Making space for arts and culture

Making Space for Arts and Culture report

Making Space for Arts and Culture PDF file (11 MB) lays out our long term vision to optimize City policies and tools to secure, enhance, and develop vibrant, affordable, and accessible arts and cultural spaces.

This report is integrated with Culture|Shift, Vancouver’s new comprehensive plan and vision for arts, culture, and creativity, and incorporates and informs the Vancouver Music Strategy.

Read the news release Vancouver amplifies support for arts and culture through new 10-year plan

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  New approaches

  • Setting Vancouver’s first arts and cultural space targets. The goal is 800,000 square feet of new, repurposed, or expanded, affordable City-owned, non-profit, and private space over the next ten years. This includes: 400 units of affordable artist housing; 650,000 square feet of new or repurposed space; renewal and enhancement of 150,000 square feet of existing space; and a goal to see “no net loss” of Vancouver’s cultural spaces including artist studios and music spaces. 
  • Prioritizing cultural heritage by incorporating it into the City’s Heritage Program, including: heritage statements, registry and incentives, and other mechanisms to further support preservation of cultural spaces. 
  • Prioritizing and supporting development of self-determined xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and Urban Indigenous spaces. 
  • Exploring and developing mechanisms to support affordable non-profit arts and cultural space in commercial and industrial zones including density bonusing, commercial fees, cultural districts, rental only zones, and ways to lower property tax rates on undeveloped buildings. 
  • Launching an annual affordable cultural spaces grant stream for non-profit space operators to provide subsidized affordable space for professional artists and cultural organizations. Additionally, this program will include a critical one-time fund to assist arts and cultural nonprofits in crisis due to escalating land values. 
  • Establishing a Vancouver Cultural Spaces Fund in an interest-bearing reserve to support the development of large-scale community-led cultural space projects to research, plan, develop, and acquire affordable cultural spaces. Launch the fund with $4.8 million. Future funding to be secured through development contributions with a goal of $10 million over the next three years as part of the public benefit strategy implementation.
  • Exploring ways to support planning and development of a community-led cultural land trust including seed funding, and investigating new ways to partner with the cultural community on development, and—in some cases—shared ownership of amenity facilities secured through development.
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  Policies and reports

  Policies

  • Draft Making Space for Arts and Culture PDF file (30 MB)
  • Draft Culture|Shift: Blanketing the City in Arts and Culture, Vancouver Culture Plan 2020-2029 PDF file (23 MB)
  • Draft Vancouver Music Strategy PDF file (74 MB)

  Council documents

  • Draft Council report (August 13, 2019) PDF file (1.2 MB)

  Cultural Infrastructure Plan 2018

  The Making Space for Arts and Culture report builds on work previously conducted for the Cultural Infrastructure Plan 2018.

  • Council report PDF file (344 KB)
  • Council presentation PDF file (2 MB)
  • Appendix A: key gaps PDF file (6 MB)
  • Appendix B: list of City-owned or leased cultural spaces PDF file (265 KB)
  • Appendix C: trends and exemplar research report PDF file (179 KB)

Resources

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  Cultural spaces map

  We are sharing information on cultural spaces in Vancouver and we need your help. Many valuable cultural spaces are currently not on our list. Help us identify spaces we have missed.

  Add to the map

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  Help with City regulations

  Have questions about licences, permits, or zoning?

  Cultural Services provides regulatory assistance for arts and culture organizations in dealing with City regulations and looks for opportunities to streamline regulations to make it easier for arts and cultural activities to happen.

  Email Cultural Planner Joming Lau at joming.lau@vancouver.ca.

  Development and building regulatory review

  The ongoing regulatory review provided more flexibility for artists by removing regulations for the two-person resident limit in artist live-work studios and allowing retail without a separating wall in industrial artist studios.

  Learn more about the regulatory review

  Arts Event Licence

  The Arts Event Licence makes it easier to host pop-up events such as live music, dance, or multimedia performances in artist studios, warehouses, factory spaces, art galleries, shops, and other unconventional spaces.

  Learn how to apply

  Working on a cultural space?

  The Small Business Renovation Centre offers hands-on support for small businesses planning a renovation or looking to move or start a business in Vancouver.

  Learn more

  Permit Fee Assistance grants help organizations with costs associated with development and building permit fees for capital cultural space projects.

  Learn more

   Provide your BC non-profit society number when you apply for a development permit to get the non-profit cultural facility rate.

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  City planning and major cultural space projects

  We work to ensure arts and culture are integrated into city area and community planning processes and projects.

  Learn more about planning projects

  Major projects through rezoning

  We often partner with developers and non-profit cultural organizations to build and expand arts and cultural facilities through community amenities sought during major rezoning processes.

  These spaces often result in City-owned or leased spaces available to non-profit arts and culture organizations for low cost or nominal rent. There are currently 137 arts and cultural non-profit tenants in 80 City-owned or leased spaces. Several new cultural spaces that are underway or recently completed include:

  Main and 2nd Artist Housing

  Thirty units of low-income artist housing and 4000 sq. ft. of artist production space in a new development is currently underway.

  • View the council report PDF file (2.4 MB)

  Howe St Studios

  Over 10,000 square feet of artist production studios will be subleased to artists at low rent. Request for proposals are now open for a non-profit arts and culture organizations operator.

  • View our request for proposals

  801 Pacific Cultural Facility

  A seven-story, 21,000 square feet cultural facility downtown with spaces for community arts, cultural programming and non-profit arts administration is currently underway.

  • View council report PDF file (7 MB)

  BMO Theatre Centre

  Completed in 2015, the 48,000 square feet facility in South East False Creek is shared by Arts Club and bard on the beach. It includes a 260-seat theatre, four rehearsal halls, costume shops, and offices also available for other cultural groups to use.

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  Documents

  Council reports and presentations

  • Making Space for Arts and Culture: 2014 - 2018 Priorities (June 2014) PDF file (3 MB)
  • Artist Studio Regulatory Review (September 2011) PDF file (360 KB)
  • Live Performance Venue Regulatory Review (January 2010) PDF file (667 KB)
  • Culture Plan Implementation Phase 1: 2008–2023 Cultural Facilities Priorities Plan (June 2008) PDF file (1.2 MB)
  • City of Vancouver Cultural Facilities Priorities Plan, Final Report (May 2008) PDF file (3.4 MB)

  Commissioned reports

  • RENT – LEASE – OWN: Understanding the Real Estate Challenges Affecting the Not-For-Profit, Social Purpose and Cultural Sectors in Metro Vancouver (2013) PDF file (25 MB)
  • Demand Analysis for Cultural Performance and Event Spaces in Northeast False Creek and Hastings Park (2010) PDF file (4 MB)

  Resources to evaluate cultural facility projects

  • Cultural Facility Planning and Development: Self-Assessment Checklist PDF file (44 KB)