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For more than two decades, Push International Performing Arts Festival has been the Lower Mainland’s signature, mid-winter cultural event delivering audacious, innovative, contemporary works of live art by acclaimed local, national and international artists. This year’s festival, returning to Vancouver in the New Year from Jan. 23 to Feb. 9, features dynamic and radical genre-bending works in dance, theatre, multimedia and music at venues across the city.
PuSh 20 features 20 original performance-based productions, five animated parties and cabaret-style events, two film events and two artist residencies — one of which will culminate in an open studio showing by international guest artists.
“Be transported from the brutalist landscape and inherited mythologies of Bogota, to the astro-glam extravaganza of a dune wars kiki ball, to the 8-kilometre passage between Güzelçamliand Samos, to the neon luminescence of an imagined Saigon nightscape, and beyond,” says PuSh’s artistic director Gabrielle Martin, who has curated and co-curated the past four festivals.
The festival lineup is dedicated to inspired risk-taking and dynamic interdisciplinary collaboration with visionary works from 13 countries — including three world premieres and eight Canadian debuts. In addition to a strong Canadian presence with 13 presentations, PuSh’s 2025 international projects include works by artists of Belgium, South Korea, Brazil, the U.K., Uruguay, France, Denmark, Italy, Taiwan, the U.S., Sweden and the Democratic Republic of Congo. PuSh’s commitment to diversity continues with 16 shows created by people of colour; 13 by female or non-binary artists; and 9 by LGBTQ2S+ artists.
“These are performances and immersive experiences that shift our paradigms for creative expression and how we relate to one another,” says Martin.
“They underscore live performance as a sanctuary of authenticity in an age that risks losing touch with the real. They invite us into the wilds of untethered imaginations and the liberatory spaces of play.”
PuSh Passes, Dance and Theatre Trio Packages, and single show tickets are now on sale. One lucky reader will win a pair of tickets to their choice of show, plus a $75 Modo gift certificate to get around during the festival. Enter to win below.
About PuSh Festival
PuSh Festival envisions a society fully engaged in empathy and the arts and activated by a festival that expands our sense of the world.
The festival creates new possibilities for artistic expression and how we relate to one another. We present a performing arts festival that challenges our assumptions, facilitates deeper understanding, inspires the imagination, and fosters meaningful connections. ![[Tyee]](/design-article.thetyee.ca/ui/img/yellowblob.png){kind=small}
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