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Latin American Heritage Month in Vancouver

October 2, 2023

Latin American Heritage Month features a series of events celebrating Latin music, food, art and culture. In Vancouver it takes place mostly in October.

Latincouver hosted the events in Vancouver between October 6th and November 2nd in 2023. During that period there were 38 shows, 17 events, four exhibitions, and five workshops with over 160 participating artists. In 2024 Latin American Heritage Month events run from October 9th until November 3rd.

To learn more about the organization, or for the official website of all the events, see the latincouver.ca website.

In this article you’ll find the following information about the following places:

Brazilian Performance at Performance Works — An Evening Show on Granville Island

Vancouver Events During Latin American Heritage Month

Presented by Latincouver, Latin American Heritage Month is an annual series of events in the City of Vancouver. The festival celebrates Latin culture with numerous events at different locations in October, plus a couple of days in November.

Last year marked the festival’s fifth anniversary. It had a longer run then than it did the year before. In 2023, Latin American Heritage Month took place from October 6th to November 2nd. The festival typically features traditional ceremonies, interactive workshops, exhibitions and other events for all to enjoy.

Latincouver is a non-profit organization that works to unite Latinos and folks who appreciate the culture. They are the same organization behind Vancouver’s Carnaval del Sol which is the largest Latin festival in the Pacific Northwest.

For full details about Latin American Heritage Month events in the Lower Mainland, see the Latincouver website.

When and Where?

Activities taking place in-person are mostly on Granville Island, which is one of Vancouver’s most famous and interesting places to visit. Located in False Creek, the neighbourhood is a trendy tourist destination. It features busy restaurants, unique stores and a large Public Market.

One of the main venues for Latin American Heritage Month is the Ocean Art Works Pavilion. It’s a covered outdoor space a few blocks away at 1531 Johnston Street (just west of the Public Market and close to right under the bridge).

See further below for a schedule of events that happened in 2023, or visit the Latincouver website for full details.

Admission Rates

There are both free and ticketed events that take place over the course of the festival. Most of the events at Ocean Art Works Pavilion on Granville Island take place outdoors and are free to attend. Other events cost as low as $15. Last year there was a concert that cost up to $200 or so as well.

2023 Schedule of Events

Some of the events that happened during Latin American Heritage Month (LAHM) last year are listed below. Some will be the same in 2024 and others will be different.

Ongoing Events in 2023

October 6th to November 2nd:

Latin American Costumes Exhibition – at various locations on Granville Island.
Altar Dia de los Muertos Exhibition – a Day of the Dead altar was at the Ocean Art Works Pavilion on Granville Island every day.
Guatemalan Barriletes Kites Exhibition – at the Ocean Art Works Pavilion at Granville Island.

October 10th to 24th:

LAHM Art & Exhibition – at the Centre of International Contemporary Art at 228 Abbott Street in Vancouver.

For full details about Latin American Heritage Month events in the Lower Mainland, see the Latincouver website.

Friday, October 6th, 2023

LAHM Opening Ceremony and Brazilian Night – the festival kicked off with music and dance performances at 5:00 pm at Ocean Art Works.

Thursday, October 12th, 2023

Seniors Day – honouring elders and the roots of the community at 68 Water Street (Unit 406) that started at 2:00 pm.

Friday, October 13th, 2023

LAHM Concert: Aterciopelados – the folk-rock group performed at 8:00 pm at the Centre for Performing Arts at 777 Homer Street.

Sunday, October 15th, 2023

KIDS Connecting Our Roots Workshop – Carmen Keitsch taught participants how to make their own Papel Picados at Ocean Art Works at 1:00 pm.

Tuesday, October 17th, 2023

Literature Workshop – an online Zoom workshop at 5:00 pm led by Silvana Goldemberg and other Latin American writers.

For full details about Latin American Heritage Month events in the Lower Mainland, see the Latincouver website.

