Open Mic Night / Art Gallery

Open Mic Night SEASON 3 SPECIAL EPISODE 2 🎬 🎭🎤🩵 We are excited to announce that this week’s feature will be AledaKasey!!!! 🤩 @aledakasey A Two-Spirit, neurodiverse Neyihow iskwew from Sweetgrass First Nation, bringing 20+ years of professional experience as a multidisciplinary artist and storyteller. At Saskatchewan Native Theatre Company (SNTC), she co-wrote and performed in Journey (2003), Ensembula, The Alley, Askiy (The Land), and Love Songs from a War Drum. As a CAEA stage manager, her credits include Globe Theatre productions Death and the Maiden, Elephant Wake, Anne of green Gables) and Festival, Antigonish Summer Theatre repertory season (Dead Guilty, Intimate Exchanges), and touring productions across Western Canada with SNTC. A powerful voice on stage and page, she competed as a storm poet at the 2023 and 2024 Canadian individual Poetry slam and completed an intensive playwright residency at Sage Hill writing 2024 playwriting lab. Her screen work includes producing shorts, directing youth - focused, film, projects, mentoring, emerging creators, capturing compelling visuals for events and campaigns, and some contributions on camera for film and television projects. Through her artistry and facilitation, AledaKasey continues to use storytelling as a tool for healing, advocacy, and transformation. This event will take place on Monday April 20th 2026 at 7PM at Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 W 64th Ave., Vancouver, BC, Canada, 49.212861°N 123.138469°W. 🐝➡️or🐝🟥 Please DM us directly for accessibility information regarding our venue.

Open Mic Night SEASON 3 SPECIAL EPISODE 1 🎬 🎭🎤🩵 We are excited to announce that this week’s feature will be Holly Flauto!!!! 🤩 @hollyflauto Holly Flauto (she/they, is a poet, storyteller, learner and instructor living and writing on the traditional, ancestral and stolen territories of the x”ma®kwayam, Skwxwú7mesh and Selilwitulh Nations. Their debut poetry-memoir collection, Permission to Settle (Anvil Press) was named as one of CBC Books Best Canadian Poetry of 2024. In the book, the blanks from the application for Permanent Residency are filled in with a series of memoir-based poems that investigate the implicit biases in the colonial system of boxes and check marks that still seek to categorize “the other” and to harness it in the face of reconciliation. Holly’s fiction and creative memoir has previously been published in The Ex-Puritan, Joyland, and The Rusty Toque, and they perform as Stella Palermo on the local story and poetry slam stages. Holly teaches creative and academic writing in the English department at Capilano University. This event will take place on Monday April 13th 2026 at 7PM at Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 W 64th Ave., Vancouver, BC, Canada, 49.212861°N 123.138469°W. 🐝➡️or🐝🟥 Please DM us directly for accessibility information regarding our venue.

THIS MONDAY IS THE LAST OPEN MIC NIGHT EVER AT DCTRL’S PENDER STREET LOCATION 🚨🚨🚨 Tell your friends!!! Let’s have one last amazing show before the building is turned to rubble 🎭🎤🩵 Our feature for this Monday is @kevin_spenst , incredibly talented poet who will bring the house down, before the house is literally brought down! Kevin Spenst is the author of four books of poetry, 19 chapbooks and the forthcoming non-fiction collection Stanley Park Manor: a Collective History. 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 where he cohabitates with the one and only Cheryl Rossi. This event will take place on Monday March 30th 2026 at 7PM at DCTRL, 436 W Pender St, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 49.283269°N 123.112796°W. 🐝➡️or🐝🟥 Please DM us directly for accessibility information regarding our venue.

Open Mic Night SEASON FINALE ‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️Season 3 Episode 9 🎬 🎭🎤🩵 We are excited to announce that this week’s feature will be Kevin Spenst!!!! 🤩 @kevin_spenst THIS IS THE LAST OPEN MIC NIGHT EVER TO HAPPEN AT DCTRL’S PENDER STREET LOCATION‼️‼️‼️‼️ ALERT ALERT 🚨 🚨 THE ENTIRE BUILDING IS BEING TORN TO THE GROUND 🚨🚨 LAST CHANCE EVER IN THIS UNIVERSE TO ENJOY A FUN EVENING OF PERFORMANCE ART AT DCTRL’S PENDER STREET LOCATION… However Open Mic Night is not going away!!!! We will have 2 interim shows at Historic Joy Kogawa House on April 13th and 20th respectively, and hopefully we will find a new equally fun location for season 4 sooner rather than later! 🎤🎭🩵 Kevin Spenst is the author of four books of poetry, 19 chapbooks and the forthcoming non-fiction collection Stanley Park Manor: a Collective History. 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 where he cohabitates with the one and only Cheryl Rossi. This event will take place on Monday March 30th 2026 at 7PM at DCTRL, 436 W Pender St, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 49.283269°N 123.112796°W. 🐝➡️or🐝🟥 Please DM us directly for accessibility information regarding our venue.

