Vancouver is a young city and it shows in the city’s cultural scene. While there are established companies in the traditional forms of classical music, opera, dance and theater, none stand out in particular. It is the smaller outfits and the up-and-comers that make the cultural scene interesting and give a bit of an edge to things. Vancouver’s performing arts season generally runs from October to April. In summer, there are special concerts and numerous festivals.
Information on performing arts can be found in
The Georgia Straight (website:
www.straight.com), a free weekly
newspaper, and the Thursday editions of the daily newspapers,
The Vancouver Sun (website:
www.vancouversun.com) and
The Province. The
Alliance for Arts and Culture, 938 Howe Street (tel: (604) 681 3535; website:
www.allianceforarts.com), is a good source of information for drop-in visitors (Monday to Friday 0900-1700).
Tickets can be purchased directly from the venues or from
Ticketmaster (tel: (604) 280 4444; website:
www.ticketmaster.ca) or
Show Time Tickets (tel: (604) 688 5000
or 1 800 480 7469; website:
www.showtimetickets.com). Half-price tickets are available on the day of the performance from
Tickets Tonight, at the booth in the tourist information center, 200 Burrard Street (tel: (604) 684 2787; website:
www.ticketstonight.ca).
Music: Vancouver offers the full range of classical music, from large symphony and opera productions to intimate chamber groups and choral societies - notably the
Vancouver Recital Society (tel: (604) 602 0363; website:
www.vanrecital.com) and the
Vancouver Cantata Singers (website:
www.vancouvercantatasingers.com). The
Chan Center for the Performing Arts, on the University of British Columbia campus (tel: (604) 822 2697/9197; website:
www.chancenter.com), has three stages, including the 1,400-seat Chan Shun Concert Hall. The
Orpheum Theater, 601 Smithe Street (tel: (604) 665 3050; website:
www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/theaters), hosts choral concerts and is the residence of the
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (tel: (604) 876 3434; website:
www.vancouversymphony.ca). The
Queen Elizabeth Theater, 649 Cambie Street (tel: (604) 665 3050; website:
www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/theaters), stages a variety of performances from classical to contemporary. It is also the home of
Ballet BC (see below) and the
Vancouver Opera (tel: (604) 683 0222; website:
www.vanopera.bc.ca), the third largest opera company in Canada.
Theater: Vancouver has a lively theater scene, with numerous community and student productions supplementing more than 30 permanent fixtures.
Granville Island (tel: (604) 666 6655; website:
www.granvilleisland.com) is home to the
Arts Club Theater’s Granville Island Stage, 1585 Johnston Street (tel: (604) 687 1644; website:
www.artsclub.com). The
Granville Island Cultural Society (tel: (604) 687 3005; website:
www.giculturalsociety.org) manages the 240-seat
Waterfront Theater, 1412 Cartwright Street, and
Performance Works, a black box studio at number 1218. Elsewhere on the island, the antics of the comedy improvization troupe Vancouver
TheaterSports League (tel: (604) 738 7013; website:
www.vtsl.com) enliven the
New Revue Stage, 1601 Johnston Street.
The larger venues Downtown include the
Queen Elizabeth Theater (see
Music above) and the adjacent
Vancouver Playhouse, Hamilton Street and Dunsmuir Street, home of the Vancouver
Playhouse Theater Company (tel: (604) 873 3311; website:
www.vancouverplayhouse.com). Nearby,
The Center in Vancouver for Performing Arts, 777 Homer Street (tel: (604) 602 0616; website:
www.centerinvancouver.com), hosts large-scale theatrical productions and other events. Avant-garde theater and dance can be seen at the
Firehall Arts Center, 280 East Cordova Street (tel: (604) 689 0926; website:
www.firehallartscenter.ca), to the east of Gastown.
The annual
Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival (tel: (604) 739 0559; website:
www.bardonthebeach.org) is a summer fixture in Vanier Park that generally runs from May through September.
The
Greater Vancouver Professional Theater Alliance (tel: (604) 608 6799; website:
www.theater.ubc.ca/gvpta) publishes a seasonal
Theater Guide.
Dance: Vancouver is one of Canada’s most important dance centers, with around two dozen professional dance companies operating in the area, performing both classical and modern dance, as well as traditional Japanese and Chinese dance. The
Scotiabank Dance Center, 677 Davie Street (tel: (604) 606 6400; website:
www.thedancecenter.ca), is a useful resource and also hosts performances. In July, the
Dancing on the Edge festival (website:
www.dancingontheedge.org) gives dozens of independent choreographers from Canada and abroad a chance to show their stuff.
