Indian Summer Festival 2025 in Vancouver

Celebrating South Asian Creativity, Community & Cultural Dialogue

📅 Dates: July 4–13, 2025
📍 Locations: Multiple venues across Vancouver & Surrey
🎟 Admission: Varies by event | Many events are free or by donation
🔗 Visit Official Festival Website

Indian Summer Festival (ISF) 2025 returns with a powerful theme: "Borderless Solidarities: Storytelling in Ruptured Times." This one-of-a-kind arts and ideas festival in Vancouver invites you into a vibrant celebration of South Asian creativity, engaging audiences through provocative performances, immersive installations, music, dance, visual art, thought-provoking conversations, and more.

🌟 Festival Highlights

🎭 Opening Night: Borderless Solidarities (July 4)
📍 Waterfront Theatre | 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM
An evening of storytelling featuring Minelle Mahtani, Adel Iskandar, Baljit Sangra, and Nermin Gogalic—exploring how new narratives emerge during times of rupture.

🎧 Indian Summer Sounds (July 10)
📍 šxʷƛ̓exən Xwtl’a7shn | 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
A genre-defying evening of live music under the open sky with Sejal Lal, Jody Okabe, Ruby Singh’s kraKIN, and Surya Brass Band.

🎤 A Raucous Evening with Kiran Deol (July 8)
📍 Vancouver Playhouse | 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Unfiltered comedy from Emmy-nominated actor, comedian, and writer Kiran Deol.

🎨 Immersive Installations

• Tell Me (July 5–12 at Granville Island Fishbowl): An interactive audio installation of shared secrets and anonymous confessions.

• Dyeing & Dying (July 5–13 at Ocean Artworks Pavilion): An artistic meditation on death, memory, and community healing.

💬 Tiffin Talks (July 6)
📍 Ocean Artworks Pavilion
Three curated conversations—each followed by a shared Indian-style tiffin lunch—exploring themes of healing, identity, and creativity in intimate settings.

🎶 Horizons: Music & Poetry (July 10)
📍 Vancouver Playhouse | 7:30 PM – 10:30 PM
A transcendent gathering of award-winning artists like Vivek Shraya, Kimmortal, and Brandon Wint, blending music, poetry, and spoken word.

🎼 Alam Khan In Concert (July 12)
📍 Surrey Arts Centre | 7:30 PM – 9:30 PM
Experience the soulful melodies of world-renowned sarod maestro Alam Khan, joined by tabla virtuoso Eman Hashimi.

📖 Artist Roundtables, Panel Talks, & Workshops
Throughout the festival, engage in open dialogue with artists and thinkers addressing resilience, activism, identity, and healing through art.

🎉 Rishta: Punjabi Market Celebration (July 13)
📍 Main Street & 50th Ave | 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Close the festival with a community gathering filled with music, poetry, and collective memory at Vancouver’s historic Punjabi Market.

Why You Should Attend

Indian Summer Festival is more than just a celebration of South Asian culture—it’s a powerful platform for inclusivity, intercultural connection, and radical artistic expression. With a strong focus on dialogue, justice, and joy, ISF 2025 invites everyone—South Asian and beyond—to participate in a truly borderless cultural experience.

🚌 Tip: Many venues are transit-accessible. Early arrival is recommended for free or limited-capacity events.

🔗 Discover more upcoming Vancouver events at Vancouver Page – Discover Local Events.