East Vancouver culture crawl organizers working to preserve artist space in challenging city

The organization behind Vancouver’s Eastside Culture Crawl says it’s attempting to secure a permanent space for artists in the city.

Esther Rausenberg, the artistic and executive director of the Eastside Arts Society, says the group has been working on making an ‘Eastside Arts District’ a reality for years.

The district would “include the geographic area where many artists currently live or work, and would, through legislative, economic, and cultural measures, prioritize the creation, support, retention, and celebration of arts in East Vancouver.”

Rausenberg says the reason the popular culture crawl festival exists is to celebrate the critical mass of visual and performing artists in Vancouver, and the district would be an effort to preserve the city’s “rich arts ecology.”

She admits that the idea of the district is ambitious.

“It’s visionary. We don’t have a cultural district in Vancouver, so this will be the first of its kind. We’ve gotten a great deal of support, both through the City of Vancouver and also through the provincial government and also the federal government, so I think we’re well on our way towards realizing this,” said Rausenberg.

Funding for the district, she expects, would be applied in a model analogous to funding for business improvement areas.

“Because it is going to not just uplift the artists that are in this community, but it’s also going to uplift all of the small businesses, the restaurants, our favorite craft breweries,” Rausenberg explained.

“It will boost and elevate the businesses. And this neighborhood.”

She says while the country is in the middle of an affordability crisis, Vancouver has seen a loss of artist spaces, and the district would be an attempt to prevent more loss.

“It’s quite unaffordable for many, many of us. And for artists to be paying rent or a mortgage, and then on top of that, their studio rent, it’s become ever so challenging to be able to create work in this city.”

In the spirit of support, Rausenberg says the society has organized a pilot pop-up space to support artists who primarily work out of their own homes or cannot afford consistent studio space for this year’s crawl.

Deb Beaudreau, one of the four artists featured at the pop-up ‘Progress Lab 1422‘ on William Street, says she’s delighted to have a chance to take part in the festival after trying in previous years.

“I work out of my home. I do have an art room, but I actually work in my living room mostly, and it’s a three-floor walk-up. So the other people that live here wouldn’t be too jazzed about having strangers going up and down through our apartment building,” Beaudreau explained.

She says she’s not alone as one of many artists lacking the time and funds to rent a space in the city.

Her work on display, Wee Robots, is a collection of mixed-media sculptures featuring upcycled metal bits donated by friends and strangers. She says it can be difficult to explain and promote her art through word of mouth alone.

“I’m hoping to have enough space to set up a table and actually do some making throughout the crawl, so that people can actually see that it’s not just something that I’m slapping together quickly,” she explained.

“There’s actually cutting metal, and drilling, and woodworking, and all kinds of other stuff that’s involved to get the piece created. In the end, it’s a lot more than people might think it is.”

Beaudreau says she hopes the pop-up extends into future years so that more artists have the same opportunity.

“For people to know the types of talent that surrounds them, I think it’s really important.”

Vancouver’s Eastside Culture Crawl Visual Arts, Design and Craft Festival returns for its 28th year, starting Thursday and boasting more than 500 registered artists working in more than 55 buildings.

—With files from Michelle Meiklejohn