Vancouver Mural Festival: Connecting the Public to Vancouver’s Diverse Art Scene

Photo Credit: Vancouver Mural Festival

The Vancouver Mural Festival (VMF) will be occuring once again from Aug. 4-13. The festival has been held annually since its founding in 2016, and is designed to celebrate public art and connect the community through live events and murals. There is a wide range of artists who participate in the festival and bring their diverse content to the table. Mural artists aren’t the only people who will creatively display their art, as there are many musicians, dancers and DJs that will perform live during the festival.

The VMF used to be mainly located near the Mount Pleasant area in Vancouver but has since expanded and now hosts mural tours Downtown, in the West End, in the River District, and in Strathcona. They host many ticketed and reservation-only events in other locations in Vancouver for different age ranges, including Astro Alley, Curator Talks, the Mount Pleasant Street Party, and mural tours. The murals are also up year-round and can be found throughout the Vancouver area.

The VMF features diverse artists, highlighting many Asian, Black, and Indigenous-made murals. Van Dang, the CEO and founder of Ricecake, and a queer Asian guest curator for VMF, will be co-curating the festival’s Ricecake Summer Market, which will feature local Asian food vendors and artisans, taking place on Aug. 10.

This year the VMF will also be continuing their collaboration with Kickstart Disability Arts with their Murals Without Walls event taking place at the City Centre Artist Lounge. This collaboration allows professional artists with disabilities to be able to showcase their art publicly. VMF also offers mural tours for those who have visual disabilities, providing resources for all people to be able to enjoy the murals.  

Artists say the festival is a great way to connect and view art from new perspectives. Sara Khan, a 2018 VMF mural artist, stated in an interview with The Nest that she enjoyed that “the public gets to see how inclusive art can be.” She said that the festival allows for the public to be able to see that art doesn’t have to be confined to the walls of a gallery.

Khan also enjoyed the festival’s promotion of connecting with a range of people and its ability to bring people together, saying “it is an amazing opportunity to learn from other artists and connect with [the] art community.” For those who have wanted to explore Vancouver’s range of artists and its creative scene, the VMF is a great way to engage and connect with the diverse art community in Vancouver.