By Elke Porter | WBN News Vancouver | January 18, 2026
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The PuSh International Performing Arts Festival transforms Vancouver each January into a vibrant hub of groundbreaking performance art. For over two decades, this mid-winter cultural event has presented curated, multidisciplinary works that embrace creative risk and challenge audiences to expand their worldview.

Founded in 2003 by Norman Armour and Katrina Dunn, PuSh was born from a vision to connect Vancouver artists with national and international creative communities. The founders recognized the potential for dynamic interplay between diverse disciplines, venues, and audiences, creating opportunities that would elevate the city's cultural landscape.

Today, PuSh operates on unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, working to build reciprocal relationships with Host Nations and Indigenous urban communities. The Festival's mission centers on creating new possibilities for artistic expression and human connection through performances that challenge assumptions and foster deeper understanding.

What sets PuSh apart is its commitment to accessibility as equity design and its emphasis on culturally urgent work. The Festival doesn't just present performances—it cultivates artistic kinship through the PuSh Industry Series, bringing together over 240 visionary artists and arts workers for professional development, curatorial research, and meaningful dialogue.

This year's program includes "skin," featuring Renee Shadler traveling from Berlin, Germany to participate—exemplifying PuSh's international scope and dedication to intercultural exchange. The Festival's values of innovation, experimentation, and social justice guide programming that amplifies marginalized voices and uses the power of live art to accelerate social change.

Through transformative audience experiences, from massive public dance projects like Le Grand Continental® to intimate encounters like the Human Library, PuSh envisions a society fully engaged in empathy and the arts. It's where creative risk meets cultural urgency, where assumptions are challenged, and where Vancouver's winter becomes a season of artistic possibility and human connection.

Elke Porter at:
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TAGS: #PuSH Festival #Vancouver Arts #Performing Arts #Live Arts #Contemporary Performance #Cultural Urgency #WBN News Vancouver #Elke Porter

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