Advisory committee gives artists voice at city hall
A new committee will be giving Vancouver’s arts communities a direct line to city hall.
The committee, whose 15 members were announced Wednesday, will advise on issues affecting artistic and cultural groups and fill a void in arts representation among the city’s advisory committees.
“We have all these other advisory groups giving us advice on their various issues and we didn’t have generic, high- level policy advice coming from the arts sector,” said Coun. Heather Deal. “So this has been a gap for some time now.”
The Vision Vancouver councillor passed a motion calling for the creation of the advisory committee in July 2011. The project was approved by council in February.
“One is hopeful that it becomes a useful tool to shape an integrated series of initiatives and possibilities that will effect real change,” said Nigel Prince, committee member and executive director of the Contemporary Art Gallery. “They’ll have roots in the feedback and information that’s gathered from the grassroots, individuals or other kinds of organizations.”
The committee’s duties will range from relaying public feedback about cultural programs to city council, to engaging in outreach and public awareness about civic arts and culture services. The group will meet six times a year, with the first meeting scheduled for later this month.
Committee members were chosen from 199 applicants and include Book Warehouse founder Sharman King; Mary- Louise Albert, artistic managing director of the Chutzpah! Festival; and Chan Hon Goh, artistic director at Goh Ballet.
Committee member Paddy Macleod, representing the city’s theatre community, said she hopes the platform will help struggling institutions avoid fates like that of the Vancouver Playhouse, which closed its doors earlier this year.
“The City of Vancouver, for its size, does a huge job in supporting the arts, but federally and provincially, we’re not in very good shape,” said Macleod, co- founder of Blackbird Theatre Company. “I think some companies have gone under and people are really struggling as a result.
“It’s good to be working with a whole lot of people who are all intent on the same thing: to improve the whole situation for the city.”
Another committee member said he sees potential for the city’s various ethnic and cultural groups to become better represented in the arts community.
“We have a lot of diverse communities, and I feel that in the past, perhaps diversity wasn’t leveraged as much,” said Charlie Wu, managing director of Taiwanfest. “We’ve been doing things on our own a lot ... but there could be a capacity for creating something that we can call Vancouver’s own identity.”
Coun. Deal says the committee will have the freedom to take on a range of projects.
“It can be everything from looking at whether or not we’re dealing with some of the concerns of our major institutions having financial concerns,” said Deal. “It could also be looking at overall cultural policies – is there a need for a new cultural plan? It could be as broad as that, or very specific.”
Additional council members include Marcus Youssef, artistic director of the Neworld Theatre; journalist Eric Szeto; Graeme Berglund, founder of annual art sale The Cheaper Show; Hugh Cochlin, principal of Proscenium Architecture; film programmer Amy Kazymerchyk; SFU writing and communications director for continuing studies Katherine Mcmanus; and local artists Thomas Cannell, Becki Chan and Esther Rausenberg.