Western Front

05/20/2026

Western Front is pleased to take part in The Vancouver Heritage Foundation’s annual Heritage Discovery Day, happening this year in the Mount Pleasant and Riley Park neighbourhoods on Saturday, June 6, from 10 am–5 pm.

Join a day of exploration across nine curated heritage properties, offering a rare opportunity to step inside and discover the layered stories behind their architecture, design, and history—including a visit to our own building!

More info and tickets here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/vancouverheritagefoundation/2090103

We hope to see you there.

Our Heritage Discovery Day is taking place June 6th from 10am-5pm in the neighbourhoods of Mount Pleasant and Riley Park!🎉

Take a look at the THIRD stop on our 2026 tour:

🏠Western Front | Places That Matter Site

This three-storey wooden building was constructed in 1922 as a lodge hall for the Knights of Pythias, a fraternal organization founded on the principles of friendship, charity, and benevolence.

Register to learn more and visit this heritage site in-person: https://www.vancouverheritagefoundation.org/events/heritage-discovery-day/

Thank you to our Presenting Sponsor, Equitable Real Estate Investment Corp Ltd.👏

📸 cred: Martin Knowles

05/19/2026

Reading and talk by Anakana Schofield with Caitlin Jones
Jun 13, 2026, 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Free admission.

Western Front is pleased to present an afternoon with the writer Anakana Schofield to launch her latest novel 𝘓𝘪𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘭 (Knopf Canada, 2026). Loosely inspired by the architecture and atmosphere of Western Front’s own building, the novel imagines a precarious and unruly space shaped by labour, care, and collective survival.

The event will begin with a conversation with curator, cultural worker, and writer Caitlin Jones, and will be followed by a reading from the book by Schofield.

Copies of 𝘓𝘪𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘭 will be available for purchase at the event from Pulpfiction Books. Tea, coffee, and light refreshments will be available.

05/13/2026

Read Robert Kuang's review of our current exhibition, "Magic Show" by Rosamunde Bordo, now online at Stir Vancouver.

Multilayered exhibition of video and handcrafted works at Western Front blends detective tales and esoteric rituals to create an ongoing, genre-defying form of storytelling

05/12/2026

Open Rehearsal by Ami Xherro
May 14, 2026, 5:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Free Admission

Join our current artist-in-residence Ami Xherro for an open exploration of material from her work-in-progress 𝘉𝘦𝘥 𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘳.

Of the work, Xherro says:

𝘉𝘦𝘥 𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘳 is a multi-surface project about lying down and splaying out. 𝘉𝘦𝘥 𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘳 dwells in the pleasures of suspension, taking up those infoldings in the flesh where I stretches out languorously. Using altered writing states to collapse the encyclopedic form with the diary entry, 𝘉𝘦𝘥 𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘳 demands overtime for the unemployed dreamer.

For this session, visitors are invited into a shared, informal reading and performance space. A bed will be installed in the middle of the Grand Luxe Hall as a gathering point, where those present are invited to speak, sing, or read from printed pages of 𝘉𝘦𝘥 𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘳, which will be loosely arranged throughout the space.

Visitors are welcome to come and go as they wish over the course of the evening.

Learn more here: https://westernfront.ca/events/bed-jam

05/04/2026

Looking for something to do this week? Check out DOXA Documentary Film Festival—a great lineup of films and events happening across the city.

We’re especially excited for "Powwow People" by Sky Hopinka, screening this week on Monday, May 4 at 8:20 p.m. and Friday, May 9 at 10:00 a.m.

Explore the full festival and grab tickets here: https://doxa2026.eventive.org/films/69c44e8374315699a7252e87

04/24/2026

Western Front is looking for volunteers to join its Board of Directors! There are a number of exciting opportunities to be actively involved in Western Front as a board member. We are seeking individuals with expertise in governance, law, communications, and/or media and government relations, as well as practising artists including writers, filmmakers, dancers, musicians, designers, and visual artists.

Applications will begin to be reviewed on June 1, 2026.

Successful applicants will commence board duties in September, 2026.

For the full job description and details, see the link below.

Western Front is a non-profit multidisciplinary artist-run centre located in Vancouver.

04/21/2026

Are you a musician aged 17 to 24? Apply for The New Improvisers Studio, a free educational initiative that supports collaborative exploration in musical improvisation.

Presented by Western Front and Coastal Jazz as part of the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, this year’s studio will be led by Patrick Shiroishi, a Los Angeles-based Japanese-American multi-instrumentalist and composer whose practice spans solo work and collaborations with artists including Chelsea Wolfe, Algiers, Xiu Xiu, Dirty Projectors, Che Chen, and claire rousay.

Workshops will take place daily from June 30 — July 3, 2026, 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., at Western Front. The week will conclude with a public performance on July 4, 2026 at 12:00 p.m. (noon).

Application deadline: May 23, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time

Learn more and apply here: https://westernfront.ca/announcements/open-call-for-the-new-improvisers-studio-with-patrick-shiroishi

04/20/2026

Performance by Zeena Parkins & William Winant
Saturday, May 9, 2026 · 7:30 p.m.
By donation (Suggested $15 - $35)

Composer, harpist, and improviser Zeena Parkins, joins longtime collaborator, percussionist William Winant for a live performance of work from her album 𝘔𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 (Tzadik Records, 2025).

Written for harp, percussion, and electronics, the work draws inspiration from visual artist Jay DeFeo's 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘗𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘞𝘪𝘴𝘥𝘰𝘮 (1989). In these intricate drawings, a seven-sided form—derived from a small pink cup gifted by Ron Nagle—is rendered in charcoal and metallic powder, to create a meditative field of mysterious power. Parkins translates this visual language into sound, using the geometric form as a generative structure for line, rhythm, texture, and resonance.

04/14/2026

𝘙𝘰𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘰: 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘸
May 2 — Jul 25, 2026
Western Front, Vancouver

𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘸 is a solo exhibition by Vancouver-based artist Rosamunde Bordo, which brings together new metal-cast, woodworked, glass blown, and sewn objects, alongside video. These forms resemble clues or magical instruments, positioning the figures of the detective and the magician as corresponding frameworks for making meaning through intuition and association, iteration and sleight of hand.

Join us for the opening reception:
Saturday, May 2, 2026
5:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Western Front is a non-profit multidisciplinary artist-run centre located in Vancouver.

02/28/2026

Western Front is looking for 8 participants for free, in-person workshops with Torien Cafferata and A of Playbox Studios!

Ever wanted to live life like a video game? Playbox Studios invites you to be an avatar, design mini-games, and explore the poetics of delegated experience—no design experience needed!

📅 Workshops: Mar 17, 24 & 31 | 6–8:30 p.m.
📅 Open Rehearsal: Apr 4 | 3–4 p.m.

💡 Who Can Apply?
Anyone curious about play, labour, madness, and control. Priority given to those who can attend all sessions. Light meals provided.

📩 Apply by Mar 6: Email [email protected]
(“Playbox Application”) with a short written, video, or audio expression of interest (max 300 words / 2 min).

Western Front is a non-profit multidisciplinary artist-run centre located in Vancouver.