Play the Parks, an iconic Toronto music festival is expanding nationally and will arrive in Vancouver for the first time!

Presented by the TD Music Connected Series, Play the Parks is an annual music program that focuses on showcasing local, diverse and talented artists in Toronto’s Downtown for the past 10 years. This year, Play the Parks is expanding into 13 cities across Canada. Curated by Canada’s Music Incubator (CMI), the free, musically, and culturally diverse concert series will spotlight over 100 musicians, connecting communities from coast to coast throughout the rest of the summer.

On September 16th, 23rd, and 30th six artists will perform in FREE outdoor concerts at Jack Poole Plaza Park, notably featuring artist Beau Wheeler. Wheeler is a queer non-binary composer and singer based in Vancouver, Canada. Their music pulls no punches as it shines a light on gender, surviving cancer, and the all too human experience of love in a way that turns the dark and sour stuff of life into something beautiful and hopeful. Beau’s songs remind us that ‘we’ve all been there’ and that no matter how low you are feeling that there’s hope. You’re not alone. Beau Wheeler will be performing at Jack Poole Plaza Park on September 30, at 11 am. 

In addition to Jasper Sloan Yip, here are five diverse and incredibly talented local artists, including:

• Which Nancy – Jack Poole Plaza Park – September 16 – 11 am

  • A Taiwanese-Canadian interdisciplinary media artist, curator, filmmaker, DJ and cultural producer. Which Nancy’s work stimulates and enlivens space, making a provocative statement about how inescapably interconnected we are with our surroundings. 

• RupLoops – Jack Poole Plaza Park – September 16 – 11 am

  • RupLoops is an interactive, live looping performance, using vocal percussion, rhythmic rhymes and an arsenal of eclectic instruments from around the globe. Rup utilizes his diverse skills as a musician to create a pulsating, entertaining and engaging musical experience.

• Kristin Fung – Jack Poole Plaza Park – September 23 – 11 am

  •  Kristin Fung’s ferocious, tender, and captivating voice as a lead singer, keyboardist, composer, and improviser traverse musical landscapes of “soulful grace [and] jazzy joy” (From The Intercom).

• Michaela Slinger – Jack Poole Plaza Park – September 23 – 11 am

  • Michaela Slinger is a left-of-centre pop artist and “legendary songbird in the making” (The MRG Group) crafting songs that exist at the intersection of pop, indie, and singer-songwriter. She independently released her first single “Flux” in 2019, which today has over 1M streams across platforms.

• Jasper Sloan Yip – Jack Poole Plaza Park – September 30 –11 am

  • Jasper has emerged from Vancouver’s music scene with his wide-eyed pop debut Every Day and All at Once in 2010. The album’s singles charted on CBC Radio 3, appeared on network television, and established Jasper’s signature warbled tenor on the west coast.

For a complete list of artists that are performing for the 2022 Play The Parks live program, visit: https://www.tdmusicconnectedseries.com