VANCOUVER, CANADA
Every November, artists in Vancouver's Eastside open their studios to the public for the Eastside Culture Crawl.
It started in 1997 with 45 visual artists and, today, the four-day visual arts, design and crafts festival boasts more than 500 artists in studios across 80 buildings and attracts more than 30,000 visitors.
Members of the public can admire the work and artistic process of painters, jewellers, sculptors, furniture makers, weavers, potters, printmakers, photographers and glassblowers. There are also dozens of live demonstrations and workshops for pottery-making, wax-carving, chainsaw-carving, glass-blowing and film-making.
When: Nov 16 to 19
Info: culturecrawl.ca
REYKJAVIK, ICELAND
What started as a one-off concert in an airplane hangar in Reykjavik Airport in 1999 has grown into one of Europe's premier showcases for new music.
During the five-day Iceland Airwaves festival, more than 100 bands from Iceland, as well as the United States, Britain, Russia, New Zealand and Hong Kong, will perform across multiple stages and venues in the city.
Headliners include British folk-pop group Mumford & Sons and Icelandic trap group Geisha Cartel.
There are also movie screenings and panel discussions about the present and future state of Icelandic music.
When: Wednesday to Nov 5
Info: icelandairwaves.is
LAGOS, NIGERIA
The Africa International Film Festival has been a celebration of African film and film talent since its inaugural edition in 2010.
Film-makers from across the continent gather in Lagos, the home of Nollywood, Nigeria's booming film industry, to premiere and screen their work for film enthusiasts and professionals.
They attend screenings, panel discussions, workshops and film-training sessions.
The week-long festival received a record 3,232 submissions this year. Almost 100 submissions were accepted for its programme, which includes short films, student shorts, animated films, documentaries, feature films and more than 29 international films.
The opening films are Waiting For Hassana, a 10-minute film by American-Nigerian film-maker Ifunanya 'funa' Maduka that tells the story of Jessica, who managed to escape Boko Haram, the terrorist group that kidnapped 276 teenage girls who were sitting their examinations in Chibok, Nigeria, in 2014; and I Am Not A Witch, Rungano Nyoni's mesmerising debut feature about nine-year-old Shula, who is accused of witchcraft and exiled to a desert camp for witches.
When: Till Saturday
Info: afriff.com
FICKSBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
The town of Ficksburg - a two-hour drive from the city of Bloemfontein, on the border of Lesotho - is known throughout South Africa as Cherry Town. The countryside around Ficksburg is full of cherry orchards and the town celebrates the fruit every year during the Ficksburg Cherry Festival, the oldest crop festival in South Africa.
The festival features cherry-farm tours, a golf tournament, a half-marathon, cherry product competitions, equestrian events, a beer festival and a baking competition.
Visitors can also watch the locals make cherry mampoer, a South African moonshine, and attend the Cherry Jazz Festival (on Nov 11 this year) - a full day of live music by some of South Africa's best jazz acts, such as Black Motion, Ringo, Letta Mbulu and Caiphius Semenya.
When: Nov 16 to 18
Info: cherryfestival.co.za
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Fans of stand-up comedy will find themselves in stitches at the six-day New York Comedy Festival, where more than 200 comedians perform in more than 60 shows at venues throughout the city.
This year's programme includes sets by comedians Bill Maher, Kevin Smith, Nick Offerman and 2 Dope Queens, comprising Phoebe Robinson and Jessica Williams.
Otherwise, watch Stand Up For Heroes, a charity show featuring some of comedy's biggest stars, such as Hasan Minhaj, Trevor Noah, Conan O'Brien, John Oliver and Jon Stewart, as well as guests including American rockers Red Hot Chili Peppers. Proceeds from the show will go towards supporting military veterans and their families.
When: Nov 7 to 12
Info: nycomedyfestival.com
Lydia Vasko
