Keep Artists In: Cultural Land Trust

Statement Watch

Thank you, Mayor and Council. I'm in support of this motion. My name is Brian McBay. I am one of the City of Vancouver Arts and Culture Committee appointees, as well as a member of the BC Arts Council, former trustee with the National Gallery of Canada. I'm a co-founder of 221A, and we operate over 140,000 square feet of affordable artists, studios, housing, and cultural facilities. For more than 20 years, we've been asking this one practical question. How do we keep the arts in Vancouver? We're a homegrown solution to this art space crisis we find ourselves in, and we continue to work very closely with the city. Three of the facilities that we operate are in partnership with the city of Vancouver, which we deeply appreciate. But we also know the city can't do this alone. The infrastructure deficit has grown too large. And so over the last eight years, we've been researching a collaborative succession model for the work that we've been doing. We need the scale and complexity of investment for the city of Vancouver. So we found the Cultural Land Trust as one practical answer. Just last week, senior governments have been investing in arts and culture across the country. across Canada. Contemporary Calgary received a $40 million federal capital grant through the Carney government. The question is whether Vancouver has the right investment vehicle to attract and recycle this capital. These funds are typically geared towards large-scale investment, and small and medium-sized nonprofit organizations are unable to access these funds. So the Cultural Land Trust is being used in 15 cities across the world, as mentioned, London, but also Sydney and Calgary and Austin. This responds to affordability crisis, but also drives strategic investment so that it's held within the private real estate market as well as collaborating with government. For us, we see it as a permanent platform for community control, enabling arts organizations to access these opportunities that otherwise remain out of reach. We have some momentum. Last month, a private donor entrusted us with a $2.7 million asset. We welcome the opportunity to work and contribute with the city on governance and planning, which this motion is really about. We are hoping that this motion is ultimately about the city trying to unlock and leverage more investment from senior government and philanthropy than the city can achieve on its own.

Statement Watch

Good afternoon. Thanks for having me. My name is Jesse McKee, and I'm head of strategy at 221A, where I've been building the institution for the past 11 years of my career alongside colleagues like Brian and others who will speak today. As Brian mentioned, we're a nonprofit arts organization located in a city-owned facility at 825 Pacific. I live in Vancouver's West End, and I'm here in support of Motion 7. Brian spoke to the capital architecture. I want to speak to what this framework makes possible for artists and to what other cities have already figured out. I also work a lot outside of our city. I co-founded a digital studio in Paris that works with leading cultural institutions and fashion brands in Europe. What strikes me every time I come home is not that Vancouver lacks talent. I live here because the artist community is so rich and vital to my life. What's different is that other cities built institutions to hold on to their talent, and we haven't yet. The Creative Land Trust in London was founded in 2019 by the Mayor of London, Arts Council England, and a private foundation. It since has bought a 33,000 square foot used building in Hackney Wick and secured two more. Seattle chartered the Cultural Space Agency. San Francisco has CAST. This motion names those solid precedents in other cities living through an even harsher financial reality than Vancouver. I'm a curator by training. To curate means to care for the artwork. From Latin's curare, which means to take care of. In ancient Rome, a curator was essentially a civil servant responsible for caring for public goods, like aqueducts, while medieval church curates were responsible for caring for souls. Tutu and A's mission is to care for the artists themselves so that they can keep creating and making what contributes to our lives and makes them more livable here. Every year I watch what precarity costs artists. An artist spends a decade building a practice and an audience here and can lose that traction in a month's time with the foreclosure of a cultural space. This is not a market outcome anyone chose. It's the absence of an institution. Last month, a private donor left 221A a home on the city's west side, a $2.77 million asset. It's now the first cultural land trust property in Canada, and that happened because someone believed this institution would still be here in 50 years. That's what permanence buys, and it's what you can't buy with a grant. Motion 7 asks for very little. A staff report by Q1 next year, two letters from the mayor. In May 2024, this council voted unanimously to direct staff to report back to the city how they can support an independent cultural land trust. That working group has now reported back. It's motion nine today. Motion seven is simply the follow through on the work you already started. The federal and provincial interest named in this motion is real. I'm doing an interview with Radio Canada on Friday. The letters in clause B cost nothing and may unlock a great deal. Thank you. Please support motion seven. Thank you. Thank you, Jesse.

