Community
VMF believes in the power of art to connect people, empower communities, and spark change in our city and world. Supporting community—artists, youth, underrepresented/marginalized groups—is an integral part of what we do.
Murals are more than paint on walls. They serve as catalysts for addressing many of the socio-cultural issues facing our city and artistic communities. Murals reflect community. They also transform how we see our city, our neighbourhoods and ourselves. Collaboration is an essential part of this. Throughout the year, VMF works with non-profits, independent local businesses, artists, arts events, Indigenous communities and more to empower individuals and groups, share stories, and in turn, deepen the socio-cultural impact of public art. It’s only through working with communities that we can strengthen them.
Together, we can impact change.
Blanketing The City is a public art mural series and Reconciliation process designed by acclaimed xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Weaver and Graphic Designer, Debra Sparrow in collaboration with Vancouver Mural Festival. Begun in 2018, the series boldly affirms the resurgence and importance of Coast Salish weaving on these lands, and directly combats the ongoing systemic suppression of Indigenous visual culture.
INDIGENOUS
VMF Residency Program is an experimental project that examines the opportunities and barriers around utilizing vacant retail spaces for low-barrier temporary artist studios. In 2020, the program undertook a feasibility study and a year of community engagement with stakeholders that included artists, city staff, policy makers and landowners. In the fall of 2021, three local artists were selected by a jury of their peers to take part in a six-month residency at retail units at The Shops at Bentall and The Royal Centre Mall.
The residencies are on the stolen and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
RESEARCH
BLACK STRATHCONA RESURGENCE PROJECT (BSRP) →
The Black Strathcona Resurgence Project (BSRP) endeavoured to be a part of the ongoing process of reclaiming Black visibility in Strathcona, an area historically populated by Vancouver’s Black community. The project had the goal of reclaiming visibility and reconciling the erasure and systemic racism endured over time by Black people in Vancouver.
BIPOC
INDIGENOUS CAPACITY BUILDING PROGRAM →
VMF has partnered with Rogers to expand support for Indigenous artists through the creation of an Indigenous Capacity Building Program. The focus of this program is to support the artists in becoming more visible online and for their work to be accessed on their own terms.
INDIGENOUS
Murals in the Market, was a program created and operated by the Punjabi Market Regeneration Collective with support from VMF. Murals in the Market facilitated storytelling through public art by collaborating with local BIPOC artists to deliver a series of murals in Punjabi Market, Vancouver.
BIPOC, EMERGING ARTISTS
This project commemorated the Komagata Maru Episode that occurred in 1914 in the Burrard Inlet where 368 predominantly Sikh passengers were denied entrance to Canada. Community engagement and completion of the mural influenced the owners of the site to remove the building name “Harry Stevens” who was a central governmental figure in the denial of the passenger's entry into Canada.
BIPOC, EMERGING ARTISTS, INDIGENOUS
HIGHLIGHTING INDIGENOUS VOICES →
Vancouver Mural Festival’s Indigenous Program creates opportunities for emerging and established Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Indigenous artists to gain more opportunities to produce public art and have access to support to build the capacity in the Indigenous communities to access the opportunities.
INDIGENOUS
Over 6 weeks in April-May 2020, we teamed up with local artists, Business Associations, Vancity, City of Vancouver and Goodbye Graffiti to create over 60 temporary murals on downtown storefronts to inspire hope, brighten streets, celebrate resilience and connect communities.
MENTAL HEALTH
This project was created in collaboration with SFU’s Centre for Comparative Muslim Studies (CCMS) to create a mural that would address islamophobia in a public space in Vancouver.
BIPOC
THE “TOGETHER MURAL” AT RAYCAM COMMUNITY CENTRE →
This was a collaboratative project with youth from the Raycam Community Center. We worked closely with the youth to help choose a word for graffiti and text artist, Ben Johnston, to paint in advance of our 2018 Strathcona Street Party.
YOUTH
THE HEALING QUILT: BLANKETING OUR LOST LOVED ONES →
As part of our ongoing community work, we organized and resourced a large-scale mural that was made by and for residents of the Vancouver Downtown East Side who have been affected by the fentanyl overdose crisis.
INDIGENOUS, BIPOC, EMERGING ARTISTS
Blanketing The City
VMF Residency Program
Indigenous Capacity Building Program
BSRP
Murals in the Market
Un-Leased: Temporary Artist Spaces Research Project
Taike-sye’yə
Highlighting Indigenous Voices
#MakeArtWhileApart
Why can't they see us?
The “Together Mural” at Raycam Community Centre
