Á’a:líya is an innovative hip hop and spoken word artist who was born and raised in her home community of Skowkale within the Coast Salish Territory. She is also an activist and filmmaker; her current solo work speaks to Indigenous worldview and rise. Her voice and passion for unity and change drives her creative process. Through her music, she invites everyone from every background to feel what hip hop and spoken word has to offer, in perhaps a new way.

Dae Shields is the founder and Executive Director of Afro Van Connect Society, Community Advocate, Designer and Curator. She is dedicated to spreading awareness about the injustice that African communities face and to show the impact that people of African descent have on Canadian culture, and cultures around the world.

Dae began Afro Van Connect April 2019 to create a platform for young creatives to come and express themselves. These BLACK SPACES allow young creatives to come and express themselves, share ideas and connect. They are established to create opportunities for people of African Descent to access equipment, education, training, networks, and opportunities, empowering them to creatively and economically flourish, building on their unique gifts and perspectives from their heritage and diaspora cultural experiences.

Buni Kor aka Kor Kase is an actor, artist, activist, writer, designer, event coordinator, and cofounder of Afro Van Connect. Born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia. Kor began his acting and music career in the 2010’s releasing music independently on online platforms and playing local shows in the Vancouver community. As an actor he has appeared on shows like Man in the High in the Castle, iZombie, and See. 

In 2019 Kor co-founded an artist collective called Afro Van Connect. As an organization focused on creating Black Spaces and platforms for African descent people to connect and express themselves. The intention of Afro Van Connect is to build a strong community through creating safe spaces for healing, rooted conversations, and the arts. 

As an Artist Kor is currently releasing new music which is available on all online platforms. 

It is my goal to promote messages of empowerment, love, unity and equality. As an artist it is my responsibility to be a voice for my community. I believe it is important to use my platform to highlight injustices and inequities in the hopes of creating awareness and meaningful change. As an artist of African Descent sharing the experiences of people of African descent authentically is what I seek to do. Reflecting the injustices our communities face to this day and showing the impact that people of African Descent have had on Canadian culture, and cultures around the world.

Alex Mah is a composer and interdisciplinary artist whose scores use verbal notation to deal with ideas of indeterminacy, performer choices, and the sensing body. He is the company composer for EDAM Dance. He has collaborated with The Biting School, Kelly McInnes, Olivia Shaffer, All Bodies Dance Project, Antoine Beuger, Richard Reed Parry, Turning Point Ensemble, TorQ Percussion Quartet, Quasar quatuor de saxophones, and Quatuor Bozzini.

Music on Main, Bath Spa University Porthleven Prize, University of Cambridge, and Wandelweiser have presented his compositions. He has participated in festivals, workshops, and performed in Canada, Germany, Denmark, and the U.K.. Alex holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from SFU and a Master of Research Composition from Bath Spa University (U.K.).

Alisha Lettman is the lead facilitator for the Legacy Growers Collective. She is also a Massage Therapist, Ayurvedic Wellness Coach, multidisciplinary performance artist, and poet.

Alisha’s lineage descends from Sindh Province in what is now known as Pakistan and from the valleys of the Blue Mountain in Jamaica. Having grown up in Chicago, her passion for social justice rooted in land liberation & traditional knowledge was ignited by many teachers and mentors. She comes from people of the land, from bush healers, and from innovative engineers. These experiences brought her core values for truth, integrity, and compassion to the center of her movements in all their manifestations.

Her work has graced the stages of Vancouver International Jazz Fest (2019), The Vines Festival (2019), UBC Pride (2019), and The Black Love Tour (2019). She is currently completing a mentorship with Eventide Doulas and an Interdisciplinary Degree in Leadership & Social Change from the University of British Columbia. She can be found brewing herbal medicines at the Black Market and on Instagram at @alignmentapothecary.

Janice Laurence is an educator and disabled contemporary dance artist. She has appeared in several Canadian documentaries, dance films, and live performances as she aims to help dismantle assumptions around living with a disability. She seeks ways to thrive through participating with both international online classes and local community-engaged dance and theatre companies. She is fascinated by the abundance of movements that a diverse group of people can investigate.

Nico Gruzling is a former mathematician, computer scientist and self-taught marine engineer. Currently, she dabbles in fashion design, stand-up comedy, and dance. She is always looking for creative ways to share her quirky world view.

Alana Prochuk has been making up dances since childhood and has also created choreography for the B:C:Clettes and the Pom Bombs Radical Sass Cheer Troupe. Alana enjoys writing and performing poetry and has been a featured participant in National/Global Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo.net) for the past three years.

Under the artistic umbrella of Realwheels Theatre, Amy has performed in Arun Lakra’s “Sequence” (2017), Comedy on Wheels (2016), Wheel Voices Tune In (2021). Amy is also a media and radio personality for Accessible Media Inc and produces/hosts one of their original podcast, “Accessing Art with Amy”.

Working in her capacity as the Community Outreach Coordinator for VocalEye Descriptive Arts Society and the Accessibility Coordinator for the Arts Club Theatre Company have furthered access for arts lovers that identify with disability in our local community and a far. Participating in the Vines festival, in two pieces, has been a joy and an opportunity to continue developing as a creative artist.

An Ana Bon-Bon performance can transport you to the rollicking music hall stages of the 1900s or a country juke joint on a sultry summer afternoon. Bon-Bon is naturally cabaret with a raw blues constitution.

Chanteuse, accordionist, songwriter, and musical hostess Ana Bon-Bon delivers an intoxicating dose of jump blues, western swing, cabaret, spirituals, and double-entendre lyrics all wrapped up in one big wood-choppin’ gal with seasoned vocals and a bump’n’grind squeezy-box.

Chantal (they/she) is a queer latinx/german actor, choreographer, playwright, and poet currently in the UBC Acting program. She lives in her imagination, giving beauty and meaning to things she hears and sees.

Anjalica Solomon (they/she) is a Desi poet, spoken word artist, organiser and multi-disciplinary performer. Their poetic work often seeks to proclaim the possibilities of love and resilience.

Alyssa Amarshi (she/her) is an emotive and compassionate movement and interdisciplinary artist, inspired by the movement street dance cultures of Dancehall, Afrobeats, and Hip Hop. She often creates from the inquisitive place of: “How can we better connect to and nourish our fellow artists, audiences, and the land on which we reside?”

Sevrin Emnacen-Boyd (he/him) is a street dancer who is a proud member of the Immigrant Lessons. Currently he has a residency at the Massey Theatre. He has won dance competitions across Canada. He is a gentle soul residing on musqueam squamish and tsleil-waututh.

Angelic (they/them) is a queer non-binary Russian-Jewish poet whose poetry has took them to Switzerland, the United Nations, TedXBC and opening for Shane Koyzcan. Much of their activism, has been devoted to queer and trans celebration and dreaming beyond patterns of trauma.

Bea is a fourth-generation settler of Jewish, German, and Scottish ancestry born, raised and creating on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. She is a weaver, sewer, natural-dyer and wild crafter who cultivates a deep relationship with plants and the natural world, motivated by respect and gratitude. She is careful to harvest small amounts, only take what she needs, grow what she can, and sees beauty in what many people would consider weeds. Her art practice is motivated by this relationship with plants.

