Powell Street Festival

The Powell Street Festival has an attraction for everyone – there is dancing, music, video and film, martial arts demonstrations, visual arts,  a sumo tournament for amateurs, craft vendors, traditional art and culture displays, and as you would expect lots of Japanese and Asian food! The Powell Street Festival is the biggest of this type in Canada, and runs the longest of any community arts festival in the Lower Mainland. The festival is an opportunity for emerging and established, amateur and professional, traditional and contemporary artists alike, both in the Japanese Canadian and Asian Canadian communities. There are also co-presentations throughout the year, in tandem with other art groups.

The festival features lots of different attractions, but some great examples include the Children’s Tent, featuring face painting and hat and mask making, Origami shows, a walking tour of the various aspects of the festival, bands such as LOUD and Guimaves, traditional animation screenings, storytelling, traditional dances such as the Ichigo-Ichieh, and ceremonial tea sessions. There are lots of things for people of all ages to do and experience there, and anyone with an appreciation for Asian culture or a desire to learn more about the world they live in will be delighted with what they see.

There are also lots of ways to get involved, as the Powell Street Festival is always accepting volunteers to help with virtually every aspect. The festival is of course a not for profit organization aimed at producing a greater knowledge of Asian culture and society, and to foster a passion for artistic expression across cultures. This year’s theme is migration, so many artists and storytellers will be sharing how living thousands of miles away from where they were born has changed them, or how they have adapted to living in a new country.