Finally an Update! A Need for a new Music Centre in Vancouver
In 2011, a coalition of presenters, musicians and managers from Vancouver’s diverse music community commissioned consultant Anna Russell of Unodia Media to conduct a Needs Assessment for a designated music centre. The Needs Assessment found a lack of suitable venues for live music in Vancouver and a demand within the music community for a supportive, affordable, accessible and sustainable centre for both acoustic and amplified music.
Comments from the Music Community:
An affordable, accessible and sustainable music venue will contribute to the long term health and stability of Vancouver’s world, jazz folk and chamber music scenes.
Diane Kadota (artist manager)
Musicians need to feel part of a dynamic music community to sustain inspiration, exchange ideas, and earn a living. Ideally that community is rooted close to home, and draws in more musicians from around the world. A good venue that is affordable enough for artists to self-present concerts and/or develop concert series, administrated by a non-profit society dedicated to world, jazz, folk and chamber music , would go a long way to help create and sustain that kind of dynamic music community year round.
Jessica and Celso Machado (artist manager / musician)
The music centres that I have played in Europe, dedicated venues of the type talked about in this proposal have been fantastic. I would love to see something similar in our growing city, a place that could both nurture and promote our incredibly rich and diverse music scene.
Veda Hille (musician)
There are many non-profit precedents for music venues in cities all over the world from Edmonton’s Yardbird Suite for jazz, to the Musiekgebouw / Bim Huis (Amsterdam) and the Stadtgarden (Koln). It’s time for Vancouver to take the next step towards being a “world class” city for culture.
Ken Pickering (artistic director, Vancouver Jazz Festival)
Comments from the Community:
“Most venues had significant limitations as a space formusic performance, ranging from high rental costs and limited availability to poor acoustics and poor sightlines.”
“…the key informant interviews clearly indicated that there are significant negative consequences for the music community and audiences when the right venues are not available, from financial challenges to reduced access and diminished experience.”
“Musicians who benefit from good acoustics and good sightlines to create a strong connection with their audience, are not always able to perform to their best ability.”
“The lack of a music-specific space is holding Vancouver back as a cultural hub.”
Others commented that there was “nothing in the city with the right size and good acoustic”, a situation that is ‘frustrating’ for presenters and ‘obviously’ or ‘absolutely’ there was a need for a music centre.”
Next Steps
We are seeking support for the next steps – to hire consultants to research and assess the capacity and sustainability for a designated music centre with flexible seating in the range of 150-500 seats, to research and propose operational models and to develop a building program to meet the needs of the music community and market in Vancouver.
Canadian Lauren Pratt, associate producer of the REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater) in Los Angeles, will assess the current demand and potential market for a dedicated music venue in Vancouver through interviews with local presenters and self-presenting artists. She will research and prepare operating plans and budgets featuring potential revenue sources and costs associated with each model. The goal is to develop operational models that will satisfy the community interests and enable opportunities that might arise through private and public partnerships. Pratt is a highly respected music manager who currently produces in two venues: REDCAT in downtown Los Angeles and The Wild Beast on the CalArts campus. In addition, she is on the boards of the wulf., a 50-seat music venue in the L.A. warehouse district, and the California E.A.R. Unit, a contemporary performing ensemble which tours and self-produces in Los Angeles. She is also Special Assistant to the Dean for Programming and Finance at the Herb Alpert School of Music at CalArts, and as such, in addition to her producing duties, handles the bookkeeping and reporting for the School of Music’s 4.5 million dollar budget.
Secondly, an architectural consultant, possibly out of three proposals submitted to date (Don Luxton & Associates, Cornerstone Architects and David Wong/ Jim Smith) will further assess the market and needs for a music centre and develop a building program according to the findings. The resulting documents will give potential funders, developers and supporters the vision, values, shape, space requirements, governance, projected usage and estimated capital and operating costs for the project.
The lack of live music venues in Vancouver is made acute when compared with the spaces designed and available for theatre, dance and the fine arts. Many of the existing live performance venues in Vancouver are designed and operated for theatre productions, which makes it difficult to find available dates for single evening concerts and more expensive and often less suitable for live music.
A purpose-built music venue should cost less to operate and be more affordable, flexible and environmentally sound for diverse concert presenters, musicians and audiences than many existing multi-purpose venues that cater largely to theatre and dance productions in Vancouver. Flexibility in seating provides significant advantages in concert presentation, but if it is not well designed, can lead to extraordinary costs of conversion.
Music presenters frequently incur additional costs for the installation of sound and lighting equipment because of the lack of standard concert lighting hangs, and sound systems appropriate for the presentation of music.
After more than a decade of discussion, a coalition of presenting organizations, musicians, composers and managers has started plans to develop a designated music centre in Vancouver. The new non-profit society, the Vancouver Independent Music Centre Society, was registered in the Province of British Columbia in July 2011. Its founding members include prominent Vancouver festival and concert presenters, recognized musicians and composers and established music managers. Support is growing for the development of a culturally diverse music centre in Vancouver.
Impact
The Music Centre would showcase Vancouver’s incredible diversity and wealth of music and provide Vancouver audiences with a venue designed for the listening and enjoyment of local, national and international music artists. Such a centre would also provide a better and more cost effective way of promoting Vancouver musical diversity to residents and visitors alike. A music centre would enable musicians and artists from different genres and cultures to meet one another, exchange ideas and experiences and potentially to develop new musical collaborations and sounds. It would also welcome a wide range of concert goers and communities to experience music in a relaxed and intimate setting. Music has the capacity to speak to all people regardless of language, culture or experience.
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