Past works include; Weaving Coracles (an ancient one-person boat) at the Richmond Maritime Festival (2015 & 2016); the “Joyce Tapestry”, a handwoven piece with Renfrew-Collingwood community members (2017); and “Fruiting Bodies”, a large-scale woven installation in Renfrew Ravine with Carmen Rosen and Willoughby Arevalo (2019). She has also coordinated and curated for the Community Arts Council of Vancouver’s “Eco-Art Walk” (2018), Collingwood Days Festival (2018 & 2019), and Still Moon Arts Society (2016-2019). When not peering over steaming pots of plant matter, she can be found with her cat, in her garden, on long bike rides, or singing with Phoenix Chamber Choir.

IG @beespoke.textiles

Brittney Appleby (She/They) is a queer interdisciplinary artist and filmmaker living on the unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) First Nations, otherwise known as Vancouver, BC. Appleby holds a Diploma in Fine Arts from Langara College and graduated with their BFA majoring in Visual Arts from Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Spring 2021. Their primary focus is in analogue film and photography. Some of the themes they explore in their work are the body, trauma, chronic illness, and memory. Appleby is most inspired by the materiality of analogue practices and incorporates their background in painting, drawing and printmaking into experimental filmmaking.

Caroline was born Sumain & grew up in Montréal, QC, with her biological family. Caroline went all her life in Deaf School @ Institution des Sourd-Muets.

Caroline is bilingual in ASL (American Sign Language), & LSQ (Langues des Signes Québécoise). In addition, Caroline has a base knowledge of Indigenous Sign Language.

In 2005, Caroline moved to Vancouver, BC & took a 10 years hiatus. Caroline decides to return to the Theatre after meeting the Honourable Stephen Lytton – a formidable Indigenous Leader. Mr. Lytton invited Caroline to use a team approach & this resulted in Caroline joining Theatre Terrific’s production of Breath Ahh.. 2017, & continued to work… many different places, our performance Unsettled, History of Sign Language, and Voice etc.

Chantelle Trainor-Matties is a Canadian artist from British Columbia with Nisga’a and Métis heritage who specializes in illustration, graphic design, and painting. She works for herself and does freelance work for private and commercial clientele through her small business Frettchan Studios. Her work ranges from bold formline to charming cartoons to painterly realism. She participates in a variety of events such showcases, markets, trade shows and exhibits her work in galleries. Her late ferrets are her main inspiration; other favorite subjects are flora and fauna, pop culture, the macabre and North West Coast art.

It’s Raining (It’s Gonna Get Wet) is co-created by director Chloe Payne and ensemble members Sena Yurika, Krys Yuan and David Underhill.

Chloe Payne (she/her) is a physical theatre performer, creator and arts educator. As a graduate of the prestigious physical theatre school École Philippe Gaulier, she uses physical theatre, improvisation, devising and text-based creation to produce theatre that is funny, relevant and poignant.

Krys Yuan (she/her) is an emerging theatre artist and aspiring cat parent. Born and raised in Singapore, she dances between her work as an actor, playwright, poet, producer, amongst many things. Her practice is invested in speculative fantasy, general silly-making, and investigating Asian diaspora alongside inheritances of colonialism.

Sena Yurika Çağla (she/her) is an actor, deviser, writer and a theatre maker. She holds a BA in Theatre Performance from Simon Fraser University. As a Japanese-Turkish artist, her work focuses on creating connections between cultures while embracing differences.

David Underhill (he/him) is an actor/physical performer, passionate about devising and movement direction. He is a graduate of Studio 58, and has performed with The Cultch, ZeeZeeTheatre, and Peninsula Productions, as well as with Caravan of Curiosities as the living statue character Golden Boy.

Corrina Keeling is a multidisciplinary artist who’s wildly humbled and delighted to be able to use their creative practice as an act of service. They aim to use their work to build containers in public spaces that invite us to participate more meaningfully in difficult conversations about power and inequity, justice and accountability, and place and belonging. They’re curious about creating work that invites people into accepting and embracing the kind of discomfort that’s necessary for healing and change, and hopes their work can embody the qualities they see as some of the best medicine for these complex times: care and compassion for ourselves and each other, accountability and radical honesty, deep listening, and the ongoing practice of graceful mistakes.

Each new iteration of Corrina’s most recent work ‘Bodies of Water’ builds a unique multidisciplinary world out of music, movement, theatre, poetry, live projected light painting, and voices of their queer, femme, non-binary, and cultural communities, including their sister Jessica Dawn. The project is a place to reckon with where we’ve been and ask questions about where we’re going, and explores origin stories, ancestry, migration and displacement, colonization, language, and our ever-evolving relationships with place, home, and belonging.

Vancouver resident Dalannah Gail Bowen has been making music for over fifty years. Her musical experience ranges from jazz to blues, from United States to across Canada. She is a member of the NY Blues Hall of Fame and December 11 was declared “Dalannah Gail; Bowen Day” in Vancouver for both her community activism and her contribution to the world of music.

Dallas was born in Vancouver BC. She is Cowichan First Nation. She became interested in the arts early in life. Dallas is now active in her community in the Downtown Eastside Vancouver. Dallas is a proud Mother, Grandmother and Great Grandmother. Dallas first studied performance art at Spirit Song a Native theatre school. Dallas earned a scholarship and attended Native Earth Theater school in Toronto Ontario. Dallas worked with Full cCrcle theatre based in Vancouver. While at Full Circle she discovered the En’owken International School of Creative Writing and Fine Arts in Penticton B.C. Dallas attended two years and obtained a certificate while at the En’owken, Dallas created a portfolio and sent it to Emily Carr. Dallas studied at Emily Carr for four years and received a Bachelor’s degree. Dallas received a British Columbia Arts Council grant and a Canada Council for the Arts grant for her installation Ceremony, a media based installation which showed at the Gallery Gachet in 2011. Dallas is Vancouver based and is excited to be working with Indigenous Women Artists and the Downtown Eastside Center for the Arts.

David Ullock (b. 1988, Victoria BC) Lives and works in Vancouver BC. David Ullock is a multi-disciplinary artist whose artistic practice ranges from sculpture to painting. Exploring diverse ways in which aspects of his artworks connect to one another, David’s art practice is based on intuition and experimentation. In his sculptures, the materiality of reclaimed wood guides David in the construction and the creation of abstract forms. Curved and soft edges interact with hard straight lines, connecting planes to each other in multiple angles. The undulating waves, bends, and turns of the sculptures resemble shapes in nature, allowing the viewer to relate to David’s work through a recognition of what looks familiar yet is, in and of itself, an unique entity. Experimenting with colour and the application of paint, David creates gradients and textures that resemble shadows and light. Together, the colours, shapes and forms allow the sculpture to be viewed from any and all angles – producing multiple artworks within one.

Coming soon!

Erica Grant and her son Duncan Martin began the DTES Response Team at the start of COVID to ensure that DTES residents had access to hot meals and hygiene kits. Erica and her team continue in Duncan’s memory to provide care, respect, and dignity to the community.

