News this month: A Message from our President, Reminder About the 2015 AGM, Call for Volunteers + More!
A Message from our President,
Colin Chan
Hello PSFS Community!
Our board has just come off a great retreat - we spent a weekend together in the PSFS office, working on our plans and priorities for 2015. It was a great opportunity to come together as a team, welcoming our new board members and Executive Director. We are very excited about all the projects we have for 2015 across all our committees.
With that in mind, I encourage you all to come to our Annual General Meeting coming up April 16. Each of our committees will be giving a presentation on the amazing work they accomplished in 2014, and what they have planned for 2015. Afterwards, committee, staff, and board members will be around to meet, chat, and have some food and drink! Hope to see you there.
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Photo of Tetsu Taiko at the 2014 Powell Street Festival by Jeanie Ow
April 16, 2015 at 6:30pm (Katari Taiko's AGM is at 7:00. Please come to both!)
5th Floor, 111 West Hastings Street, Woodwards Building.
Goodbye and Thank-you!
PSFS would like to thank our amazing outgoing staff member, Naomi Horii, for everything she has done for us since coming on board as Interim Administrative Assistant in January. We hope you will join us in wishing her well on her future endeavours. Naomi is a member of our Programming Committee, so we’ll continue to benefit from her great contributions to JC arts and culture!
Tea and snacks provided. Free and open to everyone!
Please join us to explore the Right to Remain Exhibition and for a special workshop hosted by Gallery Gachet, the Revitalizing Japantown? Project, PSFS’s Advocacy Committee, and the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre.
We will gather in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) for an afternoon of listening, learning, and art-making. During this workshop, special guests will share personal stories of past and present connections to the DTES, some Japanese Canadian history, and human rights struggles in the neighbourhood. This will be followed by time for personal conversations and a chance to create fabric artwork to express you r hopes for upholding human rights in the DTES and the future of the neighbourhood. We want to know what you envision for the Powell Street area, that was historically the heart of the Japanese Canadian community before 1942, in the current context of the DTES.
ScreenTime is a quarterly screening series of performances on film, held throughout Vancouver with a variety of partners. Each screening is followed by a conversation about the work, the artist and artists who made it, and the ideas bouncing between the two.
Presented in partnership with the Powell Street Festival as part of Vancouver Asian Heritage Month's ExplorASIAN celebrations. Our venue partner is Groundswell Cafe.
This HD filmed version of the work was made by our friends at On the Boards (Seattle) through their OntheBoards.tv project.
The screening will be followed by a conversation put together by Theatre Replacement Associate Artist Cindy Mochizuki. Expect a hearty helping of Freud, and possibly costumes.
ABOUT The Room Nobody Knows
Enter a surreal fever dream in this psycho-erotic tale from modern Japan. Overworked and undersexed, a fatigued student’s brain conjures the bizarre tale of two brothers and their un-nameable erotic fantasies. Their comically claustrophobic world plays out on a candy-colored, meticulously constructed miniature set replete with pig faces, giant phalluses and secret compartments.
ABOUT Niwa Gekidan Penino
Niwa Gekidan Penino seeks to transcend the existing framework of drama through their performances in non-theatrical spaces and sets that transform the stage. Led by playwright/director (and former psychiatrist) Kuro Tanino, the company has performed abroad in Switzerland and the Netherlands.
Learn more about ScreenTime and Theatre Replacement here.
Photo from The Room Nobody Knows courtesy Theatre Replacement, 2015. Back to top
Call for Volunteers
Powell Street Festival Society is seeking volunteers for year-round assistance and for the festival weekend. We have a variety of roles to fill, including Class-5 drivers to assist with transportation during the festival. There are many ways to take part in this vibrant and unique event, opportunities include:
hospitality
children’s tent
environment
stage crew
site crew
drivers
poster distribution
Interested parties may apply by contacting us at info@powellstreetfestival.com.
Photo of volunteers and organizers from previous Powell Street Festival by Jeanie Ow. Back to top
Applications for our summer staff positions are closed!
Thank you to all who applied; we will announce our genki genki summer staff soon!
Photo of hip hop dancers from the 2003 Powell Street Festival by Barb Yamazaki Back to top
Do you have a Japanese Canadian or Downtown Eastside community related event? Powell Street Festival Society is pleased to offer our community partners the opportunity to submit their own special events. We will publicize suitable events and activities. It’s our little way of saying thank you for your hard work in our community! Send us via Community Event Submission Form.