Open Mic Night Season 3 Episode 8 🎬 🎭🎤🩵 We are excited to announce that this week’s feature will be Oliver New of Stuck Productions!!!! 🤩 @stuck_productions Oliver New is an inventor, magician, stuntman, clown, prop poet, and duteous mortal servant to the homemade enterprise “Stuck Productions”. He is currently promoting his latest chapbook “THE SCOTCH TAPE AND LINED PAPER METHOD” with a series of performances showcasing a desk that he left a sandwich in years ago, which has now developed sentience and begun to dictate his every word. This event will take place on Monday March 23rd 2026 at 7PM at DCTRL, 436 W Pender St, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 49.283269°N 123.112796°W. 🐝➡️or🐝🟥 Please DM us directly for accessibility information regarding our venue.

Open Mic Night Season 3 Episode 7 🎬 🎭🎤🩵 We are excited to announce that this week’s feature will be Marlo Browne!!!! 🤩 @theyoungandgifted24 Marlo Browne is a Barbadian award-winning poet, spoken word artist, host, film-maker and author of 5 poetry books who currently lives in Langley, BC. This event will take place on Monday March 16th 2026 at 7PM at DCTRL, 436 W Pender St, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 49.283269°N 123.112796°W. 🐝➡️or🐝🟥 Please DM us directly for accessibility information regarding our venue.

Open Mic Night Season 3 Episode 6 🎬 🎭🎤🩵 We are excited to announce that March 9th feature will be Ace Fable!!!! 🤩 @ace.fable Ace Fable Local Queer BIPOC Artist Join a night of intimate contemplation, where rage meets compassion, and unrest seeks mediation. This event will take place on Monday March 9th 2026 at 7PM at DCTRL, 436 W Pender St, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 49.283269°N 123.112796°W. 🐝➡️or🐝🟥 Please DM us directly for accessibility information regarding our venue.

SAVE THE DATE! Open Mic Night Season 3 Episode 6 🎬 🎭🎤🩵 We are excited to announce that March 9th feature will be Ace Fable!!!! 🤩 @ace.fable Ace Fable Local Queer BIPOC Artist Join a night of intimate contemplation, where rage meets compassion, and unrest seeks mediation. This event will take place on Monday March 9th 2026 at 7PM at DCTRL, 436 W Pender St, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 49.283269°N 123.112796°W. 🐝➡️or🐝🟥 Please DM us directly for accessibility information regarding our venue.

Open Mic Night Season 3 Episode 5 🎬 🎭🎤🩵 We are excited to announce that this week’s feature will be Becoming Christopher!!!! 🤩 @becoming_christopher Christopher tells stories of returning home from wars with himself. He forgot his next line at the Canadian Individual Poetry Slam three years in a row. He likes facilitating groups where people reveal parts of themselves and resonate with each other. He believes vitality is abundant in connection and scarce in isolation. He leads with his own masculinity. Through softness, courage, and humility. His goal as a poet is to listen. This event will take place on Monday February 23rd 2026 at 7PM at DCTRL, 436 W Pender St, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 49.283269°N 123.112796°W. 🐝➡️or🐝🟥 Please DM us directly for accessibility information regarding our venue.

Open Mic Night Season 3 Episode 4 🎬 🎭🎤🩵 We are excited to announce that this week’s feature will be Dani!!!! 🤩 @not_baphomet Dani (She/they) is a Queer, disabled, culture worker and doula. Dani lives in Vancouver, on the unceeded homelands of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. A third generation settler, her poetry explores themes of transition, transformation and transgression. Deeply rooted in place and in history, Dani’s poetry attempts to bridge the gap between individual experience and collective purpose. This event will take place on Monday February 16th 2026 at 7PM at DCTRL, 436 W Pender St, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 49.283269°N 123.112796°W. 🐝➡️or🐝🟥 Please DM us directly for accessibility information regarding our venue.

Open Mic Night Season 3 Episode 3 🎬 🎭🎤🩵 We are excited to announce that this week’s feature will be Trina Loreen Ferguson!!!! 🤩 @trinaloreen Trina Loreen Ferguson is a spontaneous writer at play. She is famous for being the only famous woman who doesnt know how famous she is. Whether journaling thoughts, writing poetry, crafting song lyrics, or short essays, she is constantly jotting down jokes, antidotes and philosophies on life while an ongoing memoir is in need of polishing and publishing. She was published in Common Ground magazine after winning Storyslam and later published in Quills magazine.  This event will take place on Monday February 9th 2026 at 7PM at DCTRL, 436 W Pender St, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 49.283269°N 123.112796°W. 🐝➡️or🐝🟥 Please DM us directly for accessibility information regarding our venue.

Ready for Sunday!?