Day of the Dead Latin Market Entertainment Stage — Axe Capoeira Workshop at the Latin Market

Wednesday, October 18th, 2023

Culinary Workshop – an online Zoom session at 5:00 pm with Cecilia Torres. Participants learnt how to make Ceviche Peruano.

Thursday, October 19th, 2023

Mesoamerican Pottery Workshop – participants learnt all about clay and decoration techniques at Ocean Art Works that started at 5:00 pm.

Friday, October 20th, 2023

Painting Workshop – a past and present art workshop at 5:00 pm led by Ari de la Mora at the Centre of International Contemporary Art at 228 Abbott Street in Vancouver.

Thursday, October 26th, 2023

Brazilian and Caribbean Pavilion – live music at 5:00 pm at Ocean Art Works.

Friday, October 27th, 2023

Pan American Pavilion – live music at 5:00 pm at Ocean Art Works.

For full details about Latin American Heritage Month events in the Lower Mainland, see the Latincouver website.

Saturday, October 28th, 2023

Latin Market Featuring the Day of the Dead – a Latino market full of food, music and costumes at 1531 Johnston Street on Granville Island. It ran from 1:00 pm until 11:00 pm. Admission was free, but advanced registration was required.

Sunday, October 29th, 2023

Latin Market Featuring the Day of the Dead – a Latino market full of food, music and costumes at 1531 Johnston Street on Granville Island. It ran from 1:00 pm until 10:00 pm or 11:00 pm. Admission was free, but advanced registration was required.

Dia de Muertos Latin Market Video

The following video shows what the Dia de Muertos Latin Market looked like when it took place at the Ocean Art Works Pavilion in 2021. It was even bigger in 2022 at 1500 Bridge Street. The above photo shows what that venue looked like a couple of years ago.

Wednesday, November 1st, 2023

Todos los Santos – a celebration of Guatemala with music, food and various traditions at Ocean Art Works starting at 5:00 pm.

Thursday, November 2nd, 2023

Closing Ceremony LAHM – the festival closed with a Day of the Dead celebration featuring a community Altar, music, food and dance at Ocean Art Works at 5:00 pm.

For more information about Latin American Heritage Month events in Vancouver, see the Latincouver.ca website.

About Latin American History Month

Latin American Heritage Month (LAHM) has been celebrated by Latincouver with events in Vancouver since 2019. In the United States, however, it has been a recognized occasion since 1988. Before that, from the late 1960s until the late 1980s, it was recognized in the USA as Hispanic Heritage Week (so for a much shorter period of time). In both cases, the recognition was established as an act of federal law.

The Parliament of Canada declared October as Latin American Heritage Month in this country too. Our government did that in 2018. In Canada’s case it’s for the full month of October. In the United States it’s from September 15th until October 15th. Why? September 15th was chosen as it’s the anniversary of when a number of Latin American colonies first gained their independence from Spain in the 1820s.

In both Canada and the United States, Latin American Heritage Month is celebrated in recognition of the contributions of Latin American immigrants to the culture, history and multicultural fabric of the two respective countries.

Canada celebrates other cultural groups too. Black History Month, for example, takes place in February, and Asian Heritage Month happens in May. June, meanwhile, has been declared both National Indigenous History Month and Filipino Heritage Month. In Vancouver, June is also recognized as Italian Heritage Month.

Latin American History Month Video

The following video shows scenes at the opening ceremonies of Latin American Heritage Month at Granville Island in 2021. The event took place in the Ocean Art Works Pavilion.

In the video you’ll see a pair of Mexican Nahualli Folklore dancers. There is also a group of Aztec dancers and a person in a Catrina skeleton-like costume.

Latincouver and LAHM

In 2024, Latincouver’s series of Latin American Heritage Month events runs from October 9th to November 3rd.

Why does Latincouver offer Latin American Heritage Month events up until the first or second day of November? Because the Day of the Dead is an important day in Latin American culture, most notably in Mexico. It takes place the day after Halloween and is often celebrated over the course of a couple of days (so the first one or two days of November).