Vancouver civic election 2022: Where do the political parties stand on arts and culture?
From artist spaces to the return of music education, here’s what a few groups are promising to do to protect and enhance the city’s cultural landscape if elected
Photo by Manny Becerra/Unsplash
The 2022 Vancouver civic election takes place on October 15.
ARTS AND CULTURE matter to people for all kinds of intangible reasons, whether because they provide meaning and joy or because they offer ways to better understand the world, bring people together, open up conversations, or bridge cultures. Then there are more tangible effects. B.C. has more artists per capita than any other province and the third-highest cultural GDP in Canada, at $8 billion; and don’t forget that Vancouver has the highest concentration of working artists out of any city in Canada. Keeping arts and culture not only alive but on a growth trajectory requires municipal investment and support.
Here, in alphabetical order, is a look at what a few local political organizations—of the all-time record of 11 parties running for the 2022 Vancouver civic election—are promising when it comes to arts and culture.
ABC Vancouver
ABC’s platform puts a big focus on boosting cultural festivals and sporting events, aiming to identify and “fix the blockages and red tape that currently prevent them from operating in the City” and expediting the permit process.
The party also acknowledges the loss of artist studios, promising an ABC Majority would “take steps to combat the loss of critical arts and culture production and performance spaces”.
Among other measures, it promises to support the creation of a South Asian Cultural Centre of Excellence and aims to revitalize the Granville Entertainment District.
On the education front, it pledges to “fully fund music and fine arts programs in Vancouver elementary and secondary schools”; elementary schools in particular have had programs like its bands and strings offerings cut.
Forward Together
Vancouver mayoral candidate Kennedy Stewart says that, in addition to arts grants for operating and capital projects, the municipal government should “continue to provide grants to arts organizations, work to provide studio space, maintain our civic theatres, and support arts and cultural organizations through the permitting process”.
“Forward Together supports the ongoing work to include cultural spaces across Vancouver,” Stewart tells BC Alliance for Arts + Culture. “Culture Shift sets a target of 800,000 square feet of cultural space, including homes for artists.”
Addressing the housing crisis by ensuring tenant protections and building more rental, cooperative, and social housing, Stewart claims, the party would ensure that “arts and culture workers can keep or find a home in Vancouver”.
Green Party of Vancouver
Describing Vancouver as a “city of arts, innovation and entrepreneurship”, the Green Party has an Economy, Arts & Culture section to its 2022 City Council Platform.
A key chapter is called Protecting and Developing Creative Spaces. To support arts and culture, the Greens say they will provide “affordable creative assets” like live-work space, cultural and performance venues, studios and galleries throughout the city with implementation of the Vancouver Plan; implement density bonusing for cultural use in commercial and industrial zoned new developments; and provide certain tax exemptions for creative spaces”.
The party says it will also “make better use of vacant city-owned and commercial properties for temporary creative uses” and implement the Green motion to create a Cultural Spaces Rent Bank, modelled after the Vancouver Residential Rent Bank.
Developing the East Side Arts District “as an innovative arts cluster by implementing the Green motion to use city powers to provide and protect creative spaces in the community” is another campaign promise.
Another chapter is titled Blanketing the City in Arts and Culture. By expediting the implementation of the Vancouver’s Culture|Shift Strategy “as a driver of a creative economy that supports creative production citywide” the Greens would protect and support arts and culture, festivals and events as vibrant drivers of community economic development through faster and easier permitting and cost-certainty upfront.
The party would support the sector in and on city-owned assets including public libraries, community centres, and other public facilities by providing community hubs, space for meetings and events, arts and culture programs and lifelong learning as well as wraps, murals, and public art on city property “where appropriate”.
To build on the City’s commitments to Reconciliation and equity, the Greens would advance community-led cultural infrastructure. It would also support the indigenous-led 2030 Olympic bid.
The Greens plan on positioning Vancouver as a thriving music hub by making it easier to find and develop performance venues as well as rehearsal and recording spaces.
Finally, the Greens say they will recognize intangible cultural heritage, “the places that matter for food, shopping, community, and cultural practice such as the Punjabi Market, Chinatown, Hogan's Alley, Little Saigon, and the Collingwood area Filipino hub”. The party would revise the Vancouver heritage registry to recognize and protect such cultural assets.
The platform notes that in 2018, Vancouver elected three Greens to council who worked collaboratively across party lines to expand arts and culture in the city through initiatives such as planning for the future of the Punjabi Market and sustaining Chinatown.
NPA Vancouver
In education, the NPA has committed to “parental partnerships” with education to support children’s “arts and musical interests”.
