Parade of Lost Souls Fundraiser - Let's make this happen, Vancouver

The Parade of Lost Souls is a Halloween tradition in Vancouver, just like firecrackers and haunted houses – and the organizers need our help to ensure the parade goes on. They’ve set a goal for $30,000, which is not a lot of money if you think about 30,000 people contributing $1 to the cause.

Here is a link to the Parade of Lost Souls Indiegogo campaign.

Donate if you can. If not, share this with a friend – perhaps they’ll be interested.

Information from their campaign page:

The Parade of Lost Souls is one of Vancouver’s most beloved fall events. Over the last two decades, the parade has been both refuge and release, community and collective for thousands of lost souls. Participants of the Parade of Lost Souls gather to redefine our ideas of community engagement, collective celebration, and to celebrate the cycles of life and death. The festival’s true popularity lies in its ability to inspire and accentuate the creativity of those who attend. This festival is proof that we have not lost our link to the richness and depth of the ritual celebrations of our ancestors.

Death to Isolation!

As the seasons change, it’s important to remember and rejoice that we are still a unified community. The Parade presents us with an opportunity to make, to share, to connect and to celebrate one another. We truly believe that Vancouver wants to engage in large-scale celebrations, and that we deliver our work to an appreciative public. Join us in laying to rest feelings of isolation! We revel in the creative spirits that surround us, and want to support our city. Let’s pull together to make this a festival truly by, of, and for, the people who attend it.

The Present and Future of The Parade of Lost Souls

Vancouver is thirsty for this type of community engagement–the Parade’s longstanding reputation is proof of this. Unfortunately, the reality of our hard costs, including increased security, permits, and rentals, can be cost prohibitive. Furthermore, securing funding and grants for these events can be a fickle mistress–we start every year with the assumption that The Parade of Lost Souls is operating from a budget of nothing. And while we are always hard at work submitting grant and funding proposals, we want to change this!

In past years, the parade has cost between $20,000 to $50,000 to stage. This year, we are hoping to raise $30,000 to help support the event. This will cover those super-unexciting-but-necessary hard costs. It will provide us with opportunities to support the artists and performers that donate the time, energy, materials and labour to make this event happen. We have assembled an incredible team of designers, makers, and producers to conceptualize and build first-rate, immersive infrastructure for the parade. And most importantly, we want to continue to provide these opportunities to our community in the future. Your contribution makes a huge difference, assisting not only with the production of an amazing event in 2014, but to the sustained, future longevity of The Parade of Lost Souls.

Activating Our Community

Produced, created and staged by a team of energetic volunteers, The Parade is our gift to our community, founded on principles of active participation. Our mandate is to continue to help the evolution of this festival through direct engagement with our community: for us, that means both the artists that we work with, and the people who attend the festival. We offer creative opportunities that both support our artists and also help the community to access their work.

We aim to inspire the performer and maker that exists in all of us: workshops leading up to the parade include lessons in dance, music, and making, and are open-source, volunteer-run, and heavily subsidized. We believe that participants of all ages and abilities have the very best experience when they are actively engaged, and we aim to blur the line between spectacle and spectator. The final celebration, The Parade of Lost Souls, celebrates this process of making, artistic interaction, and the spectacle of community engagements though a processional route packed full of unforgettable art, installation, and performance.

Behind Our Masks

This year’s Parade is produced once again by East Vancouver’s beloved Dusty Flowerpot Cabaret. We are a registered non-profit organization of professional artists based in East Vancouver, and have been producing the event since 2010, first . We create, perform and engage our community through theatrical productions of home spun tales within elaborate worlds of found objects and bygone aesthetics, hosting journeys of re-discovery of old treasures and stories well known to our hearts. Our crew are many—storytellers, dancers, producers, multi-media artists, puppeteers, musicians, painters and makers of all kinds—and our extended community is enormous. We are dedicated to the creation and presentation of multidisciplinary arts events with a focus on community engagement and artistic excellence, just as we are dedicated and committed to supporting Vancouver’s creative scene.

The Spirit of Giving

By contributing entry donation in advance, you are making making your physical entry into the parade a little easier, and you are ensuring that we can deliver a better event!

In the sprit of community involvement, all of our perks are built around getting the warm bodies of our donors out to play! We are so grateful for your contributions, even if you can’t attend. But for those that just can’t wait to get started, we want to make the experience even sweeter for you. This year’s theme centres heavily around masquerade, and our perks are designed to enhance your parade experience, including entrance passes and after party tickets, but also masks and costumes, and signature VIP cocktails for your soul’s eternal pleasure!

And, as always, if you want to contribute in other ways, your energy is a welcome resource. Make some noise about this campaign, and share our page! Volunteer for the Event! Build something! Make a costume! We are always looking for energetic and like-minded participants to contribute to this production.

So, let’s get lost together!

Funding issues are nothing new in a city that lacks the necessary head offices. Corporations simply don’t want to or have limited funds to commit to the plethora of organizations that require funds to give back to the community. We, here at Vancity Buzz, know all about the challenges as we fell $100,000 short in raising funds for the New Year’s Eve celebration – a celebration that should happen, especially if we’re a “world class city.”

Featured Image: Terry David Silvercloud