Last week, artists from around the world flocked to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside for the fourth annual Never Grow Up Graffiti Jam.
“We had a huge turnout,” jam co-organizer Maeve Stinson told Vancity Lookout that in addition to hosting more than 70 artists, some hailing from as far as France and Brazil, the event saw some 3,000 attendees over the course of the weekend.
Planning for the event started back in December and included fundraising and coordinating orders for more than 800 cans of spray paint. The alleyway between Abbott and Cambie was buffed to prepare for the art. During the three-day painting event, Stinson said they also had several DJs playing a mix of hip-hop, funk and punk rock tracks.
Spray paint with artist working in the background at the Never Grow Up Graffiti Jam./Chazzy Boo. IG @chazzy.boo
The event was originally founded four years ago as “the Clean Lines Jam” by Kyle Shipman and Trey Helten, a much-loved member of the Downtown Eastside community who passed away unexpectedly in April 2025.
While Stinson said she was less involved at the beginning, Shipman and Helten first launched the event as a “bit of a graffiti party in the alley.”
Helten, along with his friend and well-known Downtown Eastside graffiti artist James Hardy, also known as Smokey Devil, worked with the city to turn the alley into Vancouver's first legal graffiti space in 2022. From there, the popularity of the graffiti jam grew year after year, said Stinson.
Most recently, the event was funded through a mix of city grants, a GoFundMe campaign, and sponsorships from Parallel 49 Brewery, Fingerprint Gallery, Beat Street Records, Hastings Crossings BIA, the BC Indigenous Housing Society and Foreign Familia Records.
“[A lot of people] don’t know much about graffiti, they might think it’s a nuisance… but they’re always blown away by the artistry that goes into this and [people] get really excited by that.”
While Stinson said that “everything looks fantastic,” her favourite new piece in the alley by far is a photorealistic painting of Helten done by artist Garnet Herz. “It’s really wonderfully done, it’s [Trey] and his dog Zelda… I think he would have been super proud and super pumped about that being there.”
The event is still very much a celebration of graffiti artistry and an opportunity for community members to come together to create, said Stinson. However, it is now also an important way for loved ones to honour Helten’s memory.
“He touched so many people in his life,” she said. Helten served as a volunteer and, later, as a manager at the Overdose Prevention Site for many years. “He saved thousands of lives there, both physically saving them and also just being the support for people when they needed it.”
Portrait of Trey Helten and his dog Zelda painted at the Never Grow Up Graffiti Jam./Chazzy Boo. IG:@chazzy.boo
Helten, who died at age 42, had himself experienced periods of homelessness and addiction at points in his life. While he was able to find recovery through 12-step programs, he was also a staunch advocate for harm reduction and would consistently “meet people where they were at.”
“He'd always say, ‘I'm going to care for this person like it's the worst day of their lives,’” said Stinson. “He just gave people the utmost amount of grace.”
Helten's reach is hard to overstate. He frequently made connections and supported people in the Downtown Eastside and beyond. After his passing, there was even a minute of silence in his honour at the 28th Harm Reduction International Conference held in Bogotá, Colombia.
“He was one of the most wonderful people I’ve ever met in my entire life,” she added. “He was honestly selfless to a fault… he was always looking out for everybody else, so losing him just impacted the community beyond words.”
People in the community have done many different things to memorialize Helten in the year since his passing. The graffiti jam was renamed after his tag “Grow Up.” The alley where the event took place was officially renamed to “Ashtrey Alley” in May 2025, a nod to Helten’s nickname.
The Ashtrey Resource and Recovery Centre, a new day centre offering drop-in services and on-demand recovery programs, recently opened at 450 East Hastings Street.
There have also been numerous public art projects, including one at the Balmoral Wall that Helten was unable to finish himself and is now being completed by his friends.
Between giving the community an opportunity to honour Helten, as well as a chance to flex their creative muscles, Stinson said that events like this “are really important to a lot of people out here.”
Stinson said: “There just wasn’t anybody else like Trey… [But this event] gives people a chance to express themselves, have a great time and see other people in the community.”
