ACCESSIBILITY
The Georgia Straight named Vines Festival “Best New Festival”
“This truly grassroots East Van happening shows eco art in every possible manifestation, pushing into the highly conceptual, the performance-art based, and the provocative. The fest, in only its second year, avoids the literal and is full of surprises and wonder. That’s what it will take to wake people to the enviro crisis at hand.”
– The Georgia Straight
ACCESSIBILITY
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 parks 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.
Please find our accessibility offerings for Vines Art Festival 2022 below. If you cannot find what you need, please email Marcelo at marcelo@vinesartfestival.com.
Accessibility at Vines is an ongoing project led by a queer, trans, racialized disabled person. If you’re part of a funded organization looking to grow accessibility offerings and have taken inspiration from our work, or you would like to have similar offerings to ours in the future, please consider requesting paid consultation or offering financial compensation for the use of this work at marcelo@vinesartfestival.com.
Harm Reduction
We will have safer drug use supplies (injection and smoking kits) and needle disposal units at every event provided by YouthCO HIV and Hep C Society. Learn about safer drug use at Towards the Heart.
We will have naloxone kits available. We are ready to respond to overdoses on site. Some of our staff are trained in First Aid.
Many in our communities are at risk of experiencing police and institutional violence. In case of an emergency, please reach out to a staff member and refrain from calling the police. We will contact 211 to request the safest possible aid for community members. If police happen to be on site, please reach out to our staff and allow them to engage with officers safely.
Food and Drink
There will be catering, food trucks or open park concession stands at every event. Most vendors offer a variety of vegetarian, vegan, and gluten free options. Please email Marcelo at marcelo@vinesartfestival.com if you need more details.
You will find iced water stations at the Info Booth and soft drinks available for sale.
It will be a long, sunny festival! Please make sure that you bring everything you need for the heat.
Mobility
Please refer to our access videos for visual aids that may help you identify barriers at some event locations:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJdn_dU9OoeZg4DTFav_mEpTWI78TfaLn
The right hand column on this page has information on parking, mobility, transit and washrooms for each park.
Working in public parks means that we are limited when it comes to making these spaces more accessible. The Vancouver Parks Board determines the park areas that we are permitted to use. The condition of paths, grass and public washrooms varies by location and can be hard to navigate when using wheelchairs and other mobility aids. We have reached out to the Parks Board in the past to ask about accessibility audits, but these have not been provided. We are in conversation with disabled community members about requesting in the near future that the Parks Board make accessibility aids available for outdoor events and improve park accessibility for all.
If you require specific assistance to get to our events, please contact Marcelo at marcelo@vinesartfestival.com. They will work to meet your needs.
For Blind and Partially Sighted People
Over the last couple years we have worked with Amy Amantea and chatted with the folks at VocalEye to build our knowledge and capacity to provide events for people who are blind and partially sighted. We would like to thank them immensely for the education and resources that they have provided us with, and credit VocalEye for the term “blind and low vision friendly”. Visit https://www.vocaleye.ca/ to learn more about their work.
This year we will offer blind and low vision friendly events on August 11th at Grandview Park and August 12th at New Brighton Park. At Vines, blind and low vision friendly means that 90% or more of our performances are music or spoken word with no visual elements to describe. Artists will provide a self description before their performances at these events. Our staff has been trained on guiding and is ready to assist you if you need us.
If you need assistance getting to the parks, performance area, or anything else, please contact Marcelo at marcelo@vinesartfestival.com to request it.
For Deaf and Hard of Hearing People
Our events on August 3rd, 5th, 9th, 10th, and 13th will have ASL-English interpretation. The interpreters will be Season Hunt, Vanessa Coley-Donohue, Gillian Pettit and Lily Flanjak.
Marcelo, the Accessibility Director, has basic ASL and Deaf culture knowledge. They would be happy to meet you at the Info Booth if you need them. Volunteers and staff are prepared to communicate through writing if needed.
For Neurodivergent People
We made videos that show you what some of the parks we work at look like. In them, Marcelo, the Accessibility Director, shows you paths, performance spaces, washrooms, maps, and gives you some more information you may need. Find them at this link:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJdn_dU9OoeZg4DTFav_mEpTWI78TfaLn
Feel free to get up, move, make noise, and walk around at every Vines event. Our staff and volunteers will not ask you to be still or quiet. We are unable to control environmental stimulation due to the outdoor, public settings of the festival. We will have foam ear plugs available at the Info Booth if you need them.
We offer colour communication stickers for our audience, artists, volunteers and staff to communicate their comfort with social interaction. Please respect people’s preferences.
- Green sticker: anyone can talk to me
- Yellow sticker: I’ll talk to people I know
- Red sticker: please give me space
Art Ecosystems will offer a crafts table at the festival
Seating
We have sturdier and wider chairs with and without arms available upon request at the Info Booth. This seating is reserved for fat and disabled folks. If you are thin and able bodied, please make use of the folding chairs that are set up near the stage. We also encourage folks to bring their own chairs or blankets.
Anti-Oppression
Vines Art Festival is made possible through the work, creativity, and resistance of Black, Indigenous, racialized, disabled, queer, Two-Spirit, trans, non-binary and gender diverse people. Providing access to art spaces for audiences and artists who belong to equity-seeking communities is our priority as an arts organization.
We are equipped to have compassionate and fruitful conversations about the topics that the festival presents, but we do not tolerate discrimination and violence against our communities. Those who are not able to receive feedback about their discriminatory actions will be asked to not participate in the festival.
We ask our audiences to acknowledge that the festival happens on stolen Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh land, oftentimes in areas that are gentrified, overpoliced, impoverished, and not accessible to many.
