Connect, learn, moved and feel inspired with these online happenings.
COVID-19 has pushed us away from one another, physically, but on other levels, people are going to remarkable lengths to connect in exciting ways.
This is a list of a bunch of those ways. It is a living document; I’ll be updating it on the regular – latest update: April 1. (All times below are in Pacific time zone (PDT) unless otherwise stated.)
* Editor’s note: I’ve remove any site or service that asks you to input a credit card – even if it’s free – because that’s bullshit. If you catch anything below that asks for that, message me and I’ll remove it. Thanks *
Know of any events that deserve to be here? Your suggestions are welcome and appreciated! Hit me up in the comment section!
Nothing like this has ever occurred on earth before. Let’s tune in together. It’s time to fall in love with life again.
Watch
Stop scrolling through Netflix’s mediocre choices! Here’s where it’s at:
Date-specific
Everyday until March 31 April 5
Extended for one more week! Women Make Movies (WMM) Women’s History Month Virtual Film Festival 2020 – Screening eight films for free: https://www.wmm.com/whm-virtual-film-festival-2020/ (Editor’s note, Mar 25: This page now asks you to sign up for free to get a Festival Access Passcode) (Thank you, Yun-Jou)
April 1-7
Newly added: Live from our living rooms: An online music festival and fundraiser for NYC musicians: https://www.livefromourlivingrooms.com/ (Thank you, Lisa)
Friday morning, April 3 only
Creative Mornings – Virtual event with Marianne Alvarez – April 3, 2020, 8:30am – 10:00am PDT. Register for free: https://creativemornings.com/talks/marianne-alvarez/ (Thank you, Gladys)
April 2-5
Updated: Skoden Indigenous Film Festival is moving their fest online – Mar 27 & 28 April 2-5, 2020 – platform TBA. https://www.facebook.com/skodenfest/
Tuesday, March 31, 6PM – April 13, 11:30PM
Sticky Impulse: Remotely Queer – Online! A selection of video art by Joe Sarahan presented by VIVO Media Arts Centre: https://www.facebook.com/events/138306434287451/
Until the end of April
Ontheboards.tv is offering all their online performance films for free til the end of April with the promo code ARTATHOME20: https://www.ontheboards.tv/ (Thank you, Megan)
Every Saturday, 6-9pm PDT
Park Sound Virtual Concert Series – Music performances live streamed from @parksoundbc’s Instagram https://www.instagram.com/parksoundbc/ Donate to their gofundme https://www.gofundme.com/f/park-sound-virtual-concert-series-328 (Thank you, Silvia)
Watch anytime/ongoing
Every day, 7pm Paris time / 10am Pacific
Newly added: Ah yeah! The much loved Take Away Shows have adapted and become Stay Away Shows (ha)! Broadcasting live every day on La Blogotheque’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blogotheque/
The much beloved NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concerts made the shift to Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts on their YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLy2PCKGkKRVYPm1tBwoX45ocAzuhVyvJX
Social Distancing Festival showcases the work of artists around the world who’s shows have been canceled: https://www.socialdistancingfestival.com/ (Many people recommend)
The Tonight Show – Jimmy Fallon started an “at home edition” where he raises funds for a different cause each night. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peZzbo26fzc&list=PLykzf464sU98lwxyHHBqnqx-r0xtOMLjt
Hong Kong movies. Dropbox packed with HK films https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wqanspxtacladk0/AADWaMaZTLWPsqDqllNUxaV1a (thank you, Nancy)
12 World-Class Museums You Can Visit Online: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/75809/12-world-class-museums-you-can-visit-online
Art21 – a huge inspiration for me, Art21 has been making short films about artists for years and they’re all free on their site: https://art21.org/
45 years of Canadian film and video art at VUCAVU, a site that’s dedicated to getting the work of Canadian filmmakers and video artists be seen by the world: https://vucavu.com/ They will ask you to create an account, but no payment info is required. Update: If you do choose to pay for any non-free content on their site, VUCAVU is paying out 100% of proceeds from their online rentals to artists until April 30th.
60 free film noir movies http://www.openculture.com/free_film_noir_movies
200 documentaries from International Documentary Festival Amsterdam, and they’re all free! https://www.idfa.nl/en/info/watch-films-online
500 virtual tours of museums around the world from Google Arts & Culture: https://artsandculture.google.com/partner (thanks, Masha)
Songkick, whose entire biz is about live concerts, has kindly made a page that links out to the live streams of artists including Big Freedia, Sofi Tukker, Diplo, and many more: https://www.songkick.com/live-stream-concerts
Don’t forget about the National Film Board of Canada, which has been helping filmmakers make the films that won’t necessarily be box office hits but deserve to be made. An incredible collection here: https://www.nfb.ca/
If you are going to watch Netflix, do it with others! Join the Netflix Party: https://www.netflixparty.com/ (thanks, Jessica)
Read
Social isolation falls away when you expand your understanding of the world through the written word.
