and family-friendly activities. The event honours Residential School Survivors and remembers the children who never came home. It also celebrates the young people carrying those stories and traditions into the future.
Pure Hearted Junction hits Ḵ’emḵ’emel̓áy̓/Oppenheimer Park at 6 pm August 12, with TJ Felix, Nova Charles, Makeda Martin. Think poetry, song, Chinese Elders Dance, and multidisciplinary work by Chloé Chua.
Later in the festival on August 13, We—Are—Everything will transform Sunset Beach into a world of drag, performance, and self-expression. Alongside theatre and live music, drag artists Bongganisa and KINGCHELLA blur the boundaries between performer and audience. Genre-bending queer Filipinx artist Kimmortal rounds out the evening with a blend of rap and singing that explores healing, grief, and community.
Land Testimonies, August 14, 6 pm, at Grandview Park centres around lived testimonies, with work by the likes of Hayley Wallis, Takaiya Blaney, and Nova Wolf.
It all culminates with Elemental Nourishment on August 15, starting at 1 pm at Trout Lake Park, the all-day outdoor ceremony that fills the park, featuring such artists as Sam Chimes, Siobhan Barker, Kelly McInnes, and Ashley Chodat.
Linking the free offerings is Vines's strong emphasis on land, water, and relational justice. For times, a full list of artists, and more details, head to the Vines website at the link here. 
Sunny Daydream Chen.
Leo D.E. Johnson
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