Musing on the Making of IzumonookunI

Aretha Aoki crawling across stage with a child on her back.

IzumonookunI Blog Post Powell Street Festival Society is proud to be supporting the development of “IzumonookunI,” a multidisciplinary dance inspired by Izumo no Okuni, the 17th century cis-female founder of kabuki: a Japanese dance-drama form that currently contains little trace of its cis-female-centric, grassroots, counter-cultural origins. The following blog post is a reflection by choreographer Aretha Aoki on her motivations and ethos in … Read more

paueru gaizette No. 4

paueru gaizette no. 4 Read this edition After a brief hiatus, the paueru gaizette zine is back with another issue, “sounds like home”.  What sounds like home to you? “For myself, having grown up around a big extended family, I think about people gathering in the kitchen at my grandparents’ house. Working together to cook … Read more

Catching Up with Volunteers at Godzilla

Catching Up with Volunteers at Godzilla Written by Vanessa Matsubara, 2022-2023 Powell Street Festival production staff  This October, Powell Street Festival Society (PSFS) partnered with The Cinematheque to present Godzilla: King of Kaiju, a Halloween season film series saluting the epic reign of the kaiju king. We were glad to see the pop culture icon … Read more

Rita Ueda, I Have My Mother’s Eyes, and Art as Community-Building and Healing

Rita Ueda, I Have My Mother’s Eyes and art as community-building and healing Vancouver composer Rita Ueda presents the world premiere of I Have My Mother’s Eyes: A Holocaust Memoir Across Generation chamber opera at the Norman Rockwell Theatre on November 18 and 19, 2023 at 8:00 pm. Celebrated as a composer whose “poetic is often very delicate and … Read more

Behind Minori Harvest: The Butternut Squash Miso Soup Recipe

Behind Minori Harvest: The Butternut Squash Miso Soup Recipe In anticipation of this year’s Minori Harvest event on Sunday, November 5th at Oppenheimer Park, we would like to share our recipe for our delicious butternut squash miso soup. With the help of our volunteers, we prepare and distribute 300 servings of this soup every year as … Read more

paueru gaizette No. 3

paueru gaizette no. 3 Read this edition Check out the third edition of the paueru gaizette, created by members of our Advocacy and Outreach Committee! This edition’s theme is “generations,” and includes reflections on “…our hope, our responsibility, and our continuum between the old and the new.” Inside, you will find poems connecting us to our ancestors, … Read more

Celebrate Japanese Canadian art and culture at the 47th Annual Powell Street Festival!

Powell Street Festival Society announces the 47th Annual Powell Street Festival this August 5-6, 2023, 11:30 am to 7:00 pm. This free two-day celebration of Japanese Canadian art and culture in Oppenheimer Park and the surrounding Paueru Gai area presents a spectrum of events and entertainment for all: from live performances to a Japanese food … Read more

Meet the 2023 Japanese Canadian Youth Cohort

Powell Street Festival Society is excited to announce the members of our second Japanese Canadian Youth Cohort! This expenses-paid program brings three young Japanese Canadians aged 19-29 who were raised outside of British Columbia to Paueru Gai to experience the Powell Street Festival and participate in its production, attend training sessions, and to create an … Read more

paueru gaizette No. 2

paueru gaizette no. 2 Read this edition The second issue of Powell Street Festival Society’s Advocacy and Outreach Committee’s paueru gaizette is here! This issue’s theme is: what do we harvest? Members of our Advocacy and Outreach Committee wanted to engage with what the change into fall and winter means to different members of our community. … Read more

Reflections from the 2022 Japanese Canadian Youth Cohort

This past summer, Powell Street Festival Society welcomed our first-ever Japanese Canadian Youth Cohort to Vancouver. This new program for Japanese Canadian youth ages 19-29 aims to create an embodied experience of Japanese Canadian identity as vibrant and vital. Beginning with online training, education, intergenerational relationship building, and skills development, this program culminated in a … Read more

