Heart of the City Festival Returns to the DTES

A Week of Programming Across the DTES

Produced by Vancouver Moving Theatre Society, the festival mixes theatre, dance, music, film, poetry, visual art, workshops, forums, walking tours and ceremony across more than 30 Downtown Eastside venues. That is the kind of event count most festivals round down from, not up to, and it means picking a single evening out requires more scrolling than most date nights deserve.

Installations tied to the festival are showing at Gallery Gachet and KW Atrium Studio, with the run concluding back at Carnegie Community Centre, where it also opens.

Free Shows, Ticketed Shows and Mystery Meeting Points

Most of the program is free, with donations accepted. A handful of events are ticketed from $0 to $35, including the performance Death and Taxes on November 1 at SFU's Djavad Mowafaghian World Arts Centre, and the walking tour Creating Gastown, offered November 3 and November 7. Epigone runs longer than the rest of the festival, staged at the Russian Hall from November 4 to 15 with tickets up to $75.

Two of the walking tours, Creating Gastown and the Black Strathcona Tour on November 7 at 2 p.m., don't list a street address at all. You register and are told where to show up, which is either charmingly old-school or a minor test of how much you trust an email.

Opening Night and Closing Circle

The festival opens free on Friday, October 30 at 6 p.m. at the Carnegie Community Centre Theatre, 401 Main Street, and returns there on November 7 for a screening of the Gallery Gachet and KW Atrium videos followed by a community sharing circle.