Culture Days is kicking off its 16th year of celebrations with hundreds of free and pay-what-you-may arts and culture events across B.C. from Sept. 19 to Oct. 12, 2025.
Covering a multitude of arts disciplines, cultural activities, and free, fun, family-friendly events, Culture Days offers something for everyone.
Participants can browse the Culture Days website to find out what’s taking place in their community and choose from a variety of workshops, performances, and tours, to collaborative projects, artist panel discussions, and local festivals, all registered under the Culture Days umbrella.
Community organizers interested in hosting their own events can register their activities until Sept. 18. To start planning their Culture Days itinerary, participants can visit culturedays.ca/bc and stay updated by following @BCCultureDays on social media.
Last year, more than 700,000 BC residents took part in 685 events across 65 communities across the province.
“This year’s programming theme in B.C. is the positive impact of arts, culture, and creativity on the health of our communities, more specifically mental health and wellness,” says Nazanin Shoja, BC Culture Days Program Director. "With all the political, economic, and environmental challenges being experienced around the world at this time, many are feeling the impact, especially those already faced with ongoing mental health challenges. Through this year’s programming, we hope to share how creativity can serve as an outlet for expression, compassion, connection, and self-care as we move forward together.
Culture Days welcomes participants to explore the diversity that exists across the country, encouraging individuals to share their unique narratives and artistic practices, and supporting the rich cultural heritage of our communities. Eventgoers can expect everything from the Art of Tea Blending, Flamenco dancing performances, studio tours, Acting 101 with Gallery 7 Theatre, to an Indigenous arts festival, writing workshops at the Word Garden, and collaborative beach artmaking. The celebrations continue with Self Guided Historical Walking Tours, the Ridiculously Cool Historic Ivanhoe Pub Walking Tour, interactive art collaborations like Make Some Noise and tile-making, as well as artist and author talks, and film screenings. There’s truly something for everyone to discover, experience, and create.
Each year, BC Culture Days appoints emerging artists from communities across the province as arts and culture ambassadors in their local communities. In addition to pursuing mentorships with established Canadian artists, the ambassadors present events for Culture Days. Through this year’s ambassador events, the six BC Culture Days artist ambassadors will offer local community members in Vancouver, Burnaby, Victoria, Valemount, and Fort St. James an opportunity to engage in a variety of arts disciplines, including dance, poetry, painting, storytelling, theatre improv, mask-making, and choral collage.
This year’s ambassadors’ events will be presented as part of the CARE (Community Arts Reimagining Equity & Wellness) Series. Throughout this series, participants will be invited to explore how creativity and community connection play an important role in their own mental health journeys, with a focus on equitable access to low-barrier activities to assist them along the way. A certified clinical counsellor or art therapist will be present at each event to serve as an active listener for participants in case support is needed.
“By hosting this workshop, I hope to create a space where people—especially those who are trapped in systems of erasure and violence—can connect to their voice, story, and community through creative expression,” says BC Culture Days Ambassador, Ashleigh Giffen. “My goal is to offer an experience that supports healing, builds confidence and purpose, and reminds participants that their stories carry power and medicine.”
Introducing the 2025 Ambassadors of BC Culture Days and their events:
Ashleigh Giffen (Vancouver) – Ashleigh is a 26-year-old mixed Oji-Cree multi-disciplinary artist exploring fragmented histories, place, and futurisms. In Teach Me About You, she will be facilitating a storytelling workshop rooted in Indigenous storytelling and Talking Circle practices, open to anyone interested in exploring self-expression through writing, poetry, or spoken word. Participants will be guided through gentle prompts and invited to share in a supportive, culturally grounded space that values connection, creativity, and personal truth. The workshop will take place on Oct. 10 from 1:00pm–5:00pm at The Gathering Place Community Centre.
Jacki Gunn (Burnaby) - Jacki Gunn is an actor, improviser, and storyteller, currently developing several writing projects. Her event, A Community of Yes: Fostering Collective Joy Through Improv will be an immersive afternoon of improvisation, laughter and joyful play in partnership with Shadbolt Centre For The Arts. This event will feature an all-ages improv comedy performance (non-ticketed) followed by a (pre-registered) hour-long improv workshop (15+) for people of all backgrounds and skill levels. Sept. 21, 2:30pm (doors open), 3:00pm–4:00pm (improv show). 4:30pm-5:30pm (improv workshop) at Studio 103 - Shadbolt Centre For The Arts.
Lauren Aldred (Fort St. James) – Lauren is painter, poet, counsellor, and teacher. For her, art is a community endeavour, and she loves to encourage others to play with paint and with words, finding ways to express the soul. She will be facilitating an Autumn Inspired by Nature Creative Retreat for Culture Days. The day’s activities will include a nature walk, gentle yoga, an easy art activity, and a creative writing exercise. All participants aged 15+ are welcome. The retreat will take place on Sept. 20 from 11:30am–4:30pm at the Pope Mountain Arts Centre.
Amy Braun (Valemount) - Amy Braun is a multidisciplinary artist, musician, performer, a heritage signer of PSE/ASL, and a proud CODA (Child of Deaf Adults). Her Culture Day event, Move and Be Moved is a guided movement and storytelling workshop that invites participants of all ages and abilities to explore creative expression through music, character, and embodied narrative. At the heart of the experience is Dreams Are Calling—an original song by HALF/ASIAN with Amy the CODA, featured in the upcoming theatre production Hallowed Be Thy, co-created by Miwa Hiroe, Amy Braun and Ian Griffiths. Oct. 4 from 1:00pm–3:00pm at the Valemount Anglican United Church.
Anna Bigland-Pritchard (Victoria) is a soprano and songwriter with a Bachelor of Music at Canadian Mennonite University, a Post-Baccalaureate Diploma in Performance from the University of Manitoba, and studies in Expressive Arts Therapy. Her event Creative Care for Eco-Anxiety: a Choral Collage Workshop will guide participants through expressive arts and nature-oriented practices, such as drawing, singing, meditation, deep listening and choral collage, exploring opportunities to transform their eco-anxiety into hope. Oct. 11 from 11:00am–2:00pm at the Horticultural Centre of the Pacific.
Lore Andrea (Victoria) - Lore Andrea is a Chilean actor, director, puppeteer, and prop/costumes builder. She is a graduate from Club de Teatro Fernando González Mardones in Santiago de Chile, with training in Bouffon, Commedia dell'arte, Clown, Mask, Suzuki, Viewpoints, and various forms of puppetry. Divided over two days, she will be facilitating The Essence Mask: A Soul-Portrait Workshop. Participants will be invited to take part in introspective, self-exploration exercises to inspire the creation of their own masks from repurposed, recycled, and found materials. Sept. 26 5:00pm–8:00pm and Sept. 27 10:00am–1:00pm at Theatre SKAM Studio.
Picture Courtesy: Instagram/ BC Culture Days
