22nd Annual Eastside Culture Crawl Opens Doors to Dynamic Community of Artists

Studios will be opened, garages exposed, and artworks displayed as Vancouver’s favourite celebration of visual arts, design, and crafts – the 22nd Annual Eastside Culture Crawl – takes flight across Vancouver’s vibrant Eastside community from November 15 to 18, 2018. With more than 35,000 fervent art lovers, cultural patrons, and curious tourists coalescing to marvel at Vancouver’s plethora of exceptionally talented art makers, the Crawl invites visitors to immerse themselves in Canada’s largest artistic community of its kind, which extends from Columbia Street to Victoria Drive and from 1st Avenue to the Waterfront, through on-site visits, live demonstrations, probing presentations, and intriguing installations.

“More than just the home to Vancouver’s popular, four-day celebration of visual arts, the Eastside community contains the largest ratio of artists per capita in the country and serves as the nucleus for hundreds of visual artists and their studios,” says Esther Rausenberg, Executive Director of the Eastside Culture Crawl. “Unsurprisingly, the current economic climate in Vancouver is making it difficult for people to survive the rapid pace of development in this city, and many artists are struggling to retain their studio spaces.”

Rausenberg continues, “Our mission is not only to celebrate our visual artists during the Crawl, but also support their growth and vibrancy all year long. We are committed to working together with the artistic community towards the goal of retaining a zero loss of studio space by coming up with sustainable creative solutions and assisting artists to find suitable studio replacements so they can continue to thrive.”

One way the Crawl is helping to increase artists’ profiles and enhance visitors’ experience of this beloved event is through the launch of a brand new festival app. Available for free download on November 15, the Eastside Culture Crawl app will help festival goers better navigate the neighbourhood, favourite preferred artists, and locate nearby refreshments, bike parking, and car-sharing vehicles. By improving upon an already popular event, the Crawl hopes to continue growing its audience, thereby encouraging and advocating for participating artists to keep producing their brilliant works of art.

Attracting long-time fans from across the Pacific Northwest and beyond, the Eastside Culture Crawl will showcase its more than 500 participating artists, who despite financial challenges and the rigours of life in a fast-paced, ever-evolving city, continue to produce inspiring and compelling works, including paintings, sculptures, pottery, photography, jewelry, glass art, furniture, and much more. This year’s event will include a series of workshops and demonstrations for those passionate followers looking to learn about the inner workings of their favourite art form such as pottery, live chainsaw carving, natural textile dyeing, and glassblowing. To learn more about the workshops and events offered, visit culturecrawl.ca/events.

Members of the public are invited to supplement their Eastside Culture Crawl experience through a number of feature presentations and installations, including:                                                                          

TAKE FLIGHT ­         
2nd Annual Benefit and Culture Crawl Festival Launch
Saturday, October 27, 2018, Arts Factory (281 Industrial Avenue)
6pm to 8:30pm – Cocktails and Canapés
8:30pm to 10pm – Public Opening – No Host Bar
Tickets: $75 at culturecrawl.ca/takeflight2018

SPACES, PLACES, AND TRACES: EASTSIDE CULTURE CRAWL PREVIEW EXHIBIT
A juried exhibition of works, featuring 70 artists from the 2018 Culture Crawl, on at various venues
from October 27 – November 18, 2018:

ARTS FACTORY (281 Industrial Avenue)

October 27 – November 11, 2018 | Opening Reception: October 27, 2018, 8:30pm­­-10pm

FIREHALL ARTS CENTRE (280 E. Cordova Street)

November 1 – 18, 2018 | Opening Reception: November 1, 2018, 6pm-8pm

THE CULTCH (1895 Venables Street)

November 1 – 18, 2018 | Opening Reception: November 1, 2018, 6pm-8pm

ALTERNATIVE CREATIONS GALLERY (1659 Venables Street)

November 1 – 18, 2018 | Opening Reception: November 1, 2018, 6pm-8pm

MOVING ART: CULTURE CRAWL’S FIFTH ANNUAL PROJECTION OF FILM & VIDEO
A showing of evocative, art-based, contemporary silent films.
November 15 – 18, 2018 | Noon to 11pm daily
Strange Fellows Brewing (1345 Clark Drive)
Film & Video Schedule available at: culturecrawl.caCLOSING FILM NIGHT WITH CAROLE ITTER
Eastside Culture Crawl and Cineworks present an evening of films by and about Vancouver-based artist Carole Itter, recipient of the 2017 Audain Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Visual Arts.
November 23, 2018 at 7pm
The Arts Factory (281 Industrial Avenue)

Full listings for all Eastside Culture Crawl events, artists, demonstrations, and locations can be found at culturecrawl.ca/events.

About the Eastside Culture Crawl (culturecrawl.ca)
The Eastside Culture Crawl is an annual four-day visual arts festival held in November that involves artists on Vancouver’s Eastside opening their studio to the public. The event is focused on the area bounded by Columbia Street, 1st Avenue, Victoria Drive, and the Waterfront and involves painters, jewellers, sculptors, furniture makers, weavers, potters, printmakers, photographers, glassblowers; from emerging artists to those internationally established.

The Eastside Culture Crawl officially began in 1997 with 45 visual artists in three Strathcona area studio buildings attended by a few hundred people. Since that time the event has grown to include more than 500 artists, craftspeople, and designers attracting an audience of more than 35,000 studio visits.The organization itself has evolved to represent the heart of the East Van creative community.