Ballet British Columbia (tel: (604) 732 5003; website:
www.balletbc.com) performs at the
Queen Elizabeth Theater (see
Music above). The
Vancouver East Cultural Center, 1895 Venables Street (tel: (604) 251 1363; website:
www.vecc.bc.ca), known locally as ‘the Cultch’, is located in a former church and showcases contemporary dance in addition to theater and live music. The innovative
Kokoro Dance Company (tel: (604) 662 7441; website:
www.kokoro.ca), inspired by
butoh (a modern Japanese dance form) performs at various venues.
Film: Vancouver is one of the largest centers for film and television production in North America. The city has stood in for many US cities in celluloid (including the first five seasons of
The X-Files) but there have been no well known films that actually portray the city as itself.
Both the industry and filmgoers attend the
Vancouver International Film Festival (tel: (604) 683 3456; website:
www.viff.org) in the autumn, when more than 300 films from some 50 countries are screened. The
Out on Screen gay and lesbian film festival (tel: (604) 844 1615; website:
www.outonscreen.com) takes place in August.
Downtown’s eastern fringes host the main blockbuster cinema: the
Cinemark Tinseltown, 88 West Pender Street (tel: (604) 806 0797; website:
www.cinemark.com), has 12 screens and stadium seating. The
Pacific Cinematheque, 1131 Howe Street (tel: (604) 688 8202/3456; website:
www.cinematheque.bc.ca), is the city’s main repertory cinema and offers numerous cross-cultural and multimedia events in addition to a wide range of film programming. The city is notable for having a relatively large number of single-screen independent movie houses, including
The Ridge Theater, 3131 Arbutus Street (tel: (604) 738 6311),
The Park Theater, 3440 Cambie Street (tel: (604) 709 3456) and
Fifth Avenue Cinemas, 2110 Burrard Street (tel: (604) 734 7469), which are operated by local company
Festival Cinemas (tel: (604) 734 8700; website:
www.festivalcinemas.ca).
Literary Notes: Some 1,500 writers live in the province, including such popular authors as Douglas Coupland and the science-fiction writer William Gibson. Both men captured a certain zeitgeist with their works. Coupland’s novel
Generation X (1991), about disaffected 20-somethings, gave birth to the moniker for the post-babyboom generation. Gibson, who produced
Neuromancer (1984), was at the forefront of defining the cyberpunk ethos and envisioning a dystopian future based on where technology appears to be taking society.
Evelyn Lau captured the city’s seamier side in her autobiographical
Runaway: Diary of a Street Kid (1989). Nick Bantock of
Griffin & Sabine (1991) fame lives on nearby Bowen Island, while WP Kinsella, whose
Shoeless Joe (1982) was the basis for the film
Field of Dreams (1989), lives just south of Vancouver. Other famous local writers include Bill Bisset, George Bowering and George Woodcock. One of the area’s earliest writers was the Native poet and performer Pauline Johnson (also known as Tekahionwake), who settled in Vancouver in 1909 and published
Legends of Vancouver (1911) two years later. Many of the city’s authors (as well as big-name authors from elsewhere) attend the
Vancouver International Writers (& Readers) Festival (tel: (604) 681 6330; website:
www.writersfest.bc.ca) in October.
Sport:Football and ice hockey enjoy a firm following in Vancouver. The
BC Lions (tel: (604) 589 7627; website:
www.bclions.com), of the Canadian Football League, play at
BC Place Stadium, 777 Pacific Boulevard (tel: (604) 669 2300; website:
www.bcplacestadium.com). These Lions were roaring in 2004, winning the CFL’s Western Division, ahead of the
Edmonton Eskimos,
Saskatchewan Roughriders, Winnipeg Blue Bombers and
Calgary Stampeders, but losing out in the Grey Cup final. Quarterback Casey Printers, voted the league’s Outstanding Player of the year, was no doubt part of it, and may also have helped boost attendance by 13% to nearly 27,000 per game.
General Motors Place, 800 Griffiths Way, between Gerogia Street and Dunsmuir Street (tel: (604) 899 7400/44), is home to the
Vancouver Canucks (tel: (604) 899 4625
or (888) 672 2229; website:
www.canucks.com) of the National Hockey League. The Canucks only got as far as the Western Conference quarterfinals in 2003, despite coming in top of its division, and seventh overall in the NHL. Star player Markus Naslund’s 84 points placed him fourth in the league (but seventh for goal-scoring).
