Ever-younger audiences turn out for artful fare at Children’s Festival

The term kids’ entertainment too often brings to mind cartoon merchandising, patronizing educational TV shows, or theme-park chorus lines with furry animal costumes. And that’s why the Vancouver International Children’s Festival—which will celebrate its 40th birthday when it runs from Monday (May 29) to June 4 on Granville Island— may be as special for what it’s not offering kids as much as for what it is.

“We believe that kids deserve great art in their lives; our role is really to provide great art for babies up to 13-year-olds,” says artistic and executive director Katharine Carol, over the phone from her office.

One of the many wonders Carol has witnessed over her time at the fest is the ever-expanding richness of those stage shows for babies and toddlers—a trend reflected in the ever-younger audience members turning out for the fest, with the three-to-seven-year-old bracket now making up half. Carol says the trend started more than 10 years ago in Europe, and such work is now evolving and diversifying around the globe. “Artists were recognizing parents wanted to do something with their under-twos where if they cry or they’re moving around, it’s okay.

“What sometimes has happened with work for children in the past is that children have been treated as though they can’t quite grasp it or won’t understand,” Carol adds. “But over the past 10 or 20 years, artists have realized that’s ridiculous. Artists today produce beautiful work for kids.”

This year, the approach means everyone from babies to three-year-olds can see Pulse, a show by Mexico’s Teatro al Vacio. “There’s basically no language in the show, and they’re moving wooden blocks around the space,” Carol explains. “They make things and climb on things they’ve built and then invite babies into the space.”

Elsewhere, kids about three to seven years old will love Grug and the Rainbow, a puppet show with a whimsical mossy set from the land Down Under. In the same fantastical realm, look for A Heart in Winter

(Le Coeur en Hiver), Théâtre de l’oeil’s visually fantastical reinterpretation of Hans Christian Andersen’s tale The Snow Queen. “It has a massive set with a rotating stage, actors, and puppets,” Carol enthuses.

Part of the key to bringing in this topflight kids’ theatre is having proper venues like Performance Works and the Waterfront, which the kids’ fest has been using on Granville Island since moving there from Vanier Park in 2011. The location meets the technical needs of shows that just can’t be performed in a tent.

“Last year at the festival we felt, through our feedback, as though the audience we have now has really embraced Granville Island, and that we had a huge new audience,” Carol says. In other words, families know where to find the fest next week—and will know just how the folks there define “kids’ entertainment”.