Photography by the Water at The Polygon

Port Moody's only free public gallery, housed in two heritage buildings that make the romance look effortless.

Towering totem poles against sea and forest, a half-price Thursday, and the trip to UBC that's actually worth it.

Vancouver's answer to the Vegas Sphere: a 360 dome at the Space Centre where Pink Floyd, blue whales and the cosmos wrap the entire ceiling in 10K and Dolby Atmos, watched flat on your back from a reclining seat.

A free contemporary gallery on the third floor of the Anvil Centre, programming international artists who work in light, sound and code.

Vancouver's 1981 indie record shop, where the bins reveal more about a person than any dating app ever will.

A free guided walking tour of five site-specific dance performances up through the Central Library, ending on the rooftop garden, one weekend in September.

Museum-quality Inuit and Northwest Coast art on the North Van Shipyards since 1979, free to walk in, steps from Lonsdale Quay.

The largest Emily Carr survey in over twenty years fills the Vancouver Art Gallery with her swirling BC forests and coastlines.

A former courthouse holding the world's largest Emily Carr collection, by-donation Tuesdays and free every first Friday of the month.

An intimate downtown gallery for Haida master Bill Reid and contemporary Indigenous artists, where the jewellery cases invite actual leaning-in.

A warm 200-seat theatre in Port Moody's Newport Village, with dinner steps away and acoustics regulars actually brag about.

thursday night you'll both pretend to understand experimental film.

A 1927 gilded dome in Vancouver, home of the Vancouver Symphony, and the most beautiful room you'll be seen in all year.

Ten days of world cinema downtown, from festival-circuit premieres to local debuts, with a walkable spill of late dinners and drinks to argue about them.