Firehall Arts Centre pushes City for $7 million accessibility upgrade
Right now, wheelchair users face stairs and other barriers to attending and working on shows at the historic theatre
The Firehall Arts Centre.
THE FIREHALL ARTS CENTRE is rallying the community behind its request for long-needed accessibility upgrades to the aging theatre.
On June 26, Vancouver City Council—the owner of the 117-year-old heritage building—will consider funding $7 million to the project to install an elevator, ramps, and accessible washrooms, as well as developing industry-standard dressing rooms. If approved on Wednesday, funding would come through the Mid-term Capital Plan for 2023-26.
“Our patrons are having difficulty maneuvering stairs and getting in if they're in wheelchairs, and it’s almost impossible for some wheelchairs to get in,” longtime Firehall Arts Centre artistic producer Donna Spencer tells Stir, adding artists living with disabilities need accessible spaces too. “And then to get to the washroom, they have to go by the dressing room and they have to go across the stage and they have to have somebody with them, taking them.
“So it’s embarrassing for a city that says it wants to make sure its public spaces are accessible to continue to ignore this.”
The Firehall has asked patrons to support the bid through a letter-writing campaign to the mayor and council.
“At the forefront of disability, equity and Indigenous programming since inception 40 years ago, the building has no physical accessibility in most of the building, does not meet basic Canadian Actor’s Equity standards and has been in urgent need of renewal for over a decade,” a recent City staff report reads.
Right now, a person or artist in a wheelchair arriving at the Firehall box office to pick up a ticket immediately faces a flight of stairs to both the theatre entrance and the bar and reception area.
“So then one of our staff takes you outside again, around to the side door, sometimes in the pouring rain or snow,” explains Spencer, who spent June 21 touring city councillors through the facility to show them the issues. “If your wheelchair is a smaller wheelchair, it will fit. If it's not, it won't fit and then you'll have to go back and get a refund and not see the show, or we'll have to carry you in.”
A washroom break at intermission poses another logistical hurdle. A patron needs to ask a staff member to retrieve them, take them across the stage, through a narrow hallway and past the dressing rooms to “a barely equipped” accessible washroom. (Able-bodied patrons right now pass down a narrow set of stairs to a basement bathroom.)
“Not only could that be somewhat embarrassing for somebody, it's embarrassing for the city that people have to do that,” Spencer says. “So first of all, you're treated like you're an outsider to get into the building, but you're also an outsider when you need to go to the washroom because you don't know where it is. You can't get there on your own. And if you want to have a drink and be social, it has to be brought to you.”
In addition, arts workers in wheelchairs cannot access the second-floor rehearsal or administration areas, a barrier to their employment in Firehall productions and administrative positions.
A KickStart Disability Arts & Culture and Realwheels Theatre accessibility audit published in 2017 reads, “A fully accessible theatre would have accessible paths of travel connecting all key activity areas including the main entrance, box office, theatre seating area, concession, area, washrooms etc. The main limitation around this is that the Firehall Arts Centre does not have an elevator leading to the second level.”
The new improvements would see the elevator installed at the courtyard end of the building, and the door into the theatre lowered to the box-office-entrance level.
Spencer traces the facility’s first request for upgrades to the aging building back to 2009 and has been advocating ever since. “Then we did a feasibility needs assessment study that was presented to the city in 2016, which was pretty thorough, and I think at that time, the cost of doing this was about $17 million,” she explains. “And that there was much more being done with it.”
A subsequent recent application was for a $23 million improvement to the building and its infrastructure—a cost Spencer said was recently assessed, due to rising costs, to have gone up to $30 million. But the artistic producer said the City came back to the Firehall to see what they could achieve with $7 million instead.
“If we only have $7 million, we can at least address accessibility because we can get an elevator and we can get stairs in, and we can get dressing rooms that are private from the public washrooms, and we can get a proper accessible washroom,” she says. “There are many more things we could do if we had $30 million, but if we're not going to get $30 million, we want to do what we can. And that's why it's so important for Council to recognize that it's great to have good playing fields and streets—all of that’s wonderful stuff—but here we are in the heart of the city and a publicly owned building that is not publicly accessible.”
Spencer allows that $7 million investment might at least enable the Firehall to approach other levels of government for additional funding for improvements to the aging facility.
For now, OneCity Coun. Christine Boyle has already posted on social media that she will support the motion, saying the theatre “should be welcoming & accessible to all”.
Upgrades and investment will allow the Firehall to continue to bring positive energy to a Downtown Eastside neighbourhood that needs it more than ever, Spencer argues.
“We need organizations that are doing something that stimulates business in the neighborhood,” she says. “I mean, the restaurants and the bars down here are glad we're here because we bring people here who go to them and buy dinner….So it just seems like such a positive initiative for them to take—to rebuild this neighbourhood.” 
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