We’ve planned a party that celebrates MOA’s stories, art and people. Join us for family-friendly art and conservation workshops, curator talks, rare behind-the-scenes tours, and much more.

Under the direction of Harry and Audrey Hawthorn, MOA was established in 1949 in the Main Library’s basement, and included exhibition spaces, collections storage and a classroom. Since then, MOA has become a beloved, world-class institution that houses over 50,000 works from almost every part of the world in its current home, the iconic concrete and glass structure inspired designed by Arthur Erickson.

Program schedule 

Great Hall

Opening remarks | 12 pm
Great Hall Seismic Upgrade Presentation with Milkovich Architects + Equilibrium Consulting | 12:30–1 pm
Roving puppets with artist-in-residence Dusty Hagerüd | 1:30–2:30 pm
Self-guided 360 virtual reality tour | 3:30–5 pm

Multiversity Galleries

The Land of make Believe: Artist in Residence Open Studio for kids and families | 1–4 pm
MOA’s Touchable Puppet Collection | 1–3 pm
Kids Paper Puppet Workshop | 3–5 pm
Ceramics Studio: drop-in with artist-in-residence Sharon Reay | 1–4 pm

Behind-the-Scenes: MOA’s Collections Care and Management storage and work areas

Conservation Lab: Heidi Swierenga, Senior Conservator | 1–5 pm
Collections Storage: Teija Dedi, Loans Registrar; Shabnam Honarbakhsh, Collection Coordinator; Cait Pilon, Collections Coordinator | 1–5 pm

Laboratory of Archaeology 

Archaeology Lab: Engage with the ancient past of this land and learn to make a rope bracelet out of raffia | 12–5 pm

Tours

MOA Tour | 11 am–12 pm
Shake Up: Curator tour with Jennifer Kramer, Curator, Pacific Northwest | 1–1:30 pm
Shadows, Strings and Other Things: Curator tour with Nicola Levell, Guest curator | 1–1:30 pm
The Koerner Collection: European History Told Through the Koerner Ceramics Collection | 1:30–2 pm
Diverse Asia: A special tour through the Asian Collections with Fuyubi Nakamura, Curator, Asia | 2–2:30 pm (in English) + 2:30–3 pm (in Japanese/日本語ツアー)
Celebration in Africa + South America: Curator tour with Nuno Porto, Curator, Africa and Latin America | 3:30–4 pm (in English) + 4–4:30 pm (in Spanish, en español)
Art + Activism: Curator tour with Jill Baird, Curator, Education | 4–5 pm

Outdoor exploration + tours

Outdoor tour | 1 pm, 2 pm + 3:30 pm (30 mins)
Haida House open house | 1–5 pm

Library + Archives 

MOA: 70 years of Archival Footage | 1–5 pm

Download the full schedule of events and museum map here.

Chelsea has invited some of Vancouver’s finest musical vocalists, MCs, beatboxers and poets to join her in a night of experience and experimentation. The evening begins with a showcase of unique talents from the invited artists. The docket includes Chelsea D.E Johnson, Jillian Christmas, Ruby Singh, K Vox, JB the First Lady, and Desirée Dawson.

In the second half of the night, the artists will lead the audience in a cypher, where they come together for spontaneous music-making and improvised word play. The rhythm and sounds flow from one person to another, building on each other’s energy, to create a collective chorus never to be repeated again. Experience the visceral, soul-shaking rush of the improvised beats and words by these remarkable talents.

Sound House is MOA’s new music series, now in its second season, featuring a fantastic and eclectic lineup of Vancouver bands and musicians—from folk to funk, hip hop to jazz. Sound House is a celebration of culture and music, set in MOA’s Haida House, against a stunning backdrop of Northwest Coast art and architecture. Gather around the toasty bonfire outside with friends and drinks, and let the picturesque views and scent of cedar inhabit your senses. Sound House delivers surprises and delights on the first Thursday of each month.

Guest curator biography

Chelsea D.E Johnson hails from Sydney NS, now living on the unceded territories of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Musqueam people. Chelsea serves up female empowerment, delivered with a rock-n-roll kick, fueled by healing lyrics and raw vocal power. You can find D.E #werkin it with the female lead power duo, Old Soul Rebel. You can find her hosting stages like ShowCase MixTape or the acclaimed Open Mic at Cafe Deux Soleils.

