Dear Powell Street Festival Friends,
We are writing this in the midst of some brief, early February snow! We hope you get a chance to enjoy this fleeting bit of winter.
In this letter:
- Upcoming: Register now for next week's online event Inklings to Action: The Paueru Gai Dialogues Worksop
- Society News: Lots of exciting announcements, including a recap of January's Daruma Kuyō event
- New Program: We are now accepting applications for the inaugural Japanese Canadian Youth Cohort
- Festival Update: An Update on applications for the 2022 Powell Street Festival
- Community Announcements and other exciting notes from friends of the Festival
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Inklings to Action: The Paueru Gai Dialogues Workshop
Saturday, February 12 | 1 PM PST/4 PM EST
FREE Online event, registration required.
Join Inklings to Action: The Paueru Gai Dialogues Workshop to reconnect with the past participants, share the big and small take-aways, and brainstorm next actions!
In 2021, the Paueru Gai Dialogues created an online space where we collectively considered contemporary issues – such as art as activism, food security, climate change, histories and decolonization – through a racialized lens. We sought to learn from differences, build solidarity, and discover everyday points of action. The format included a generative-question exercise, dubbed Doukana, which disrupts our impulse to rush to answers and creates an opportunity for unexpected ideas and possibilities. Due to popular demand, we’re bringing you this series debrief to further unpack questions, themes, and foster online community.
What did you discover, think and feel about:
- the session(s) you attended;
- the series as a whole;
- the online space to connect and build community across the country and during COVID-19 restrictions;
- And what are your ideas about next steps, everyday actions at home, and future online events/gatherings.
This event will include a brief summary of the series, longer breakout sessions, and a new iteration of Doukana in the form of collective haiku writing!
You don’t need to have participated in previous Dialogues, but if you would like context for previously discussed themes, you can watch the entire series on our YouTube Channel
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We are anticipating a full-build for the upcoming 46th Annual Powell Street Festival, on July 30th and 31st, 2022. We are looking forward to once again filling Oppenheimer Park and Paueru Gai with the sights and sounds of the Powell Street Festival!
While we would normally release an open call for applications at this time, for the 46th Powell Street Festival, we are only inviting applications from confirmed 2020 participants and 2019 food booths who were unable to perform at a live Festival due to the COVID-19 pivot. PSFS staff will continue reaching out directly by email with application instructions. If you were confirmed for the 2020 festival (or 2019 for food booths) and have not received instructions, please reach out to info[at]powellstreetfestival.com with your current contact information.
We are looking forward to inviting a general call for applications in subsequent years.
Thank-you!
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The Japanese Canadian Youth Cohort 2022
Powell Street Festival Society proudly announces the 2022 Japanese Canadian Youth Cohort. This new program offers an expenses-paid opportunity for young Japanese Canadians, age 19 to 29, who were raised outside of British Columbia to attend the Powell Street Festival, participate in its production, attend training sessions, and create an embodied experience of Japanese Canadian identity as vibrant and vital.
This is a hybrid program spanning May to early August, with weekly online remote training sessions, culminating in an in-person Production Residency in Vancouver, Sunday, July 24th to Wednesday, August 3rd. Travel, accommodation, and a per diem will be provided.
Applications will accepted until Tuesday, February 28th. Click the link below for application information
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Daruma Kuyō Recap
Thank you to everyone who came to last month's Daruma Kuyō celebration in CRAB Park! During this final cycle of our Daruma Community Well-Wishing Campaign and Installation, set to durational taiko and in collaboration with Elder Veronica’s sacred fire, we burned all 4,000 collected origami daruma and released their well-wishes. Plus, Powell Street Festival Society’s Advocacy and Outreach Committee and WePress Community Kitchen cooked and distributed 200 portions of Japanese Curry Rice to event attendees and the CRAB Park community. The whole event was also broadcast online! Scroll down to check our YouTube channel for an excerpt of Saturday’s welcome speeches
Read More about our Advocacy and Outreach Committee and our DTES Community Care Programs
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Powell Street Festival Online
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Daruma Kuyō Livestream
Excerpt: welcome speeches
This excerpt from Powell Street Festival Society's January 15, 2022 Daruma Kuyō and New Year's Celebration event features welcome speeches from Eddy Takayanagi, Elder Veronica, and Masami Hanashiro. Taken directly from January 15th's livestream.
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Donate to Powell Street Festival Society
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Over the past year, we have produced and collaborated on a host of events and programs that advance PSFS’ mission: to create positive social change through Japanese Canadian art and culture. Here are a few highlights from 2021:
- Our hybrid 45th Annual Powell Street Festival, which featured over 60 artists and community groups with the help of over 30 volunteers.
- Three online series, including Paueru Gai Dialogues (watch here) and Talking the Walk: Reflections on 360 Riot Walk (watch here), and Paueru Mashup community dance lessons (learn the dance here).
- A PSFS-DKAM fall-winter live music and performance series, which included Miyō : Powell Street Festival at the Rio and Daruma Kuyō .
- Our Community Care Programs, a suite of programs that supports meal prep and grocery delivery for unhoused and underserved members of the Downtown Eastside. So far in 2021, we have invested over $96,000 toward these programs.
Thank you for your support in 2021, and for joining us in our mission. Please consider making a tax deductible donation, which will help us to grow our programs and continue our work in supporting community and artist groups in 2022.
You can make a donation online by clicking the button below or by mailing a cheque to:
Powell Street Festival Society
410-111 W. Hastings St.
Vancouver, BC V6B 1H4
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Yume. Digital Dreams
Tashme Productions
14 Professional Artists selected from the Japanese Canadian Artist Directory will collaborate online, in pairs over 4 months to create exciting New digital Work.
The project welcomes a roster of talented and diverse artists who span generations, artistic disciplines and who come from all corners of Canada. They are: Baco Ohama (Calgary, AB), Poet/Visual art; Dawn Obokata (Toronto, ON), Theatre Artist; Hitoshi Sugiyama (Edmonton, AB), Electronic Music/Flute; Jon Sasaki (Toronto, ON), Multi-Disciplinary Artist; Kayla Isomura (Vancouver, BC), Photographer; Kunji Ikeda (Calgary, AB), Dance/theatre; Lillian Michiko Blakey, (Newmarket, ON) Visual Art; Linda Hoffman (Vancouver, BC), Taiko/Interdisciplinary Artist; Michael Fukushima (Eastern Townships, QC), Filmmaker; Miya Turnbull (Halifax, NS), Visual Art; Noriko Kim Kobayashi (Surrey, BC), Taiko / Musician; Shion Skye Carter (Vancouver, BC), Experimental Dancer; Teiya Kasahara (Toronto, ON), Opera; and Will Shintani (Toronto, ON), Visual Artist.
The goal of Yume. Digital Dreams is to grow the national profile of the Directory, transforming it from an archival hub of cultural knowledge to an active resource of community outreach, exchange and real-time artistic evolution. The project is unique in that it will share intergenerational, interdisciplinary and cross-regional connections and exchanges as the artists negotiate their respective processes towards a final piece in real time.
The project runs from February to May. Keep an eye out for an invitation to the final vernissage in mid-May 2022.
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Thank-you from the Powell Street Festival Society Team!
Thank-you for reading this month's edition of our newsletter! We invite you to stay in touch and continue the conversation on social media, forward this letter to your friends, and come say hi at our upcoming online events! See you soon!
よろしくお願いいたします
パウエル祭協会より。
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