photo by @altered_ego

Upcoming Holiday Hours
Visit the museum this holiday season!

Seasons Greetings and Happy Holidays from all of us at Museum of Vancouver! We wish you the best this season and look forward to a New Year coming soon.⁠
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Christmas Eve (Fri, Dec 24): OPEN 10am - 3pm⁠
Christmas Day (Sat, Dec 25): CLOSED⁠
Boxing Day (Sun, Dec 26): OPEN

New Years Eve (Fri, Dec 31): OPEN 10am - 3pm⁠
New Years Day (Sat, Jan 1): OPEN*

*All other dates not specified MOV is open 10am to 5pm
Holiday Gift Ideas
MOV's new online gift shop!

Whether it's collection-inspired greeting cards, official exhibition catalogues, or gift admissions to the museum, MOV has your holiday gifting covered with a variety of products and gifts now available on our online shop this holiday season.

Explore our new online shop today!
Food Drive Tuesdays at MOV (December 14, 21 and 28, 2021)
Bring a non-perishable or donate to the Food Bank to receive free admission!

Winter is one of the busiest times of the year for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. As the weather gets colder, the line ups outside the distribution sites, however, do not get shorter. 

Every Tuesday (and running until the end of the year), MOV will be collecting donations on behalf of the Greater Vancouver Food Bank and offering free admission to those that donate! Food Drive Tuesdays will be held on the following dates:

Tuesday December 14, 2021
Tuesday December 21, 2021
Tuesday December 28, 2021

Bring in your donations and receive complimentary admission to MOV. Monetary donations will also be accepted via cash or debit/credit.
How to Dye with Fungi and Lichens Workshop
Saturday January 15, 2022

This hands-on workshop will be taught by a traditional Musqueam Coast Salish artist as well as an ecologist as they cover the many facets of our natural world through fibre. They will cover how to identify, process and dye with a wide range of different mushrooms and lichens from our forests. Your dye colour pallet will grow exponentially as we explore and celebrate the rich networks under our feet.

Date: Saturday, January 15, 2022
Time: 10:00am to 2:30pm
Cost: $155 General Admission, $145 MOV Members, $125 Indigenous peoples*
Boarder X
On view!

The highly anticipated travelling exhibition Boarder X is now on view at MOV!⁠ Originally exhibited at Winnipeg Art Gallery in 2016, the travelling exhibition curated by Jaimie Isaac reveals skateboarding, snowboarding, and surfing as vehicles that challenge conformity and status quo.⁠

“Boarder X has created a space for active engagement through art, culture, and boarding in venues on a coast to coast tour across Turtle Island. The interdisciplinary art produced embodies how the artists relate to the environment and cultural landscapes. Working with local skateboarding, youth and art communities, the artists and Vans as a sponsor has been an amazing experience.” Jaimie Isaac, Chief Curator of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria and curator of Boarder X (pictured below with Aliya Boubard below)
Skate for Change
On view!

A new micro-exhibition featuring photography by Tristan Henry and Norma Ibarra.

The project is named after an event that happened last Emancipation Day, Indigenous People’s Day, and Go Skateboarding Day weekend (June 19th to 21st). Nations Skate Youth, Takeover Skateboarding, and I Dream Library came together to create a safe space for LGBTQIA2S and BIPOC youth at Trout Lake. We thought it was a great name for a space that will be used for workshops in the upcoming year.
This montage, which is featured in the Skate for Change micro-exhibition, was created by Norma Ibarra. It highlights skaters Taylor Lee, Rosie Archie, Nora Stakaya Pape, Jaime-Lynn Cook, and Jade Tahnibaa (Spotted Eagle).

Funding for the short was generously provided by the Canada Council for the Arts.
That Which Sustains Us
On view!

That Which Sustains Us is a long-term exhibition that explores the convergence of different knowledge traditions in the Vancouver area through an examination of people’s interactions with forests and their natural environment. It does so by showcasing traditional ecological knowledge related to forests; consequences of the deforestation and urbanization of Vancouver; and the possibility of returning to sustainable land-use practices in the Greater Vancouver area. The thread that connects these narratives is the idea that culture ultimately shapes how people choose to interact with the natural world.

