Enabling Arts

💫✨We are hosting a very special event with @maza.arts.collective ; join us for a night of poetry magic ✨💫 Celebrate the book launches of Qurat Dar’s debut collection, Non-Prophet, Anjalica Solomon’s debut collection, Apocalpse Joy, and Cassandra Myers’ chapbook (self-bound in a clamshell), They’re Pushing The Pearls From Their Clams and I Can’t Stop Wishing. Plus, witness the Vancouver debut of I Love the Land Back by Namitha Rathinappillai, a cinematic love letter to and reckoning with the stolen ground beneath our feet. With special feature performances from local poets Franz Seachel & Kiranjit Shoker. You won’t want to miss these powerhouse poets. ✨Save your spot at enablingarts.com/events ✨Doors 6:30 pm, show at 7 pm

Have an idea you’re waiting to bring to life? We want to hear from you! ✨email [email protected] ✨ #vancouver #booklaunch #events #workshops #thirdspace

✨Read the full blog post on our website. Link in our linktr.ee in bio ✨ Is it giving up, or is knowing when to end something practical? A question that has been circling my mind for the last couple of weeks as I try to figure out how to keep Enabling Arts alive. I don’t know how much longer I can keep the space open if we don’t find financial security. I know some are prone to note that “that’s just the way some small businesses, especially art spaces, go,” and though that has been the trend, it’s not good enough for me to accept an ending quite yet. I need to try all I can. What I do know is that people need other people, and community keeps us alive.  This fact ignites, it keeps sparking the fire of passion for creating space for the community to grow. Enabling Arts aims to remind people of the power of gathering.  By forming connections, holding grace, learning to express feelings, and committing to the work of holding threads of togetherness, we keep each other safe. It’s hard to ask for help. It’s even harder to ask for help when I’ve done so, and we continue needing help. I’m spooned out and fighting burnout. I can’t do this alone. Enabling Arts helps people come back to creation, to break down walls, to be vulnerable. I’ve seen friends and strangers pull up to support first-time artists’ showcases, new books and music videos, and small makers selling wares for the first time. I’ve seen people who are new to the city find company and community. I’ve seen word dumps blossom into poems, emotions being released into the air, a remembrance that we’re all in this together. How can you help keep us alive? ✨Donate or help us seek and reach donors ✨Attend events. Host events. ✨Tell your friends and community about us. Tell your friends and community about us. Tell your friends and community about us. ✨Volunteer With love and gratitude, Franz ♥️ #smallbuisness #communityarts #spaceforrent #vancouver #thirdspace

Update! @chair_isma.drag is joining us for Fetch-A-Sketch again this round! Come draw with us and this full cast of wonderful performers and models! May 23 from 2-5pm @enablingarts Fetch your tickets on Eventbrite 🎟️ #vancouverdrag #dragvancouver #lifedrawingvancouver #thingstodovancouver #vancouverevents

Vancouver Poetry Slam returns for the Summer Season on June 1st ⛰ Enabling Arts (343 Railway Street, Unit #104) Doors: 7pm | Sign-up: 7:30 | Show: 8pm $8 Advance | $10-15 at the door (no one turned away for lack of funds) Advance tickets: /en-CA/ticketing/vancouver-poetry-slam-ft-lindi-nolte About the feature Lindi Nolte: Lindi Nolte is a South African-Canadian spoken word poet, educator, and TEDx speaker based in Vancouver. Her work explores themes of love, nature, resilience, and self-discovery, often weaving personal narrative with social insight. A former Grand Slam Champion, Lindi is an active member of the spoken word community and facilitates creative writing workshops that help others connect with their expressive voice. Her debut poetry collection, Barefoot and Awestruck, invites readers into moments of wonder, longing, and transformation.❤️

Join us for the return of At Least We Tried! A variety show featuring Music, Burlesque, Poetry, and more! Curated by Sam MacKinnon and Simon Massey, this month’s theme is “Monstrosity” 📅 Date: May 15 📍 Location: 104-343 Railway Street, Vancouver, BC (no buzzer, come on in) ⏰ Doors Open: 7 PM | start: 7:30 PM 💰 $20 general admission 🔗save your spot at enablingarts.com/events #varietyshow #vancouver #poetry #music #comedyshow

✨We’re back✨ join us for This Is The Art an open mic for all performers, hosted by @mend.the.spirit 💙❤️💚💖 Bring your weird and wonderful art form. Come to perform, or simply to witness. All expressions are welcome. This is collective resonance. This is the ART! The night begins with sign-ups at 7:00 PM, and performances run from 8:00–11:00 PM. Stay from start to finish to experience the evening’s headlining performance — a special closing set by @oceaan.pendharkar 📅 May 22, 3036 📍104-343 Railway Street, Vancouver, BC ⏰ 7:00 PM doors 🔗 Tickets at enablingarts.com/events

