Vancouver's Eastside Culture Crawl

The Eastside Culture Crawl is a visual art, design and crafts festival. It showcases the work of hundreds of local artists at studios across East Vancouver.

In 2023 the event runs from Thursday, November 16th, to Sunday, November 19th.

For information about these and other great events this time of year, see our November Calendar. To learn more about the Eastside Culture Crawl, continue reading.

Other exceptional art-themed events earlier in the year include the Art Vancouver International Art Fair and West of Main Art Walk, both of which are also highly recommended and take place in May.

Eastside Culture Crawl

Celebrating its 27th anniversary in 2023, the Eastside Culture Crawl is a free festival. It takes place every year around mid-November. The events feature the work of local Vancouver-based artists.

The event has grown from its origins in 1997 to include as many as 500 artists and close to 80 venues in Vancouver in recent years.

During the event there are workshops, demonstrations, talks and studio tours. Participating artists include painters, sculptors and potters. There are also artists specializing in jewellery, wood, glass and other mediums.

The public is normally welcome to explore various venues and check out the participating artists’ studios. Art enthusiasts were still able to visit studios in 2020, but, because of COVID-19, they needed to book appointments in advance. Many studios also had an expanded digital presence in 2020. 2021 was similar.

In 2022 the festival was similar to what it was in years prior to COVID-19. There were both in-person and online activities to enjoy. In-person activities return in 2023.

Eastside Culture Crawl Art Studio

When and Where is the Culture Crawl?

In 2023 activities happen on November 16th to 19th. Hours of operation on the Thursday and Friday are from 5:00 pm until 10:00 pm. On the Saturday and Sunday things run from 11:00 am until 6:00 pm.

The festival occurs at various venues in East Vancouver between Victoria Drive, Columbia Street, First Avenue and the Burrard Inlet waterfront. One of the most popular venues is Parker Street Studios in the 1000 block of Parker Street. It’s a massive warehouse that’s full of artists’ studios.

2023 Culture Crawl Events and Exhibits

Art studios have open houses all around the region during the Eastside Culture Crawl, and individual artists host special exhibitions.

Main events listed on the festival’s website include Take Flight (an online silent auction and cocktail party), Studio 101 (workshops for youth), and an art, bike and beer crawl. There are also special exhibits to see during the month of November with a NEXT theme. Talks with various artists are available online as well.

David Wilson’s Art Studio

For an idea of what to expect in 2023, one example of an event in 2021 was David Wilson‘s “Day Into Night.” It was part of the Open Studio Festival Weekend. You could see his work at Parker Street Studios in Suite 206 at 1000 Parker Street from November 18th until the 21st. No appointment was necessary. You could just show up between 5:00 pm and 10:00 pm on the Thursday and Friday or between 11:00 am and 6:00 pm on the Saturday and Sunday.

Below is what David Wilson had to say about his Eastside Culture Crawl art.

“Day Into Night features my traditional approach to painting, … the rainy streets, the long dark shadows, the bright lights, and people seeking shelter from the elements. The work speaks to our collective experience of living in this city. But the exhibition also includes loosely rendered monochromatic works on paper, board, and canvas, infused with text, symbols, and other media, integrating a new narrative into this portrait of ‘the present.’”

To learn more about David Wilson’s work click davidwilson.ca.

Eastside Culture Crawl Video

To give you an idea of what to expect at the Eastside Culture Crawl, check out the following video. It shows scenes of the open house at Parker Street Studios. There are lots of events like this at different venues, and different kinds of events too. The open house at Parker Street Studios, however, is one of the largest and most popular events.

Parker Studios is a massive facility that’s full of dozens of artists’ studios. There are studios to explore on all four floors!

Art we saw on our visit in 2021 (some of which you’ll see in this video) includes works by David Wilson, Lori Goldberg, Jennifer Harwood, Yasmeen Strang, Michael Soltis, Carla Tak, Krista Johnson, NikNaz Kahnamoui and other artists. The video starts in David Wilson’s studio.