Category — The Arts

The sustained standing ovation that greeted the final chorus of Vancouver Opera’s Lillian Alling at the Queen Elizabeth last night was evidence of the growing strength of BC’s cultural institutions, despite the recent provincial funding cuts.

This world premiere, which garnered outstanding reviews, was commissioned by Vancouver Opera in partnership with the Banff Centre. Seven years in the making, it is based on a uniquely BC story that uses the province’s wilderness as a backdrop for a mystery that explores issues as diverse as feminism and immigration.

The entire production was mounted with a self-confidence and professionalism we see increasingly on BC stages and and in major galleries. It was not only made in BC, it probably could only be made in BC. It is striking to contrast this reality with the virtual absence of top-ranked BC film and television drama (especially since the demise of Chris Haddock’s Intelligence), despite the size and sophistication of our film industry.

Why? No doubt there are many reasons, but it  is exciting to imagine the possibilities if BC’s cultural sector received even a fraction of the support that is typical in a province like Quebec, which stands sixth among Canada’s provinces and territories but invests nearly 10 times as much as BC.

Richard Tetrault high above Hastings St. at work on the Orwell Hotel mural.

My post last week about the new mural emerging on the wall of the Orwell Hotel at 456 East Hastings St. was improvised from materials at hand, included some errors, and failed to indicate the broad community roots of this project.

David Eddy, of the Vancouver Native Housing Society, sent me this update today:

The mural was commissioned by Vancouver Native Housing Society (VNHS) at the Orwell Hotel, a renovated SRO which we manage and operate for BC Housing.

The mural is an urban Aboriginal initiative whose major sponsors to date have been BC Housing, and the City of Vancouver’s Great Beginnings program. We have also received significant donations from the Royal Bank, the Strathcona BIA, Britannia Community Services, and General Paint. There was no federal stimulus grant received for the mural. It is all BC money.

We have been very fortunate to have commissioned Richard Tetrault, Vancouver’s pre-eminent muralist, as the project’s artistic coordinator and we engaged members of the DTES community in the design process. The artists involved in the design and application, Jerry Whitehead, Richard Shorty, Haisla Collins, Sharifa Marsden, Don Howell, and Nicola Campbell are all Aboriginal.

The concept is based on VNHS’ plan of developing social enterprise through our social and supportive housing portfolio: to create employment for urban aboriginals and ultimately provide income to VNHS to invest in sustaining and increasing affordable housing. [Read more →]

In councillors’ in-box this morning, this very interesting review of public art from cities around the world from Merle Goertz, who writes: “Here’s what World Class Cities do for public art. Please view. Very well done and informative presentation, and no Vancouver. Not one cheap looking, uninspired, oversized engagement ring or semi-phallic, whatevers, like are foisted on the public in False Creek.”

(Warning: this is a big powerpoint file, so it make take time to load.)

You may not agree with Goertz’s opinion of Vancouver’s art, but this collection is remarkable.

The new mural appearing on the Orwell Hotel, 456 East Hastings.

The Orwell Hotel at 456 East Hastings St. is the latest site for a mural co-ordinated by Strathcona artist Richard Tetrault. (Another is nearby inside Bruce Eriksen Place.)

This mural is part of a federal stimulus grant that “involves system, structural, life safety, internal finishes and sustainability initiatives for 55 social housing units.” (UPDATE, July 15: Funding is also provided by the city’s Great Beginnings program, the Strathcona BIA and RBC.)

Tetrault’s crew group is swinging off the swing stage six days a week and will complete the project in August, weather permitting. The mural is the latest in a long series of Tetrault-inspired projects that are making East Vancouver into an open-air gallery.