If you’re a West End artist looking for a seat at the table, WE Arts has brought the chairs.
The grassroots arts and culture group, which officially launched in January in partnership with the Gordon Neighbourhood House, The West End BIA and City of Vancouver, is looking to build a “strong arts presence and sustainable creative economy” in the West End.
“According to the census, there are 45,000 people living in the West End, and 14 per cent of that population has careers in arts and culture,” says WE Arts co-founder and advocate John Hewson. “It’s the highest number of people in any city neighborhood in Vancouver.”
This weekend at Car Free Day, you’ll have an opportunity to talk to WE Arts members about your ideas. The group will have a booth outside King George Secondary on Denman, hosting their second annual Art Jam and (permits pending) the beginning brush strokes of a three-part mural on the wall of the school.
The Art Jam, running June 15 between noon and 5pm, will allow King George students, alumni, and the public to create their own original piece of art or write a story or poem to celebrate what they love about their school and living in the West End.
There will also be a speakers’ corner where area residents can sing a song, tell a story, or read a poem about the West End. There will be featured performers and a special guest, Edwin Coppard, who will be conducting a workshop on “Discovering your real voice”. Local children’s author Amber Marie Williams will be reading from her new book, Rinny Rinpoche.
The King George 100th Anniversary Reunion Committee will also be on site to give out information on its upcoming October celebrations and you’ll be able to register and get involved with both the reunion and the West End Memories Project (WestEndMemories.org).
Having received a Community & Neighbourhood Arts Development (CNAD) grant from the City, Hewson says the time is right to start building the organization, which hopes to one day be responsible for the
area’s art plan. If you can’t make Car Free Day, the arts group meets the second Monday of every month at Gordon Neighbourhood House at 7pm.
WE Arts also partnered with the City of Vancouver last year to help write four pages of the recently adopted 127-page community plan, gaining it some valuable insight. In the document, they explain that a five-year Cultural Strategy, building on the 2008 Culture Plan, is currently in development.
They also highlight their goals to advance the area’s cultural facility ecology (creative commercial spaces, use of public spaces, upgrades and improvements to exisitng facilities) and public art programs (community art initiatives, private development-artist commissions, mentors etc).
For more info, go to WEArts.ca or track them down on social media at Facebook.com/WEArtsVan and Facebook.com/KingGeorge100th.
