Though COVID-19 measures continue, quarantine isn’t stopping Vancouver’s arts offerings. Here are some of the must-watch streaming and digital offerings this week.

VSO@Home

Thursday (May 21) at 7:30 p.m. on Youtube via the VSO website

Tonight, the inspiring and the contemplative mix in the VSO's latest edited digital concert, including Aaron Copland's oh-so-appropriate Fanfare for the Common Man and Arvo Pärt's mesmerizing Spiegel im Spiegel . VSO concertmaster Nicholas Wright joins pianist Grace Huang, principal flutist Christie Reside, principal percussionist Vern Griffiths and the VSO Brass, "filmed in isolation and at the VSO’s Pyatt Hall".

B

May 21 to 24, free tickets and link through eventbrite

Rumble Theatre was supposed to have staged Chilean playwright Guillermo Calderón's explosive, absurd look at violence and revolt at the Havana Theatre; now, it's moved the production online, pulling all the stops to edit, light, and perform a new kind of theatre for socially distanced times. The story of two young female rebels who go looking for a bombmaker also plays well into the themes of COVID times, including isolation and the dangers of walking the streets. Director jivesh Parasram helms a crack team of artists, including Carmen Aguirre, Itai Erdal, Maria Escolan, Lissa Neptuno, and Lili Robinson. 

Veda Hille haunts The Cultch – All Request Hour

Sunday (May 24) at noon via Side Door Access

The singer-songerwriter performs at the piano Live from The Cultch, taking requests via Facebook, Twitter, Insta, or her website and drawing the setlist " from a hat, or a wine glass, or a glittery wheel of fortune (unlikely)". The show is a followup to her first streamed concert from the Cultch in April, and it was a huge success.

Yishu Xianglian

Monday (May 25) at 1:30 p.m. on Zoom; register here

Vancouver Art Gallery’s Institute of Asian Art launches a new Mandarin-language virtual lecture series to celebrate explorASIAN--the annual festival that takes place during Asian Heritage Month. The first installment features independent curator Steven Dragonn, who works between Guangzhou and Vancouver, speaking about the explosion of Chinese contemporary art over the past 35 years and the effects of globalization on the scene.

Kids Fest Pop Up

Tuesday to next Sunday ((May 26 to 31) on the Vancouver International Children's Festival Facebook page

Thanks to COVID-19, the 2020 Vancouver International Children’s Festival won't be happening on Granville Island, but it's pivoted to offer desperate families some quality arts and workshops to fill the week when it was supposed to take place.  due to social-distancing measures.The Kids Fest Pop Up promises one show and one workshop per day, including beatboxer RupLoops, whose The Human Radio show kicks off the first day of celebrations at 3:30 p.m. Another highlight will be drag artists Peach Cobblah and Isolde N. Barron streaming their new COVID-19 show Home Is a Drag, featuring their own toddler, on May 31 at 1:30 p.m.

United in Music

Next Thursday (May 28) starting at 11 a.m. via the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency Youtube channel

Vancouver's Andrew Beer, now the concertmaster with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra; Victoria-raised classical stars Nikki Chooi and Timothy Chooi; and Prince George-born Toronto Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Jonathan Crow are some of the B.C. artists taking part in this musical charity fundraiser for the U.N. Refugee Agency. Money raised is urgently needed to to help curb the spread of COVID-19 among the world's displaced people.