Date specific
Until the end of March: Purchase a digital copy of Megaphone magazine for as little as $2 CAD. March issue available now; I expect they’ll do the same for April and as long as necessary: https://megaphone.nationbuilder.com/electronic_single_issue
Anytime
Learn about Wuhan in this comic by artist Laura Gao: https://www.lauragao.com/wuhan (thank you, Aman)
Order books! Erin Hanson has made an excellent list of all the local (Vancouver-based) bookstores to purchase from: https://www.facebook.com/61005872/posts/10103126269667931/
Filip released all their back issues of contemporary art criticism journals on line: https://fillip.ca/ (Thank you, Heidi)
Cambridge University Press is making higher education textbooks in HTML format free to access online during the coronavirus outbreak: https://www.cambridge.org/core/what-we-publish/textbooks
Move
It’s super important to keep moving during isolation. Shake off those cobwebs and get your circulation going. A little movement at least once a day will make everything feel better.
Yoga
Every Tuesday, 5:30-6:30pm
Shape Shifter Studio presents yoga with Teresa Prado. By donation: https://www.facebook.com/events/629890871177027/ (Thank you, Char)
Daily yoga
Vancouver’s own Ocean and Crow yoga are live streaming their full schedule of classes (which you can see here: https://oceanandcrow.pike13.com/schedule#/) every day on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/oceanandcrowyoga/
Vancouver’s One Yoga is offering yoga and meditation online classes through their Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/oneyogalions/ (Thank you, Elmira)
Carolyn Anne Budgell is holding spa yoga classes online through her Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carolynannebudgie (Thank you, Elmira)
Practice with Clara – yoga mantra meditation – over 60 classes, 7 days free: https://practice.clararobertsoss.com/ (thank you, Deanna)
Love light yoga has virtual yin yoga classes; they’re around $11-$12 each: http://www.lovelightyoga.com/virtual-yin-studio (Thank you, Heidi)
Workout
Live workout sessions on Formation Studio‘s Instagram. Dance party – Mondays 7:30pm / Crazy in Love by Beyonce routine – Thursdays 7:30pm / Strength and conditioning – Saturdays 9:30am https://www.instagram.com/formationstudio_/channel/ (Thank you, Vivian)
Naomi Joy Fitness has added a 50 minute Full Body Burner: Core, Booty, Cardio video. Free! She uses 2 10-lb weights, I’m sure you can do the workout without those: https://youtu.be/U4bko5KOdNM
Madfit workouts on YouTube. Jessica says Madfit is “really good to get moving in the middle of the day and a lot of them don’t need equipment.” (Ash says: “I just did my first pair of Madfit workouts today (Mar 22) and can testify that they are excellent. No-bullshit, heartrate-raising, sweat-inducing.”) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpQ34afVgk8cRQBjSJ1xuJQ
Carmel Rodriguez posts workouts you can do from home or without equipment (such as using a tree as your pullup bar). She posts to her Instagram and IGTV: https://www.instagram.com/carmelrodriguezfit/ (Thank you, Mirjana!)
You may not have a whole hour to do Mike Chang’s full morning routine, but he’s kindly broken up the sections in the video’s written description, so you can jump to the Energy Flow, Strength and Endurance, Stretching, or Breathing and Meditation as you like: https://youtu.be/-zE0yb5Hot8 (Tara recommended this to me awhile back; I feel it’s particularly useful now that we’re all at home).
Dance
Sundays Mar 29 & Apr 5 & 12, 4-5:30pm
Improv & contemporary floorwork w/ Sarah Formosa. Pay what you can ($15 suggested donation): https://www.facebook.com/events/2768715073236259/?active_tab=discussion (Thank you, Char)
Harbour Dance Centre are offering an online series of dance classes. Their first vid – Sexy Street Intro with Carlo Atienza – is up (as of March 21) on their YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILyeW1by8Fc&list=PLvnEN_SxpI6E5F3r89SGAUYo1Jh60Qboy (Thank you, Rianne!)
Every Tuesday night from 6:30pm PDT, Vancouver’s Savage & Samuelle are offering free hustle dance classes on their IG and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/SavageandSamuelle/videos/ (thank you, Deanna!)
Choreographer for Sia, FKA Twigs, and many more stars, Ryan Heffington is doing workout/aerobics with a fun, Richard Simmons-vibe on his Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryan.heffington/ (Thank you, Hailey and Rianne!)
Dance Church. Don’t know much about this, but if Rianne Švelnis recommends, I trust it’ll be great: https://go.dancechurch.com/
Gaga dance classes. They’re offering 6 classes daily, 7 days a week, from 2 different time zones, by teachers in Tel Aviv and New York City. Classes are open to anyone, from anywhere in the world. They recommend $5 donation per class: https://www.gofundme.com/f/gaga-online-classes (Thank you, Rianne!)
Dancing Alone Together – a central resource of online dance classes and performances https://www.dancingalonetogether.org/ (Thank you, Hailey!)
Mellow
Times are cray. Give yourself time to be grounded, tune in, and mellow out.
