Sunday. August 15, 1999 — North Shore News - 3 North Shore's Changing Cultural Landscape [ | British Properties _ a ~ | WEST VANCOUVER Bt recre rer ceri, a, Sehr ees c ws ey No North She _— a Hom page t lion dollars. ~_. There is no question that the North Shore's arts scene is on the verge of expansion. But who has the vision to sce this through? “All citizens of the North Shore will be best served by a col- | faborative effort of the three North Shore municipalities providing * feadership in the realization of cultural development objectives.” "Those words were contained in the North Shore Arts -Commission document entitled A Crleural Plan for the North Store, which also envisaged a “string of pearls” (facilities) across -the North Shore, The date was 1988, the year the commission was created to seive as an advisory board to the North Shore’s three muricipal governments. What’s happened since then? In December 1996 the District of West Vancouver withdrew completely from the arts commission. And the City of North Vancouver has dashed the commission’s hopes for the conversion of the Versatile shipyards property to a Granville Island-style arts community. In June the District of North Vancouver withdrew its support for a millennium festival, a major initiative of the arts com- mission. ‘ X-Files actor and commission chairraan Don S. Williams acknowledges the pressing need for a number of new facilities to servé the community. A mid-sized theatre, added exhibition space, utdoor. performance venues, artists’ studios and workshop space — “We can’t afford te be without any of those things but it needs to be coordinated so we don’t have great effort being put into one Barca of the North Shore,” says Williams. “We wish that it was a tri- municipal commission as it used to be and that we were working cooperatively,” While recognizing the need for facilities in Lower Lonsdale, Wiliams, a Blueridge resident, has also supported the community input process of the Seymour official community plan, contribut- — .ing several ideas for major art projects including 3 proposed arts campus, tc be located near Ice Sports North Shore and Ron Andrews recre‘tion centre, as well as a movie studio complex. Since West Van withdrew its support in °96, the arts commis- sion has scalé:d back its grand plans for an “arts and cultural village” in Lower Lonsdale. Williams says the commission’s current thrust “js ewo-fuid: gaining council’s support of an arts marker as part of ic. Versatile shipyards project, and spearheading the production of milienniunt festival of the arts in the summer of 2000, which : Williams sees as making, a significant economic impact on the com- munity. : But where is West Vancouver in al} this? _ In May, West Vancouver council defeated a motion to sct aside P “land in principle” for a privately funded multi-million-dollar arts centre proposed by Maggie Pappas and supporters of West Van's Arts Centre Trust. The trust is now reportedly working with the school board on 2 proposal for a combined arts centre/education- , al facility ar the school board’s Inglewood site. ~~ Council’s refusal to commit to the arts centre cannor be inter- preted as a lack of support for the arts, says Oksana Dexter, appointed in February as West Van's new cultural services superin- tendent, a newly created position, West Vancouver remains com- mitted to nurturing arts and culture within the community, says Dexter, pointing to council’s adoption in April of a new cultural policy for West Vancouver. But the policy doesn’t directly address the need for anew arts centre. Rather, it asserts that the district will “include an arts and heritage perspective in the planning of all municipal facilities and in the approval of all private develop- DON S. WILLIAMS... fob- bying for an art walk in Lower Lonsdale. OKSANA DEXTER... would tike te see a mid- size theatre in West Van. ments.” : Dexter sees as a priority for West Van the creation of a com- munity-based mid-size (250 to 350 seats) performance facility. “Where the facility is located will define the kind of facility that it becomes,” says Dexter. Public interest, site restrictions and com- munity partners all have a role to play in the type of development that emerges. While she concedes that West and North Vancouver seem to be operating on separate cultural agendas, she asserts chat what initia- tives are eventually realized need not be in conflict. “My gut fcel- ing is that if West Van built an arts centre, what would get built in Lower Lonsdale might be very different.” Linda Feil, executive director of the North Vancouver Community Arts Council welcomes the addition of a new perfor- mance facility on the North Shore. But she doesn’t agree with West Van's official view that it be made a priority. “The very first priority is a first-class art gallery,” says Feil, whose arts council is a non-profit grassroots organization that receives funding from the municipal and provincial governments as well as through membership