Arts takes cue from business
Vancouver sees rapid transition from city based on resources to hot location for creative industries
Business and the arts often appear to be at odds, but the truth is that the best arts showcases are also very good at business. It makes sense, since both follow a similar path, in that they design a product or service, create it, promote it and sell it.
The only difference is the arts have long worn a halo of creativity that many believed to be the antithesis of successful business, while business was seen as being focused on money and not much on esthetics.
So when Vancouver’s Push Performing Arts Festival holds its annual showcase of new performances in January, it will be the culmination of a transformation from a simple regional theatre venue to a businesssavvy major international showcase for leading- edge performances.
This is largely because a few years ago, organizers of the 17- year- old series of music, theatre and other performances realized it had grown beyond its small regional roots. Vancouver now boasts a large, creative economy, and thus sees more interest in the creative arts.
In this changing climate, Push needed a rethink that involved a recognition of its business niche and a view of itself as an enterprise whose product was the country’s main venue for the work of limit- pushing artists from within and outside Canada.
With the help of the local business and arts commun- ities, it took a business- like approach that will culminate this year in a sleek, centrally located, venue that is expected to draw more crowds and sponsors than ever before.
The largest change was the festival’s move into The Post, a complex of practice venues, cultural events, and the Push International Performing Arts Festival Society’s head office. The society joined with several other arts-related organizations to form the 110 Arts Co- operative to manage and govern the facility in downtown Vancouver.
Norman Armour, who is artistic and executive director of Push, and a producer and sometime actor, and had helped produce the fes- tival (with the late Katherine Dunn) for years, recognized it was outgrowing its local focus. Also, it and other artsrelated organizations were feeling the pinch from the city’s rampaging real estate scene and the resulting loss of arts venues.
“( The performing arts) is a business, but with a mission, and a co- operative frame” Armour said. “We recognized we had some common economic issues — ours was real estate and some operations were being forced out of sites. At the same time, many of the operations were isolated. Then the province created a new tax category for community services in a co- op setting. The times were right for it.”
Another aspect of timing involved the various arts groups, which generally operated in “silos,” in some cases because some were for-profit while others were non-profits. Each group, however, faced similar challenges.
“In both cases, you have to create a proof of concept for funding,” he said.
“There was a latent desire in the community to collaborate. We saw something powerful — a collaborative community — and thought maybe we should work together. Now, half of what we do is in partnerships.”
But despite these advances, the arts and culture industry still does not have the profile of B. C.’s other l arge i ndustries s uch a sports, lumber and mining, all of which it dwarfs.
Armour contends Vancouver has a “very discerning but adventurous” community, which i ncludes some businesses that threw their support behind the project.
However, many in the business community haven’t realized the size and scope of the creative economy and so are still hesitating to become involved. That could be a mistake, Armour said, because the arts and culture industry is bigger than traditional business drivers such as sports, lumber and mining.
“Arts and culture has a huge role in attracting talent to a city,” he said, referencing Vancouver’s rapid conversion from a city based on resources to a favoured location for technology and other service and creative industries.
“These industries are in desperate need of experienced workers, who tend to choose to work in more culturally diverse and dynamic cities, which Vancouver is.”