Rising Together builds on the festival’s artistic trajectory of connecting communities through shared creativity. Centered on a Lunar New Year Concert at the Vancouver Playhouse, the 2027 edition brings together music, dance, and community storytelling to reflect on shared stories of resilience and identity among diaspora families in British Columbia. Workshops, performances, and exhibitions will focus on community-informed artistry, reflecting lived experiences from Vancouver’s diaspora communities.

How do families navigate between tradition and transformation? How can music and movement express the act of rising above social and cultural barriers? This year’s programming is curated with the idea of “collective ascent” — gathering together stories of heritage and renewal, while preserving the distinctiveness of cultural voices. 

LunarFest continues to expand the role of the arts in shaping Vancouver’s civic identity. In celebrating the city’s diversity, the festival hopes to foster a community where culture is understood as shared growth, where different voices rise together to define what it means to belong in a truly intercultural city.

Through music and light, Rising Together extends the legacy of LunarFest and The Lantern City as platforms for cultural dialogue that move beyond tokenism. This February, the festival encourages audiences to reimagine multiculturalism as collaboration: where cultural identities rise together toward understanding and empathy.