Statement Watch

Hello. My name is Teresa Frizzle. I live in Vancouver. I've been the owner of Rath Arts Supplies at 8th and Main for the past eight years. I support the motion to establish a cultural land trust in Vancouver. Rath Arts Supplies has a 38-year history and has served Vancouver's arts community for the past 21 years. We survived COVID and five years of SkyTrain construction by taking on debt to keep our doors open. Now we face a new threat. The owner of our building has passed away, and our building may be sold. This is the WASC building, the triangle building at Main and Kingsway. We're afraid we'll be priced out of our location or evicted, and it's not just my business at risk. The entire upstairs is home to several artist studios and the CSA Space Gallery. There are 20-year-plus tenants in the building, including Gene Cafe, Budgie's Burritos, and Pulp Fiction Bookstore. At Rath, I talk to artists every day, all day long. We serve thousands of artists, teachers, and students, and I hear the same story over and over. Artists have already lost studios and homes or are at risk of losing them. They talk about leaving the city, especially as they age, because they can no longer afford to stay. I have those thoughts as well. I'm 55. I have my own future to think about. Will I have to leave Vancouver to survive into retirement? I've spent nearly a decade keeping this business alive, but it's getting more challenging every year, and it is not contributing to my retirement. And if I go, there's a very good chance the store doesn't survive. And I can think of dozens of art supply stores, retailers, manufacturers, and distributors that have closed since 2020. And I'm trying really hard to stay off that list. In a Globe and Mail article published this May, the City of Vancouver's Arts and Culture Working Group submitted to Vancouver City Council the following statement. Vancouver's 37,000-plus jobs in arts and culture are at urgent risk. They go on to highlight that Vancouver has the highest population of artists and cultural workers in the country, yet the industry continues to grapple with a lack of funding, housing affordability, and the loss of space and talent. Artists need spaces to live and work, to show and sell their work, to source materials, and to access knowledge and skills. At Rath Art Supplies, we provide custom services, hard-to-find items to artists all over the province and across Canada. But we're more than an art supply store. We donate to arts and culture organizations. We provide a free display space every month. We connect artists to each other, to exhibition opportunities, and to resources all over the city. We're an important hub for Vancouver's creative population. I encourage you to support the motion to fund a cultural land trust in Vancouver. If we want artists to stay, we need to protect the places that allow them to make a living. This motion gives me hope that there may be a way to protect creative places like ours before they're gone forever. Thank you.

Statement Watch

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. My name is Chloe Leslie. I'm a Vancouver resident, and I'm speaking today in support of this motion. I've had the really sincere privilege of speaking to artists across every discipline lately. That includes musicians, visual artists, actors, dancers, photographers, and cultural orgs. And despite how different all of their work is, one thing they shared has been really consistent, and that's that they don't have enough space to create. They've noted that studios have closed, rehearsal spaces have disappeared, affordable workshops have become luxury developments, and these artists aren't leaving because they're running out of ideas. They're leaving because they've run out of space. Since the 2010s, Vancouver has lost more than 400,000 square feet of artist studio space, and I really think that should concern all of us. I'm 32 years old, and I have regular conversations with people around why they want to live here and if they're going to be able to continue to live here. And in every single one of those conversations, people talk about why they love Vancouver. And it's the live music, it's the DIY venues, it's the theater, it's the creative energy, and it's the incredible talent that makes the city feel alive. I want young people to feel confident that their mayor and council are committed to protecting that. I want them to know how council understands that arts and culture are not an afterthought. They're a key reason why people choose to build their lives here. Vancouver is full of extraordinary talent. I'm sure you all know that. And there's so much creativity and people who want to contribute to the city's cultural life. But talent alone is not enough. Creativity needs somewhere to exist. It needs rehearsal rooms, jam spaces, studios, workshops, galleries, and places where these ideas can be tested, shared, and brought to life. I believe it's Council's responsibility to ensure artists have what they need to thrive. Because these are the people who create the music we love, the murals we admire, the performances we attend, and help build the creative neighborhoods that people from all around the world come here to visit. This motion gives us the opportunity to think beyond temporary grants and short-term leases. It asks to explore a permanent solution, protecting cultural spaces that remain affordable for generations to come. I don't think this is a radical idea. I think it's a really practical one. Cities like London, San Francisco, Helsinki have shown that permanently protecting cultural space is possible. And here in Vancouver, these lovely folks at 221A have done this groundwork. I think the opportunity is here. What we need now is political will. If we continue allowing artists to be displaced every time land value is increased, we shouldn't be surprised when Vancouver becomes less vibrant. To conclude, I don't think culture happens by accident. It happens when people have space to create. Let's make sure the next generation of artists can build their future here instead of being forced to build it somewhere else. I encourage you to support this motion. Thank you.

