There are a number of projects that are gathering interest and momentum in Vancouver these days. The work of the City’s Office of Cultural Affairs to develop a Cultural Plan that will not only ensure a Creative City that is healthy for the arts but also for the economy, has engaged an incredible spectrum of stakeholders. The Creative Spacemaking workshop led by Artscape, the world’s leading experts in cuture-led regeneration, was a triggering event for action, which is now made difficult by the economic reality the City is facing.

The decomissioning of an older Park Board property has presented an opportunity that could ensure an interim measure of development while the bigger projects stall. There is a will on the part of the community to save the Mount Pleasant Community Centre building – and its outdoor pool – when the programs move to their new building on September 1, 2009.

The following article appeared in the Georgia Straight on March 12, 2009:

Mount Pleasant arts centre on shaky ground
By Jessica Werb
A battle over daycare facilities at the old Mount Pleasant Community Centre could make or break plans to convert the centre into an arts hub. The idea was first floated in March of last year by then park-board commissioner Spencer Herbert. The community centre is scheduled to move into a new facility at 1 Kingsway in September, after which the old facility (at 16th Avenue and Ontario Street) is to be demolished. A before- and after-school program for students at Simon Fraser Elementary School is currently housed in the building, and will be moved (to view the article online, go to: Arts Centre Article

My response to this item lays out the position proposed by a group of nearly 30 artists and arts organizations who have been meeting to build a strategy for re-purposing the old building. Continue reading →