By Angela Lee

Dark alleys. Unsavoury characters. What images come to mind when you think of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside?

Larry Hunter wants you to see the area with fresh eyes.

Hunter’s been a resident of the DTES since the seventies. He points out that the area between Cambie and Clark streets known in the old days as Skid Road is actually home to a vibrant and close-knit mix of people and cultures.

Three years ago, Hunter mobilized dozens of his fellow performance artists to celebrate all that was positive about his community.

This year, the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival boasts over 12 days of performances—many of them free of charge or by donation—by over 200 artists who thrive in the heart of the city, with a spotlight on Asian Canadian artists.

Qiu Xia He, a pipa (Chinese lute) player, is one of those artists. “Lots of festivals go to Kitsilano or English Bay, but few come here,” she says. With husband Andre Thibault on flamenco guitar, flute and percussion and Rong Jun of  Beijing on the erhu (Chinese guitar), the trio, under the name Silk Road, will be performing a mix of original, western and Chinese pieces at the Dr Sun Yat-Sen Garden on Saturday at 3pm.

For those whose tastes run to the edgy and provocative, the Grand Slam Evening of Performance Art + Hip Hop at Gallery Gachet in Gastown will feature Filipino performance art by Mideo Cruz and Raquel De Loyola, African spoken-word poetry and hip-hop and Chinese-culture infused IDM electronica by DJ Jeet-Kei the Mazeguider. Also on Saturday, from 8pm to 1am.

The rich and colourful history of the DTES will be brought to life by local historians Chuck Davis and John Atkins in Pantages and the Neighbourhood: A Tour in Three Parts, one of a series of walking tours the festival offers.

The tour begins at the Pantages Theatre, the West Coast’s last remaining vaudeville theatre, winds through the streets of old Chinatown and Japantown and finishes back at the theatre for a special presentation by the Vancouver Cantonese Opera.

“The festival gives us a chance to change outside perceptions of our community,” says Hunter. “To address important issues and move toward a vision of the future that we want for ourselves.”

Until Nov 4. Info: www.heartofthecityfestival.com.