Statement Watch

Yeah, my name is Carlin Jackson. I know quite a few of you on the council. I've worked with a few councillors. I am a world-renowned sports and human rights artist from Vancouver, and I am one of the artists that Sean speaks of that's leaving the city. And I am in favor of this cultural land trust, and I'm going to elucidate four different departments of the government that I feel as though have let artists down, specific to some projects that I was a part of. My work is currently inside the Perez Art Museum. It's in Miami. It's one of the top ten museums in North America. I'm being shown alongside Basquiat, Monet, Picasso. I created four pieces in collaboration with Pele's family, which are our own local Thomas Muller and Gilberto Silva, who all won World Cups or participated in. And these were the pieces I did for this museum exhibit. The BC Arts Council, which is peer-reviewed. did not give me a grant for this. It cost me $25,000 to produce videos and works for this exhibit. The grant was for $15,000, and peer review is insane to me in 2026. And the rationale for denying the grant was that basically the reviewers didn't understand the impact I'm making in the sports art world. So that's one. Number two, many of you are aware that you voted on Sunset Beach Court, which is close in my neighborhood. around the corner from English Bay. There's a current makeshift court that is lined with concrete barriers that is not safe for kids to play, not accessible for disabled people. It has safety issues. It needs to be redone. Two years ago, I started on this road because youth in my community came up to me who are refugees and immigrants from around the world to play street soccer every Monday. And they said the city is going to get rid of this court. It was there were like three plans, two or three were going to get rid of the court. And they came to me and asked for my help. I had just had spine surgery. I'm actually now disabled with a spine injury. I work full time. People don't know this. I don't share this routinely. But I right after spine surgery, even though I wasn't allowed to, I went to parks board and I gave a hell of a speech. Unanimous. Yes. In the in the series of that, though. there's an indigenous artist who's right next to the court who's working right next and the parks board tried to use falsified information pertaining to her um artwork and timeline to try and prevent my court from the disabled arts going forward so that's the first thing and i had that in email writing um the second thing i know the city council voted for sixty thousand dollars for this court this court has been um MST is fully in favor because my land acknowledgement is actually a physical land acknowledgement for the piece where three artists from MST actually design a two-foot border to go around the court. So when you step on it, you're actually acknowledging you're on the unceded territory of the Musqueam, TTsleil-Waututh, and Spomish peoples. I mean, it checks every box. And I just found out that Ken Sims gives $5 million to extend Granville Street beyond the World Cup, but we didn't have 800 grand for this court, which is insane to me because we just closed the aqueducts that are 100 feet from the court. That's the second thing. The third thing, the mural program. I was told that proposals commemorating specific public figures or high-profile athletes, particularly when they are clearly associated with major international events, are not prioritized. So essentially, or what do you call it? They're cautious. The city is cautious. Thanks, Carly, and that's your time.

Statement Watch

Hi. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. My name is Michelle Fu, and I am co-founder of 221A, where I spend my days inside the leases and rent rolls that keep artists in these cities. I'm also a designer, an arts administrator, and a mother. And it's from these three spaces that I speak to you. When we talk about artist spaces, I think it's easy to picture a lone painter in a studio and to imagine that that is what is at stake. But that's not what I see as a cultural space operator. What I see is how far a single space reaches. These spaces aren't just where an artist works. It's where the classes for seniors are, where your kids go after school and learn how to create and explore, where performances rehearse enough times to finally become a real play we can all attend. Artists create for the whole city. So when a space disappears, it isn't one person that loses it. And spaces do disappear. At 221A, we steward roughly 140,000 square feet across nine properties. We serve around 1,250 artists. And none of these spaces we own. They are all leased. This means that every few years, I get to sit across from a private landlord, negotiate specifically for our tenants' survival, and then I'm the one that goes back to deliver the hard news, which is inevitably the rents rise for the artists, and they have to go back and do the math if they can stay. Some find a way to stay, but more and more leave the city. And every time an artist leaves, we see the work and the programs that they share with us Everything they steward, it goes with them, and we all end up feeling the loss. This isn't the failure of a single landlord. This is a failure of structure. We ask cultural organizations to compete in a speculative land market with no capital position of their own, and we're surprised when they lose. But it's simple, and we know this. We can't lease our way to permanence, so we need to invest in a better structure. The Cultural Land Trust isn't about a temporary subsidy, as it's been said before. It's not a gap. It's not a gap filler. It's not a grant program. It's not a Band-Aid. It is about permanence. I've had the privilege of speaking to cultural land trust operators from these cities like Helsinki, San Francisco, and it's clear. We agree that ownership is the one form of affordability that doesn't expire. It's the form that lasts generations. I've spent 20 years buying artists a little more time, one lease at a time, one, two, five years at a time. I'd like to spend the next 20 years helping build something that finally lasts, not just for the artists, but for my kid who will be here, and I want them to see the city I grew up in, and for all of us who... partake in these programs who want to see our grandmothers, our daughters, our sisters, and our friends together in spaces and watching plays and watching movies. I respectfully ask for you to support this motion. Thank you.

