What Satomi Hirano saw in a report about the arts in Vancouver seven years ago stuck with her.
“All the amenities for the arts were in the East Side,” the advocate for the arts said. “There was hardly anything on the West Side and here I am living in the West End.”
Hirano asked what was being done to support arts and culture in the West End when she attended open houses to develop a 30-year vision for her neighbourhood. Stephen Regan, executive director of the West End Business Improvement Association, offered to help Hirano start talking to businesses and residents about what could be done to support the arts in the area.
Hirano then contacted West End resident John Hewson, who served for eight years on the Whistler Arts Council, and the pair co-founded WEArts, the operating name for the brand new West End Arts Society.
With money from Gordon Neighbourhood House and the Vancouver Foundation, WEArts led arts projects, predominantly for youth, last year and hosted an open house where participants prioritized they wanted:
• an arts centre and arts venues in the West End,
• arts festivals,
• a website, registry or magazine to connect artists,
• pop-up galleries in businesses, vacant spaces, community spaces in or outdoors, and
• affordable studios, rehearsal and artist live/work spaces.
The city has granted the society $10,000 to hire a consultant to devise a community arts plan.
“What we do know in the community, though, is that there seems to be an appetite for murals,” Hewson said.
WEArts officially unveiled its first commissioned mural at the entrance to the West End Community Centre on Denman Street last Saturday (July 26).
CurbApp, a new mural tracking app for smartphones that was created locally, paid Vancouver artist Steve “The Creative Individual” Hornung to paint a vibrant tree/swing scene meant to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of King George secondary and mark the birth of WEArts.
Hirano’s artist sister-in-law Barbara Hirano is to paint an outline for another mural alongside artist Theresa Mura, and then members of the community will colour it in.
A third mural will be either a sponsored call for entry or a contest open to an artist from the West End.
Murals may not sound like the beginning of a more happening arts scene in the West End but Hewson, whose nickname is “Johnny Whistler,” believes otherwise.
“[The Whistler Arts Council] went from a struggling not-for-profit organization with one volunteer, part-time staff member to having an agency that’s funded by the city, a multi-million-dollar budget, conducting events and activities in the community that are seen as valuable both to the locals, but also tourists,” he said.
Statistics Canada’s 2011 census reports 44,500 residents in the West End and Hewson notes the 2006 census reported 10 per cent of West End residents work in art and culture.
WEArts expects to soon see locally made art displayed in pop-up galleries in vacant and underused commercial spaces.
Hirano believes businesses should be doing more to support area artists and she and Hewson say business people have been supportive of the society’s work so far.
Hewson envisions eventually seeing projection artists transforming tall towers such as the Empire Landmark Hotel into visual art.
On the ground, residents hope if the West End Community Centre is refurbished, art and culture facilities would be added.
Ultimately, Hewson would like to see annual arts events draw visitors to his scenic neighbourhood that already sees an influx of visitors for two decades-old events, the Celebration of Lights fireworks and the Pride Parade.
“The East Side Culture Crawl is one of those celebrated events in the city every year,” he said. “It would be nice to have a couple of signature events in the West End that are recognized equally.”
Hewson advises those who want to learn more about WEArts to visit wearts.ca and sign up for the newsletter.
