Vancouver’s favourite annual visual arts, design, and crafts festival is back! For its 26th year, the Eastside Culture Crawl is returning to a pre-pandemic format with in-person events and studio visits. From November 17 to 20, more than 425 artists in Vancouver’s Eastside will open their doors to art lovers, tourists, and curious Vancouverites.
The four-day festival is free to attend and typically attracts tens of thousands of visitors. The event is a unique opportunity to peek inside studios and glimpse the lives and work of local artists.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, organizers moved to a hybrid, scaled-back version of the festival in 2020 and 2021. Though studio visits were still possible, visitors had to book their spots in advance. The hope is that the return to a more familiar, in-person schedule for 2022 will inspire visitors to come out and reconnect with new and returning artists.
“What the past two years has reinforced is that the arts play an incredibly important role in people’s lives,” says Esther Rausenberg, Artistic & Executive Director of the Eastside Arts Society, in a release. “We’re thrilled to bring back our classic Culture Crawl experience. The challenges of the past few years have certainly proven that artists are resilient and adaptable. Many have taken the time to reflect on their art practice, taking it to the next level by exploring new avenues and fresh approaches. We can’t wait to share these new revelations in the 26th edition of the Culture Crawl; it’s truly going to be a celebration of the vitalness of the arts.”
In addition to open artists’ studios, the festival also features presentations, exhibitions, demonstrations, talks, and gallery displays. The preview exhibition, which runs October 31 to November 27 at six different venues across the city, is the largest in Culture Crawl history. Showcasing work from 90 selected artists, the exhibition, called “NEXT”, examines the impact of the pandemic and our collective response.
The 26th Annual Eastside Culture Crawl runs from November 17 – 20 at various locations between Columbia Street, 1st Avenue, Victoria Drive, and the Waterfront. Visit culturecrawl.ca for festival information and event details.