Statement Watch

Great. Good afternoon, mayor and council and everyone joining us today. Really grateful for your time. Just want to raise my hand in local custom of gratitude for everyone's great words on this really important issue. I'm here to speak to something a little bit more drier, focusing on the economic case. for creating a cultural land trust in Vancouver. First, cultural space is more than just infrastructure. It's an economic driver. Permanently affordable studios, rehearsal rooms, galleries, and small cultural venues are essential inputs for a thriving creative economy, one that produces jobs, entrepreneurship, and tourism. A cultural land trust is a long-term investment in this economic activity and beyond. Second, a cultural land trust multiplies investment, creating an arms-like entity that stewards property for cultural uses, turns a city's contribution into a fulcrum that meaningfully leverages provincial and federal capital, philanthropic and private partnerships. Third, a cultural land trust creates measurable economic spillover. Secure, affordable cultural space generates construction and renovation work. It sustains local spending by audiences and artists. It relates new business ventures, such as studios, makers, suppliers, and, again, increases tourism. Those activities broaden the tax base and support jobs across multiple sectors. Fourth, a portfolio approach reduces fiscal risk. Rather than funding isolated projects that are more vulnerable to market pressures, a trust can spread costs across a diversified asset base. It can better plan, and it can reduce the need for repeated short-term operating subsidies. This fiscal prudence means better stewardship of taxpayer dollars. Fifth, permanence encourages investment and growth. When arts organizations and creative entrepreneurs can plan with confidence, And if their spaces will not be lost to speculation, we invest more in programming, in workforce development, and in local partnerships that generate ongoing economic returns for the city. Finally, this motion is appropriately scaled, reasonable, and practical. It asks staff to report back on an internationally proven framework with domestic support, so that the costs, risks, and benefits are before council to make an informed decision. It also asks the mayor to convene government leadership on a shared priority. These relational, responsible, and evidence-based next steps will allow Vancouver to examine and shape an opportunity capable of unlocking outside capital and increasing in a resilient, diversified Vancouver economy. I respectfully urge Council to approve this motion and to signal that the City of Vancouver is striving to build a more prosperous and more creative Vancouver. That's it, Scott. Thank you all.

Statement Watch

uh... perfect thank you are good afternoon mind that the boss i don't live in vancouver i do live in new westminster though uh... i do support the cultural and trust motion seven i'm gonna be looking at this issue to issue through uh... to very different lenses today uh... professionally i work in commercial property management handling the security and life safety areas and major downtown complex uh... but personally i also play in a couple of local music groups and I have here for the last fifteen or sixteen years. I live in both of these two worlds which means I see exactly why our city's cultural spaces are dying. I know the math behind commercial real estate in the city and I know exactly what it costs to keep an independent arts venue alive. Right now those two realities are fundamentally and mathematically incompatible. You've likely heard from dozens of artists asking for temporary subsidies or grants or zoning tweaks, minor or major. But with all due respect, from a property management perspective, those are just band-aids on pretty much a severed limb. The only structurally found way to keep venues open in Vancouver is the Cultural Land Trust. This isn't exactly a plea for charity. It's a... infrastructure solution a permanent solution we have to remove these physical spaces from the speculative real estate market if we don't the independent venue will always and inevitably lose to a condo developer or some sort of retail chain i also want to address this from a public safety perspective because this is what i do for a living right now I'm sure council talks a lot about neighborhood safety. So what happens when artist venues or establishments close? The neighborhood essentially goes dark. So active, well-managed cultural spaces keep eyes in the street. They keep foot traffic moving. They keep communities engaged, oftentimes very late into the night. So when you let venues get bought out and or boarded up, you create dead zones. and deactivating a neighborhood is a security liability, and funding the land trust is a proactive investment for community safety. Vancouver loves to call itself a world-class city, I'm sure, but you cannot build a global art scene if you pave over the entire grassroots ecosystem. When venues disappear, artists face a pretty simple choice, either give up or relocate, and oftentimes it's out of the lower mainland entirely. The math is clear, I see. The safety benefits are clear, I see. I urge you to support the Cultural Land Trust and invest in the infrastructure. Thanks for your time.

Statement Watch

Hi there. Thanks to the committee. I'm an arts operator and member of the city's arts... and culture advisory committee and i'm speaking in support of this motion because it addresses an ongoing permanent loss of cultural infrastructure in the city spaces that house artists and small cultural operators are regularly redeveloped or priced out and the market as it exists doesn't replace the loss of these spaces it accelerates that loss and art spaces are disappearing and once they're gone they typically don't come back cultural land trusts can be a structural answer to that problem. It takes spaces permanently off the speculative market. and holds them for cultural use in perpetuity so not just for a grant cycle or the term of a below market lease that then gets renegotiated when a building sells but on an ongoing basis and this motion is compelling because conditions for its success are already there federal and provincial governments have both expressed interest in participating uh looks like there's philanthropic capital 221a has already done all of this feasibility work and the model is uh showed to work in other cities the pieces are all there just what's missing is a council signal that vancouver wants to make this happen this motion provides that signal and it directs staff to bring back a real framework so vancouver has an opportunity here to act on a basically ready program aligned government interest private capital an organization that has the experience to drive the success of a cultural land trust I'd encourage council to move on it decisively. So thanks a lot. Thank you.

Statement Watch

Hi, so I'm Keegan. I'm a resident of Vancouver, and I'm in favor of this motion for cultural land trust. I want to say that there's a lot of romantic notions about the production of art and culture and the ideas of what an artist does, but fundamentally the production of art depends on material conditions. Art, like any other profession, is a kind of labor, and that labor needs to be economically viable no matter how dedicated someone is to the medium. This is a practical solution to the problem of disappearing cultural spaces that we've seen so much in the city. If we only value what developers value, every live music venue, an artist studio, or any space of cultural production in our city will continue to become unaffordable housing, hotels, and retail spaces that only businesses like a shop or a drug market can afford to occupy. There's a lot of focus on development in our city with the Broadway plan and such, and if we want to develop in our city, let's make sure that we do so in a way that actually makes it more livable, more enjoyable, and in a way that benefits people and not just corporations. Cultural land trusts will create opportunities and enrichment that will reverberate throughout our city. It will make our production viable by ensuring the value of artists' labor is returned to them instead of landlords who only extract. Thank you.