Pictured: Spear & Jackson circular saw blade, c. 1970
photo by @laframbuesaa
Neon Vancouver, Ugly Vancouver
On view!

In the 1950s Vancouver had approximately 19,000 neon signs – more than Las Vegas! While some thought that thousands of signs signaled excitement and big city living, others thought they were a tawdry display that disfigured the city’s natural beauty. This deep civic controversy resulted in a turning point in Vancouver’s history and a change to the city’s urban landscape.

Enjoy the big city lights of Vancouver and catch a glimpse of the city from the 1950s through to the 1970s with this extraordinary collection of neon signs.
photo by @casual_jh
A Seat at the Table: Chinese Immigration and British Columbia
On view!

The Museum of Vancouver and the University of British Columbia proudly present A Seat at the Table: Chinese Immigration and British Columbia. This exhibition explores historical and contemporary stories of Chinese Canadians in BC and their struggles for belonging. It looks to food and restaurant culture as an entry point to feature stories that reveal the great diversity of immigrant experience and of the communities immigrants develop.
Sister exhibition at the Chinese Canadian Museum of BC on view at the Hon Hsing Building in Vancouver Chinatown, 27 E Pender Street! Learn More.
Neon Restoration at MOV
The Aristocratic Neon Sign (H2006.55.47)

Let there be light! The iconic Aristocratic neon Sign (c. 1940) has been relit for the first time in decades.⁠
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The Aristocratic was Vancouver's premier restaurant chain from the 1930s to the 1960s with up to a dozen locations. This sign, from the Broadway and Granville location (now the home of Indigo) features "Risty" a dapper little man in top hat and bow tie.⁠
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You will soon be able to view the sign in the city again as it moves to its new home at the upcoming POST development. Through an exciting project done in partnership with Quadreal Property Group and Joseph Richard Group, the POST will be home to 20 of Vancouver's well known neon signs.
Indigenizing The Museum of Vancouver
The Source

The Museum of Vancouver (MOV) is one of the country’s largest and oldest civic history museums, with a long history dating back to the late nineteenth century.
Today if one visits the museum, the very first thing one would encounter is a strong Indigenous presence according to University of British Columbia (UBC) anthropology professor Bruce Granville Miller who is also a museum board member and chairs the collections committee. From the large Squamish culture map to the ancestral canoe, MOV has taken on an institutionalized Indigenous identity.

“Back in 1904, some of the collections were just Vancouver people going somewhere and bringing something back. That kind of collecting is not what we wish to do now,” says Miller. One of the major themes for the museum is diversity and we have a special interest in collecting Indigenous items
Kitmas: Get festive with West 4th this holiday season
December 11 and 12, 2021

Explore a family fun event: KITSMAS TIME on YEW, taking place on Saturday December 11th from 12pm - 8pm and Sunday December 12th from 12pm - 6pm on Yew Street at West 4th Avenue. Live music, a Gifting Tree, Gift wrapping, the Jingle Bar, a Tree farm and much more!

FREE Entry and all ages are welcome, first 100 attendees daily will receive a holiday face covering from kuverUP.
Sho S Weirdos Holiday Market
December 11 + 12, 2021 - 1739 Venables Street

The Weirdos Holiday Market returns!

Shop hand-picked artists create gifts that range from the magical to the mysterious. From the creepy to curious. For those looking to fulfill the quirkiest needs on their holiday shopping lists! 'Tis their Christmas wish to celebrate Weirdos, the love of collecting, the skill of up-cycling, and the thrill of finding the perfect gift…

A portion of the door proceeds will be donated to Urban Native Youth Association
Sho Sho Esquiro: Doctrine of Discovery Exhibition Catalogue - Pre Order
December 16, 2021, 5 PM PST

Join Sho Sho Esquiro, Miranda Belarde-Lewis, and Beth Carter for the online launch of a new publication to accompany Doctrine of Discovery, Esquiro's first solo exhibition in Canada.

Sho Sho Esquiro: Doctrine of Discovery features meticulously crafted couture gowns, textiles, and paintings by award-winning artist and activist Sho Sho Belelige Esquiro (Kaska Dena/Cree/Scottish). Esquiro's creative vision celebrates the beauty, strength and resilience of First Nations communities in the face of historical and ongoing trauma.
We acknowledge that MOV is located within the unceded, ancestral territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.