Five reasons to check out Vancouver’s Eastside Arts Festival

MacLean Park is the setting for the Eastside Arts Festival Concert & Art on July 25. Photo by Jon Pesochin /Eastside Arts Society

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Eastside Arts Festival

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When: July 17-27
Where: Eastside Arts District, including MacLean Park
Tickets and info:eastsideartsfest.ca

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1. Theremin Man at Eastside Arts Festival Concert & Art (July 25, 3-8 p.m., MacLean Park, 710 Keefer St.).

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The otherworldly sounds of Theremin Man, a.k.a. longtime Vancouver musician Stephen Hamm, will set heads a-spinning as part of this year’s main concert. The lineup also includes DJ Jody Glenham, the alt-country stylings of Big Rig, neo-dance psychedelia band Wack, and grunge pop quartet Buddie. Free all-ages public art activities will include a collaborative collage led by Enabling Arts, a kid-friendly writer’s prompt led by The Writer’s Exchange on-site, and an accessible art activity featuring recycled materials led by Alternative Creations Studio. The event will also feature an Art Shop showcasing work by local artists, food trucks, and a beer garden hosted by Strange Fellows Brewing. Come early and check out the Strathcona Blocks Party, taking place on the 800 block of East Hastings Street from 12-5 p.m.

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2. The Drive Unscripted: A Choose Your Own Adventure Tour of Commercial Drive (July 18, 1 p.m., Uprising Breads Bakery, 1697 Venables St.)

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In this walking tour, participants are asked to contribute their own memories, recommendations and favourite places to add to the walk. Other tours include a street photography tour, in which Wendy D teaches practical techniques to improve your mobile photography and unlocking hidden camera features. And in her public art walking tour, local artist Kate MacDonald points out murals, street art, artist-run spaces, and creative work tucked throughout Strathcona and Railtown.

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3. Print a Tote Bag! (July 22, 7-8:30 p.m., Superflux Beer Company, 505 Clark Dr.)

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Sure, those New Yorker tote bags are fine. But what if you could print your own, and drink beer while doing so? In this beginner-friendly workshop, participants create their own hand-carved linocut stamp for printmaking on a canvas tote bag (provided). Students can choose to carve a stamp based on existing design templates or create their own custom designs. The festival is hosting many more workshops, including potted plant portrait painting, floral watercolour still-lifes, glass fusing, and ceramic mini house creations. The workshops take place at artist studios and local breweries and distilleries like Luppolo Brewing Co, East Van Brewing Company, and Odd Society Spirits. There will also be a plein air drawing workshop at Strathcona Park.

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4. The Whitty Wily Poetry Connection (July 18, 12-2 p.m., Kamloops-Hastings Plaza)

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Unleash your inner Byron in this interactive installation. Poetry is generated, performed, and disrupted in real time in this family-friendly performance event. Poet and artist Claire Davis invites audience members to participate in spontaneous acts of writing while interacting with Whitty Typo-Write (a mobile typewriter), Clairty the head Poetichanic, and the Wily Soapbox 2000, an animated speakers’ box.

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Sinéad X Sanders plays MacLean Park Music July 26 as part of this year’s Eastside Arts Festival. Sinead X Sanders

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5. The Dance Deck (July 18, 19, 25 and 26, 4-6 p.m.)

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The setting is at least part of the appeal of The Dance Deck, a dance series taking place in the garden theatre of hosts Sylvain Senez and Alexis Fletcher. The Belle Spirale Dance Projects artistic directors will showcase some new and upcoming creative voices as well as established creators and artists in the backyard of their Keefer St. home. There is also a by-donation bar and a reception after each performance. Another co-production with the festival, MacLean Park Music, is an afternoon of free performances featuring Sinéad X Sanders. The talented East Van singer-songwriter released her debut album. Them Shadows, last year. Other acts include Mizz Lisa and Lyndsay Wills & the No Frills String Band (July 26, MacLean Park).

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