While chapbooks can be crafted from handmade paper with fantastically ornate bindings and bells and whistles, they can also be made on the fly with whatever’s at hand. In this workshop at Enabling Arts, we’ll write some poetry (using two poems by May Swenson as models), and we’ll learn a few basic chapbook folds. In the process of transferring our newly generated poems into the chapbooks that we’ve made, we’ll consider the process of editing and what goes into crafting a poem. Touching upon the resources around us, we’ll also consider the multitude of ways chapbooks can be made. In looking at a large sampling of different types of chapbooks from micro-presses across the country published in 2024, everyone will leave with not only their favourite looking chapbook, but also their very own handmade chapbook and poem. A poet, teacher, and reviewer, Kevin Spenst (he/him) has published four full-length poetry collections, most recently A Bouquet Brought Back from Space (Anvil Press, 2024) and 19 chapbooks, most recently Ghosted Under the Christmas Tree (above/ground press, 2025) and Windowful (Anstruther Press, 2025). He is one of the organizers of the Dead Poets Reading Series, has a chapbook review column for subTerrain magazine, occasionally co-hosts Wax Poetic on Vancouver Co-op Radio, and is one of the poetry ambassadors for Vancouver’s 2025-2027 Poet Laureate Elee Kraljii Gardiner. He is one of the Poetry Mentors at The Writer’s Studio at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver on unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) territory. 📅 May 27, 3036 📍104-343 Railway Street, Vancouver, BC ⏰ 6:00 PM- 8:30 PM 🔗 Tickets at enablingarts.com/events

✨Do you want to spend some time sharing energy and writing in community? ✨ Join us for a collective creation period. Guided through prompts, spend the time writing alongside other writers. No experience required, all writing backgrounds welcome, and all genres. Follow the prompts or spend your time exploring threads of your own creativity. Register at enablingarts.com/events

*UPDATED INFO FOR SONGWRITING WKSHP 2!* 🥳 YAAAAY I get to facilitate another songwriting workshop at/with @enablingarts !! 🌱 This time, you can join me in a hands-on session of 🔮demystifying 🔮 the music-making process: assembling song lyrics ✒️; using beats, loops, and virtual instruments 🎸; and recording vocals 🎤. Through demonstration, sharing, group collaboration, and space for questions, this workshop aims to inform your songwriting practice in a safe and respectful environment ❤️. Make sure to bring something to write with. Get ready to create, learn, share, and connect with other music creatives in the community 🎵🤝! 📍Enabling Arts - 343 Railway St, Suite 104 🗓 Tuesday, May 26, 6:30-8 PM (Doors: 6 PM) 🎟 $20-$25 (sliding scale); link to register in bio! 🙋🏻‍♀️ 10 spots available; open to ages 13+ ✨️About me✨️: Tanya Banerjee is a music artist, multi-genre writer, and educator born in India, raised in New Jersey, and now based in so-called Vancouver, B.C, on the unceded, traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. She creates in the following genres: songwriting, children's fiction, adult fiction, screenwriting, playwriting, and creative nonfiction. Tanya has released three self-produced albums—All The Fun Times (November 2023), Sometimes, Rainbows (July 2024), and Everlasting (November 2024)–which explore love, relationships, and mental health across the multiple genres of pop, dance, alternative, rock, and classical crossover. She has experience with recording and layering vocals; sound editing; experimenting with royalty-free beats and loops; utilizing found sounds; using virtual instruments; collaborating with other artists; and writing original lyrics. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia and an MA in Prose Fiction from the University of East Anglia. You can find Tanya making and listening to music, writing, reading, and drinking mochas, often simultaneously at a café. Learn more at /. #Songwriting #music #vancouverbc #thearts #safespace

✨ Who’s ready to feel your feelings?✨Join us at the next poetry open mic. Everyone is welcome! Whether it’s your first time on the mic or the hundredth, we want to hear your words. Want to just hang out and vibe? We’d love to see you there! Bring your friends. Come by and make new ones. Let’s feel all our feelings together. It’s tough out there but at least we have poetry. 📅 Date: May 6, 2026 📍 Location: 104-343 Railway Street, Vancouver, BC (no buzzer, come on in) ⏰ Doors Open: 6:30 PM | start: 7:00 PM 🎤 First-come, first-served when doors open 💰 $13 general admission | (No one is turned away for lack of funds-dm us) 🔗save your spot at enablingarts.com/events Hate speech has no place here! Please be respectful. #openmic #poets #poetry #vancouverevents #vancouverpoets

We can’t wait to celebrate Canadian Indie Bookstore Day with you! Check out everything we have in store for Saturday. ✨ Poetry, books deals, raffle prizes & matcha! ✨