One of everyone’s favourite artistic events is ready and ramped up to take the city by storm starting later this week. We’re talking about the 18th annual The Eastside Culture Crawl, which is set to be the biggest one yet and definitely worth adding to your agenda.

Set to kick off on November 20 through 23, this four-day art spectacular is packed with local talent and definitely worth mapping into your plans. The Eastside Culture Crawl is a visual arts, design, and crafts festival. This event involves more than 20,000 people visiting artists in their studios in the area bounded by Main Street and Victoria Drive north of First Avenue in Vancouver.

This year, we think it’ll pay to do a bit of pre-planning given that there’s a record number of nearly-400 artists participating in the crawl. You’ll want to strategize in advance and not miss out on this roving art tour that involves painters, jewelers, sculptors, furniture makers, weavers, potters, printmakers, photographers, glassblowers — from emerging to internationally-established artists.

Basically, the crawl is an open invitation for all of us to get a sneak peek into artists’ studios, providing the perfect opportunity for individuals to enhance their understanding of visual arts while learning more about the diverse abundance of talent within our city.

To help you plan your artistic trek throughout the city, the organizers have designed a handy map to guide you around the 70-odd buildings and studios that you can find by clicking here.

To kick off this year’s culture crawl on the early side (and perfect for anyone who won’t be around for the weekend festivities), be sure to check out one of a handful of installations, preview exhibits, film screenings, and other events already launched to whet your appetite.

Learning To Crawl – New Artists at the Crawl: Firehall Arts Centre, November 5 to December 1:
A juried exhibition and preview showcasing the work of artists who are new to the Eastside Culture Crawl.

Catch a screening of Herb & Dorothy on November 18 at the Mergatroid Building, 975 Vernon Drive (entrance on Parker).

Don’t miss Moving Art – Outside Projections (November 20-21, from 6-10pm; November 22-23, 4-6pm) featuring six evocative contemporary silent films that will be projected on an outside wall during the Eastside Culture Crawl.

And plan on checking out Pieced Together: The Cultch – a juried exhibition and preview that explores artists’ interpretations of what collage and assemblage means from a contemporary perspective (on now until December 7).