Author: Mary-Anne McAllister

Thank you for attending the Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival✨

We are celebrating another successful festival! 

A recap of our festival numbers:

• 1500+ attendees
• $14,200+ in art sales over 3 days
• 100+ artists (visual artists, art groups, performers and more)
• 750+ artworks on display
•  A bunch of amazing community members (you!) 

Special thanks to our amazing team, generous volunteers who donated their time and our partners and sponsors: Creative BC, BC Gaming, BC Arts Council, City of Vancouver, Canadian Heritage, Modo, Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre, BC Culture Days, SAD MAG, Outsiders and Others, GIFTS OF MADNESS and our international partners Outsider Art Festival from Helsinki Finland. 

Photo of our team: Beck, Annika, Ella, Madeleine, Mary-Anne, Kaya, Kristin and Sammy! 

Did you attend the festival? We would love to hear from you! Please complete the Festival Audience Survey and tell us about your experience at the festival and you’ll have a chance to win a $200 Opus Art Supplies Gift Card. The deadline for the survey is November 15, 2024. As a growing festival, we want to make the necessary changes and improvements to create a better environment for both artists and audiences for next year!

Looking forward to seeing you at our festival in 2025!

Welcome Madeleine Polak, our new Stage Manager!

We’re thrilled to introduce Madeleine Polak as the Stage Manager for the 2024 Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival! 👏

Madeleine Polak (she/her) is a lover of emerging new theatre, name brand sharpies, iced oat lattes, and colour-coded spreadsheets. She’s a queer theatre maker & manager based in Vancouver, where she is in her fourth and final year of the UBC BFA Design and Production program. A firm believer in wearing multiple hats within the industry, Madeleine is active as both a stage manager and costume designer, as well as a fledgling director.

As a stage manager, Madeleine sees well organized spreadsheets as their own artform. She has previously worked with Theatre Terrific on their 2024 Harvest production, ‘Proximity’ and with local queer rock-band ‘Hot Dyke Party’ during their original performance run.

Current creative endeavors include costume design for UBC Theatre’s ‘The Very Book Indeed’ and assistant direction for UBC Musical Theatre Troupe’s ‘Heathers’, both opening in November.

Join us in welcoming Madeleine!

Volunteer with us!

Join our community of artists, arts professionals, organizations, and volunteers who help bring the Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival to life! We are currently seeking volunteers to help with art sales, public workshops, performances, and more!

Apply by September 22: https://form.jotform.com/242407573753258

If you require assistance completing the form or want to apply over the phone or email, please contact us at either voaf@cacv.ca or 604-682-0010.

Welcome Annika Walsh, our new Marketing Assistant!

We’re delighted to announce that Annika Walsh is joining the CACV team as our new Marketing Assistant! 

Annika Walsh is an emerging transdisciplinary artist who works with food, cooking, and everything in between to further the notion of connectedness and togetherness. They utilize all things food to create and inform relational and embodied ways of knowing through their experience based work. Annika completed a BFA with a specialization in Media Arts at the University of Ottawa in 2022. Currently working on a Masters of Science in Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems at the University of British Columbia, their research seeks to investigate the ways in which Chinese-Canadian adoptees’ relationship with food influences their feelings of identity, connection, and belonging.

We are excited to have Annika join us and we look forward to seeing all that she will achieve in this role. Join us in welcoming Annika!

One week left to apply to the Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival!

CALL FOR ARTISTS & PERFORMERS✨

This festival celebrates the creativity of Vancouver artists who break the mould. Whether you work in paint, clay, sound, movement, or anything in between, we want to see what makes you an outsider artist. Don’t miss your chance to showcase your unique vision and connect with a community of like-minded folks!

Application Deadline: May 14 at 11:59 pm PT
Dates of Festival: October, 2024

Accessibility: Our staff will work with each artist to meet their needs and make their experience at the festival as comfortable as possible. If you have any accessibility needs for the application process, please contact our team at voaf@cacv.ca or 604-682-0010.

Head to our website to learn more and submit your application: https://www.voaf.ca/

This is your opportunity to shine, to be seen, and to make a statement. Let’s show Vancouver what it means to be an outsider artist!