You’re Invited!
We are creating a Cultural District in Victoria and we want you at our first public informational session Sunday June 22nd.
For the past three years the Victoria Arts Sustainability Coalition has been working towards the goal of acquiring a building that will act as a permanent home for the education, production, and presentation of visual and media arts in downtown Victoria …
And now, we are thrilled to invite you all to a community open house to learn more about the future community arts district in our city!
Please join us at
722 Johnson Street
Sunday, June 22nd from 1-4PM
There will be: Art Installations, Film screenings, Informational panels, Prizes, Refreshments, and more …
Please RSVP : arts@vicartscouncil.ca
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This is part of a larger initiative where we will be launching the first CULTURAL LAND TRUST, rejuvenating our downtown through art as a way towards cultural, financial, and social sustainability.
All are welcome to help shape this vision.
Why? Art and cultural organizations continue to buckle under the pressure of ever-rising rents and our staff & volunteers are burning out. We need a permanent solution to this untenable situation.
Some facts: our core groups are paying over $300k in rents annually, which should go to an asset rather than a landlord. The downtown is emptying… We need economic and cultural development that is sustainable now, not 10 years from now.
BC arts funding levels cannot keep up with rising rents: Between 2013 and 2023, commercial rents in the province surged by 270%, according to Statistics Canada. In stark contrast, operating allocations from the BC Arts Council only increased by 25% during the same period (BC Arts Council data from 2014 and 2024).
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Victoria Arts Sustainability Coalition includes: CineVic, Errant Art Space, Flux/MediaNet, Vancouver Island School of Art, Victoria Arts Council, and XChanges Gallery & Studios as a core representing a dozen more arts & culture groups throughout the city.
