Let’s Talk Access

VICTORIA, WE NEED YOUR EARS.

Well.

Technically, we have the ears.

They’re enormous.

What we need is what goes inside them.

This August, giant illustrated ears are popping up across Victoria — from James Bay to Esquimalt to Fernwood and beyond — and they’re going to be carrying voices from all over our city.

Artists. Business owners. Performers. Practitioners. Neighbours. People with something worth saying.

About mental health.
About access.
About what we’ve learned.
About what we really wish somebody had told us sooner.

It’s called Ears to the Ground.

And yes.

They really are giant ears.

👂 August 22–September 13
📍 Across Victoria
🎧 A Let’s Talk Access public art + audio installation

Keep your ears open.

Some people donate money.

Some people donate time.

Some people spend months dreaming up an entire world, then invite everyone else into it so something good can grow.

That’s what GWiz has been doing.

From sitting on our advisory circle, to donating performances, to creating artwork for our fundraisers, they’ve been quietly helping us build Let’s Talk Access from the ground up. Now they’re taking an even bigger leap.

ctsetéws stsyex — “Clothes You Wear at Midnight” is GWiz’s debut fashion show: a one-night exhibition of Indigenous streetwear, art, storytelling, and a silent auction, with proceeds helping support community work. Doors open at 6 PM, the runway begins at 7 PM, followed by the auction. It’s an 18+ sober event at the VNFC Friendship Hall. Tickets in GWiz Bio 💗

We talk a lot about community care.

This is what it looks like.

Artists making beautiful things because beauty can move people. People showing up because culture deserves to be funded. Fashion becoming something much bigger than clothes.

If you’ve supported us over the past year, we’d love for you to help us show up for someone who’s been showing up for everyone else.

Congratulations, GWiz.

We can’t wait to see what walks down that runway. Photo credit: Anna Manana Photography

Victoria performers,

This one’s for you.

Over the past year we’ve watched performers across this city do something remarkable. Burlesque artists. Musicians. Drag performers. Dancers. Storytellers. Circus folk. Weird little goblins. Beautiful weirdos.

When organizations lost grants, when services needed funding, when community groups were trying to keep programs alive, you showed up.

You donated numbers. Donated sets. Donated evenings. Donated ticket revenue. Donated your time, your energy, your costumes, your bodies, your art.

Not just for Let’s Talk Access.

For causes all across this city.

You helped raise money. You helped raise spirits. And sometimes, honestly, you helped people keep going.

So we’d like to say thank you.

On June 23, drop by Paul Phillips Hall (1921/1923 Fernwood Road) anytime between 6–8 PM for a city-wide performer appreciation gathering.

Thanks to Lush Cosmetics, we’ll have thank-you swag waiting for performers and volunteers as a small token of appreciation for all the ways you’ve shown up for this community.

No catch. No fundraising ask. No performance required.

Just come by, say hello, grab some goodies, and let us celebrate the people who keep making Victoria a little brighter, stranger, kinder, and more alive.

Because communities don’t run on grants alone.

They run on people willing to step onto a stage and help.

💜 June 23
💜 6–8 PM
💜 Paul Phillips Hall, 1921/1923 Fernwood Road

See you there.

Did you know you could catch our girl at the Strawberry Market today in Fernwood? Better hurry - she’s doing select markets this summer so if you’ve been eyeing a teatowel grab em before you miss out! For Beltane Sheena made a tryptich - an Irish, Scottish, and manx doorway into Beltane. Prints were Available for every guest, a huge donation of good will and support for these grassroots efforts in raising funding to create mental health literacy resources 💗 We are so grateful.

Captured by .manana.photography - spring into summer for mental health 💗🌸 Dreamy moments through the veil this Beltane transition season ☀️🌽

Captured by .manana.photography This evening still feels like a dream. Different faces behind the event, community, and public resource build.

.manana.photography Capturing spring sun and rain with .dreams.of.burlesque for the Beltane ball 💗 so much whimsy