and public donations. An arts centre, whether in Ambleside or Lower Lonsdale, would benefit the North Shore’s thriving community of artists who, says Feil, don’t recognize geographical boundaries. “Artists in North Vancouver work with artists in West Vancouver ... it only starts to break down when you bring the politics into it,” she says. Feil sees the Versatile site as “a natural” for the creation of an arts centre that brings several disciplines together. “There is some- thing to be gained from the strength you lend each other in an arts centre. It’s multi-purpose. It’sadraw.” —__. Bill MacDonald, managing director of the Artiste For Kids Trust, believe his organization could help anchor an arts centre but has different views on where it would best be located. He favours adding exhibition space to the Centennial Theatre site at 21st and Lonsdale. “We need a Class A gallery — yesterday,” says MacDonald, who defines a “world-class” gallery as a purpose-built, climate- controlled facility with proper storage and. fire protection that is built to preserve national treasures and able to attract major exhi- q A PARKGATE my jaan Ra NEWS graphic Norisa Ani Presentation House Art Cenire Seymoz Ait Gallery / Deep Cove Cultural Centro Silt Pu:sa Art Contre West Yancowver rts facilities bitions. He envisages an approximately 10,000-square-foot exhi- SBecConrSemewvs * bition space with three salons — one each for display of the Artists s For Kids coflection, major touring shows and emerging artists. Emerging and estabiished artists are already well served through the North Shore’s network of community galleries, says Ruth Payne, visual coordinator for the municpal-run Ferry Building Gallery at West Van's 15th Street pier. Critics need only look at the gallery’s current exhibition of 34 artists, both emerg- ing and established, featured as part of the community’s Harmony Arts Festival. The Silk Purse Arts Centre and West Vancouver Memorial Library are other venues that showcase emerging artists, as do North Vancouver's municipal halls. Like its Deep Cove counterpart, Seymour Art Gallery, the Ferry Building is a one- rocm gallery and Payne would like to see the space expanded. Like the arts commission’s Don S. Williams, Payne also believes that the vision for a world-class arts ccatre can only be realized throueh the cooperation of all three niunicipalities. “We have to start thinking more regionally. Perhaps our Y2K chinking has to be a little bit more global.” Lo The cultural initiative closest to being realized is North Vancouver Museum and Archives’ proposal for a new museum and science centre on the Versatile site. The proposal is for the muse- um to be housed in a preserved heritage structure known as the Machine Shop. Museum director Robin Inglis, working together with marine technology pioncer Phil Nuytten, hopes to receive council’s support for the project by the end of this year. Inglis sees the proposad muscum as a facility that would “activate the water- front,” ane that would “attract the sort of visitations you get at Science World. ; The Presentation House Gallery, a tenant with the museum and archives in Presentation House since about 1978, is also in need of a new facility. The gallery struggles with insufficient exhi- bition space, poor layout and minimal climate controls that force the gallery’s closure during the month of August due to unbear- able hear. . : Unlike the museum, however, the gallery has not had the resources to hire its own consultant and lobby for a specific site, says board member Bill Jeffries. Instead, the phoro-based gallery has made its needs known to Commonwealth, consultants hired by the City of North Vancouver to conduct a community facilities study for Lower Lonsdale . : : The study is looking at community needs, which may lead to the creation of a community gallery as well as. a new home for both . the Presentation House Theatre and Presentation House Gallery. While the North Shore’s various arts organizations fight for their. place on the North Shore’s:cultural landscape, the site where they scem most likely to meet may be cyber-space. — * Seymour activist Angela Trudeau is spearheading a project called Smart North Shore that may help the comnuunity to access $5 million of Industry Canada funding as part of a Canada-wide initiative called the Smart Community: program. The project involves the use of information and communication technologies such as the Internet in-order to enhance the community’s eco- nomic, social and cultural viabiliry. This September, Trudeau plans to bring together the North Shore’s various arts organizations to - seek their input. . . “What makes an Internet project different is that it isn’t tied to a place — so the efforts of artists and arts orgatiizations can be - merged, across the North Shore or anywhere in the world,” says Trudeau. “This project would have these people working togeth- er,” says Trudeau, “in a sharing and cooperative effort that’s real- ly wonderful.” :