Recently Erica was given a letter from Mayor Kennedy Stewart, thanking her for initiating the DTES Response team that has provided over 20,000 meals and hygiene kits to people in need in the DTES

Erica Hiroko Isomura is a genre-fluid writer, multi-disciplinary artist, and cultural producer, recently selected by Room Magazine for their 2021 Emerging Writer Award. Erica is currently producing a year-long project to bring racialized artists into intimate conversation with one another and writing a book.

Laura Fukumoto is a theatre artist, designer, and poet currently attending SFU’s Writer’s Studio. Recently completed projects include directing and writing “Where the Quiet Queers Are” at Vancouver Fringe Festival.

Carolyn Nakagawa is a poet and playwright. She is currently writing a musical about Japanese Canadian history, community, and identity called The New Canadians.

A 2-spirited Nehiyaw (Cree) trickster shapeshifter and a Land Defender who likes to help out around the fire. They are currently stationed within various frequencies on the unceded lands of Turtle Island. Their pronouns are they/themme but some call themme Unctie. They are a creative influencer, you may happen upon their radical art or hear their stories as you wander throughout the city.

Gunargie O’Sullivan was a delegate from the community radio CFRO in Vancouver, BC and a member of the Aboriginal Caucus of the NCRA. Among her vast work in the media, she developed the national radio series called Resonating Reconciliation which resulted in 26 half-hour documentaries about Residential School survivors and their families, airing nationally on stations across the country. She developed Red Jam Slam, a series to raise the profile of Aboriginal music in Canada through live performances and broadcasts. O’Sullivan also has worked at an overdose prevention site and acted as an Elder for Guildford Highschool Students, along with her years of work coordinating for the Heart of the City Festival. Spring 2021, O’Sullivan will be doing Late Night with the Savages live on Red Gate TV (also to be played on CITR and COOP Radio).

Coming soon!

The Ocean of Tears squad is composed of four artists: Amy Amantea (she/hers) is a writer, creator, performer that lives with disability (blindness). Amy’s work has been largely focused on disability and how it intersects with her life experiences, relationships and the world around her. Madeleine Humeny (she/they)—a singer, actor, dancer, writer, composer, musician, puppeteer, and avid consumer of orange juice. Originally from “Alberta”, she found art and performance was the only thing that made sense in regards to how she wanted to spend her time and who she wanted to become. Mida Malek (they/them) is an Iranian queer person of colour living on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Musqueam people. They are singer, actor and playwright, focusing on stories of people like them (queer Iranians) which are either overlooked or told in voices that aren’t our own. Hila Graf (she/her) is a theatre director, instructor and administrator. Originally from Israel, she loves creating devised theatre work, collaborating with fellow artists who offer multiple perspectives, and bringing untold stories to life. Big thanks to the Vines Festival team from the Ocean of Tears group!

Coming soon!

My name is Iven, I am a visual artist, musician and counsellor. Before I worked as a counsellor, I created illustrations to address our collective EnvironMental Health challenges. Working as a counsellor inspires me to draw and exemplify common challenges visually. My motivation to create EnvironMental education comes from my personal connection to nature.

I create short films on youtube and interactive screens featuring Mother Earth as the main character- giving trees and the earth a face was intended to recreate a much needed reconnection to Nature. My vision is to foster more environmentally conscious earthlings. I even create educational workshops for children to ask them “Why do we call it Mother Earth?”

I start by putting the ideas onto paper, digitizing it in Adobe Flash. The results are either youtube short films or illustrations for sale. I sell my art online and on the street on photo paper or calendars. If I have exhibitions, I like to reuse cardboard frames which are also used as canvas and installations.

My personal experience and excitement to use art as an outlet for emotions is contagious and helped me reintroduce art as medicine. I call this practice “TherARTy”, transforming emotions to art into medicine – MedicineArt. A 6 month trip to Peru changed my focus from Concept Art to Art Therapy – “Medicine Art” was born. Medicine Art is an old concept in which all forms of art and expression are acknowledged as forms of therapy, an idea rooted in Indigenous culture and practices.

Selling art on the street to a diverse group of people became more than just selling art; people shared what, why and how MedicineArt acknowledges and teaches without the need of words. It inspires and acknowledges our common challenges visually and what we all go through as human beings.

www.medicineart.ca

Founder of the Spirit of the Village, Jacky Yenga – aka Jacky Essombe – is a performer, TEDx speaker and best-selling author, and a messenger for the healing wisdom of African villages. She teaches how to use the power of community to heal and access joy through rhythm, movement and connection.

Janelle Reid is a singer, actor, song writer and mover. She has a Bfa double major in music composition and theatre and has a second bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education. She enjoys singing in a variety of genres and collaborating with other vocal artists. She is always excited to take the opportunities given to share her passion of singing as a means to bring people together.

Mad Riddim is a mash-up making, drum and bass led groove machine, mixing classic dub sensibilities with the attitude of funk and the improvisation of jazz. Formed in Vancouver BC by drummer Richard Brown and bassist Matt Reid, Mad Riddim is founded on an intuitive musical connection and a shared vision of pushing the traditional boundaries of a rhythm section.

jaz is a secwepemc 2 spirit interdisciplinary artist with a focus on land based learning, ancestral memory, decolonization and land sovereignty. they reside as an uninvited guest on unceded and ancestral territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm , səl̓ilwətaɁɬ , and sḵwx̱wú7mesh.

Jennifer Aoki is a Vancouver-based accomplished dance artist, choreographer, and indie filmmaker who draws inspiration from the world around her. She creates abstract, innovative and accessible works that capture human conditions. Jennifer’s Japanese Canadian heritage figures high in her work. As an emerging Nikkei voice in the Japanese Canadian Community, she contributes to a collective healing process. Jennifer’s dance and choreography work abounds both local and international scenes. She was part of the Small Stages 2021 season and part of #LoveVancouver Bubble project. Also, during these pandemic times, Jennifer created two short dance films We Can Still Go Viral and Shifting Spaces as well as a new solo performance work …awkward, which premiered at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts in March 2021. She was in artistic residency at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts and MiBC Dance on Tour earlier this year. Her choreography has been showcased internationally in Berlin, Amsterdam and Seattle, besides local venues such as Dancing on the Edge and Vines Arts Festival. She has danced in works by Meredith Kalaman, Machinenoisy, Body Narratives Collective, and Jenn Edwards. Jennifer is Artistic Co-Director of both The Body Orchestra and Voirelia.

Harmanie Rose is a disabled dance artist living and working on the unceded territory of the Musqueam, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. She began her dance journey in 2006 on the Treaty 6 territory. She co-founded iDance Edmonton in 2008 (now known as CRIPSiE) before relocating to BC. Since 2014, Harmanie has worked as a performer, choreographer, and facilitator for the award-winning All Bodies Dance Project and as a facilitator for Ready Dance: an All Bodies Youth Project. Harmanie has had the pleasure of studying with disability based dance companies such as Axis Dance (US), Candoco Dance Company (UK), Amici Dance Theatre (UK), MoMo Mixed Ability Dance Theatre (AB, CAN), and DanceAbility International (USA). She has created 4 outdoor, site-specific pieces, for Vines Art Festival as well as performed in Dance in Vancouver( DiV), and Dancing on the Edge (DOTE). Watch her in three dance films including world-renowned dance artist Alice Sheppard’s Inclinations and Carolina Bergonzoni’s Ho.Me. Sanctuary, the dance film she co-created and danced in, had its world premiere in London at the Together! 2019 Disability Film Festival in December 2019. Also, in June 2019 Harmanie participated in UCLA’s inaugural Dancing Disability Lab to work with other professional disabled dance artists to answer questions around the culture and aesthetics of disabled dance.

