We’ve been taking full advantage of having chosen to create our piéd-a-terre right in the city of Vancouver for the balance of this year. A big part of that decision – in addition to the sheer charm of our laneway house and its owners – was easy access to cultural events.

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In the past two weeks alone, we’ve taken in:

• A “Happy Hour” classical concert by Music in the Morning, (where else could you get a selection of Lord Byron’s poetry read by Christopher Gaze, founder of Bard on the Beach, along with classical selections played by Canada’s premier clarinetist James Campbell, pianist Amanda Chan, and cellist Adrian Fung, PLUS a glass of wine for $30?),
• a disco-era-themed production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at Metro Theatre,
• Songbird North at The Roundhouse, featuring 4 Canadian singer/songwriters: host Shari Ulrich, Claire Coupland, Deborah Holland, and our beloved John Wort Hannam,

• and an alphorn concert (yup, alphorns!) in the atrium of the gorgeous nine-storey main branch of the Vancouver Public Library.

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We’ve also continued our neighbourhood walks, enjoying the vibrant colours of murals and spring flowers, the noisy flickers perched atop hydro and light poles, the many small urban parks, and the riverfront.

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Tonight, after all those wonderful experiences, we attended our first event at Vancouver’s Rogue Folk Club in Kitsilano, and despite it being an hour away on public transit it won’t be our last.

The evening brought back many fond memories of our own Just Milton Folks house concert series, our nights at the Brampton Folk Club, and dinners and music at Toronto’s Hugh’s Room.

The folk club’s venue itself is something quite special. Andrea Warner, writing for CBC Music in 2020 : “In 1928, it was the St. James United Church, but since 1993, St. James Community Square has been a dedicated hub for artists, activists and community groups of all kinds in the Kitsilano neighbourhood on the West Side of Vancouver. It’s a humble building with multipurpose rooms, a daycare centre and a kitchen, but the centrepiece is that former church space: a beautiful wood-paneled hall with arched rafters and soaring ceilings, a stage, a piano, stained glass windows and a small balcony. Dedicated as the Mel Lehan Hall, named after a prominent local community member, the space is regularly home to the Rogue Folk Club which in non-pandemic times hosts regular concerts of local and touring folk, roots and Celtic musicians.”

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Tonight’s concert had special meaning for us. Billed as “Small Change for Big Change”, the concert was a benefit for the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign of the Stephen Lewis Foundation, which supports grandmothers (“Gogos” in Zulu) raising a generation of children orphaned by the AIDS pandemic in 15 African countries. 

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Grandmothers in Africa have risen above their grief to put their grandchildren through school while leading the way by rebuilding communities and advocating for change in their societies. Canadians have raised more than $27 million for the campaign, which supports community-based organizations that provide necessities such as school fees and uniforms, counselling for grandmothers and orphaned children, and micro-credit loans. The East Van Gogos is one of more than 250 such groups across Canada. The Grandmothers Campaign movement, starting with just a few groups in Canada, now includes 10,000 grandmothers and grandothers in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The event was even more meaningful given the life-threatening situation with the sudden withdrawal of USAID funding to the 14 sub-Saharan countries that the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign supports. The Stephen Lewis Foundation does not receive U.S. funds, but many SLF partners do, so their work and communities are directly affected. The foundation has launched an Emergency Appeal to help meet the immediate needs of SLF partners and the community members they serve, including with access to life-saving HIV medications and services, as they navigate the impacts of this funding withdrawal. 

On our recent world cruise visits to Africa, we saw first-hand how even small initiatives like our book drive for the CEFZ School in Zanzibar could go a long way toward improving lives.

In addition to proceeds from the concert ticket sales, there was  the chance to bid “small change” on amazing local treats and finds in the East Van Gogos’ “Legendary Bucket Auction”.

The concert itself featured a double bill of “Heistek & Plato”, and vocalist/Vancouver multi-choir director Patti Powell.

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Karin Plato is a Juno nominated Canadian jazz vocalist, as well as being a piano and ukulele player. Guido Heistek is a renowned Vancouver guitar and ukulele maestro who hosts the website Ukulele in the Dark. After our world cruise passenger ukulele band’s enthusiastic performances, how could we resist coming to hear this duo?

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Patti Powell is a vocalist who also has been bringing the joy of singing to many ordinary folks through her four community choirs since 2006. There were quite a few of her choir members in the audience; she got them – and the rest of us – singing along.

While we didn’t think the performances were particularly special (we’ll admit to being a bit jaded given the amazing musicians we’ve gotten to know over the years ), it was a fun evening of music and an enthusiastic audience, in support of a good cause.

Given our experiences in just our short first weeks here, we’re encouraged that this is a community that could – someday when we have to settle down – become “home”.