arts // no. & Summer events at Douglas College and around Vancouver > Local markets, museums, and more Caroline Ho Arts Editor ummer is a fantastic season for finding free events and entertainment around Metro Vancouver. With Arts events and shows at Douglas winding down, it’s the perfect time to explore, enjoy the sunshine, and check out some budget-friendly, community-based offerings that you've always been too busy for during the fall and winter semesters. Galleries and museums Douglas College isn’t completely Arts- free in the summer! On the fourth floor of the New Westminster campus, the Amelia Douglas Gallery is open for most of the summer. Its newest exhibit The Pacific and Other Stories, featuring glass and canvas artwork by Robert Gary Parkes and Denise Dupre, runs from April 26 to June 23, witha free opening reception on April 26. After that, the gallery reopens on August 11 with Landlocked? And Flotsam Fixation by Tiki Mulvihill, filling the space of the gallery and adjacent wall of the Laura C. Muir Theatre with nautical-themed sculptures and installations. Mulvilhill’s show is part of the New Westminster Cultural Crawl, a free festival from August 10 to 12 celebrating arts and culture in the city. Just down the hill from the New Westminster campus, Anvil Centre houses the New Westminster Museum & Archives, the cutting-edge, technologically innovative New Media Gallery, and the Community Art Space. Other cities in the Lower Mainland also have their own (usually free or by donation) heritage museums and small art galleries, which are always worth a visit to immerse yourself in some local history and culture. Live music The Metro Vancouver area has a plethora of outdoor music festivals, with large occasions like the Canada Day celebrations and the PNE Fair’s lineup, but also plenty of smaller- scale events, including the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s outdoor concert at Deer Lake Park (July 8 this year) and Coquitlam’s summer concert series at Town Centre Park Plaza on several dates in July through September. It’s also the season for open-air markets, most of which offer live performances of music, dance, and more. The huge Richmond Night Market opens in May, and there’s also the Lonsdale Quay Shipyard Night Market on Fridays, the fully-licensed Fridays on Front market at New West opening in July, and the many farmer’s markets that crop up around these months. These markets offer the complementary— and often complimentary— atmosphere of wandering through open-air stalls and stopping to appreciate the live entertainment. Movie nights Many municipalities host outdoor movie nights for anyone to attend—all you really need is a blanket, maybe some snacks, and good company (or not!). Last year, New Westminster hosted movies on Fridays throughout July and August in Queen’s Park, and just about every other city does something similar. A lot of these tend to be general- audience-friendly films, with a lot of Disney classics and other family favourites. The Stanley Park Brava without breaking the bank > Vancouver Opera season concludes with festival Mercedes Deutscher Social Media Coordinator hat comes to mind when you think of opera? Maybe you think of bourgeois people with too much time and money on their hands. Maybe you think of your grandparents watching Vikings sing in Italian. Maybe you think of Sydney’s iconic opera house. However, the people behind the scenes at Vancouver Opera want to change this, and have made efforts to make the opera accessible, especially to a younger demographic with their 40 under 4o program, which offers seats to young patrons for $40. This program isn’t new. I first took advantage of the discount tickets in 2014, and it has allowed me to see several fantastic productions ever since. You might even be surprised by what is considered opera (for the record, it’s a work of art where most of its dialogue is sung). While Vancouver Opera has produced classic works like Giovani Puccini’s Turandot and Georges Bizet’s Carmen, it has also put out more modern pieces like Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita. Vancouver Opera even picks up new and innovative works, like Shane Koyczan’s Stickboy, a refreshing fusion of opera and spoken word. Don't speak French, Italian, or Russian? Don’t fret—all productions (even English language shows) are accompanied by subtitles above the stage. Vancouver Opera introduced its festival last season as a way to produce smaller works in addition to larger productions at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre and Vancouver Playhouse. Headlining this year’s festival are Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and James Rolfe’s The Overcoat: A Musical Tailoring. Eugene Onegin, a classic by beloved Russian composer Tchaikovsky, tells a sombre story of two sisters whose wistfulness and naivety are shattered by two young men, who enter as friends but are quickly torn apart by jealousy and violence. Titular character Eugene Onegin has it all, only to discard in a fit of pique before coming to regret losing his friends and romantic prospects. Eugine Onegin will play April 29, May 3, and May 5 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, performed in Russian with English subtitles. Next door, the Vancouver Playhouse will see The Overcoat: A Musical Tailoring. Adapted from a play of the same name, this quirky production charmingly recounts the story of a poor, modest man who becomes an instant sensation with his fancy new overcoat. The Overcoat: A Musical Tailoring will play 10 performances between April 28 and May 12. Aside from headlining productions, the Vancouver Opera will station itself around the city with other shows. These productions are less expensive to run theotherpress.ca Photo of Richmond Night Market via VisitRichmondBC.com Summer Cinema series looks to have a particularly fun set, starting with The Lego Batman Movie on July 4 and ending with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 on August 22. Keep an eye out for news of movie lineups, and for other more local events of a similar sort, from cities and community centres. €¢ You might even be surprised by what is considered opera.” than headlining shows, and the festival even has some events that are free. Requiem for a Lost Girl, created by Marcel Bergman and Onalea Gilbertson, will take on the topic of missing and murdered Indigenous women. This production will take place on May 4 and May 6 at SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts. Elektra, composed by Richard Strauss and based off the Ancient Greek myth, tells the age-old tale of how revenge ends in tragedy. This semi-staged production takes place on April 19 and 20 at the Image via VancouverOpera.ca Orpheum. Fun fact: One of the members of the Other Press, Rebecca Peterson, is in the cast for this production. Something to keep in mind if you're looking to support a fellow Douglas student in the arts. In addition, the Vancouver Opera festival will also offer operatic concerts, workshops, and Q&As. Whether you catch one show or all of what the Vancouver Opera festival has to offer, there is something for everyone. If you are a young person in Vancouver, there has never been a better time to go to the opera!