Jhoely Triana, born in Colombia, is a Vancouver based flamenco dancer and choreographer. Jhoely trained at the Goh Ballet Academy, completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Contemporary Dance at Simon Fraser University, and at Al Mozaico Flamenco. Since 2016, she has performed at the Victoria Flamenco Festival, Vancouver International Flamenco Festival, the Dance Centre’s 12 Min Max and Open Stage, Kitsilano Showboat and various community events and showcases. Jhoely’s work emphasizes connection to audience through authenticity of emotion and vulnerability.

Haolin Jiang “Vicente” is a flamenco and classical guitarist based in Vancouver. Born in Guangzhou, China, Haolin was raised in a luthier’s workshop, where he grew up with the sounds of the Spanish guitars. Since he came to Canada at 16 years old, he has begun his studies of flamenco guitar under the tutelage of Victor Kolstee (Vancouver). He is now majoring in classical guitar at VCC music program. He has been awarded a regional gold medal from an RCM classical guitar examination in BC.

Julia is an artist and a natural dyer, and her favourite pass time is collecting new plants everywhere and testing new colours. She believes that a lifetime could be spent dyeing without ever running out of new possibilities. Natural dyeing is part chemistry, part history, and part practical magic. She works mostly in developing different ways of natural dyeing on fabric and create indoor and large-scale outdoor installations with naturally colored textiles. Julia designs atmospheres with color and texture and transforms public spaces and the way that community engage with it. Instagram: @carotitatelier

Justin Percival is of Nisga’a descent in the frog clan, his Nisga’a name is “axdii xbits axw” which translates to “fearless” and was born in Vancouver but grew up in New aiyansh. Justin is a spoken word/hip hop artist, most of justins inspiration to write is his family and his connection to culture.

Katie Cassady is a dancer and choreographer based in Vancouver BC, the unceded territories of the Squamish, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. Katie completed her training at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, Simon Fraser University, and holds a BA in Art History from the University of British Columbia. Katie has had the honour of performing with Kokoro Dance, Amber Funk Barton, Future Leisure, and TWObigsteps Collective. Her choreographic work, which seeks to explore interconnectedness and relationship, has been presented at Vancouver’s Contemporary Art Gallery (Dance Week 2019), the Shooting Gallery Performance Series, and Vines Art Festival. Katie recently completed a residency with Made in BC’s Re-centering/Margins 2020.

KEALOHA
{ kay – ah – loh – hah }
Through her gifts as a singer, songwriter, drummer, and dancer, KeAloha invites us into the moments of liberation that we find when we hold ourselves, eachother, and our complex intersections with tenderness, solidarity, and pride. KeAloha is a mixed race femme with chronic illness disability, whose blood carries legacies of Polynesian navigators and dancers, Lheidli trappers and medicine people, Irish farmer-settlers, and Chinese immigrants. KeAloha identifies her music as IndigiPop – embracing her love for getting people moving to a clever hook, with decolonizing pop culture at heart. Her music is a vessel for her to build relationships and understanding with the many identities she holds. KeAloha is committed to shaping her career and building community through reciprocity for the people and music-cultures who inspire her.

Kellen Reed Jackson is a perpetually emergent queer artist & arts facilitator on stolen, occupied, unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh, and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ lands. Their work is generated from a deep desire for conscious intimacy with the quantum materiality of spacetime in all its manifestations. Working through film, sound, eco-printing and an emergent movement practice, they are currently researching queer & trans histories, non-binary embodiment, ecological intersubjectivity & spacetime as field and fabric.

Gratefully based on the unceded Coast Salish territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations, Kelly McInnes is a settler of British and Irish ancestry who works as choreographer, performer and facilitator.

Kelly creates performances that embody the socio-political and explore complex relationships of body, community and earth. Currently in training in Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy, her artistic practice is continually inspired by this learning as she imagines ways her work can inspire collective healing. Kelly enjoys working collaboratively, site specifically and practicing care in the ways she creates spaces for coming together.

Kelly often performs in her work and also has had the pleasure of dancing the works of several Vancouver-based companies and choreographers. With Pressed Paradise collective, she performs guerrilla-style ritual-like performances in outdoor public spaces.

Kelly is director of Epoch Youth Project, a collaborative process and workshop for youth. She is also currently facilitator and artist-in-residence with the Roundhouse Community Dancers. Kelly has performed and shared new work at Vines Art Festival many times over the years. She is honoured to be part of this meaningful event and community.

Kimit Sekhon is a Queer second generation Indian immigrant living on the unceeded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-waututh nations. They are an electronic musician, DJ and digital multi-media artist.

As a South Asian Canadian artist forged from the cracks of diaspora, the writing and performances curated centre around agency and self-determination. In exploring race, gender, and colonialism with raw humanity, Shoker’s art builds on empowerment and restoration of self.

K.P Dennis a Black, non-binary, multi-disciplinary artist, director, producer, and activist based on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. They were the 2016 Youth Poet Laureate of Victoria, the 2017 recipient of the VACCS Community recognition Award, and in 2020 they received the Witness Legacy Award for Social Purpose and Responsibility Through Art. In 2021 their play Cavities was produced by Obsidian Theatre and CBC Arts, directed by the Obsidian Theatre’s critically acclaimed artistic director Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu, and is available for viewing on CBC Gem.

In February 2020 they released their chapbook, Growing Pains, and are currently working on their new play The Parable of the Vulture, funded by Canada Council of the Arts.

Kwiigay iiwaans is a queer disabled visual artist, electronic musician, and language learner from the Haida and Squamish Nations. They live and work near X̱epx̱ápay̓ay in Vancouver, BC.

Coming soon!

MADELAINE MCCALLUM is a dancer originally from Ile a la Crosse, Saskatchewan. Though she is well known for Métis dance (she’s been jigging since she could walk!), she enjoys all forms including Pow Wow, contemporary, Hip Hop and just movement from the soul. Madelaine has performed for many stages. Performing was a natural progression into choreographing her first solo piece which includes Powwow dancing, contemporary and Metis Jigging.

Through many performances with her solo piece and collaborating with many dance/theatre companies such as Compaigni Vni Dansi, Dancing Earth and Full Circle etc. Her passion for dance has taken her all over Canada. Madelaine is currently one of the choreographers for Butterflies in Spirit, a dance group made up of family members of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls Founded by Lorelei Williams.

Madelaine has a passion for sharing her knowledge of dance and culture. Madelaine also shares her story of survival and how dance has been her outlet and savior throughout her life. Her belief in sharing knowledge with her community to empower and strengthen them and her deep love of dance and firm belief in its healing powers, for the audience as well as the dancer, is what Madelaine believes is her calling.

I invite you to join Madelaine on this journey of healing by sharing your story through movement.

