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The Museum of Vancouver is sponsoring the Friday event ‘Happy Hour: A Future We Can’t Afford?’ that sees a panel of “citymakers” tackle key issues facing younger city dwellers: renting, owning, staying and going.DARRYL DYCK/The Globe and Mail

SHOP: The Gastown Spring Shop Hop happens this Thursday night. The one-night-only event offers Vancouverites the opportunity to cruise some of Gastown's best shops, check out all of the new spring wares and be treated to great deals, in-store specials and the occasional cupcake. And get this: The kind people of Gastown want to make sure that you don't get weighed down by the trying on of clothing and the carrying of bags so they will also be issuing special food or drink vouchers to nearby participating restaurants. Even if you're not looking to spend, the vibe is good and the business owners are friendly. Get hopping.

Thursday, April 21 | 5 p.m. – 9 p.m. | Various very cool locations | FREE to browse | www.gastown.org

FOUNDATIONS: The Emily Carr University of Art + Design Foundation Show is all set to line the walls of the ECUAD Concourse Gallery with works by first year students. As ECUAD explains: "The show reflects encouragement to improvise and experiment with new ideas, processes and materials. Imaginative thinking and creative experiences across a variety of mediums and disciplines fill the galleries and prepare students for future studies." Head down to the Granville Island campus to size up the next wave of emerging art, design and media makers (and even place bets on their futures by purchasing pieces of their art). This show continues until April 30.

April 23-30 | 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. | Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Granville Island | www.ecuad.ca

MASH-UP: If you haven't made your way in to the Vancouver Art Gallery to check out the MashUp exhibit, this is the weekend to get yourself sorted. Friday night sees a one-night-only event that adds yet another level to the conventional gallery experience: food. For $50 – or $25 if you're a Young Associate member – participants will enjoy a guided tour of the first floor's "Digital Age" exhibit, have an opportunity to create their own Picasso-inspired collage and devour a multicourse food experience presented by Acorn chefs Rob Clarke and Brian Luptak, as well as chef Kris Barnholden from Latab. Culture, creativity and culinary stimulation in one place at one time? That's not a bad start to the weekend!

Friday, April 22 | 7 p.m. | VAG (250 Hornby St.) | $25/YA members, $50 for non-members | www.vanartgallery.bc.ca

CITY: Have a few things to say about housing affordability and community? Yes, you do. Get yourself a beer and meet up with like-minded Vancouverites to voice your frustrations, imagine some solutions and get creative about how to live (and thrive) in a city that is becoming increasingly expensive. Happy Hour: A Future We Can't Afford? is a Museum of Vancouver sponsored event that sees a panel of "citymakers" tackle key issues facing younger city dwellers: renting, owning, staying, going – that kind of thing. Get the conversations rolling people: We need louder dialogue on this issue! Vancouver will be a pretty boring place if all the young creatives jump ship because they aren't stoked on sharing a basement suite with five people.

Friday, April 22 | 6 p.m. | Museum of Vancouver | $15 | www.museumofvancouver.ca

EASTSIDE ART: Parker Street Studios is holding an Art Salon on Friday night. As a departure from the Eastside Culture Crawl format of opening artist studios to the public, this event brings art out of studios and into the hallways, inviting the public to wander two floors of temporary gallery space displaying painting, sculpture and installation pieces. Expect works from close to 60 artists.

Friday, April 22 | 7 p.m. – 10 p.m. | Parker Street Studios (1000 Parker St.) | www.parkerartsalon.com

CLASSICAL: The Chan Centre is putting on a concert dedicated to the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare this weekend. Get this: "VSO Conductor Laureate Kazuyoshi Akiyama presents the overture to Mendelssohn's famous incidental music for the Bard's A Midsummer Night's Dream, as well as a snippet of William Walton's dreamy, beautiful music for Henry V. A pianist of extraordinary versatility and range, Gilles Vonsattel performs Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 9, called "perhaps the first unequivocal masterpiece of the Classical period." Mozart or Shakespeare alone are compelling draws, but both? This should be good.

Friday and Saturday, April 22 and 23 | 8 p.m. | Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, UBC | Various prices | ww.vancouversymphony.ca

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