221A and City of Vancouver Open Howe Street Studios

Howe Street Studios, 1265 Howe Street. Interior facade: Set Pieces, 2019 by Germaine Koh, commissioned through the City of Vancouver's Private Sector Public Art requirement.

The following is excerpted from a communication issued by 221A.

221A and the City of Vancouver officially opened Howe Street Studios December 6 with a welcome by Debra Sparrow, Musqueam Weaver, Artist, and Knowledge Keeper; a press briefing with Mayor Kennedy Stewart; and, the launch of an artwork by Germaine Koh, Set Pieces, 2019, commissioned through the City's Private Sector Public Art requirement.

The vision of the facility is to support the re-emergence of material culture in Vancouver’s downtown core, focusing on artists and designers who have traditionally been disadvantaged through lack of access to public resources. The facility provides 10,800 square feet of studio space (roughly the size of a baseball diamond), which 221A operates through a cost-recovery model.

"As a recent graduate, having a studio in a place like Howe Street Studios, is all about the affordability of space” says Aileen Bahmanipour, Artist subtenant at Howe Street Studios. “Affordability not only in terms of the rent, but also what can I afford to the artists in that space, what can they afford me as an artist, and what can we afford to our culture and our city?”

The facility is owned and was developed by the City of Vancouver through its Community Amenity Contribution (CAC) program. Earlier this Fall, a Peer Assessment Committee was convened by 221A to assess tenancy applications on the basis of economic need, material suitability, as well as quality and contribution of the artistic work in the field and to the city.