Doors | 7 pm
Performances | 7:30 pm

Habitats, by Nayana Fielkov and Isabelle Kirouac, is an interdisciplinary performance of physical comedy, dance, circus and shadow puppetry. In this twist between Fellini and Lewis Carroll, a woman, accompanied by a mysterious white hare, travels on a dream-like journey in search of home. Habitats is a living poem about home, transformation and the interaction between humans and animals.

Following the performance, you become a part of the art in Night Shadows, a large-scale shadow installation by Heather Dawn Sparks. You’ll be awed by the stunning constructed shadow world of plasma-cut metal structures, intricate paper cuts, light projections and live silhouettes. In this intimate, interactive environment, you will help create works of shadow art by layering materials such as lace, glass, colour-changing dichroic films and handmade paper lace costumes, and animating them with movement and light. Roam, mingle and enjoy the cash bar while you play by the moonlight, deep in the shadows.

Doors open | 8:30 pm
Drinks & light refreshments | 8:30 pm
Performances begin | 9 pm

Biographies

Nayana Fielkov is a Canadian based performing artist. Beginning with scripted plays and musicals over two decades ago, she evolved through the creation and wearing of masks, into the worlds of improv and original work.

Isabelle Kirouac is performance maker from Quebec, currently living in Vancouver. She develops dances, installations and interdisciplinary performances that often integrate participatory interactions. Isabelle explores the senses, body awareness, intimacy, interspecies relationships, the notion of ritual, concepts of home, migration, liminality and their reflection on our ways of seeing.

Heather Dawn Sparks (Sparks Designs) engages collective action and inspired participation through immersive sculptural and performative works of art. Her dreamscape environments vividly bring to life forms from nature and the sublime absurdity of play.

Come find MOA on Main Street at this year’s Vancouver Mural Festival and enjoy a spirit-lifting puppet and clown performance by the Dusty Flowerpot Cabaret. Best known for the annual Parade of Lost Souls, the Dusty Flowerpot Cabaret is an artist collective of professional and emerging artists based in East Vancouver. They create and perform homespun tales set in elaborate worlds of found-objects and bygone aesthetic. They take their audiences on wild journeys of discovery of old treasures and original stories. The collective consists of storytellers, dancers, producers, multimedia artists, puppeteers, musicians, painters and makers of all kinds.

MOA presents the Puppet Parade at the Mural Festival in conjunction with MOA’s summer exhibition—Shadows, Strings & Other Things: The Enchanting Theatre of Puppets. On until October 14, 2019.

The Puppet Parade route will start at Main Street at 10th Ave, heading north and ducking into alleyways where the murals and festival activities are.
Free and open to everyone! 

The celebrations at MOA include three documentary screenings, a participatory discussion about queer issues with Love Intersections (Jen Sungshine and Kimberley Wong), a voguing workshop with Ralph Escamillan (founder of Van Vogue Jam), and an outrageous and raucous vogue ball produced by Nick Benz.

Engage with contemporary queer issues and explore the long history of Pride and LGBTQ+ liberation with local queer and trans artist and activists. Learn more about once-marginalized traditions, like voguing, that were born in the shadows of prejudice and discrimination and grew into joyous expressions of culture.

Film screenings | Haida House

Watch three documentaries that capture different queer experiences and expressions of the past 50 years.

1:30 – 2:50 pm | Paris Is Burning (director: Jennie Livingston, 1990), filmed in the mid-to-late 1980s, is the ever-popular documentary that chronicles the drag ball culture of New York City and the African-American, Latino, gay and transgender communities involved in it.

4 – 4:20 pm | Stonewall Forever (director: Ro Haber, 2019) is a short film that brings together queer activists to look at the movement for LGBTQ+ equality, highlighting trans people, people of colour and homeless people who were at the forefront of the movement.

4:30 – 4:50 pm | Yellow Peril: Queer Destiny is an experimental short documentary (director: Jen Sungshine, 2019) that follows drag artist Maiden China as she explores nuances of queer Chinese Canadian identity and where geo-political, historical, sexual and cultural contexts intersect.

Discussion | Haida House

4:50 – 5:45 pm | Listen, participate and learn, in this participatory “fishbowl” discussion—led by Love Intersections (Jen Sungshine and Kimberley Wong), a media arts collective of queer artists of colour. Members of the LGBTQ+ and QTBIPoC communities—and everyone who is interested—are invited to engage in a lively, collective conversation to deepen their understanding of queer issues.