Pablo – aka MagniFuego’s range of music experiences started when he was 9 years of age, and since then, he has been involved in various musical projects and has been the director of his two bands. One of his band projects plays his original songs from his Album called Planting Visions, by MagniFuego. MagniFuego-Planting Visions, álbum is on Spotify and all other streaming apps. His passion lies in playing a Latin + Rock fusion, and is well versed in percussive, string, and some pre-Spaniard South American indigenous wind (flutes) instruments.

Makeda Martin comes from a musical family. Sang in her younger years in a Gospel Group called S.O.S singers out of Brantford Ontario. I’m looking forward to sharing some improve, original and covers with those in attendance. Joining me will be Ethan Rivas my middle son and special guests who I’ll introduce on the day. Luke Huska and a few other local artists have been invited. See you soon and blessings to all. We are bringing some jazz, funk, rock and roots.

Manuel Axel Strain is a non-binary 2-Spirit artist with Musqueam/Simpcw/Inkumupulux ancestry, based in stolen, sacred and ancestral homelands and waters of the Katzie/Kwantlen peoples. Although they have attended Emily Carr University of Art + Design they prioritize Indigenous epistemologies through the embodied knowledge of their mother, father, siblings, cousins, aunties, uncles, nieces, nephews, grandparents, and ancestors. Creating artwork in dialogue, collaboration, and reference with their kin/relatives, their lived experience becomes a source of agency that resonates through their work with performance, space, painting, sculpture, photography, video, sound and installation. Their artworks display a strong autobiographical brace, tackling such subjects as ancestral and community ties, Indigeneity, labour, resource extraction, gender, Indigenous medicine, and land. Their work has been seen in the Capture Photography Festival, the Richmond Art Gallery, Surrey Art Gallery, and other places across Turtle Island. Recent works confront and undermine realities and imaginaries of colonialism to offer a space that exists beyond that matrix of power.

They have guest lectured at the Vancouver Community College, where they actively participated in the Indigenous Art Symposium “Indigenizing Higher Education.” Some of their most meaningful community projects include “My Blood Can’t Feel the Land” with Gallery Gachet “Resistance and Resurgence,” a 2-Spirit exhibition at Interurban Art Gallery, “Destigmatization and Harm Reduction” at the Musqueam Cultural Pavilion, “The Land Can’t Hear Your Voices,” created during a residency as the Maple Ridge Artist in Residence. Working in programming at Gallery Gachet they helped co-curate the Annual Oppenheimer Park Show through which they centered the artists of Camp KT and DTES residents, while partnering with Vines Art festival to create a publication. Through Gachet in collaboration with The Capilano Review, they are currently coordinating a community-led art project centering the creative processes of two-spirit, trans, and gender non-conforming artists as well as workshops for residents of supportive housing in the Downtown Eastside. They also currently serve as a board member at VIVO Media Arts.

Matthew Ariaratnam is an interdisciplinary sound artist, composer, guitarist, and listener based in Vancouver, BC. He creates sensory walks, writes dumbpop and chamber music, and frequently collaborates with choreographers, visual artists, and theatre-makers. Recent projects and commissions include Creative Music Series 10 (NOW Society), Body Tuning (Vines Art Festival), kiitos, äiti (Thin Edge New Music Collective), Take Good Care (as dumbpop), Isolation Commission (Little Chamber Music Society), Altar :=: Source (Music on Main), and How long will these sounds sound? (Artist-in-Residence, North Vancouver Recreation and Culture). Matthew’s work has been heard in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, and Seattle. He has an MFA from Simon Fraser University and a BMus in Music Composition from Wilfrid Laurier University.

Michelle Heyóka is a singer, songwriter & mother of two. Heyoka’s unique sound is a mixture of smooth angelic R&B melodies with a uplifting pop vibe. In 2021 she released her first body of work “For You” a 5 track EP that took listeners on a journey through her love life. Heyóka’s music has been featured on the radio multiple times, been played on Sports Net Hockey Night in Canada, & had the opportunity to preform at The International Jazz Fest in Vancouver. Keep up with Michelle Heyóka by following her on Instagram @MICHELLEHEYOKA & stream her music on all streaming platforms by searching up her name.

Mildred Grace German is a multi-disciplinary artist born and raised in the Philippines. Rooted in the importance of clean water and oceans, the Pacific Ocean remains her home and home of her relations in Southern Tagalog and Eastern Visayas region in the Philippines hard hit by climate change.

Currently based on the unceded homelands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations of the Coast Salish Territory, threats against clean water remain. Threats which ripple globally as Canadian mining violations impact locally and as far as the Philippines, and other countries across the Global South as the climate change crisis worsen.

Morning Star Trickey is a Vancouver-based vocal artist best known for her powerful and moving solo performances with City Soul Choir. Steeped in her southern US civil-rights roots, she embraces music as a bridge between cultures and generations. Admiring many genres including folk, soul, r & b and gospel, she believes music is a pathway towards understanding and an expression of love and community.

Photo credit: Lystra Sam

Dominique Wakeland (they/them) was born on unceded Kwantlen Territory and graduated from Simon Fraser University in June 2019 with a BFA

in Theatre Performance. They are a performer, dramaturge, director, and drag artist. Past credits include: Dramaturging “Big Queer Filipino Karaoke Night”, (2018) Foot Faults in Foreplay“, (2017) and being the inaugural winner of Van Slam’s Drag Slam (2019). In 2019 they participated in the development and jury of the Vancouver Fringe’s ‘Fringe Forward Award’.

Dominique’s practice is fundamentally movement and text based with an emphasis on the politics we bring in our bodies and how that manifests into knowledge. From 2019 to 2020 they worked as an Assistant Choreographer/Assistant Director with MISCELLANEOUS Productions, an East Vancouver theatre company for at-risk and culturally diverse youth.

Dominique is a member of Diasporic Dynasty under their stage name, Mx. Bukuru. Their mission is simple, “To be the actualization of our ancestors, to usher in a new age of performance, and to welcome our diasporic siblings home.”

New(to)Town Collective is an emerging theatre collective based in Vancouver BC, aspiring to provide accessible, experimental training workshops and creating new interdisciplinary works together. We are interested in collaborating and cross-pollinating our practices and ideas with collaborators from across all artistic disciplines through our Training Jams. As a Collective, we bring together a unique blend of practices including Grotowski, devising, clowning, visual arts, contemporary dance, playwriting, dramaturgy, directing and more. Co-founders Anjela Magpantay, Avyen von Waldenburg, Davey Samuel Calderon, and June Fukumura facilitate Training Jams. Past invited guest facilitators include Raina von Waldenburg, Jennifer Pielak, Nathania Bernabe & Jack T. Hanlin (Affair of Honor), Eric Davis (Red Bastard), Renae Morriseau, and Dawn Jani Birley.

Past performances include, There You Are (2016 New Narratives Festival), Colored (2017 Vines Art Festival), Big Queer Filipino Karaoke Night! (2018 Vancouver Fringe Festival, associate producer), My Name is SUMIKO (2019 Vancouver Fringe Festival, winner of the Pick of the Fringe), and Zero Heroes (2019 Vines Art Festival).

