Indian Summer Festival

Vancouver’s Indian Summer Festival is a festival featuring music, art, and public speaking events by Canadian, South Asian and Indigenous artists in July.

It’s a multi-day arts festival that brings artists, writers and thinkers from across Canada and overseas. Some of its events are free, and others are ticketed.

Indian Summer Festival

In 2020 the Indian Summer Festival was going to take place from July 9th until July 19th. However, because of COVID-19, organizers of the festival instead presented a series of online events between mid-May and mid-July.

In 2021 the festival ran between June 17th and July 17th. Most activities happened online on Thursdays and Saturdays, although some in-person festivities were scheduled as well.

The 2022 Indian Summer Festival is scheduled to take place from Thursday, July 7th, until Sunday, July 17th.

This year’s theme is Inner/Outer Climates. The 2022 festival features about 10 different in-person events, including talks, dance and live music performances. Details about some of the events are described below.

Opening Party

The Indian Summer Festival’s Opening Party is a major culinary event on the first day of the festival. In 2022 it takes place on Thursday, July 7th, and features food by celebrity chef Vikram Vij.

The Opening Party is held at Performance Works, located at 1218 Cartwright Street. However, this year’s party is mostly invite-only due to the limited space. Those who buy tickets to other events before June 28th can be entered into a raffle to win free tickets for the Opening Party.

Indian Summer Festival at Vanier Park — Pause in the Park at Vanier Park

ISF Sound System

In previous years, Pause in the Park was a day with free programming in Vanier Park. In 2022 the series of free programming has a different name and runs over two days.

ISF Sound System happens on the Sundays of July 10th and 17th in the Public Market courtyard on Granville Island. Each of the two days features three different performers taking the stage between 11:30 am and 3:30 pm. The events are free and open to the public.

Arooj Aftab

In 2022 there is a special performance by Arooj Aftab, who won the Grammy Award for Best Global Music Performance earlier this year. Aftab’s first concert in Vancouver is on Wednesday, July 13th, from 8:00 to 10:00 pm.

The event is held at the UBC Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, located at 6265 Crescent Road in Vancouver. General admission costs between $30 and $60 per person.