Voguing | Great Hall

Strike a pose, it’s time to get your vogue on at MOA! Voguing is a highly stylized dance that evolved out of the Harlem ballroom scene of the 1960s. Ball culture and drag ball culture are terms that describe the LGBTQ+ subculture that served as havens of safety for marginalized youth, most often black and latino.

3 – 4 pm | Voguing + ballroom workshop with Ralph Escamillan, one of Vancouver’s leading queer dance artists, yas! This is your chance to learn the fundamentals of this fabulous dance form that will make your jaw and maybe your body hit the floor. No dance experience necessary, everyone is welcome.

6 – 6:40 pm | Voguing Ball with the Vogue Van Jam performers are going to awe you with their astounding moves in this showcase performance. Some of Vancouver’s most outstanding and outrageous vogue talents—including the 12-year-old drag phenom Bracken—come together for a one-of-a-kind Pride show at MOA. If the moves don’t literally knock you over, the costumes, music and jaw-dropping attitude just might.

Vogue Van Jam Performers: Nick Benz, Mattheu Chiu, Ralph Escamillan, Alicia Graham (aka Alicia Gvasalia), Juan Imperial (aka Baby Gvasalia), Mhico Rico (aka Miu Miu Gvasalia), Bracken Hanke (aka Bracken Gvasalia), Ross Wirtanen

Biographies

Love Intersections is a Vancouver-based media arts collective of queer artists of colour who use artistic practice to share stories of queer, trans and intersex people, living, dancing, and breathing in the margins. The collective was co-founded by Jen Sungshine, a queer Taiwanese interdisciplinary artist, activist, facilitator and community mentor, and Kimberley Wong 黄壯慈, a queer intersectional feminist Chinese activist whose research with UBC focuses on telling underrepresented stories from Vancouver’s Chinatown. www.loveintersections.com

Ralph Escamillan is a Vancouver-based queer, Canadian-Filipinx performance artist, choreographer, teacher, and community leader. He is the founder of Van Vogue Jam, a weekly series of by-donation vogue classes and balls. www.ralphescamillan.com

Nick Benz is a dancer, actor, director and producer with Mi’kmaq and settler Croatian and French ancestry. Nick started his career in New York City studying traditional African, vogue and street style dance. Now based in Vancouver, Nick is currently working on God’s Lake, a play about the resilience of an isolated reservation in northern Manitoba.

Bring your family and friends, a blanket and a picnic to enjoy Our Creation Story—the latest collaboration between the two groups that is the theatrical adaptation of a Coast Salish story gifted to the project by the Paul family, members of the Tsarlip First Nation.

For this unique evening of performance and cultural sharing, the impressive and imposing 12-foot Coast Salish puppet named Meh will take the outdoor stage on the MOA Grounds, brought to life and animated by the Coastal Wolf Pack and Mortal Coil. Meh is currently featured in MOA’s exhibition, Shadows, Strings and Other Things: The Enchanting Theatre of Puppets, prominently standing at the entrance of the exhibition to welcome visitors.

Coastal Wolf Pack and Mortal Coil Performance have been working together since 2011, when the Wolf Pack performed their traditional Coast Salish songs and dances in the site-specific theatrical production Salmon Row. This performance of Our Creation Story is a continuation of the process that developed Meh, who is the inspiration for the piece.

Coastal Wolf Pack are Coast Salish singers, drummers and dancers. Mortal Coil is dedicated to creating imaginative theatre and spectacle for audiences through stilts, masks, and fantastic costuming.

Coastal Wolfpack Performers: Iona Paul, Alec Dan, Joseph Paul, Katisha Paul, Amanda Kenoras, Demetrius Paul, Perseis Paul, Mackenzie Paul, Shalaya Paul, Anna Paul, Arthur Paul, Ben Paul, Maddi Good, Khe’sul, Boedaya Leo, Leonard Sylvester, Alec Paul

Mortal Coil Puppeteers: Sean Sonier, Sarah May Redmond, Jim Preston, Amira Routledge, Sara

Director: Peter Hall

Free with museum admission

Please note that event will move into MOA’s Great Hall in the event of rain. No food, drinks, backpacks or large items are permitted inside the Museum. Should the event be moved indoors, there are small lockers available for $0.25 to store your items.

Wayang Kulit, also known as shadow puppetry, is a popular performance tradition in Indonesia. Participants will also learn how to manipulate shadow puppets and have the opportunity to use a traditional Javanese shadow puppet screen.

