The Community Arts Council of Vancouver is holding a series of events to celebrate the Past, Present and Future of Community Arts in Vancouver. 

As a part of this program, they have conducted a short survey on the state of the community arts in Vancouver today.  

You are invited to hear noted architect Bing Thom describe and discuss the stunning new proposal for a 1,950 seat underground concert hall, a 450-seat  small theatre and approximately 35,000 sq. ft. of unallocated (possibly exhibition) space for the Vancouver Concert Hall and Theatre Society.

This project , planned for the Vancouver Art Gallery site and dependent on the Gallery relocation, will bring music, dance, dialogue and theatre to the heart of the city.

Q and A.   Everyone welcome

In the Fall of 2009, Cultural Services launched a regulatory review on Live Performance Venues.

I have a confession to make -- I love watching and following hockey.

I’ve watched most of the games played by the Vancouver Canucks, usually on TV, since I can’t really afford to see live games.  I suspect that I’m not alone.  My kids often join me in my hockey obsession. 

We will soon learn what the provincial government has in mind for the $10 Million “new money” for the arts and culture that was announced on Budget Day early in the spring.

Vancouver Not Vegas! Come to a Public Forum on the proposed Edgewater Casino expansion at the Chinese Cultural Centre (50 East Pender St.) on Wednesday, February 9 from 7 to 10 p.m.

This is a chance for you to make your feelings known about the proposed Edgewater mega-casino planned for downtown Vancouver. (Next to BC Place Stadium in Northeast False Creek.) 

There's still room at SHAPE's free panel discussion on the Art of Safety on May 4th from 3pm-5pm at the New Revue Stage on Granville Island. The panel is followed by a wine and cheese reception catered by Les Amis Fromage. RSVP by emailing rsvp@shape.bc.ca and noting Arts Reception in the subject heading. Safety is more important than ever.

The North Van Urban Forum presents an evening with Nancy Kirkpatrick, director of the North Vancouver Museum and Archives, for a conversation about the Museum’s possible move to a new venue.

Join in the third installment in their Community Conversations Series, as Ms. Kirkpatrick, speaking to against a backdrop of large-scale architectural drawings, leads this exciting evening discussion, sharing the Museum and Archives’ progress in assessing a possible move from their current home in the Presentation House, to a new location at the Lower Lonsdale waterfront.

Like many people who live in Metro Vancouver, I have been a fan of the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company. I love theatre; ergo, I love all theatre companies. But I am glad that the Playhouse has folded. I just hope the money that once supported it is fairly invested elsewhere in the local theatre community.

I hugely admire Max Reimer and his board for the tireless and brave effort they put into making the best of an impossible situation. I fault the funders, not the company.

Between October 2011 and June 2013, several prominent artists and educators will share their experiences and address the topic "Arts Matter" as part of the Arts Matter Lecture Series presented by Langley Fine Arts School, SFU’s Faculty of Education and Research for Youth, Music and Education,

The Series opens with an address by noted educator Sir Ken Robinson on October 14. Sir Ken is an internationally recognized leader in the development of education, creativity and innovation.

Simon Brault, Canada Council vice-chair, CEO of the National Theatre School, and the author of No Culture, No Future, will give a talk in Vancouver at 5 p.m. on Sunday, March 6 in the Birmingham Studio at the Scotiabank Dance Centre.

Mr. Brault will be joined in a panel discussion by Max Wyman and Amir Ali Alibhai. Alliance president and Museum of Vancouver CEO Nancy Noble will moderate an open forum following the panel's discussion.

"The artists may have turned on the lights, but nobody likes what they see," said Alliance for Arts and Culture executive director Amir Ali Alibhai in response to PavCo chairman David Podmore's accusation that arts organizations are behind the public opposition to the Edgwater Casino expansion.

"Mr. Podmore tells us that we are uninformed," said Mr. Alibhai, "but it is he and his business associates who have kept us uniniformed, and now they are resorting to damning us with unsubstantiated inuendos."

The City of Vancouver’s Cultural Services is looking for members of the creative community to participate in one of many upcoming cultural grant assessment committee meetings.

Committee members will have expertise in one or more of the following areas: theatre, dance, music, festivals, visual arts, media arts, literary arts, Aboriginal arts and culture, community arts, cultural administration, and cultural facilities.

W2 (112 West Hastings) will present the live stream of an address by Lawrence Lessig, the foundational voice of the free culture movement,  from the Berkman Centre at Harvard on Thursday, February 25, 2010 from 3 to 4:30 pm PST.

Admission at W2 is free.

By Sandy Garossino, in the Vancouver Observer | Posted Jan. 24, 2013

Philosophers’ Cafe: The Arts - Frill or Necessity? Alliance for Arts and Culture executive director Amir Ali Alibhai will take part in a discussion on whether our tax dollars should support the arts and, if so, by how much? The evening will be moderated by Vancouver artist Pnina Granirer, co-founder of Artists In Our Midst.

Date: Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Venue: Byng Arts Mini-School at 3939 West 16^th (enter on Crown St.)
Time: 7:30 to 9 p.m.
Admission: $5