Architectural plans for proposed Vancouver Filipino Cultural Centre unveiled

Vancouver’s Filipino community has a better idea of what a new cultural centre in Mount Pleasant may look like.

City council passed a motion earlier this month to advance the high-rise tower project, which includes a 500-room hotel and cultural centre, proposed by the new non-profit Filipino Legacy Society of Canada and developer Port Living.

On Sunday, architectural renderings of the site were unveiled to community members during a ceremony.

The cultural centre planned for 1940 Main Street — currently home to an auto shop — intends to offer language and cooking classes, an event and gallery space and the largest Filipino art collection outside of the Philippines.

Legacy Society Chair Warren Dean Flandez says the centre will mean Filipinos are “no longer invisible” as a people.

“We are at the forefront. We will no longer be kept in the shadows. We will move forward with humility, with grace, and with the foundation that Filipino legacy is built on,” said Flandez.

Vancouver Public Art Committee member Bert Monterona says the space would make art by and about Filipino creators accessible to everyone.

“I really believe sharing cultural identity is the way you embrace cultural diversity,” Monterona told The Leader Spirit. “Public art should not be attached only to a building, but there should be a public interaction popularizing public art, at the same time popularizing diverse culture. And that’s, I think, how we embrace diversity – through arts and culture.”

While some community members celebrate getting one step closer to a new centre, others are more skeptical about the city’s approach to establishing one. Organizations like Filipino BC and Mabuhay House, which have been working on developing a Filipino cultural centre in the city for years, are voicing concerns about the fast-tracked development.

Mabuhay House Chair Lester De Guzman says the project was developed without sufficient community engagement.

“This is just a project put forward by a private developer. Any organization can actually put forward to that, but the proper process and also the accountability and also the engagement, consultation with the community is something we haven’t seen done well in this project proposal,” said De Guzman.

ABC City Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung says a due diligence process for the proposed development will come in the new year.

“This is a tangible, specific proposal, and if the applicant is ready to submit a proposal to our planning department, then it’ll be looked at and assessed, and if Filipino BC had a proposal, then that would also be looked at and assessed,” Kirby-Yung explained.

While construction of the new centre still requires planning and support from local government, those gathered for the unveiling Sunday were excited to finally see their dream of having a shared community space come closer to fruition.