Sutrisno Hartana is a wayang kulit puppeteer, composer and arts educator. Sutrisno, who is also known as dhalang Mas Lurah Lebda Swara, will present some important elements of wayang puppets performance including puppets’ character, how to manipulate and share the story for the puppets.

The roots of wayang kulit are from India, drawing from the Hindu and Buddhist religions. Plays are based on two very popular epic stories, the Mahabharata and Ramayana. Traditional Indonesian puppets are created from water buffalo hide, and painted on both sides. The puppeteer, called a dhalang, holds the intricately carved leather puppets up against a white cloth screen in front of where he sitting, and a bright light that is burning above his head forms shadows of the puppets on the screen.

All ages welcome to this family-friendly workshop. All materials will be provided.

Take in a 90-minute shadow puppet performance, called wayang kulit, featuring a full Javanese gamelan ensemble, led by Vancouver-based Indonesian gamelan and puppet master Sutrisno Hartana with special guest drummer, Eko Purnomo Teguhwibowo from Java, Indonesia. Following the wayang kulit show is a short Javanese dance performance in the Great Hall featuring special guest dancers from Sampan Bujana Sentra (Indonesian Young Artists Group) with direction and choreography from Uniek Sampan Hismanto. Don’t miss this opportunity to see these traditional dancers from Indonesia here for this weekend only.

Wayang kulit (shadow puppetry) is a popular performance tradition in Indonesia, with roots from India and draws from the Hindu and Buddhist religions. Traditional puppets are created with water buffalo hide, and painted on both sides. The puppeteer, called a dhalang, holds the intricately carved leather puppets up against a white cloth with a bright light burning above his head to form shadows on the screen.

Gamelan is the traditional ensemble music of Indonesia, made up of mostly percussive instruments consisting of bronze gongs, metal xylophones and drums. The music features an intricate layering of rhythmic patterns and improvisation that creates a mesmerizing and shimmering beauty. Both Javanese gamelan and dance have a rich tradition dating as far back as the 7th century. Javanese dance movements are controlled, deliberate and elegant and the combination of gamelan and dance tells a story often related to the mythology of the Mahabharata and other timeless tales.

This special afternoon is offered in conjunction with the Museum’s latest feature exhibition—Shadows, Strings and Other Things: The Enchanting Theatre of Puppets.

Free with museum admission.

Program Schedule

Haida House

Wayang kulit Javanese shadow puppet performance with gamelan | 11 am – 12:30 pm

Please note that seating for this performance is limited and entry will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

Great Hall

Javanese dance | 1 – 1:30 pm

Artist Biographies

Sutrisno Hartana, who is also known as dhalang Mas Lurah Lebda Swara, is a wayang kulit puppeteer, composer and arts educator and currently teaches at SFU’s School for Contemporary Arts.

Eko Purnomo Teguhwibowo is a professional Javanese gamelan musician (drummer) and dancer from Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He graduated from the school of performing arts in Yogyakarta and toured in Canada in 2007 and 2008.

Uniek Sampan Hismanto is a choreographer and award-winning dancer based in Jakarta, Indonesia and currently serves as the Managing Director of Sampan Bujana Sentra.

A special thank you to the Consul General of the Republic of Indonesia in Vancouver, Dr. Tuti Wahyuningsih Irman (Mrs), and Bapak Firman Priambodo, Consul of Information, Social and Cultural Affairs, who provided the sponsorship for the guest dancers from Indonesia in addition to the use of the gamelan instruments.

Participants will also learn the basics of hand puppetry, ventriloquism, shadow puppetry with flashlights and character development and voice.

Kellie Haines started talking to her puppets at the age of eight and when they started talking back, she knew she was hooked. “Puppets have stories to tell,” she says, “and they can bring out voices and characters from inside us that we didn’t know were there.” A multi-talented entertainer with a background in theatre, clowning, singing and dance, Kellie and her puppet pals have amazed and delighted audiences of all ages throughout North America.

All ages welcome.
Bring your own flashlight—MOA will provide all other supplies.

Over 250 puppets, old and new, from 15 countries, are illuminated in MOA’s new exhibition. These exquisite puppets—sometimes charming, sometimes a little bit scary, and always entertaining—come together and reveal our enduring fascination with storytelling. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to experience this theatrical world of puppets with the exhibition’s curator. She will take you through many rich and diverse puppetry traditions of the world, and outline the role they’ve played in transmitting cultural knowledge, stories, and values, from generation to generation.

Free with museum admission. Space is limited. Admission to the tour will be on a first-come, first-served basis.