Marion Landers is a mixed Irish and South African actor, choreographer and teacher from Vancouver. A dancer in Zab Maboungou/Companie Danse Nyata Nyata, Montréal and Creative Team Member on numerous productions about the African diaspora (including an award for best choreography, Once On This Island, Fabulist Theatre, 2018, Broadwayworld.com). Marion choreographs her own work, including the full-length I Live Still (National Congress of Black Women Foundation/Vancity Office of Community Engagement/BC Arts Council) and For Coloured Girls: Out Of The Womb. A Sessional Instructor at SFU’s School for Contemporary Arts for a decade, Marion holds a BFA Dance, SFU, MA Theatre, UBC and numerous credits in Theatre, Film & Television.

Nick Benz is a biracial actor; a storyteller; a dancer with a founda-tion in Afro, Latin, and Indigenous dances that were developed by studying how different cultures express themselves kinesthetically. Currently, Nick is immersed in the art scene in Vancouver, directing/writing/performing in smaller dance projects, including gogo dance, working with the Van Vogue Jam organization, producing in collaboration with the Museum of Anthropology, and performing in a large-scale dance project with renowned choreographer Jennifer Mascall.

Established in 2002, on the unceded, ancestral lands of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations, Now or Never is a a multigenerational Hip Hop and Breaking Crew. Along with the land we create on NON acknowledges the Black and Latinx pioneers who created these artforms we are fortunate to partake in. For nearly 20 years, NON has made prominent waves representing Vancouver at Breaking and all style competitions on the local and global level from the Pacific Northwest and across Canada to Germany, Japan, Amsterdam, Los Angeles, Korea and more. Since the crew’s formation, a key mission has been to uphold the values of each one teach one. As such, Now or Never has fostered the growth of up and coming dancers by regularly teaching classes, hosting youth dance events and local drop in practices across the lower mainland.

Between Arts and Sciences, I first chose science. Curious about the mind, I eventually became a psychiatrist. But my increasing frustration with the business mentality that has infiltrated health care led me back to question my early decision. I received my BFA from Emily Carr in 2007 and my MFA from Concordia University in 2011. I am presently a full-time interdisciplinary artist with a socially engaged practice. My works has focused on environmental and mental health issues. I am member of the Gallery Gachet collective, the Art Is Land collective, a board member of the Community Arts Council of Vancouver and the Emily Carr Alumni.

Raven is an emerging singer and performer with a background in traditional and contemporary Gitxsan dance, and pow wow. She is of mixed settler and Indigenous ancestry, and works as the Artistic and Administrative Assistant for Dancers of Damelahamid. Raven has toured in the company’s recent multimedia productions Flicker and Minowin, and has been performing from an early age. She is a third year student majoring in First Nations and Indigenous Studies at the Institute for Criticial Indigenous Studies at UBC.

Rea Saxena is an Indian multimedia artist living on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil Waututh nations. Rea is a storyteller through analogue film practices, documentary filmmaking, and narrative films. Themes of love, addiction, and sociocultural theory drive her practice.

Rianne Svelnis is a queer dance artist and settler of Lithuanian and Belgian/Irish/English descent, born, raised and living in colonially occupied so-called ‘Vancouver’, on the lands of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh and səlilwətaɬ people. In dance, she creates, performs, teaches and facilitates dialogue. She works in dance as a practice in exalt and disruption, and as a way to hold space for the complexities of being together. Rianne is a graduate of Modus Operandi Contemporary Dance Training Program and also has training and experience in Theatre of the Oppressed/Theatre for Living facilitation and frontline support work in the DTES. Current and upcoming projects include Daisy Thompson’s new work Hug, outdoor dances with All Bodies Dance Project, and choreographic assistance with Justin Neal’s new play So Damn Proud. Alongside the performing arts, Rianne is a grateful participant in community action.

Sauha Lee: Motivated by material exploration and curious about deep ecology, I often find myself examining the fluid intersection of urban space and the natural environment. I am the third daughter of four children to Chinese immigrant parents from Peru and Hong Kong. I am an artist, designer and gardener based in Vancouver, Canada and it is an honour and privilege to live and practice creatively on the unceded traditional territories of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations. In my current works I am focusing on: reflecting on land use, experiencing cultural catharsis, looking more closely at waste, adhoc constructions, questioning the nature of labour, and envisioning a more livable and equitable future. I work extensively with locally gathered plants, found ephemera, textiles, recycled or discarded things, and collaboration. I love that repurposing can be poetic. Concerned with sustainability, I aim to achieve work that is: compostable, recyclable, or made for dis/reassembly…and is ideally transportable by bike. I graduated from Emily Carr University in 2016 with a BDes in Industrial Design and completed a Fine Arts Diploma from Langara College in 2013. Day to day I work as a certified horticultural technician.

Robyn Jacob is a pianist, singer, composer and educator who lives and works on the unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm and Səl’il’wətaʔ Nations. She has toured Canada and internationally with her avant-pop project Only A Visitor, and her piano and harp duo The Giving Shapes. Her writing explores unusual ensembles, as well as collaborations with visual artists and instrument makers. In 2019 she was commissioned by Grammy winning Third Coast Percussion as part of their Emerging Composer Project. Since 2012 she has been part of the multi-disciplinary arts collective Publik Secrets, currently artists in residence at the Hadden Park Field House with the City of Vancouver.

Sam Chimes is a multi-talented musician. Chimes’ music has been influenced from his years moving around the world. He was Born in Africa, lived in Brunei, South East Asia, and he now resides in Canada. With his jazzy, soulful vibes, he uses a looper and a microkorg synthesizer to create instrumentals on the spot, layers his voice, and performs for his audience. Chimes has performed in 8 countries outside of Canada. He recently came back from his second world tour, performing at showcases in Australia, and street performing in between. He is now working on studio recordings and music videos soon to be released. Sam Chimes will leave you mesmerized and inspired. Instrumentation: RC-30 looper, MicroKorg S Synth, Sennheiser e935. This artist self-identifies as: Artist of Colour.

Coming soon!

Cindy is a Taiwanese-Canadian performance artist, (Ketegalan and Siraya Nations) based in Vancouver (Squamish, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh Nations). She received a degree in Bachelor of Fine Arts for Theatre Performance at Simon Fraser University and is a multi-instrumentalist, classically trained on the violin. Prior to her degree, as a violinist, her works include performing in the International Youth Symphony Orchestra in Bremen, Germany, Tafelmusik Baroque Institute at the University of Toronto, Banff International String Quartet Competition Young Musicians Program, as well as various events and awards with the Performing Arts BC. During her time in the Theatre Performance Program, Cindy was re-acquainted with music, performing as an actor while being a sound designer in the 2016 Blackbox shows. Since then, most of her work with SFU has allowed her to explore her background as a musician and execute her training as an actor. Her most recent works include “Dear Ocean”, presented by Vines Art Festival 2020, starring in a 2021 short film “A Family Act”, and producing an EP with Aysha Dulong as their duo Sapphire Haze.

