Hosting the Vines Art Festival in public spaces to be enjoyed for free is one of the ways in which we strive to make art accessible to different communities across Vancouver. However, we know that these spaces can be inaccessible for communities that experience physical and sensory barriers in navigating public space, and who may be exposed to life threatening situations in public, including folks who are disabled, Blind, have low vision, are Deaf, hard of hearing, neurodivergent, Black, Indigenous, of colour, migrants, houseless, queer, trans, and immunocompromised.

This year, COVID-19 has impacted these same marginalized communities, which many of us at Vines -including artists, audiences and organizers- serve and belong to. Many of us have limited access to healthcare, employment, public spaces, are being over policed, and on top of that, we have had to isolate ourselves from our people. This has driven us to create digital spaces where we can stay connected. Over the past months, we have hosted online conversations about disability, displacement, and offered modest community supports . We have also had to move the festival to a mostly online format. This change has put important accessibility and community projects on hold. It has also created new barriers, as many of the people that we have relationships to have no or limited access to the internet and technology.

We know that for art and spaces to be accessible they must be led by people who look like us and share our lived experiences. Our festival grows and thrives thanks to a diverse community that is open to dialogue and is generous with feedback, but we still have work to do and communities to reach out to. For instance, we have not yet done deep work alongside artists who are blind and have low vision, and are just beginning our relationships with artists who are Deaf and hard of hearing. We are committed to reaching out to artists and consultants from these communities for the coming festivals. This is work that we need to do at the best of our capacities for us to be able to learn and respond to the needs of these communities.

Accessibility for Blind and Low Vision Folks

If you are coming to our in person Opening Ceremony or Sounds Like Growth foodshare and require specific assistance, please email marcelo@vinesartfestival and they will work with you to make sure that you are able to enjoy these events.

Our sonic performances are the most blind and low vision friendly, as they don’t have a video component. The sonic performances however are paired with illustrated maps of the parks that we work in. A voice recorded description of the maps will be available. 

Our pre recorded video performances will unfortunately not have audio descriptions except for ‘Parts of Me” by All Bodies Dance. However many of these performances are focused on spoken word and music and can still be enjoyed without descriptions:

Freedom: Stories of Black Liberation on August 7 has 

• Afro Van Connect – music, dance, spoken word
• Siobhan Barker – storytelling, song

Fluidity: Bodies, Sound and Land on Aug 13

• Shana Wolfe & Rosemary Xinhe Hu – spoken word, dance 
• Woody Morrison – storytelling  

Resilient Roots on Aug 15

• Brandi Bird – poetry 
• Edzi’u – music
• Kung Jaadee – storytelling
• Mechelle Pierre – storytelling 
• Zofia Rose Musiej – poetry  

Accessibility for d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing Folks

There will be an Opening Ceremony on Wednesday August 5th at 6 PM at Trout Lake Park with ASL interpretation by Jenny Cowan and Ev Daoust. You can register for it on the Vines website and indicate that you need ASL interpretation. 

Our ‘Sonic Performances’ have been transcribed in english. You can find them along with the illustrated park maps!

All our video performances have been closed captioned in english.

The judging for our Eco Mini Ball on August 11th will have live ASL interpretation by Melanie Valencia. 

Accessibility for Neurodiverse and Mentally Ill Folks

These downloadable documents have information about getting to the parks, staff and performers, and what you can expect at the events. 

Content Notes for videos and sonic performances can be found here.

Creekside Park Visual Story
Hadden Park Visual Story
Strathcona Park Visual Story
Trout Lake Visual Story

Gender Inclusivity

Vines Art Festival is made possible through work, creativity, and resilience from  Two-Spirit, trans, non-binary and gender diverse people (2STNBGD). We strive to make space for our T2SNBGD audiences in our art and in the public spaces where we work.

Mobility Access 

We have reached out to the Parks Board to ask about accessibility audits for parks and beaches. We hope to be able to provide full accessibility audits in the future. For now, our day by day accessibility section includes some basic notes for each of the spaces.

Allergies and scent sensitivities 

We ask that folks attending Opening Ceremonies refrain from bringing food containing common allergens like nuts, and from using strongly-scented products.