Vancouver Mural Festival returns August 4-13
NEW MURALS // POP-UP EVENTS // MOUNT PLEASANT STREET PARTY // VMF AFTER DARK // MURAL TOURS // MORE
The Vancouver Mural Festival returns with a spectacular celebration of creativity and community on August 4–13, 2023 across multiple locations, with the festival epicentre at the iconic City Centre Artist Lodge on Main Street. The highly anticipated 10-day summer festival is jam-packed with daily mural tours, live performances, public talks, and more.
The festival kicks off on August 4 with mural tours in the afternoon followed by the Public Disco Pride Special in the evening at The Cobalt and Boxcar.
As part of the festival’s dedication to honouring diversity, attendees can look forward to the Ricecake Summer Market which features over 25 local Asian artisans, makers, and food vendors.
Curated by beloved queer Asian event producers, Ricecake, the one-night-only market on August 10 also offers a full evening of free activities and entertainment from Asian DJs, drag performers, lion dancers, circus performers, and a karaoke hour.
“Whether you want to sing karaoke, support local businesses or enjoy incredible performances, the Ricecake Summer Market has something for everyone,” said Van Dang (they/them), founder of Ricecake Events and co-curator of this all Asian market.
“We’re excited to work with VMF because we feel it’s important to celebrate the LGBTQ+ Asian community year-round, not just during Asian Heritage Month. We want Vancouver to celebrate diversity and representation while creating a safe space where both the queer community and the Asian community can celebrate the intersectionality of their existence.”
The Vancouver Mural Festival is known for its inclusive experiences that embrace and celebrate the rich cultures and communities of Vancouver, offering a space where everyone can participate and feel a sense of belonging. Its open-air gallery of murals has transformed buildings across Metro Vancouver into colourful works of art, bringing over 400 murals to life in the past seven years. We can't wait to share about this year's artists and the murals they'll be creating across Metro Vancouver.
In 2021, the festival expanded to include small-scale mobile murals through Murals Without Walls, a collaborative project with Kickstart Disability Arts & Culture that provides an accessible pathway for professional artists with disabilities to produce and exhibit their work at the City Centre Artist Lodge.
Rose Poon, a Hong Kong born cartoonist and illustrator who participated in the project, expressed her excitement over having access to a space where she could stay creative and have fun. “I spent three days on a studio site to complete my mural painting on a four by four feet wooden canvas. I received a lot of training and support throughout the process. Thanks to Murals Without Walls, I was able to connect to more people through my art,” said Poon.
Now in its 3rd edition, Murals Without Walls addresses the lack of opportunities for professional artists who experience barriers due to a disability by creating ways to participate in the public realm and Vancouver arts and culture.
Application details will be available soon at kickstartdisability.ca
“Access, from our perspective, is the most basic condition needed for us to show up to the proverbial table, or in this case, the mural wall. We have an entire arts and cultural movement that has so much to offer, both within the gallery and in public art spaces like what the Vancouver Mural Festival offers,” said Jenna Reid, Artistic Director of Kickstart Disability Arts and Culture. “Murals Without Walls endeavours to move beyond access by inviting audiences in to witness the brilliance that exists within the field of Disability Arts and Culture, rather than simply including mad, Deaf, and disabled artists into the formal art world.”
