29th Annual Eastside Culture Crawl Highlights Diversity of
Artist Studio Space Across Eastside Arts District
Vancouver’s beloved arts festival will feature highest number of registered artist buildings in the event’s history
Vancouver, BC — Eastside Arts Society (EAS) proudly supports the participation of more than 500 artists in its 29th annual Eastside Culture Crawl Visual Arts, Design & Craft Festival from November 20-23, 2025. The festival will welcome visitors into the studios and workshops of Eastside artists in more than 80 registered buildings, including 20 new buildings to the Crawl – marking a 25 per cent increase in options for exploring all that is on display across the Eastside Arts District. This year also marks the beginning of a three-year partnership with the Audain Foundation as the Culture Crawl’s presenting partner, recognizing the importance of creative spaces and experimentation to a vibrant and healthy arts ecosystem.
“We are thrilled to welcome returning and new visitors to the 29th year of the Eastside Culture Crawl to experience the incredible breadth of artistic practice that happens right here, in the Eastside Arts District,” says Esther Rausenberg, Artistic Director of Eastside Arts Society. “Vancouver is home to a growing number of artists who continue to create in the face of tremendous economic hardships and reduced access to studio space. Their unwavering passion, ingenuity, and resourcefulness results in a richness of unique and diverse production and working artist spaces, creating exciting new opportunities for art lovers to explore, to discover, and to be inspired.”
One of the city’s largest and most popular cultural events of the fall season, the Culture Crawl open studios attract and inspire more than 45,000 visitors annually. Encompassing the region bounded by Columbia Street, 1st Avenue, Victoria Drive, and the Waterfront, the Eastside Arts District (EAD) is the most concentrated area of artists, designers, performers, craftspeople, and culture producers in Vancouver and is known nationally as an area rich with creativity and inspiration. The festival offers visitors a window into the artistic practices of artists living and/or working in Vancouver’s Eastside Arts District (EAD,) representing creators specializing in painting, jewelry, sculpture, furniture, leather goods, photography, glass works, textiles, and more.
As part of the 2025 Culture Crawl, EAS will host a series of ancillary events, including the annual Take Flight fundraiser, which runs until November 4, 2025 and makes up a critical component of funding for the free festival. Guests who purchase tickets to Art Roulette, an art draw featuring 30 pieces donated by EAD artists, are guaranteed to go home with an original piece of art. Take Flight also features a silent auction, which opens on October 25, 2025, and features a series of items donated by community partners, including an exclusive curator-led tour of the Vancouver Art Gallery, a three-night stay at The Ivy on Parker Guest House, and much more.
The festival will also host the 2025 Preview Exhibition, a multi-venue, salon-style curated exhibition that explores a variety of media, formats, techniques, and styles. This year’s theme of “Passion, Reason, Idiocy” invited participating artists to submit works that speak to the emotional, rational, and foolish elements of their lived experience as working artists. The exhibition will feature juried works from 78 artists at three venues from November 6-30, 2025: Pendulum Gallery, The Cultch Gallery, and Alternative Creations Gallery.
Full programming details include:
PREVIEW EXHIBITION – Passion, Reason, Idiocy
Nov. 6-30, 2025 (Dates vary depending on venue)
Exhibit Opening Receptions Nov. 6, from 6-8pm
Pendulum Gallery (885 W Georgia St)
Alternative Creations Gallery (1659 Venables St)
The Cultch (1895 Venables St)
This year’s multi-venue curated preview exhibition asked artists to get personal. During a time of global change, artists need to share their creative vision of the world, and artists were asked to share their experiences with passion, reason, idiocy, or all of the above. The exhibition will feature 78 EAD visual artists, selected by a jury. Full details at culturecrawl.ca/events
Hashtags: #EastsideCultureCrawl #VancouverArts #OpenStudios #EastsideArtsDistrict #YVRArts #SupportLocalArtists
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