It has also pledged to fast-track the special-event application process in parks.
OneCity
OneCity states clearly that Vancouver’s affordability crisis is “driving arts and culture organizations away”. OneCity’s platform commits to keeping both artists and arts venues here, and recognizes arts as a way to “promote reconciliation, climate resilience and equality”.
Amid its nine-point plan:
Work with the Province to exempt arts and culture organizations from property taxes, including when they are tenants.
Introduce an empty commercial property tax and offer exemptions to landlords who provide free or subsidized space to artists.
Invest in shared artist studios to provide rehearsal, production or administrative space.
Make a portion of funding to major institutions like the art gallery or space centre dependent on their ability to demonstrate meaningful partnerships with artists or organizations working to advance Indigenous justice and confront the climate emergency.
Invest in peer-to-peer mentorship, prioritizing intercultural collaboration and co-creation, and building capacity among emerging grassroots cultural presenters.
Fund the City’s Cultural Services department to use arts and culture to confront the climate emergency and advance Indigenous justice.
Encourage the work of local artists by diverting a portion of Community Amenity Contributions to studios or exhibition spaces. This avoids developers deciding what art belongs in a community and distributes resources among local artists.
Subsidize human resources, accessibility studies, and hiring services for arts and culture organizations to improve equity, staff retention and long-term financial stability.
Other initiatives include launching a Music Task Force; making special-event licences more accessible; activating more busker spaces; and providing more flexible performance spaces in places like parks and plazas.
Progress Vancouver
Progress puts its focus on arts and culture under the category of “A Fun and Thriving City for All”. Among its priorities are supporting Vancouver’s nightlife and entertainment venues.
Speaking specifically to performing arts, the party claims it would expand designated busking areas, provide dedicated artists spaces in city-owned buildings, and update zoning to allow artist spaces in all commercial and light industrial areas.
The party says it will invest in cultural communities, including Chinatown, Punjabi Market, Davie Village, and "Little Manila" (on Fraser at 26th Avenue).
TEAM for a Livable Vancouver
Team mayoral candidate Colleen Hardwick tells BC Alliance for Arts + Culture that the party supports increasing grants to address inflation for arts and culture organizations’ operating and capital projects. It would also ensure that grant monies target programs that assist artists and performers in securing employment.
The party says it sees arts and culture as an “integral component for a liveable city and that includes enabling access to affordable arts and culture spaces – both for performance and development.”
The party claims to support increasing city owned venues while also “protecting and enhancing existing affordable rehearsal, performance, and arts spaces, including incentivizing the retention and upgrading of art spaces in older buildings”.
“Affordability, of both housing and arts spaces, is the most important issue for ensuring arts and culture workers can live and practice their craft in Vancouver,” Hardwick says. “TEAM will protect and enhance existing affordable performance and arts spaces, with incentives for retention and upgrading, and disincentives for demolition or destruction. Also create and incentivize the addition of new affordable creative spaces.”
The party says it will support existing events such as The Culture Crawl; encourage and facilitate street festivals (Greek Day, Powell Street, Italian Day, Khatsahlano, etc.); and provide an arts and culture page on the City of Vancouver website as a “one-stop-shop” for all event listings. It would also encourage minimum space requirements for cultural amenities where neighbourhoods are densifying; and review the status of civic theatres with respect to affordability and suitability for arts groups. (For example, the party states, the Orpheum and Queen Elizabeth Theatre are expensive; the Playhouse is outdated and in need of modernization.)
TEAM says it will include music programming at every elementary school, bringing back the Elementary Band & Strings programs.
Vision Vancouver
Vision Vancouver touches on the arts in its 2022 platform, under the category of “Protecting & Building Cultural Assets”.
Among its specific goals are to work with cultural and philanthropic groups to “preserve and enhance” cultural assets in the Chinatown, Downtown Eastside, and Strathcona neighbourhood, while “realizing commitments to the Black community”, including a partial removal of viaducts so that the Hogan’s Alley project can move forward. The party promises it will investigate the establishment of a conservation zone for the Punjabi Market and Davie Village, similar to that being pursued for Chinatown, to “enhance/preserve/portray and celebrate culture”.
The development of a Filipino Community Centre is another aim. A Vision council would create a broad-based advisory board to help guide the construction of a new, central venue, with an eye to opening doors in 2026.
Vision claims it will accelerate development of the Vancouver Art Gallery by expediting the approval process for the project that will “bring new life to the city’s cultural community as well as boost tourism and downtown business”. ‘
Finally Vision has said it will support piloting the creation of the Eastside Arts District “to be considered for expansion to neighbourhoods across the city".
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