The city and area also host the
Molson Indy car race,
PGA golf tournaments and
World Cup downhill skiing. But Vancouverites are much more interested in participating in sports than watching them. Opportunities abound, with wilderness right on the city’s doorstep. Kayaks can be hired on English Bay (see
Tours of the City), there are mountain bike trails near the University of British Columbia and on Seymour Mountain, hikers relish the Grouse Grind and rollerbladers can be found everywhere. In the Vancouver area, there is scuba diving, paragliding and rock climbing for the adventurous, while whale-watching, fishing and camping are less strenuous options. Further information is available from
Tourism Vancouver (see
Sightseeing).
In the winter, snowboarders and downhill and cross-country skiers head for the slopes. There are easy runs on Seymour, Grouse and Cypress mountains, visible from the city, and it is possible to get a lot of runs in at world-class Whistler on a day trip. Vancouver and Whistler will jointly host the 2010 Winter Olympics (website:
www.vancouver2010.com).
Tickets for sporting events are available from
Ticketmaster’s Sportsline (tel: (604) 280 4400; website:
www.ticketmaster.ca) and
Show Time Tickets (tel: (604) 688 5000
or (800) 480 7469; website:
www.showtimetickets.com).
Fitness Centers: Many Downtown hotels have fitness centers. There is also the
YMCA of Greater Vancouver, 955 Burrard Street (tel: (604) 689 9622; website:
www.vanymca.org). A C$10 day pass allows visitors access to two swimming pools, squash courts, a boxing room, gym with cardio and free weights, and a sauna and steamroom.
Golf: Vancouver has some spectacular links, with stunning views of the ocean or mountains. General information is available online (website:
www.golfvancouver.com and
www.bcgolfguide.com).
Furry Creek Golf and Country Club has an 18-hole, par-72 course, overlooking Howe Sound, just off the Sea to Sky Highway north of the city (tel: (604) 896 2224
or (888) 922 9462; website:
www.furrycreekgolf.ca). Green fees vary (C$49-109), depending on the time of day and how far it is into the March-October season. A 35-minute drive south of Vancouver is the
Morgan Creek Golf Course, 3500 Morgan Creek Way (tel: (604) 531 4653
or (800) 513 6555; website:
www.morgancreekgolf.com). Green fees vary by day and season (C$49-95) and membership is not required.
Go-Time Events operates the
West Coast Golf Shuttle (tel: (604) 730 1032
or (888) 599 6800; website:
www.golf-shuttle.com or
www.gotimeevents.com), which provides transportation to both of the above courses, as well as to others, with packages starting at C$89 (C$105 in high season).
Mountaineering: Among the many outdoorsy options in the wilderness north of Vancouver are the mountaineering courses and trekking expeditions organized by the
Canada West Mountain School (tel: (604) 878 7007
or (888) 892 2266; website:
www.themountainschool.com), a division of the not-for-profit Federation of Mountain Clubs of British Columbia. Skill levels, trip duration and prices vary.
Skiing: Some of the best skiing in the world is available at
Whistler-Blackcomb (tel: (604) 932 2394
or (800) 944 7853; website:
www.tourismwhistler.com), only two hours north of Vancouver and accessible by scheduled coach and rail services, chartered air or by car. Adult lift tickets start at C$72 per day. For local hills, see
Further Distractions.
Swimming: The best spots for summer swimming in Vancouver are free – at Jericho Beach, Kitsilano Beach (there is a salt-water pool here, for a fee) and, for those who dare to bare, Wreck Beach at the base of the bluffs near the University of British Columbia. There is a popular pool at Second Beach in Stanley Park, although it can become crowded with children. For serious lap swimmers, the
Aquatic Center, 1050 Beach Avenue, below the Burrard Bridge (tel: (604) 665 3424; website:
www.parks.vancouver.bc.ca), is the city’s best choice. Rates are C$4.40 (concessions are available).
Tennis: The
Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation (website:
www.parks.vancouver.bc.ca) maintains 183 first-come first-served tennis courts within the city limits, including 10 at Kitsilano Beach and 15 at Stanley Park. A further six courts at Stanley Park are available by reservation (tel: (604) 605 8224), May to September only. Court fees are C$4.75 per half hour.
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