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 together artists, writers and thinkers from across Canada and abroad. Some of the festival’s events are free, while others are ticketed.

So many events happen in Metro Vancouver in July. Other festivals taking place around the same time as the Indian Summer Festival most years include the Taiwanese Canadian Cultural Festival, Carnaval del Sol Latin festival, and Harrison Festival of the Arts. There is also the Squamish Nation Youth Pow Wow.

See our July Calendar of Events to learn about other things happening this month. Continue reading to learn about the Indian Summer Festival.

The Indian Summer Festival in Vancouver

The 2026 Indian Summer Festival (ISF) runs from Thursday, July 9th, until Sunday, July 19th. The theme this year is “Ragas for a Ruptured World.” There are over 20 different in-person events, including talks, dance and live music performances. Continue reading for details about some of the events below.

Julian Brave NoiseCat: We Survived the Night

One of the first events of the 2026 festival is Julian Brave NoiseCat: We Survived the Night. The writer and filmmaker sits down ISF Executive Artistic Director Am Johal for a public talk about his debut book, We Survived the Night: An Indigenous Reckoning. There is also a book signing after their discussion.

The event begins at 7:00 pm on Friday, July 10th. It’s held at the Waterfront Theatre on Granville Island, located at 1412 Cartwright Street. Tickets start at $25.

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

Tiffin Talks

Tiffin Talks is a series of panel discussion that happen on Sunday, July 12th, at the Ocean Artworks Pavilion on Granville Island. They happen at noon, 3:00 pm and 6:00 pm. Each one features a 45-minute presentation followed by a vegetarian tiffin meal. Tickets cost about $50.

The 2026 talks are Reclaiming the Bloom: Pattern, Myth and the Feminine at noon, Grammars of Return at 3:00 pm, and Inherited Forms, Reimagined Futures at 6:00 pm. Click Tiffin Talks for details on each event.

Gong Library

The Gong Library is set up at the Ocean Artworks Pavilion from Monday, July 13th through Sunday, July 19th. It’s an immersive installation featuring gongs, chimes and other instruments arranged in the open air pavilion. Visitors are welcome to either play some of the instruments themselves or simply enjoy the space through listening.

The Gong Library is open from noon to 6:00 pm on weekdays and from 1:00 to 7:00 pm on weekends. On July 17th the space changes into Imaginal Airlines: Flight A108, a part-concert, part-meditation experience guided by the music group Imaginal Cells. Taking part in that experience costs $30. The Gong Library is free to enjoy at other times.