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 2021 the event took place on the weekend of November 12th to 14th as well as on the Thursday to Sunday of November 18th to 21st. In 2022 the festival runs from November 17th to 20th (so for a shorter period of time).

Other great events happening at the same time as the Eastside Culture Crawl include the Chutzpah Festival, Beyond King Tut and Douglas Day in Fort Langley. The play Seventeen with Western Gold Theatre is also showing in Vancouver, and there are a number of Christmas artisan markets in town including Holidays at Hycroft. The Vancouver Christmas Market and Canyon Lights at Capilano Bridge have also started up for the season, and the film Hawaii From Above is showing at FlyOver Canada.

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.

Eastside Culture Crawl

Celebrating its 26th anniversary in 2022, the Eastside Culture Crawl is a free festival. It takes place every year in 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 is similar to what it was in years prior to COVID-19. There are both in-person and online activities to enjoy.

Eastside Culture Crawl Art Studio

When and Where is the Culture Crawl?

In 2022 activities happen on November 17th to 20th. Hours of operation on the Thursday and Friday are from 5:00 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.

2022 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) and Studio 101 (workshops for youth). 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 2022, 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 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.