Articles — Stir

Onibana Taiko pumps Japanese tradition full of riot grrrl aesthetics at the Powell Street Festival

Taiko artists Noriko Kobayashi and E. Kage reflect on punk-rock roots and gender expression

FESTS, CULTURE, MUSICJanet SmithJuly 23, 2025Powell Street Festival, Summer 2025, taiko, Onibana Taiko

For soprano Magali Simard-Galdès, early music performance and sustainability work go hand in hand

Early Music Vancouver Summer Festival’s artist-in-residence interprets Bach, Schubert, and Mozart—and hosts a panel on how to bring environmentally sound practices to performing arts

Elektra unveils 2025-26 season led by new artistic director Cassie Luftspring

Offerings include a Christmas concert with emerging artists, a climate change–centred program, and the triennial Tapestry International Festival

MUSICJanet SmithJuly 23, 2025Elektra, ELEKTRA, Elektra Women's Choir

Des jours meilleurs takes women in rehab on the drive of their lives, at Alliance Française on July 23

Copresented with Visions Ouest, new comedy mixes unvarnished look at alcoholism with desert adventure

SCREENJanet SmithJuly 22, 2025Visions Ouest, VISIONS OUEST, Alliance Francaise, Summer 2025

Alexander Weimann plays “O Canada”–infused piano classics in True North Variations, July 27

Early Music Vancouver Summer Festival concert coincides with the release of a new CD

Vancouver City Council motion calls for “urgent investment” in local arts and culture sector

In the motion set for July 23, recommendations to address funding and space shortfalls include setting a $40,000 minimum for operating grants and establishing a Festivals Vancouver Fund

NEWS, CULTUREJanet SmithJuly 21, 2025Vancouver City Council, arts funding

Vancouver Bach Family of Choirs announces 95th season, opening with a Phantom of the Opera silent-movie score

Among the other highlights are the annual Christmas With the Bach Choir, Behind the Keys, and SpringSong

MUSICJanet SmithJuly 21, 2025Vancouver Bach Family of Choirs, Vancouver Bach Choir

Stir Cheat Sheet: 5 acts to get you moving at the Mission Folk Music Festival

Tio Chorinho and Flávia Nascimento’s vibrant Brazilian rhythms, Shpilkis’s brass-driven klezmer, Julian Taylor’s soulful voice, and more

Season 2 of Killjoy Comedy subverts the status quo with laughs, starting July 25

Created by Vancouver’s Shana Myara, docuseries available for streaming on OUTtv.com highlights racialized and queer comedians

SCREEN, COMEDY, WHAT'S STIRRINGJanet SmithJuly 18, 2025Killjoy Comedy, Summer 2025

To a Land Unknown takes a timely look at what happens when people have nothing left to lose, at VIFF Centre from July 18 to 24

Filmmaker Mahdi Fleifel’s compelling portrait of two Palestinian refugees trying to escape hardscrabble limbo in an unrecognizable Athens

SCREEN, WHAT'S STIRRINGJanet SmithJuly 17, 2025VIFF, VIFF Centre

Stir Cheat Sheet: 5 happenings to check out at the Eastside Arts Festival’s all-day MacLean Park party

From an indie garage-pop concert by Twin River to a plant pot–decorating workshop, here are just a few of the free offerings in store

Theatre review: Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised] [again] takes pleasingly panicked tour of the Bard’s canon

As if haunted by centuries of hits and flops, the three figures in this Bard on the Beach comedy take jabs at the self-consciousness and shaky footing of being an actor

THEATRE, FESTSJanet SmithJuly 17, 2025Bard on the Beach, Summer 2025

Manuel Axel Strain joins Vines Art Society as co-artistic director

Indigenous multidisciplinary artist will share responsibilities with founding artistic director Heather Lamoureux

NEWS, FESTSJanet SmithJuly 16, 2025Vines Art Festival, Vines Art Society

Ry Jackson and Reed Jackson connect to their roots in Stump, as part of All Over the Map series

Presented by New Works, the dance piece will draw inspiration from natural surroundings on Granville Island

DANCEJanet SmithJuly 16, 2025New Works, All Over the Map, Ry Jackson, Reed Jackson, Summer 2025

Ahead of Eastside Arts Festival, Young Friend talks indie evolution and touring Canada

Vancouver-based Drew Tarves takes his music out of the bedroom and across the country

MUSIC, FESTSJanet SmithJuly 16, 2025Eastside Arts Festival, Young Friend, Summer 2025

Carousel Theatre for Young People unveils 49th season that spans Where the Wild Things Are, an all-new Family Forward Festival, and more

Lineup also includes an offering from South Korea, an adaptation of The Paper Bag Princess, and a family-friendly drag show

Theatre review: Sparks fly between brilliant equals in Bard on the Beach’s The Dark Lady

Poetic flourishes and strong characterizations bring compelling charge to imagined story of Shakespeare and the woman who inspired and challenged him

THEATREJanet SmithJuly 15, 2025Bard on the Beach, Summer 2025, Homepage feature

Co.ERASGA, Action at a Distance, Plastic Orchid Factory, and more as Dance Centre unveils a 2025-26 season with local names

Offerings also include world premieres from Corporeal Imago and FakeKnot, plus Ame Henderson + Matija Ferlin’s Show Gone

Pacific Theatre announces fall-only season before leaving historic venue in new year

Comedy with Charlie Demers and Jacob Samuel and a remount of Wakey, Wakey are some of the offerings onstage before renovations and a time of internal review in 2026

THEATREJanet SmithJuly 15, 2025Pacific Theatre