Aysha Dulong is a composer-performer who resides on the unceded lands of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations (Vancouver, Canada). They work with acoustic and electronic sounds in a hybridized model and are interested in the relationship between sound and colour, utilizing synaesthesia as a compositional tool. They are intrigued by the juxtaposition of crunch and grit with sereneness and clarity, and how this physically affects the body and manipulates the mind. Recent projects include releasing an album with composer-performer band Alien Pod, titled Merchants of Venus (2020), and a remix of gamelan works commission by Western Front New Music and Insitu Recordings (2020). Most recently, they composed for choreographer Judith Garay’s work titled travelling in clouds (2021). Their work has been presented at SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts, Canadian Music Centre BC, and Western Front. Currently, as a part of violin and electronic duo Sapphire Haze with Cindy Kao, they are producing their debut EP. Aysha holds a BFA in music composition from Simon Fraser University as of June 2021.

Sarah Hin Ching U (she/her) is an emerging dance artist and choreographer. She trains in ballet, modern/contemporary technique and is specifically interested in improvisation and interdisciplinary work. Her work is often inspired by the human experience. She makes work on conversations, trips, books, and music that touches her because that is the most honest and genuine perspective/experience that she can offer to her audience.

Her work has been presented by Burnaby Arts Council, National Arts Centre and Impulse theatre (Victoria, BC). She has performed in Dancing on the Edge Festival 2019, Vancouver Biennale 2019, Richmond World Festival 2019, Vines Art festival 2020; and worked with local and national choreographers including Judith Garay, Kylah Powell, Julie Lebel, Emmanuel Jouthe, Cheryl Prophet, Anya Saugstad, Antonio Somera Somer, Hong Kong Exile and Alvin Tolentino.

Sarah is a second-generation immigrant from Macau, China. She is thankful to live, work and dance on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations, or what is colonially known as Vancouver, BC.

Sekani Dakelth is from the Tl’azt’en Nation and calls the Downtown Eastside home. She is passionate about trans rights, sex worker rights and harm reduction. Like many of her peers, Sekani knows firsthand how stigma around drug use acts as a barrier to accessing health care. She has worked as a Megaphone vendor for years and officially joined the team in 2018 to help build Speakers Bureau. Through that work, she’s dedicated to spreading awareness of everyone’s right to health care and challenging audiences to look past the sometimes narrow ideas they have of drug users.

Senaqwila Wyss is from the Squamish Nation, Tsimshian, Sto:lo Hawaiian and Swiss. She is completing her Bachelors in Communications and First Nations studies at SFU. She is an ethnobotanist and warrior entrepreneur. She co-owns Raven and Hummingbird Tea Co. With mother T’uy’t’tanat Cease Wyss using Indigenous plant teachings to share with people of all ages. She is also sharing her knowledge to the next generation with daughter Kamaya. Senaqwila facilitates indigenous plant knowledge workshops and has experience in professional communications and coordination and event planning.

Coming soon!

Sha Sha is a two-spirit indigenous Drag personality and performer who has been ripping up the stage and in the unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations territory’s For 5+ years now, The born again queen of the disco has Dane-Zaa & Dutch mixed heritage having been raised in the deep north eastern BC wilderness, she will give you looks for days, and you’ll most likely see her out with her best friends, enjoying herself and creating a warm welcoming safe space for folks at any place she occupies on these beautiful lands.

Shion Skye Carter is a dance artist originally from Tajimi, Japan, and based in Vancouver, Canada. Through choreography hybridized with calligraphy, video, and sculptural objects, her work celebrates the intersection of her ethnographic and queer identities, in connection with her heritage. As co-founder of olive theory, an interdisciplinary duo with musician Stefan Nazarevich, she collaborates to experiment at the intersection between embodied performance, installation art, and live sound. In both her independent work and as olive theory, Shion has performed across Canada and worked as artist-in-residence at What Lab and Left of Main in Vancouver, as well as LEÑA Artist Residency on Galiano Island, BC. Her recently produced short films have been screened at festivals globally, including SHUT IN DANCE Film Festival (USA), House is Me by Purespace (Turkey), Dance Days Chania (Greece), and Moving Images Dance Festival (Cyprus). As a performer, she has interpreted the works of artists such as Vanessa Goodman (Action at a Distance), plastic orchid factory, and Ziyian Kwan (Dumb Instrument Dance). She holds a BFA in Dance and Kinesiology from Simon Fraser University, and is the 2021 recipient of the Iris Garland Emerging Choreographer Award.

Born and raised in Japan, Kisyuu started learning Japanese calligraphy when she was seven and was given a calligraphy master name “Kisyuu” from her master Kosyuu Kobayashi at the age of 18. She earned numerous awards from calligraphy competitions both in Japan and Canada. Since moving to Canada in 2007, she has been working on her calligraphy installations, workshops, lessons, exhibitions, live performances and commissioned art works. She has been performing in collaboration with various types of artists. She has also worked on projects with different companies such as Microsoft, Shiseido, 20th Century Fox, Toyota and Netflix. She writes both traditional and modern freestyle calligraphy – a brush and sumi-ink are her tools to express her true self. Through her calligraphy art, she wishes to create peace, both inner and outer.

Siobhan (sha-von/Sio/they/she) is of a stolen people living on the stolen, unceded, and ancestral land of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Sio was born and grew up on the traditional territory of the Three Fires Confederacy of the Ojibwa, Odawa, and the Potawatomi Nations in Windsor Ontario. As a Black presenting, gender-fluid person, of mixed African-Indigenous-Latinx-European ancestry living with disability they recognize and value the many intersectionalities that contribute to furthering decolonization practices. Siobhan is a published and Nationally recognized bilingual writer and performer who’s community and artistic work, explores relational justice in many forms. Siobhan’s stories use humour to speak sometimes hard truths. They often centre on family, ancestry, and culturally-linked myths and fables that emphasize our connection to the land through blood, bone, breath, and body.

Skim also known as Romi Kim (they/them) is a second generation Korean interdisciplinary artist currently living on unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Skim has exhibited their work in The Works Festival (Edmonton), Queer Asia (United Kingdom), in Seoul, South Korea, Vancouver and the Sunshine Coast, Canada. They have performed on various stages and venues in South Korea, Vietnam and Canada irl and online internationally. They often work within themes of exploring stories within their own queer and Korean identity in regards to language, emotion and affect, culture and various unquestioned histories. Skim is an active member of the House of Rice and currently a MFA grad student at the University of British Columbia.

Sparkle Plenty is Vancouver’s glamedian, weirdlesquer and word-maker-upper who has been delivering beautifully bizarre burlesque acts for over 10 years! This fiery Indigiqueer is Cree with mixed heritage and is a proud sister of the first-ever all Indigenous burlesque group, Virago Nation. You can find her teasing and emceeing on stages (and online) all over Vancouver, Toronto, Las Vegas, and more. Sparkle has been invited as a featured performer in burlesque festivals in Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton as well as queer and Indigenous arts festivals throughout the city.

Photo credit: Jon-Christain Ashby

Sudanda was formed in 2004 around the music of Alaaeldin Abdalla, a composer, singer and oud player.  He is originally from the Sudan and now living in Vancouver.   Alaaeldin’s music draws on traditional Sudanese forms, and he composes music for contemporary Sudanese poets.

