Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Vancouver Heritage Foundation Weekly: Vancouver Free U (The CULTCH)

Vancouver Heritage Foundation is a registered charity supporting the conservation of heritage buildings and structures in recognition of their contribution to the city’s economy, sustainability and culture.

Vancouver Heritage Foundation is a registered charity supporting the conservation of heritage buildings and structures in recognition of their contribution to the city’s economy, sustainability and culture.

Vancouver Free University: Urban Design Centre 1968-77. CA CVAN add. MSS. 989

"Aristotle's philosophy, creative dancing, Gestalt encounter groups, Vancouver politics, tennis, erotic poetry -  whatever your interest, if you know it well, come share it with others who share your zeal." Vancouver Free University Calendar, 1970 (p. 33 Aronsen, City of Love and Revolution)

If you recognize the above photo, you may have visited a church space in the  '60s-'70s  now known as the Vancouver East Cultural Centre, when it housed Inner City Services Projects and meeting spaces for activists and groups like Vancouver Free University, Vancouver Welfare Rights, Urban Design Services and more.  Places That Matter is recognizing this brief but transformative time in Vancouver's collective history, with a plaque presentation next week.

Part of a larger US movement in the mid '60s that rejected  elitist and corporate ties to higher education, the Vancouver Free University began in hippie Kits, but established itself in 1969 on Venables St.  Unlike its US counterparts concerned with Vietnam War and race tensions, VFU or "Free U"  sought to "liberate not alienate" (p.34 Aronsen) and root itself in the community. Popular counterculture  classes and workshops like  underground journalism, print-making, motorcycle repair, dome building, and beekeeping were more popular than radical politics. When VFU closed its doors in 1974 it was at its peak of enrollment of 3,000 students, and had evolved to address the needs of women, children and families  with Tiny Tots and Kids Free U program. Amazingly, what began as revolutionary influenced mainstream education programs and Britannia Community Centre became one of the first integrated school and community centre projects in Canada. How's that for making history.

Not only did VFU exist in this space, but the Canadian classic, 'Billy Bishop Goes to War' by John Gray and Eric Petersen, premiered at the Cultch, in association with Tamahnous Theatre, in 1978. Revived more than 150 times by other companies across Canada, produced off and on-Broadway and winner of various awards, it was produced as a movie in 2011.

If you've never been inside The Cultch be sure to step inside, catch a piece of innovative theater and breathe in a little history of Grandview. Read this great interview with Cultch founder, Chris Wootten.

Constructed in 1909, the building was first known as the Grandview Methodist Church, which was handed over nearly sixty years later to Inner City Services in 1968. From there, it spent five years as a shared space between the Vancouver Free University and storefront lawyers before becoming the Vancouver East Cultural Centre (or The Cultch) in 1973. The Cultch continues the tradition of successful, innovative theatre, dance and music in this revitalized historic building.