Statement Watch

Good afternoon, Council. My name is Natasha Henriksen, and I am here to speak in support of this motion. My motivation for speaking comes from personal experience. Growing up in both Canada and Finland has given me the opportunity to reflect on aspects of Helsinki that I believe would be beneficial for Vancouver. One of these examples would be to follow Helsinki's lead and implement a cultural land trust. Helsinki was an early adopter of this model, and time has proven its success. One of the sites I have visited many times is called the Cable Factory. As you can probably guess, it's an old industrial space that has been transformed into Finland's largest cultural sector. You can find museums, theaters, galleries, dance halls, and plenty of space for independent artists. It's world-renowned, self-sustaining, and serves as a pillar for arts education. This is just one example, of course, and the scale could look completely different in Vancouver, but the importance and the impact remains the same, and that is to create a sense of permanency for artists. Furthermore, implementing a cultural land trust would be an easy win for Vancouver, as there is already support for this model from the provincial and federal government. Additionally, Vancouver would be adding its name to the growing list of cities. who champion cultural land trusts, such as Austin, San Francisco, and Melbourne. Another point I would really like to emphasize is that this is not just a smart move for the city, but an important investment in our local artists, many of whom are being pushed out due to high costs and lack of space. We can't expect the art scene in Vancouver to flourish in a one-sided relationship. For our artists, temporary spaces and platitudes are simply not enough. Thank you for your time and your consideration, and I encourage everyone to support this motion.

Statement Watch

Hi. Thanks for having me today. Yeah, my name is Jess Stanley, and I'm a local artist who has called Vancouver home for the last 16 years. I'm calling to show my support for a cultural land trust. So I moved to Vancouver in search of more creative opportunities, something that was lacking in the North at the time. In my time here, I have found and am part of an incredibly creative, diverse, and stellar art community. Our community here rocks. It's also incredibly resilient. We always find a way to keep creating, even when the cards, or in this case, the city, are stacked against us. I'm struggling, and I know that many others are too. Over the years, it's gotten harder and harder to be an artist here. Studios, galleries, event spaces are shut down, and there are fewer and fewer opportunities for emerging and established artists. It's hard to keep our heads above water. We need support and stability, but instead, we are being priced out. Arts and culture breathe life into cities. By implementing a cultural land trust, you build a foundation for creativity and expression. You create opportunities for all artists. You create safe and necessary cultural spaces that aren't at risk of shutting down. Stable foundations bring communities together and give them space to thrive. Accessibility and representation matters. So as one struggling artist in a sea of many, I implore you to consider implementing a cultural land trust here in Vancouver. It's a win-win.

Statement Watch

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. With respect to the protocols of the Squamish, Musqueam, and the TTsleil-Waututh, I'd like to take this moment to respect that protocol and introduce myself before my time starts in this city of reconciliation. Thank you for stopping the time. My name is Vanessa Richards. My parents came from Trinidad and Tobago and Austria. Vienna, Austria, the impacts of war and colonialism in these territories. Thank you. I asked you to stop the time so I could do a protocol in this city of reconciliation. Thank you very much for respecting the protocol of this city. my parents arrived in this place to these territories and these territories and the people of these territories welcomed them. And my hope for my comments today in support of this motion as a person born in this territory is that my words might go somewhere towards helping us make an advance towards reconciliation. And at this point, thank you very much. You can start my time now. I'd like to introduce myself formally to some of the people I've never met, like Councillor Montague, the gentleman beside you, or Councillor Claussen. For more than two decades, I have worked alongside the City of Vancouver across success. of councils and administrations to strengthen our cultural life. As a founding board director of the Hogan's Alley Society, I helped advance the transformation of our civic memory through the redress reflected in the Northeast Falls Creek Plan. I later served as a co-chair for the Northeast Falls Creek Knowledge Gathering Initiative. I've advised on the Vancouver 125 celebrations, helped establish the city's Black History Month Citizens Advisory. I've served on numerous city grant assessment committees and until May, I worked with ACCS delivering communities and artists shifting culture grants. These experiences have given me a remarkable view of Vancouver's artists and cultural organizations and a clear view of how stretched our cultural infrastructure has become. Like many artists, cultural workers, and citizens, I have been negatively impacted by the city's recent zero means zero budget choices. Yet I stand before you today not to revisit your decisions, but because I remain deeply committed to what this council's leadership could still accomplish. in teamwork alongside organizations such as 221A, the Eastside Arts Society, and others. Thank you, Mark, for that message now on my phone. The local groundwork has already been laid through years of advocacy, planning, and community expertise. Thank you. And the global model is working and I've experienced it. You know, when you go to travel and you visit the other cultural centers that cities have invested in? Yes, I've seen them working and so have you. So now is the time to get this show on the road and strengthen the entire ecosystem that allows a healthy society to flourish. We benefit residents and visitors alike by building the conditions for people to encounter our timeless... and uniquely human need for the arts, creativity, and collective experience. The city has shown it can find millions of dollars to activate public space for a single summer. Imagine that same commitment directed towards creating the conditions for arts, culture, and public space to thrive year after year. I ask you to trust and empower your arts, culture, and community services staff. Trust and empower the expertise within the arts sector and trust and empower the ideas and people with vision and capacity to do this work well. I encourage council to support the motion before you by formally inviting provincial and federal partnership in establishing an arm's length cultural land trust for Vancouver. The future of Vancouver's cultural infrastructure is not one destination or precinct. It is a constellation, including the constellation of stories we tell ourselves of the kind of leadership and teamwork that can rewrite a future for the arts in Vancouver. Thank you for hearing me.