Alaaeldin studied music at the High Institute of Music and Drama in Khartoum.  He founded a band there called “Masarb’eldai”, which means “Sun Rays”, with jazz musican, Yasir Bastawi.  Some of the songs Alaa and Yasir composed in Sudan were not played till Sudanda formed in Canada.

In 1991, Alaaeldin was forced to leave the Sudan, because the new government at that time brought violence and abuse of human rights, and repression of artists of all kinds.

He was able to make the difficult journey to Libya, and after that lived in Cairo, where he worked at the Sudanese Human Rights Organization, and formed another band and a choir.  Later, he emigrated to Canada as a refugee.

After coming to Vancouver, he met other musicians, and formed Sudanda in 2004.  The name of the band is a combination of Sudan and Canada.  Current band members include Earle Peach on guitar and bass, Jane Kalmakoff on accordion, James Griffiths on trumpet, and Wesley Skakun on percussion.

Sudanda has played at the African Peace Festival, Northwest Folk Life Festival, Seattle, Baobab Festival, In the House Festival, Under the Volcano, Mosaic Festival, Afrikadey Festival, Langley Festival and many others.

Ta’Kaiya Blaney is a 20 year old indigenous youth who works for the protection of lands, waters, and climate. Since the age of 10 they have been vocal within movements combatting extractive industry, climate change, and oil pipelines that threaten the present and future survival of their people. They have used music as a tool to express their deep love and concern for their territories.

Tami studied drawing, printmaking, Book Making ceramics and sculpture and painting and photography at both Red Deer College’s Fine Arts Department and at Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design where she received her Bachelors degree in Photography. Tami’s personal work is an ever evolving exploration of techniques and fanciful ideas. Her Art has roots in personal narrative that lean into flights of whimsy and visual poetics

She has exhibited in various groups shows over the last two decades, participated in several Living Room Art in the Heights events in Burnaby as well as the inaugural Stride Art Festival. She has work in a number of private collections. Tami’s personal work is an ever evolving exploration of techniques and fanciful ideas. Her Art has roots in personal narrative that lean into flights of whimsy and visual poetics
.

Terreane Derrick came into the arts both by accident and design. At an early age, Terreane’s first foray into the performing arts was puppetry. Terreane’s interests in the arts expanded first into drawing and painting, then into video production. In addition, Terreane is also an accomplished emcee, public speaker, facilitator, and has sat on government boards as a special needs / disability adviser. Terreane appreciates the medicine of art in its entirety and is currently focused on personal governance.

The Body Orchestra is a collection of independent contemporary dance artists from Vancouver, BC, led by choreographers Jenn Edwards and Jennifer Aoki. Initiated in 2016, the group’s mandate is to create collaborative, thought-provoking, and viscerally felt ensemble works set to original music. Their body of work has been well-received at Fringe Festivals in Winnipeg, Calgary, and Vancouver, as well as Dancing on the Edge, Dusty Flowerpot Cabaret’s Parade of Lost Souls, and New Blue Dance Festival in Toronto. The Body Orchestra is an organic, evolving collective of artists, having included thirteen different dancers in its works, as well as sound designers, lighting designers, and videographers. Their work has been made possible by residencies at SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts, The Roundhouse Community Arts & Culture Centre, and The Shadbolt Centre for the Arts. The collective is committed to engaging local artists, fostering a collaborative and inclusive environment for everyone involved. They also strive to make contemporary dance accessible through open rehearsals, work-in-progress showings, and workshops for both children and adults.

It’s Not A Box Theatre is a digital immersive theatre company based in Saskatoon / Treaty 6. It was founded in 2015 by director-playwright Torien Cafferata and designer-dancer Amberlin Hsu, both Drama BFA grads from the University of Saskatchewan. Their work began as devised immersive physical theatre, often exploring audience interactivity, fluid set design, digital technology, and communal storytelling among micro audiences. Their SATA-winning documentary theatre project, Overhear, is an app-guided promenade piece of intimate one-on-one performances and has toured SummerWorks in 2018 and the Prague Quadrennial in 2019. Recently their journey into digital space and interactive installation has only deepened, resulting in the mobile game series ISOLATA and a first-person livestream game called Play Fail Win. This makes their co-production with The Body Orchestra a fitting blend of both familiar and unfamiliar, both digitizing the body and bodying the digital, fusing immersive dance and scenic design with app technology. As theatre re-emerges in 2021, It’s Not A Box Theatre believes it has never been more vital to discover radical new ways to nurture audiences and artists, inviting them to truly play together, make contact, and share a story together.

“The Coven” is a vogue collective comprised of three professional, queer artists from across the country. Ralph Escamillan (House of Gvasalia), Ross Wirtanen (RiaToss Productions) and Kevin Fraser (Immigrant Lessons) are all highly distinguished and versatile dancers / choreographers within their hometowns of Vancouver, BC and Toronto, ON. With an innate passion for LGBTQ2IA+ arts and culture, the “unholy trinity” strive to cultivate the growing Canadian vogue and ballroom scene by hosting community dance classes, workshops and balls .Their macabre sense of theatre, editorial fashion and gender-bending style are woven into entertaining and educational live performances that elevate the expressive, underground dance style of Vogue.

Tiffany Yang is an artist, designer, snow sculptor and sustainable eco-educator. She graduated in 2016 from Emily Carr University of Art + Design and holds a bachelor’s in Interaction Design and a minor in S.P.A.C.E Social Practice and Community Engagement. Tiffany had been a Volunteer Coordinator and Outreach Coordinator at a local recycling social-enterprise: Green Chair Recycling Inc. since 2012. She has worked at events and festivals all over the Lower Mainland and guides volunteers to help sort and divert waste away from landfills and oceans. As an artist, she builds snow sculptures of endangered species to share her passion in conservation. Her goal is to inspire and spread awareness on leading a minimal lifestyle in a practical and very fun way to as many people as possible!

TJ Felix is a two-spirit artist and educator from Splatsin and a member of the Secwépemc Nation. They are currently living on the stolen, ancestral lands of the Squamish, Musqueam, & Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

Vanessa Lefan Yuen（樂凡）is a multidisciplinary artist born and raised in rural northern Taiwan, and immigrated to Turtle island in 2006. Inspired by taiwanese folk lore, chinese literature, japanese anime, and the natural world around her, she uses music, visual arts, writing, and movement as forms of storytelling, expression, and healing.

She is currently in the process recording her first album “What Holds Us Together”, and also working with the collective Immigrant Lessons directed by Kevin Fraser.

Eddy van Wyk (a.k.a xoma-leon phîlip babur) is an international artist currently working as an unsettled settler in so-called Canada. They are native to Namibia with a performance history in South Africa. Eddy has more than 16 years of training in performance through the crafts of acting, dance, film, clown and theatrical creation.

Zofia Rose is a Polish and Carrier First Nation, singer/songwriter, poet and interdisciplinary performer. She resides in Vancouver (on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples) where she can be found busking in East Van. She is a slave to the muse, a graduate of The Writer’s Studio at SFU (2019), and her poetry has been published in Prism, RoomMagazine, and Salt Chuck City Review. Zofia has performed music and poetry at Indigenous Brilliance and the Talking Stick Festival.