Welcome to the 2016 PuSh Festival

November 10, 2015

It’s hard to remember, even to imagine… But looking back to before the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival came onto the scene 12 years ago, there were almost no curated, multidisciplinary, live performing arts festival platforms to be found on the West Coast. To this day PuSh’s intention remains straightforward, but nothing less than radical: transform Vancouver’s cultural scene. Back when PuSh was merely an idea, moments of brilliance took stage in Vancouver’s performing arts scene, revealing what the future might hold. Take, for example, The Holy Body Tattoo, who were without question the coolest kids on the block. Noam Gagnon and Dana Gingras made contemporary dance sexy, offering visceral immediacy and urgency to our daily lives and the world at large with their brand of rock and roll choreography. They proved that Vancouver was tapped in, a hotbed for producing pioneering artists who cultivated devoted audiences at home and abroad. At that flashpoint moment in time, the PuSh Festival emerged—a testament to the creative foundations of our city.

The Holy Body Tattoo toured the world—ambassadors for Vancouver. So it’s fitting that, after a ten-year hiatus, the company would launch their new world tour of monumental at the 2016 PuSh Festival—a grand salute to their hometown fans. On the Queen Elizabeth Theatre stage they’ll be joined by Montreal’s legendary Godspeed You! Black Emperor, who play the live score. It’s nothing short of sublime. As is so often the case, in order to make something monumental happen, you must first create the very conditions for it to happen.

That’s what PuSh has been striving to do—effect lasting change by creating a set of new conditions and sense of possibility: i.e. fostering a new context to appreciate the relevance and centrality of the live performing arts; grounding the spark of innovation; being local and global in equal measure; and, serving as a catalyst for artistic excellence, inspired thinking and new dialogue.

Join us for the 12th annual PuSh International Performing Arts Festival. Together we’re fashioning the city of our dreams, building on the foundations of our shared future.

Norman Armour
Artistic & Executive Director