Statement Watch

Thank you. My name's Kathleen. I live and work in Vancouver, and I'm speaking in favor of the motion to create a land trust for artists here. I've worked in the film and television industry in Vancouver for almost 10 years. I'm an animator, and I work alongside many artists. Painters, animators, comic book makers, game developers, writers, you name it. Most of us come here to Vancouver to join the arts and culture scene that was here and still is, but it's hollowing out. This is something myself and my artist friends have spoken about increasingly as the years go by. I can think of places along Main Street, for example, that used to have studios where local artists could split the rent and create their work, but a lot of these places don't exist anymore. As has been mentioned by other people here, artists need a place to create, and my hope is that this land trust can provide that. I can think of a place in Vancouver that is still doing this fairly well, and that's Granville Island. It provides discounted rentals for artists, and as a result, it is one of the most interesting and eclectic spaces to walk through, not to mention a massive tourist draw. Artists make Vancouver colourful and a desirable place to be, but they're leaving. I'm in support of any measure that can keep us here and to take the intense financial pressure off of us and especially new, younger artists so that they can do what they want to do, so they can actually create and be contributing to making this city a great place to be. Thank you for your time.

Statement Watch

Thank you. Hi, I'm Joseph Haag, and I live in Vancouver, and I support the motion number seven of Sean Orr's Cultural Land Trust. I'm a multimedia artist and musician with a studio in the Triangle Building. at the junction of Main and Kingsway Streets in Old Mountain Pleasant Village. I've had this studio for 25 years. The triangle formed by this intersection is referred to as the heart of Mount Pleasant heritage. The northern triangulated building was built in 1947 by Ben Wask and designed in the unique streamlined art modern style. This design incorporated vitreolite exterior skin of pigmented structural glass along with stainless steel windows, frames, and doors. While the street level supported commercial storefronts during the 50s up to the 70s, the upper floor was occupied by community groups such as industrial workers associations, credit unions, and at one time the Canadian Jewish Outlook magazine. In the early 80s, the building was sold to the Wilkes family. Since then, the upper floor has been predominantly occupied by artists and cultural groups. in the 90s public dreams was located there and currently the csa gallery and a ubc student literary group are occupants the lower street levels houses jeans cafe at the point a couple of vintage clothing and collectibles outlets wrath art supply also included is a noteworthy pulp fiction bookstore along with budgie's vegetarian burrito outlet The creative juices of this area are and have been manifest over the years by the gathering of neighborhood residents, co-mingling with local artists, including the artists in triangle building studios. The vibes grow and permeate the spirit and creativity in this area. Coffee clashes gather on daily basis on a sidewalk beside Gene's Cafe and have done so for years. Artists with various levels of recognition and involvement in every medium gather there. These include internationally recognized artists such as Aboriginal visual performer Lawrence Paul, Paul Wong, a film and media artist, and Governor General Award recipients Glenn Altine and Eric Metcalf. Hank Bull of the Western Front gathered frequently on the sidewalk and visited the upper studios. Noted literary artist Colin Brown occupies a studio upstairs. The cultural community of Vancouver has benefited over six years by the Wask and Wilkes family support of cultural activities in their building. The result has led to creation of a current artist and cultural hub at the meeting point of Kingsway in Maine. It seems to me that the heart of Mount Pleasant Heritage creative spirit is located right there. in the triangle building. It looks like this building would be a prime recipient of how the city of Vancouver could benefit by supporting Sean Orr's motion number seven to pursue a cultural land trust. Thank you.