COVID-19
COVID-19 remains a concern in our communities, especially for those of us who are disabled and immunocompromised. The lack of governmental action to protect us and the outdoor nature of the festival make it impossible to ask everyone to mask. However, we will not tolerate harassment against audience members who are choosing to mask.
VENUE ACCESSIBILITY DETAILS
STANLEY PARK (By Second Beach at Stanley Park Dr at Lagoon Dr)
Parking: The closest for-pay parking lot with accessible parking spots is available at Stanley Park Dr and Lagoon Dr
Mobility: There is access to the seawall from this area
Transit: The closest bus stops are the 23 Main/Beach at Davie St, and Bidwell and the 5 Downtown/Robson on Davie St and Denman. Second Beach is 1 km away from these transit routes.
Washrooms: There are gendered public washrooms with wide stalls located near the parking lot.
Parking: Street Parking is available in the area around the park
Mobility: The paths inside the park are paved.
Transit: Buses 4 and 7 stop on the north side of the park. Bus routes 20, 14, 16 and R5 stop nearby as well.
Washrooms: There are portable toilets of different sizes at the park. Park washroom availability during the festival is uncertain.
Parking: Accessible parking (for disabled people only) is located at Beach Ave and Bute. A second parking lot is located at Beach Ave and Jervis.
Mobility: The most wheelchair accessible way to reach Sunset Beach Park from Beach Ave is through a paved path located next to the Aquatic Centre at Thurlow. Turn right at the seawall towards the concession stand to get to the park. The access at Bute is through a steep gravel path, or through the steep but paved parking lot entrance next to it.
Transit: The 23 Beach bus has stops at both Thurlow and Bute streets along Beach Ave. Stops for the 23 Main Street are located along Pacific Ave on Jervis and on Thurlow.
Washrooms: There are two gendered washrooms next to the concession stand with wide stalls that are usually full. We will have two wide, wheelchair accessible portable toilets too.
CREEKSIDE PARK (1455 Quebec Street)
Parking: There are two for-pay parking lots around Science World including one right next to Creekside Park.
Mobility: The seawall and other pathways surrounding the park are paved.
Transit: Creekside Park is 400 meters from Main Street-Science World Station. The bus stop for the 3 Main/Downtown, the 8 Fraser/Downtown, 19 Metrotown/Stanley Park, and 23 Main/Beach buses are all located around the Skytrain station.
Washrooms: We will have two wide, wheelchair accessible portable toilets. The closest accessible public washrooms to the park are located at Creekside Community Centre (550 meters away via the seawall). There are two gendered washrooms downstairs that are labeled trans inclusive. Upstairs (accessible by elevator), there are two more gendered washrooms and one single stall universal and wheelchair accessible washroom with push buttons to open and close doors. Needle disposal units are available inside the washrooms.
HADDEN PARK (By Kitsilano Beach at McNicoll Ave and Maple St) (1905 Ogden Avenue)
Parking: There is a for-pay parking lot ($3.50 hourly, $13 daily) located in between the park and beach area (Arbutus St and McNicoll Ave). There is a second for-pay parking lot further south on Arbutus St, which is a greater distance from the festival.
Street parking along the side of the park (Maple St) is free, but may be difficult to secure. More free parking options may be found in the neighbouring residential area.
Mobility: Pathways within the park are paved.
Transit: The closest bus stop to this location is located on Cornwall Ave at Cypress St (2 Macdonald/Downtown). Hadden Park is 750 meters from this bus stop.
Washrooms: There are gendered washrooms at the park with wide stalls.
TROUT LAKE PARK (Near the beach) (2120 East 19th Avenue)
Parking: There are two free parking lots, one by Trout Lake Community Centre and the other is at the southeast of the park nearest to the festival location.
Mobility: Pathways leading from the parking lots towards the performance area are gravel and wide. The grass area by the pathway leading to the performance area is bumpy and hard to navigate at some places. We will signal the safest, flattest parts of the grass to avoid wheelchair damage and injury.
Transit: The nearest bus stops are the 20 Victoria at Commercial Dr and E 14th Ave (650 meters away from the park) and the 7 Nanaimo at Nanaimo St and Franklin St (750 meters away from the park).
Washrooms: There are gendered washrooms with wide stalls by the concession stand near the festival area. More accessible washrooms are located inside the Trout Lake Community Centre. The wheelchair accessible stalls are located at the far end of the washroom, with roughly a 3ft wide doorway and 5ft-by-5ft stall.
Parking: There is metered parking on the streets surrounding the park. It is possible to find free parking in the neighbourhood.
Mobility: The pathways within the park are paved.
Transit: Bus stops for the 20 Downtown/Victoria are located by the park on Commercial Drive.
Washrooms: There is one all genders wheelchair accessible washroom, and gendered washrooms with wheelchair accessible stalls at the park. However the washrooms do not receive city maintenance as often, making them hard to use. We will have two wide, wheelchair accessible portable toilets too.
NEW BRIGHTON PARK (3201 New Brighton Rd)
Parking: There are 2 free parking lots; one accessed through Commissioner St, the second is the pool parking lot on McGill St. There is also free street parking along New Brighton Rd and accessible parking spots (for disabled people only) in the staff parking lot accessed through New Brighton Rd. Parking fills out fast.
Mobility: There is a paved sidewalk along the park, and the paths inside the park are gravel.
Transit: The bus stop for the number 4 bus is located at McGill and Renfrew. The park is accessed through an overpass.
Washrooms: We will have two wide, wheelchair accessible portable toilets near the performance area. There are gendered washrooms with wide stalls further away, adjacent to the pool.
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