October 12 edition: How Vancouver made affordability illegal

Who decided that hitting up multiple types of the same venue should be known as a crawl? Sure, it makes sense for a pub or bar crawl, where it describes how you’ll probably be getting home after downing a pint at seven different venues. As well as how your head will feel the next day, when your brain is trying to escape your skull by sliding down your spine.

Luckily there are some more family-friendly crawls on this weekend. Both New West and the North Shore are hosting their annual arts and culture crawls. Presumably they cribbed the naming convention from the long-running Eastside Culture Crawl—in any case, there are surely plenty of better ways to get between the studios. Crawling is strictly optional.

FEATURE

How Vancouver made affordability illegal

Helen Lui gets into the discriminatory history of zoning—and how it’s banning dense, affordable housing to this day.

CITY & CULTURE

Kennedy Stewart’s Decrim reminds us
how fragile policy can be

Former Mayor of Vancouver Kennedy Stewart’s new book, Decrim: How We Decriminalized Drugs in British Columbia, snapshots a specific moment in time that’s already slipping away.

• Landlords may be using a caretaker provision to unfairly evict tenants (CBC)

• Remember ABC’s campaign promise to hire 100 cops and nurses? So far it’s all cops, no nurses (The Tyee)

SPONSORED BY DTES HEART OF THE CITY FESTIVAL

20th Annual Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival: October 25 – November 5

We are thrilled to announce the upcoming Heart of the City Festival, and a year of milestones: the 20 th Festival; the 20th Anniversary of the 2003 Downtown Eastside Community Play, which led to the founding of the Festival; and the 40th Anniversary of Vancouver Moving Theatre, lead producers of the Festival.

 The festival continues to carry forward the DTES community’s stories, ancestral memory, cultural traditions, lived experiences, and artistic processes to illuminate pathways of resistance and resilience.

Guided by the theme Grounded in Community, Carrying it Forward, the Festival will feature 100+ events and showcase 40+ local venues over twelve days of live and online events - including music, stories, poetry, theatre, ceremony, films, dance, readings, forums, workshops, discussions, gallery exhibits, art talks, history walks and more.

ARTS

Crystal Pite’s Kidd Pivot back with
another world premiere with Assembly Hall

Vancouver-based international dance mega-star Crystal Pite is gearing up for the debut of her latest work—an electrifying gathering of medieval re-enactors hashing it out.

• Architecture and Design Film Festival highlights urbanism movies
  

• Whose Live Anyway? tour comes to Vancouver next year

• The dynamic world premiere of Accumulation (Nov. 9 – 11)  is a transcontinental performance project by Co.ERASGA Dance, in collaboration with acclaimed artists from the USA, Canada and France.*

• Vancouver's silliest holiday theatre tradition, Theatre Replacement's East Van Panto, is back with Beauty and the Beast! Nov. 22-Jan. 7 at The Cultch's York Theatre.*

*sponsored listing

MUSIC

Colleen Rennison finds redemption
with the triumphant Persephone

Not to romanticize what was a crazy stretch of excess, but Colleen Rennison has been through some hellish times. Out of that mess came her new album, Persephone.

• That Tracks is a new roundtable where we muse over what we’re listening to this week
  

• Boys Like Girls brought a triumphant set to the Commodore

• Drugdealer, the indie-funk band headed by Michael Collins (Run DMT, Salvia Palth), are coming to The Pearl on October 25th with special guest Healing Potpourri.*

• Vancouver Opera’s The Magic Flute opens October 21! Be transported to a storybook world of fantastical creatures and some of Mozart’s most soul-stirring music.*

• World Music Lovers! Tickets on sale now for Ukraine's Ethno-Chaos band Dakhabrakha, and Legendary Indian Percussionist Zakir Hussain, plus Fado Star Carminho.*

• BC septet Naadaleela with guest dancers blend Persian, Chinese and Indian traditions with a touch of jazz, Oct. 21 at BlueShore at CapU. Get tickets.*

*sponsored listing

SPONSORED FIREHALL THEATRE

Firehall Arts Centre Premieres the Climate Drama 'Peace Country' on Stage

Firehall Arts Centre opens its 2023/24 season of theatre, musicals, and dance with the world premiere of Peace Country, rice & bean theatre's examination of intercultural friendship set against the stark realities of northern living amidst the growing concerns of climate change, live on stage from October 12-22.

LIVING

A freaky monster museum is opening in Burnaby

MastersFX, one of Hollywood’s favourite special effects and creature studios, is giving the public a peek into its huge monster-making studio in Burnaby.

• Homes for the Holidays gives you interior decor inspo for a good cause
  

• Michelin Guide is partnering with Turo in Vancouver for a Drive to Table experience

SPONSORED BY OXIO

Your friendly neighbourhood internet provider.

🏒oxio internet is 100% Canadian. So when they say “We understand”, they mean it. Especially when you’re desperately hitting the refresh button to check the hockey score. 100% digital support. 100% simple with online activations and self install equipment. And your first month is 100% free with code GEORGIASTRAIGHT.

THINGS TO DO THIS WEEKEND

Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival at the Roundhouse | To October 17 | 12pm

The seventh annual Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival (VOAF), Canada’s only outsider arts fest, is bigger than ever this year. [Free]

Borrowed Time at 298 Alexander Street | October 13 to 15 | Various times

Borrowed Time is an intergenerational dance work by Inverso Productions, choreographed by Lesley Telford. How do our relationships across generations allow us to give in, grow, and rebuild? [$35]

Canyon Frights at Capilano Suspension Bridge Park | October 13 to 31 | 10am to 8pm

Make the most of your annual bridge pass and see the spooky attraction, done up to resemble a Victorian-era Fall Fair. [$66.95]

Curtains, in Concert at Arts Umbrella | October 13 to 15 | Various times

In this musical comedy whodunnit, written by the creators of Cabaret and Chicago, a detective falls in love with a musical’s leading lady while investigating a murder. [$30+]

North Shore Art Crawl at various locations | October 13 to 15 | Various times

More than 150 artist across 69 locations are inviting you behind the scenes of their creative processes in the 13th annual North Shore arts crawl. [Free]

New West Cultural Crawl at various locations | October 14 and 15 | 11am to 5pm 

A family-friendly culture crawl that celebrates and exhibits the vast artistic talents across New Westminster. [Free]

Badass Film Festival at Rio Theatre | October 15 | 1:30pm to 11pm

The ninth annual one-day festival will feature the best in new genre films, hosted Q&As, live performances, and more. [$15+]

Tommy Lefroy at Biltmore Cabaret | October 15 | 8pm

Juno-nominated indie pop duo Tommy Lefroy consists of Canadian Tessa Mouzourakis and American Wynter Bethel. [$20]

The Milk Carton Kids at The Vogue Theatre | October 14 | 7pm

Don't miss indie folk duo The Milk Carton Kids take the Vogue Theatre stage on Saturday night, with support from Annahstasia. [$29.50+]*

*sponsored listing

Want to know what else is happening in Vancouver? Check out our Events Listings.

That’s it!

Thanks for reading the Straight today!

If you found something useful, consider forwarding this newsletter to another Vancouverite.

And before you go, let us know:

• Did a friend share this with you? Sign up for free.

• Want to advertise to locals? Contact our team.

• Have a crazy or cool story to share? Drop us an email.