Every Wednesday, 8-9:30pm
Group Guided Meditations: Free Zoom Live. https://www.facebook.com/events/296673541297582/ (Thank you, Liza)
Every morning, 8:45am-9:30am (PT)
Mindfulness meditation on Zoom while self-isolation orders are in effect. Led by Anthony Maes. By donation. https://www.anthonymaes.com/classes.html (Thank you, Christina)
Anytime
Calm. Soothing meditations, sleep meditations, calm music, soundscapes, and more: https://www.calm.com/blog/take-a-deep-breath
Listen
Music and voice carry life, healing and good energy in the air and around the world.
Listen to “Roman Mars Describes Things As They Are” https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/roman-mars-describes-things-as-they-are/ then check out the rest of the 99% Invisible, which is “about all the thought that goes into the things we don’t think about.” (Thank you, Rachel. Ash’s note: just listened to this, it’s great! I never knew about window tax or that printers used to ship with fire extinguishers! *shock*)
Listen to Below the Radar for podcasts about environmental and social justice, arts, culture, community-building and urban issues with featured guests: https://soundcloud.com/sfuw-community-engagement (thank you, Rachel and Am)
Actor, writer and comedian Ryan Beil is reading one chapter of Dune every day free of charge: https://soundcloud.com/ryan-beil-30148675 (Thank you, Vinny!)
Podcast: Essential Self-Care During a Pandemic – by Mara Glatzel: https://www.maraglatzel.com/podcast/55/ (Thank you, Christina)
Social Connection Radio – this Facebook group is “dedicated to keeping things fun and funky by doing live broadcasts of some amazing DJs from Southern Ontario and beyond.”
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2444589932520589/
The No Type website has hundreds of hours of free music to stream as well as a web radio you can put on random or curated playlists. Lots of it is Canadian content too: http://www.notype.com/ (thank you, Constantine!)
Endless one hour mixes. I’m compiling a playlist on Soundcloud of my favourite mixes that all clock in at over one hour, so you can choose something that suits your vibe and just let it play, just like the radio station of your dreams. With genres from ambient to upbeat, deep house to drum n bass, I’m sure you’ll find something to suit your mood: https://soundcloud.com/format-no-auto/sets/1-hr-mixes
Laugh
The only way through this madness is to share a lot of hearty laughter.
Courses from now through May, 2020
Blind Tiger Digital Comedy School. Learn improv comedy! Courses are pay only: http://blindtigercomedy.ca/classes
Learn
It’s never a bad idea to create new synapses in your brain.
Every Saturday up to and including April 11, 11am-12pm
Graffiti class with Chris Perez. Pay what you can; suggested $10: https://www.facebook.com/events/3133490143396887/ (Thank you, Char)
Every Tuesday for six weeks starting March 24th, 7-9:45pm
I think we could all use a little magic right now. Join “Into The Mystery: an online course in magical creation” https://www.facebook.com/events/579915832604964/
Anytime
10 university art classes you can take for free online. Study photography, graphic design, the pyramids, and more. Although this list is from 2018, I did a quick check and all 10 classes still seem to be live. https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-10-university-art-classes-free-online (Thank you, Makiko for this suggestion!)
Domestika – “Learn from expert professionals and join the largest online community for creatives.” https://www.domestika.org/ (thanks, Tracey!)
Open Culture invites you to use your time in isolation to learn everything you’ve always wanted to: Free online courses, audio books, eBooks, movies, coloring books & more: http://www.openculture.com/2020/03/use-your-time-in-isolation-to-learn-everything-youve-always-wanted-to.html
FreeCodeCamp compiles 450 Ivy League courses you can take online right now for free: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ivy-league-free-online-courses-a0d7ae675869/ (Thanks, Tracey and Heidi)
Other people’s lists of awesome stuff to do during covid times
Newly added: It’s a bold – and inaccurate – claim, as this isn’t every live concert and band you can livestream, but thanks to CNET for compiling what they have here: https://www.cnet.com/news/every-live-concert-and-band-you-can-stream-from-your-home/
SFU Woodward’s has put together a #StayHome page with 4 videos, 4 podcast channels plus one collection of five radio documentaries: http://sfuwce.org/stay-home-and-stay-engaged/ (Thank you, Rachel)
Even though DOXA had to cancel, their programming director Selina Crammond curated these three films plus two websites so you can have your own documentary film fest from home: https://www.straight.com/movies/1374756/sad-about-doxa-please-enjoy-programmer-selina-crammonds-shut-doc-fest (via The Georgia Straight)
Dorothy Woodend’s “You can’t stop culture” list at The Tyee has everything – music, lit, film, theatre, talks, podcasts… https://thetyee.ca/Culture/2020/03/18/Coronavirus-Cant-Stop-Culture-List
SFU Public Square “Community Engagement in a time of social distancing” list has free resources, tips for parents and for working remotely, and more: http://www.sfu.ca/publicsquare/covid-19-engagement.html
Read, watch, listen, learn and research: The Vancouver Public Library has a whole Digital Library 24/7 section stacked with things for you to do and learn remotely. https://www.vpl.ca/digital (Thanks, VPL, love u 4eva)
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Thank you for reading. And remember, you should share your ideas. There’s a lot more going on than what’s listed here! Put them in the comments below, thanks v much.
Wishing you and all your loved ones the best health and sanity through these trying times. Peace. Love. Respect.
Cover photo by Milada Vigerova on Unsplash