Statement Watch

Hello, I'm Abelardo Mayoral, a Vancouver resident from the Kitsilano neighborhood and Vancouver business owner of the Invisible Orange, a live music production and promotion company based in Vancouver, producing over 120 events a year now, 80% in Vancouver still, and hopefully we can still do more here. I'm here to support the motion to create a cultural land trust for Vancouver. This motion is looking at the long-term conservation of the soul of Vancouver. This is a defining but also a protection motion. I see this motion as necessary not only to transform Vancouver, not to transform Vancouver into something new, but to conserve the aspects of the Vancouver that we love. Many of us have had the privilege to travel to cities around the world, and we see things like the views and the food scene, things like that, but things that stick out... many times is the culture, the people, the vibes that we see. That's the heart of what we are trying to conserve. So a cultural land trust will give us assurance on the sustainability of the arts and culture scene, which is threatened these days by real estate affordability. As a producer of live music events in the city for nearly 20 years, I have seen many spaces disappear as was quantified by the motion. Well, I see a few new ones that try to come up later on and really struggle to take off. mostly of the new spaces are actually, like, revamps of previously existing spaces. Net new, I really, like, look back, and I see a lot less spaces. Let's say in Kitsilano, where I live, I remember having more spaces in West Broadway, West 4th, down you. Now, I don't know, we have the Hollywood Theater as a venue concert, which is protected just by legislation. It's like... It was just because it had to stay there, not because of a business decision. I support this motion in its form as well. Directing the staff to establish the framework for an arm's length nonprofit with adequate policies, frameworks, and operational model is thinking long term to protect the soul of the city in a responsible manner. So please approve motion number seven. to create a cultural land trust in Vancouver. Thank you.

Statement Watch

Hello, Council. My name is Solomon E. Kieran. I'm speaking in favor of this motion today because every year, so many young artists move to Vancouver, only to be let down by a city that prices artists out. To end Vancouver's reputation as a no-fund city and a cultural land trust is the best way to do that. Vancouver's history has been defined by its artists and musicians. This was a city where Emily Carr redefined Canadian art, and where Bill Reed introduced the world to the traditional art of the Northwest Coast. This is a city where Spirit of the West, Petunia and the Vipers, Carly Rae Jepsen, and so many of their big names got their start. but it has never been harder to move here as a young artist. Over the last decade, Vancouver artists have lost over 400,000 square feet of space due to rising commercial rents, unstable short-term leases, and permitting processes that have become difficult to navigate. This means artists get squeezed out and moved to other cities, they take their art with them, and Vancouver loses out on the enormous cultural and economic benefits of a vibrant art scene. In 2018, artists produced $7.9 billion of GDP right here in BC. That amount was comparable to agriculture and the service industry. In Vancouver, music alone brought over 14,000 jobs and brought in over $690 million of economic activity. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce published a report last year stating that every dollar invested in the arts generates $29 in economic activity. Investing in Vancouver's art scene isn't a luxury, it isn't a nice-to-have, it is a necessary investment for a stronger economy. Artists give so much to this city, but as rents for commercial spaces go up, and permitting gets more and more difficult, and artist grants keep drying up, it gets harder for them to keep breathing life into the city. It's time for a change. It's time we gave a little back to the artists who helped build Vancouver. Right now, grants and funding for artists go directly into paying rent for private landlords, meaning the art grants aren't paying for art. But with a cultural land trust, rents could stabilize, meaning municipal funding opportunities would have a larger impact for artists and venues. Vancouverites will see those impacts when they go see a new band, check out a new play, or go to a new gallery. A cultural land trust will afford artists, especially younger artists, the ability to breathe a little easier and focus on making art that Vancouverites can enjoy. Vancouverites deserve a city that protects the arts, that keeps our city livable and fun. So I'm urging council to vote to approve Councillor Orr's motion to establish a cultural land trust in Vancouver and help fix Vancouver's no fun reputation. Thank you.

Statement Watch

GOOD AFTERNOON. MY NAME IS ZACH ALFSON. I RECENTLY MADE VANCOUVER MY HOME AFTER NEARLY TWO DECADES WORKING IN NONPROFIT ADMINISTRATION, EDUCATION, PLACE MANAGEMENT, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, AND COMMUNITY BUILDING. I'M HERE TO SUPPORT MOTION 7 BECAUSE THERE IS NO FUTURE OF VANCOUVER THAT IS NOT MADE BETTER BY ARTISTS. Artists define the culture of a place. They tell our stories, shape our neighborhoods, and help children discover who they are. But to do that, they need places to live and places to create. As we look, it's clear that Motion 7 is not separate from the work before you. It advances many of the same goals. Motion 1 recognizes that innovation needs a place to grow. Innovation begins with creativity. A cultural land trust helps train and retain the creative workforce that fuels innovation, entrepreneurship, and commercialization. Motion 4 recognizes that children deserve every opportunity to thrive. If we want young people who are brave, empathetic, and ready for the future, access to arts education must be part of that conversation. They need teaching artists, and those educators need places to live and to create. Motion 6 and 10 recognize... That stewardship means protecting the places that define Vancouver before they're lost. Cultural spaces are vital to our identity and sense of place. Motion 11 recognizes that festivals strengthen neighborhoods and local economies. But festivals begin long before the crowd show up. They begin in rehearsal halls, studios, workshops, and creative spaces. Protect those places, and you protect the festivals that bring the city to life. Motion 15 recognizes that renters deserve more than housing. They deserve belonging. Through my work in community arts, I've seen people who may never own property build deep roots by creating together. Arts participation transforms residents into neighbors. Culture is not something that cities enjoy after they become successful. It's one of the reasons they become successful in the first place. As you've heard, cities around the world are embracing the idea. London has adopted a cultural infrastructure map, a culture at risk office and support for creative land trust and planning policies that recognize cultural space as essential infrastructure. Melbourne has embedded cultural infrastructure into city planning. has mapped its cultural assets as a guide to planning and prevent displacement motion 7 gives up vancouver the opportunities to join those cities and recognizing that cultural space is not an amenity it is essential infrastructure for generations artists have invested in vancouver asking little in return supporting motion 7 helps ensure they can continue creating identity relationships and opportunities that make the city stronger because there is no future of Vancouver that is not made better by artists.

