Vines Art Festival 2018
August 8-19th
There is much to celebrate this year as we share the program of Vines fourth festival. We have grown our team to include some really beautiful people, including Senaqwila Wyss, Kathleen Gordon, Eddy van Wyck, Aleks Besan and Sara Cadeau. We have formed new partnerships and we continue to deepen our understanding of what it means to share art on Coast Salish Territories. This year’s festival focuses on the interrelationship of social justice to environment justice and of the body to the land.
Vines is grounded in what is present here, in our web of communities. Continual support of megaprojects and violation of indigenous rights, human rights and land rights; the ever-pressing rumbling injustice that pushes, exhausts, heightens anxiety and depression. Concurrently there are multiple fires burning life and energy, prayers being shared between unlikely groups, disruptions of systems happening daily, beautiful flowers with bees collecting nectar and the scent of cedar forests.
The artists in Vines this year are continually burning fires within themselves, moving water with their songs, words and dance and unapologetically sharing their beliefs and values. Goosebumps and tears are a regular occurrence as I follow artists such as an̓usáyum, Jaz Whitford, 333(Kimmortal, Missy D, and JB the First Lady), Jessica McMann, Crystal Smith, Quin Lawrence, Marisa Gold and Janelle Reid and many more share their art. I am reassured each time that art and artists lead change and that witnessing and sharing brings us back to our humanity and reminds us to love.
Vines is a free festival, so we rely on donors to make this festival happen. Please donate if you are able, our goal is to reach $3000 before the festival.
Hugs,
Heather Lamoureux
Artistic Director, Vines Art Festival