For more than a decade, cities from around the world have been coming to
Toronto Artscape for advice on creating creative places. Though the not-for-profit responsible has been providing artist live-work spaces here since 1986, its Distillery Studios project—and more recently
Wychwood Barns and
Daniels Spectrum at Regent Park—have made it a go-to authority on how to inject arts and culture into enviable real-estate locations.
But with this month’s launch of
BC Artscape, the organization has established its first major foothold outside its city of origin. With $900,000 in start-up capital from the City of Vancouver, The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, Vancity Community Foundation and “unnamed sources,” BC Artscape will operate as an affiliate organization, with its own board and president, but with management assistance and support from Toronto Artscape.
Within the next year or so, BC Artscape will launch one of six or seven possible inaugural projects somewhere in BC. Although the details are still tentative (and otherwise under wraps), the project is expected to be bigger than 30,000 square feet, establishing a hub of arts and creativity for its environs and generating revenue for Artscape.
CEO Tim Jones says the Artscape model, which uses partnership and innovative financing to make artsy spots viable, exports well. Just as each Toronto project adapts to the needs of its neighbourhood, BC Artscape will adapt to serve its own communities out west.
“We try to be incredibly sensitive to the local situation in every project we take on,” says Jones. “Here in Toronto, whether we’re working on Toronto Island or Regent Park, those communities have their own pulses and cultural distinctiveness. Obviously the real estate market in Vancouver especially is a huge challenge. Creating space for specific activities is a big issue. It’s a very expensive city to live in, so the artist live-work experience we have will be especially important out there,” says Jones.
Artscape had been working with the City of Vancouver for seven or eight years, helping it develop priorities for its culture plan. When large-scale projects weren’t emerging there, Artscape decided it might be able to play a more active role.
Launching the BC affiliate has also made Artscape think about how it operates here in Toronto. “We’ve been forced to focus on our role and document it, helping improve our process and the methodology,” says Jones. Rather than launching solely in Vancouver, the West Coast affiliate has embraced a broader a provincial focus, signaling Artscape’s own growing ambitions.
“Looking at our expansion plans in BC, we realized Artscape in Toronto can and should be playing a more regional role,” he says.
Writer: Paul Gallant
Source: Tim Jones