Every year, Indian Summer Festival invites a visual artist to be the festival’s Artist-In-Residence. Artists in this role define the festival’s visual language for the year by creating a work of art in response to the festival’s annual theme. They also create large-scale public artworks, interact with other festival artists and with the public at several events during the festival....
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Museum Bhavan — July 5-15
A ‘pocket’ museum that defies definition “It unfolds, one page after the other, like a dream.” – Teju Cole, The New York Times Co-presented by LOCATIONS AROUND THE CITY Dayanita Singh is among the most renowned contemporary photographers in the world. Her latest project, Museum Bhavan, is a beautiful boxed set of nine intimate concertina books. It is a marriage...

We’re thrilled to announce PAUSE
Indian Summer Festival’s first ever full outdoor programming hub PAUSE PAVILION PARTNER Against a spectacular view of the North Shore mountains and downtown Vancouver, PAUSE is situated at the site of the village of sən̓aʔqʷ (pronounced Sun’ahk), currently known as Vanier Park. Housing a festival within the festival, PAUSE features free events every day from July 6th to July 15th....

A night of splendour on May 19—Dinner by Starlight
You are cordially invited to join us for our annual fundraising gala—Dinner by Starlight! “Spectacular! This is a dinner to die for!” – Deepa Mehta, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Indian Summer Art Society’s annual Dinner by Starlight, our gala fundraiser, is a singular occasion; Canada’s culinary magician Chef Vikram Vij (Vij’s and My Shanti) prepares a special, one-time-only menu for a guest of honour....

Bhajju Shyam’s Exhibition Dates Extended
“Art that makes the Nightingale sing until morning.” – John Berger If you’re feeling those post-Indian Summer Festival blues, there’s still one last chance to catch acclaimed Indigenous artist Bhajju Shyam’s work. By popular demand, Shyam’s exhibit ‘Art is the Only Language I Have’ will be on for one more week. Thirty exquisite original works of art by Shyam (widely...

Taike: South Asian + Indigenous Programming
The word taike (pronounced tie-kay) was used when First Nations and South Asian men worked and lived together at lumber mills. It means ‘father’s elder brother’. We hope to highlight and reinvigorate this special and shared sense of community and kinship between these communities. Indian Summer Festival has introduced a multi-year strategic programming stream called ‘Taiké,’ intended to bring together...

Art for Punjabi Market
A Public Art Project curated by Indian Summer Festival As Vancouver warms up once more for the annual Vaisakhi celebrations on April 15th, a unique public art project comes to Punjabi Market. Curated by Indian Summer Festival, the project treats the street banners along a four-block stretch of Main Street as a canvas for high calibre art. Indian Summer Festival...

Cross-Pollinations with Major Cultural Institutions
Partnership with the Vancouver Art Gallery Our partnership with the Vancouver Art Gallery in 2016 was one of our most comprehensive. Centred around BHARTI KHER Matter, the first ever solo exhibition by an Indian artist at the Vancouver Art Gallery, we curated FUSE, Vancouver’s favourite art party, taking over the Vancouver Art Gallery after-hours and turning into a site for music,...

Developing the Next Generation of Arts Professionals
Working with Interns and Volunteers Every year, ISF takes on three to five interns via co-op and mentorship programs. To us an internship is not about handing off menial tasks, but an opportunity to grow our next generation of arts leaders. In 2016 we had five interns – three university students and two early career professionals. In addition, Artistic Director...

Cross-Pollinating Artists
Rajasthan Josh & Friends Festivals are by nature temporal events that bring artists and audiences together for the briefest of celebratory moments. At Indian Summer Festival, we are proud that we have been able to go beyond and act as cultural catalysts, with a significant impact on the artistic community in Vancouver as well as in India. A case in...