Astro Arts Festival set to bring celebration of murals and graffiti art back to Mount Pleasant

In the spirit of the cancelled Vancouver Mural Festival, a new creative hub announces its first block party August 8 to 10

A NEW ART EVENT is stepping into the gap created by last year’s cancellation of the Vancouver Mural Festival.

Drew Young, who cofounded the VMF, and Steffanie Love, a former festival collaborator, will host the inaugural Astro Arts Festival from August 8 to 10 in Mount Pleasant’s Astro Alley—previously home to VMF events. The weekend fest takes the form of a block party featuring live street-art jams, a beer garden, an artisan market, DJs, open studios, and more.

The VMF announced its closure in January, citing financial challenges after nine years of programming and adding about four hundred murals to the city.

“It’s a devastating loss for Vancouver. VMF was instrumental in creating a public art economy in Vancouver for muralists,” Love says. “We felt a responsibility to carry the torch and have a flagship event that places the spotlight on visual artists.”

The three-day festival builds on the Astro Club, a creative hub at 165 West 4th Avenue that was launched by Young and Love in 2023. The space was envisioned as a supportive base for artists, offering studio amenities and fostering collaboration at various stages of their practice. Astro Alley is a laneway behind the studios.

“Astro Club is intended for artists who have dedicated their lives to their practice and seek to sustain themselves off their craft in the way that it sustains them in return,” Love says. “The members here are serious about creating and communing with those who are like-minded. There is a culture of sharing, vision, and incredible care here.”

In its debut edition, the Astro Arts Festival will feature work by over 40 Astro Club members. The open-air gallery will include six large murals titled “The Mural Wrap”, along with more than 30 experimental murals and graffiti pieces painted live throughout the weekend; artists will include Alex Beadle, Brother Jopa. Ciele Beau, Jason McCrea, Kyle Scott, JNASTE, Lisa Taniguchi, Nicole Young, Oxy, Priscilla Yu, and Tony Mayoh.

The festival will also feature the return of the 100 Amigos art show, showcasing projects by more than a hundred local artists, curated by West Coast art star Douglas Coupland, Pablo Zamudio, and Drew Young.

In addition to the visual art, the festival will celebrate Vancouver’s creative energy with a raffle, live music, and a beer garden. Amid rising costs and shrinking spaces for artists, the Astro Arts Festival signals a renewed commitment to community, creativity, and public art.

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Helen Wu

Helen (Yichun) Wu is a classical musician and music critic with an interest in the performing arts at large. Before moving to Canada to pursue a Master of Journalism at UBC, she received her degrees in piano for solo and chamber music, and comparative literature in the United States.

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