Introducing paueru gaizette No. 1

front page of the inaugural issue of the Paueru Gaizette

Created by members of Powell Street Festival Society’s Advocacy and Outreach Committee, the paueru gaizette is a new zine and a place to explore “thoughts, concerns, feelings, questions and whatever else—about the place of the Japanese Canadian community in the Downtown Eastside, about the overlaps between and elisions within our two communities […] about all … Read more

Press Release: PSFS Presents Studio Programsounds’ Kūsou/空相 at Anvil Theatre in association with New Media Gallery, Anvil Theatre, and Formscape Arts Society

Powell Street Festival Society, in association with New Media Gallery, Anvil Theatre, and Formscape Arts Society, proudly present Studio Programsounds’ Kūsou/空相, a new immersive audio-visual installation drawing on Japanese calligraphy and western flute. Through real-time computer graphics, calligraphic kanji characters are represented as continuously transforming visual scenery, backed by an auditory landscape of acoustic and … Read more

Press Release: Announcing the 46th Annual Powell Street Festival

What is old is new at the 46th Annual Powell Street Festival as we gather in-person to celebrate Japanese Canadian art and culture in Oppenheimer Park and Paueru Gai (the Powell Street area) this July 30 and 31! Three stages feature contemporary and traditional artists, community food vendors and crafters offer favourite Japanese delights and … Read more

Announcing the 2022 Japanese Canadian Youth Cohort

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 … Read more

Read the 2021 Annual Report Now!

During 2021, Powell Street Festival Society presented a hybrid, distributed Powell Street Festival in Paueru Gai and around Vancouver and off-season programming including the Paueru Gai Dialogues, Talking the Walk: Reflections on the 360 Riot Walk, Miyō: Powell Street Festival at the Rio, plus a suite of DTES Community Care programs. See the data behind … Read more

DTES Grocery Delivery Programs

DTES Grocery Delivery Programs Powell Street Festival Society is proud to be able to support the Downtown Eastside (DTES) community in which we gather and celebrate every year. As part of our ongoing Community Care Programs, we collaborate on the Chinatown Grocery Program and DTES Indigenous Elders Grocery Program, which altogether deliver groceries to 190 … Read more

Sponsored Post: Hapa Collaborative shares the meaning behind the Steveston Nikkei Internment Memorial

An overhead image of the internment memorial site, showing the paving, grass, boulders, and other features

Hapa Collaborative on the meaning and process behind the Steveston Nikkei Internment Memorial We wanted to thank Hapa Collaborative for their support of the Paueru Gai Dialogues series. You may remember the Steveston Nikkei Internment Memorial from our 9th dialogue – this summer, we had the opportunity to talk in-depth with Joe Fry at Hapa … Read more

In Memory of Kevin Sleziak

In Memory of Kevin Sleziak May 28, 1966 – October 24, 2021 It is with great sadness to share that our dear friend and long-time Powell Street Festival supporter, Kevin Sleziak, passed away on Sunday, October 24th, 2021 in the comfort and care of May’s Place. ⁠ Kevin is known to many in the Powell Street … Read more

PSFS Receives Support for Workers in Live Arts and Music Sectors Fund Grant from Canadian Heritage

PSFS Receives Support for Workers in Live Arts and Music Sectors Fund Grant from Canadian Heritage Powell Street Festival Society (PSFS) is proud to announce the support of Canadian Heritage’s Support for Workers in Live Arts and Music Sectors Fund. The grant is designed to support the arts and cultural sectors in creating opportunities for … Read more

What’s New for the 45th Powell Street Festival

Welcome to the 45th Powell Street Festival!   We have adapted to public health restrictions and revamped programming so festival-goers can stay bubble-safe, yet connected to the historic Japanese Canadian neighbourhood!  Throughout the month of July, the festival website (www.powellstreetfestival.com) will be the hub for the country’s largest celebration of Japanese Canadian art and culture. We are … Read more

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