Arts and culture are integral to a city’s distinct personality and flair, which is why we're committed to connecting locals with their civic spaces through programming, events and partnerships.
Vancouver Civic Theatres looks to use its venues as gallery space to provide an opportunity for local visual artists and arts organizations to exhibit their work. These artists are selected through a call and jury process which occurs annually. The artists range from emerging and mid-career to more established artists. Our intention is for both artists and visitors to experience and share in the work, using art as a catalyst for individual and community engagement. Exhibitions will be available for viewing during show times for ticket holders.
Arts and culture are integral to Vancouver’s identity, and Vancouver Civic Theatres remains committed to creating opportunities for artists and communities to connect through our civic spaces.
The Visual Arts Program is currently on hiatus while we undertake a comprehensive review of the program. As a result, there will be no Artist Call issued for 2027 at this time.
The review will help ensure the program continues to support artists, arts organizations, audiences, and the evolving needs of our venues. Further information on the future of the program, including any potential Artist Call opportunities beyond 2027, will be released early in the new year.
We thank our artists, partners, and community members for their continued interest, patience, and support.
Fall Exhibition in the Queen Elizabeth Theatre Lobbies
September 2026 to December 2026
Marney-Rose Edge - In the Quiet of the Nest Where Dreams Come True
edgefineart.com
In this exhibit the nest serves as both a metaphor and a motif representing a protected space where dreams in their earliest and most fragile forms are given room to grow.
The quiet sanctuaries we build – physical, emotional and spiritual, encourage transformation. In the stillness of a protected space, imagination can take flight. I seek to capture the essence of this intimate space, the warmth of home and the fragile strength of new beginnings.
Each piece invites the viewers to pause, listen and reconnect with their own inner dreamscape because it is in the quiet where we finally hear what we are meant to become. The paintings are full of movement with line and textures using a collection of inorganic and organic tools for the mark making. The work appears abstract up close and becomes realistic as you step back and bring the whole into focus. So much to discover.
Marney-Rose Edge, originally from New Zealand, is an accomplished artist based in Vancouver. Her artistic practice is rooted in exploring the delicate qualities of nature. Working out of her East Van Studio, she produces pieces for galleries and exhibitions. Recent solo exhibitions include presentations at Gibsons and Sechelt.
Gallery representation is through Crown and Press Gallery in Toronto, Gallery 8 on Salt Spring Island, and JPetter Galleries in Michigan, USA.
Faria Binte Firoz - Threades That Remain
fariafiroz.com
In this exhibition, I explore how inherited South Asian textile traditions are transformed and sustained through migration and displacement. Working with preloved fabrics, often sarees once worn by elders, I treat each textile piece as a vessel of memory, care, and cultural history. Through painting, dyeing, beadwork, stitching, appliqué, and block stamping, I adapt Bangladeshi textile methods using improvised tools and locally available materials. Nature, plants, and motifs drawn from memory reflect landscapes both remembered and inhabited, creating a dialogue between home, memory, and belonging.
My practice examines the tension between continuity and rupture, and how traditions endure, transform, or fragment when removed from their original cultural contexts. Textile-making, once a vibrant communal practice, can become a solitary activity through migration. Yet within this solitude, making becomes a way to preserve memory, maintain cultural connection, and build resilience. These works consider how cultural traditions can survive not by remaining unchanged, but by adapting to new places, materials, and experiences.
Through Threads That Remain, I invite viewers to consider textile traditions not simply as aesthetic forms, but as living practices connected to identity, memory, and belonging. The exhibition reflects on how traditions can survive across borders by adapting to different environment and resources.
Faria Firoz is a Bangladeshi-born interdisciplinary artist, educator, and designer whose practice explores globalization, cultural diaspora, displacement, identity, and cultural hybridization. Drawing from pattern-making and material exploration, her work investigates how traditional textile practices evolve within the context of migration.
Fall Exhibition in the ANNEX
September 2026 to December 2026
Victoria Klassen - Radio Days
victoriaklassen.com
In this exhibit, titled Radio Days (2023-2025) I have incorporated found papers created by my great-uncle during his experiences with shortwave radio. He made notes and sketches while listening to programs broadcast from around the world providing hints into current events of the time and of his own life. The series examines the decline of cursive writing and the fading era of radio, integrating a narrative of isolation and vulnerability alongside vibrant, contemporary abstract compositions and expressive brushwork.
Radio programs from decades ago can be considered the internet of the day, and served as an important connection to the world beyond. Through this lens, the series represents themes of communication and connection, contrasting the technologies of the past with those of quickly advancing technologies of today. The personal notes and drawings were made in the early 1980s, and now have a place within a contemporary body of artwork. The intent of the series is to tell a small part of my uncle's story in the context of connection and vulnerability, and is a co-communication and co-creation, posthumously. All the titles of the paintings are taken from my uncle’s written words.
I am a visual artist based on the west coast of Canada where I attended Emily Carr College of Art & Design. My work is held in private collections both nationally and internationally.
Vancouver Community College - Jewellery Art and Design Graduates exhibit
Queen Elizabeth Theatre - Balcony Lobby
VCT’s creative spaces showcase and empower local artists and artist collectives by providing accessible and high impact gallery spaces. VCT’s partnership with the Vancouver Community College allows graduates of the Jewellery Art and Design program to display their award-winning work on the balcony level of the Queen Elizabeth Theatre lobby.
The current exhibition features work from Sayat Degirmentas, Sarah Elizabeth Gullong, Lu Guenther and Neville Rhein.
Arts Umbrella - Gallery for Young Artists
Vancouver Playhouse Lobby
VCT’s near decade-long partnership with Arts Umbrella brings local young artists to the forefront of the artistic community by displaying the students’ pieces in the lively lobbies of the Vancouver Playhouse.
Current Exhibition
November 2025 to May 2026
5-6 Years – Explorers (Drawing & Painting)
Instructor: Oksana Slonevskaya
Assistant: Leea Contractor
Inspired by the 5000–4000 BC Sefar mural “The Small Mufflons,” students explored sketching techniques, composition, and texture to create animal forms on a stone-wall background. The project uses mixed media, collage, chalk pastels, and brush washes to explore a monochromatic aesthetic that echoes ancient imagery while emphasizing texture and form.
6-8 Years – Drawing & Painting
Instructor: Golnar Sepahi
Assistant: Homa Khosravijelodar
Students created their own landscape composition inspired by tattoo and digital artist Refael Idan Suissa. Experimenting with watercolour, inks, tempera, black ink, and colour pencils, the project explores elements of design including pattern, shape, and use of vibrant colours.
9-12 Years – Drawing & Painting
Instructor: Lusine Sahakyan
Assistant: Artem Struyanskiy
Inspired by Japanese Notan art, this project explores the harmony of light and dark through thoughtful composition. Using brush and ink, students focused on balancing positive and negative space while studying value relationships. The work emphasizes simplicity, contrast, and visual equilibrium, creating designs that highlight the interplay between shadow and form.
Arts Umbrella School of Art and Design: Program Website
Platforms
Over the course of two years, Platforms: The Teachers Among Us will be showcased on multiple public platforms throughout the city and will present new works regularly.
It will feature newly commissioned works by 20 local xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and urban Indigenous artists.
We are proud to host three of the artists, Olivia George on the Queen Elizabeth Theatre windows, Atheana Picha on the Vancouver Playhouse windows and Dana Claxton's Sitting Bull in Vancouver on the šxʷƛ̓exən Xwtl’a7shn lightbox.
For more info go to: Platforms: The Teachers Among Us