Western Front

06/16/2025

As part of the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, join us for a special afternoon with acclaimed French musician and composer Eve Risser on Wednesday, June 25, 2025, at 3:30 p.m.

Renowned for her bold, boundary-pushing work with the prepared piano, Risser will dive into her creative process, inspirations, and the role of improvisation in contemporary music.

This free conversation, moderated by scholar and percussionist Dylan van der Schyff, will be interwoven with moments of live musical improvisation—offering a rare, behind-the-scenes glimpse into Risser’s visionary sound world.

Just drop in—no tickets or registration needed!

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

06/09/2025

🎷 Don’t miss acclaimed American saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins and Poland’s renowned Lutosławski Quartet on June 20, 2025, as they open the Vancouver International Jazz Festival with a powerful concert at Western Front.

Experience the Canadian premiere of a bold new work dedicated to those facing forced displacement, exploring themes of survival, identity, and resistance.

🕖 7:00 p.m. sold out — new 9:00 p.m. show added!
🎟️ Tickets $30–$39 + fees

06/05/2025

Western Front is thrilled to partner with the Vancouver International Jazz Festival!

We’re celebrating opening night on Friday, Jun 20 at 7 and 9 p.m. with a powerful performance by American saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins and Poland’s Lutosławski Quartet. The concert will feature the Canadian premiere of a new work composed by Wilkins — a striking blend of jazz and contemporary classical music.

On Jun 25 and 26 at 3:30 p.m., join us for two free artist talks that mix live musical improvisation with conversation. Featured guests include festival artists-in-residence Susie Ibarra and Eve Risser in dialogue with Vancouver musicians Dylan van der Schyff and François Houle.

Throughout the week, we’re also running The New Improvisers Studio, a mentorship program for young musicians led by Susie Ibarra. It all wraps up with a public performance on Saturday, June 28 at 1PM here at Western Front.

All events take place at Western Front. Visit our website for full details.

More festival info at Coastal Jazz.

06/03/2025

If you're eligible for the Young Canada Works program, don't miss the opportunity to apply for our Archives Intern position. Applications close this Thursday! Thanks for sharing CultureBrew.Art!

: Western Front (Western Front) is looking for an ARCHIVES INTERN (YOUNG CANADA WORKS)!
APPLY HERE:
https://culturebrew.art/opportunities
(LINK IN BIO)

ALT TEXT: text: "ARCHIVES INTERN (YOUNG CANADA WORKS) / Location: Vancouver, BC / Compensation: $31,500 ($25 per hour) + benefits / Deadline: June 5, 2025 / Check out CultureBrew.Art for more great opportunities." Western Front's logo top left, CBA's logo bottom centre. Light orange backdrop punctuated with dark orange, yellow, teal and beige circles of varying sizes.

06/03/2025

Join us on Thursday, Jun 12, 2025, at 7:30p.m. for an evening of archival excerpts, conversation, and new work by artist Darragh Amelia.

At the heart of the program is a preview of "Tulip(s), Footstool, Painting" (2025), a short film in which the artist reflects on her mother’s informal archival practice and bears witness to her enduring friendship with June Katz—a beloved jazz singer and regular figure in Western Front’s social world during the 1980s. What emerges is a personal meditation on friendship as archive, and on life itself as an act of creative expression.

The screening will be accompanied by a conversation between Darragh Amelia and Rebecca Corey, exploring the resonance of music and memory, the sacred bonds forged between women, and the beauty of lived experience as something held among friends.

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

05/29/2025

Want to be a Toque Craft Fair vendor?

We’re on the lookout for new BC-based craftspeople, designers, and artists to join our annual Toque Craft Fair — happening Dec 5 – 7, 2025!

Our open call for vendors is live!

Are you a BC-based artist, designer, or craftsperson with work you’d love to share? We’re now accepting applications for our Dec 5 – 7, 2025 fair at Western Front!

We welcome creatives of all ages and backgrounds to apply—whether you're an individual or part of a collective. Join our vibrant community of talented vendors.

Apply now at toquecraftfair.com or via the link in bio.

Application deadline: Jul 31, 2025, 11:59 p.m. PDT.

05/15/2025

Open Call: The New Improvisers Studio with Susie Ibarra
📅 Deadline to apply: May 30, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time

Western Front and Coastal Jazz are pleased to present The New Improvisers Studio, a free educational opportunity for emerging musicians aged 17 to 24!

Led by acclaimed composer, percussionist, and sound artist Susie Ibarra, this year’s program invites participants to explore listening, field recording, spatial mapping, playing, practicing, and musical notations inspired by rhythms in the natural world.

Workshops:
June 24–28, 2025
11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Held at Western Front and throughout the surrounding neighbourhood

Final public performance:
June 28 at 1:00 p.m.

Apply now to take part in this unique creative opportunity.

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

05/05/2025

📣 We're Hiring! Archives Intern (Young Canada Works)

Are you passionate about contemporary arts, culture, and archives? We're looking for an Archives Intern to join our team!

This is an entry-level opportunity to work closely with our Archivist on a variety of tasks that support the preservation, management, and accessibility of our unique archival collections.

🗓 Application Deadline: June 5, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. PT
📍 Eligibility: Must qualify for the Young Canada Works program

Start your career in archives with us—apply now!

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

05/01/2025

New video work traverses an interior landscape shaped by the perspectives of artists Min Kim and Mia Wennerstrand

04/29/2025

Holly Márie Parnell: Desktop Compositions
🗓 May 3, 2025
🕕 6:00 p.m. (Doors at 5:30 p.m.)
📍 Grand Luxe Hall, Western Front
🎟 Admission: Free

Western Front is excited to present Desktop Compositions, a live video performance by artist and filmmaker Holly Márie Parnell, launching her solo exhibition Cirrus.

In a world that demands progress but offers little clarity, what does it mean to move forward? Desktop Compositions (2014–) is an ongoing live video performance series, presented through the interface of a computer desktop. The work draws from over a decade of Parnell’s personal archives and collected internet detritus, with this iteration including samplings of pop songs about NATO and the EU by Mia Wennerstrand (as Kim Kaino Vieno), alongside fragments and sound samples from Graeme Arnfield and Frank Sweeney. The live performance will also include contributions from drummer Phoebe Telfar and bass player Lucas Newhook.

Through rhythms of repetition and reassembly, Desktop Compositions acts as an inquiry into the chaos of our current moment and reflects on what forms might emerge in its place.

Miss the performance? A recorded version will be available to view during gallery hours through May 31, 2025.

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

04/20/2025

Holly Márie Parnell: Cirrus
🗓 May 3 – July 26, 2025
📍 Western Front, Vancouver

Join us for a new solo exhibition by Irish Canadian artist-filmmaker Holly Márie Parnell. Cirrus (2025) debuts a two-channel video work and a special live performance on opening night, May 3 at 6:00 p.m.

Cirrus traverses an interior landscape shaped by the perspectives of artists Min Kim and Mia Wennerstrand to ask: What does it mean to be an artist in a time of economic disparity, cultural malaise, and political impotence?

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

04/15/2025

Read Claire Geddes Bailey's review of our recent exhibition "Wishing on My Falsies" in Momus here.

“A pendant hangs, an amulet works,” claims Fawn, a character in curator Kiel Torres’s script and accompanying text for the exhibition Wishing on My...