Where Worlds Meet

To all of us at Indian Summer, the festival really is a model for the kind of society we’d like to see. A society that is creative, diverse, inclusive and innovative. As the world builds more and more walls and as societies get suspicious and afraid of people who don’t look like them and think like them, we believe in the transformative power of the arts and the festival is our way of reaffirming these beliefs.

Our programming is rigorous and quirky with an appetite for experimentation, deep thinking, and curiosity. We see artists as important voices in the larger community, allowing us to step into the worlds they create, while also addressing the pressing questions of the one we inhabit. We offer a model for dialogue, a possibility for an inclusive community that is unafraid of striking up conversations – both cheerful and difficult.

The festival’s byline, ‘Where Worlds Meet,’ speaks to our focus on artistic collaboration. We create what we like to call ‘good friction’ by looking beyond the easy middle ground in order to foster true curatorial risk-taking. Our approach also includes unusual pairings of the local with the international, traditional with contemporary, and unexpected genres coming together.

We recently concluded a very successful 7th year of the festival, featuring 108 artists from 24 cities. We saw exponential growth in our audience engagement with over 400,000 people engaged in our free and ticketed events and exhibitions.

Indian Summer Arts Society (ISAS) is a Vancouver-based not-for-profit secular arts organization and registered charity.

Our Team

Our Board of Directors