Statement Watch

Thank you. My name is Denzel John Asher. I'm a resident of the city of Vancouver in the West End. I moved here in 1988 as a young musician, and my husband was an art furniture designer. At that time, Vancouver had a vibrant, rich, and participatory I say rich, but it was rich with talent and creativity, not with money. It's the art scene which attracts people to a city, not just dollars. People want to live where there is light, color, music, and things happening dynamically and spontaneously. It gives people a chance to be proud of their city. Since 1988, almost all of the artists I knew, have been forced out of the city by property developers as the price of real estate skyrocketed. There were no more warehouses for studios and practice spaces. There are no affordable apartments available. Underground and independent performance spaces, which are just starting to resurge a little, are being threatened. Musicians and artists left for the north, the islands, the prairies, the maritimes, where living was possible, and the city is poorer in culture for this exodus. Art and music generate cultural worth, and cities where the arts thrive create more art, more culture, and a richer population, and also attract people from around the world who want to participate and see the great art that we have to offer. This motion for a cultural land trust would allow artists space to live, to hone their skills, and to perform and hold events, benefiting the whole city, making it rich in culture. Thank you.

Statement Watch

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My name is Adriana Cumming-Teicher. I'm a community and labor organizer here in Vancouver, and I am speaking today in support of Motion 7, Keep the Artists In, Creating a Cultural Land Trust for Vancouver, as put forward by Councillor Orr. Whereas my fellow speakers have opted to offer you moral, ethical, and community-based rationale in support of this motion, arguments that I nevertheless agree with, I seek to take us on an altogether separate line, an economic one. To start, I wish to address the material reality of British Columbia, and of Vancouver and its position as BC's largest urban center. BC is, unequivocally, a stagnating resource economy. Much of the municipal, provincial, and even federal initiatives in the past 10 years pertaining to this province have sought to prevent the flight of resource and trade companies, to which we have seen middling results. Refining our scope down to Vancouver, much of this dovetails into our unfortunate reputation as a no-fund city, in part due both to our aforementioned unwavering industrial commitments and the artificial hurdles many before me have described put up before artistic and cultural institutions. These hurdles often prevent the full legal functioning of venues and projects within our city, and in the instances where they do succeed, create conditions wherein any unexpected occurrence will immediately sink them. As mentioned by the speakers before me, on the labor side of this reality, we see creative professionals continually sunk below the poverty line, unable to find stable access to paid work. Where they do, they find themselves working below market rate for organizations struggling to stay afloat. Ultimately, it is my belief that our only pathway as a city to exit this crisis is through a cultural infrastructure. When it comes to retaining young professionals, expanding international funding avenues, and attracting greater tourism, we have no option both as salient and as substantively affordable. As outlined by Councillor Orr in both 7.4 and 7.5, this model has been successful elsewhere and has both the necessary external financial support to get it off the ground, as well as the logistics available from a productive capacity in this city. This funding will also benefit other linked industries, from our restaurant and life sectors to our existing tourism infrastructure. If this council has any desire to work towards a better city, I implore you to vote in support of this motion. Thank you for the time.

Statement Watch

good afternoon mayor and council my name is nate stanley a resident of vancouver and i am calling in today to speak in favor of this motion while i may not be an artist in vancouver many of my friends work in the arts and a common experience for all of them is the struggle of just getting by in this expensive uh city photographers animators musicians and more are our arts and culture scene in vancouver is in crisis local artists can't afford their rents for their personal residence or relevant to this motion or for the space to do their work they can't afford the skyrocketing cost of living and many are pushed out of the city and the surrounding area This motion seeks to rectify that by protecting land and putting it in the hands of the public so local artists and more have spaces to create now and into the future. It creates economic stability for these artists and residents, allowing them to thrive in Vancouver. It will give many in the arts and culture scene the assurances they need for long-term success. Today, many speakers have already highlighted cities like Helsinki and San Francisco. and the successes they have already had with their cultural land trusts. Many other speakers have also highlighted the personal stories and struggles trying to produce the art they love while living in Vancouver. I'm just calling in to say I stand in solidarity with these artists who make this city a much more vibrant place to live, and I urge council to vote in favor of this motion. Thank you.