Major expansion at the Cultch

And the theatre is asking you to come down and tell them what you think about it all. Wine and cheese or sandwiches are on offer

by Kevin Potvin <kpotvin@republic-news.org>

The venerable Vancouver East Cultural Centre is soon to become completely transformed into a major arts facility a few times bigger physically than it is now when construction is completed in 2009. The plan is to build a completely new state-of-the-art studio theatre, in addition to a new gallery, and a new bar, café and meeting room adjacent to the existing church building currently housing the Cultch, complete with new underground parking. That is to be followed by a second more expensive phase of construction to upgrade the older building and add on rehearsal facilities. The total budget for both phases is currently set at over $12 million.

The board of the Cultch is conducting a series of public meetings later this month to hear from neighbours and all those who know and love the Cultch to learn what they think of this first major expansion in the institution's 30-year history. The board of the Cultch is also hoping to learn more generally what the surrounding community sees the Cultch evolving into over time. The two meetings are on the 24 th at 6:30 to 9:00 and the 26 th at 10:00 in the morning to 1:00.

This is an opportunity to view what the expansion looks like and to share with the board of the Cultch what you think the theatre should be doing to remain relevant to this community.

The original idea that launched the Cultch in 1973 was a plan to provide this neighbourhood with space for public meetings, activities for youth, as well as arts performance. Since then the Cultch has staged over 7,500 performances to audiences numbering over 1.5 million people. As a community institution, the Cultch has been extremely successful. But whenever a community treasure like the Cultch plans to expand both physically and in terms of what it considers its purpose and mandate, there's a risk it could abandon the community that welcomed it and made it successful in the first place.

The city of Vancouver as a whole, and indeed the Lower Mainland, lacks sufficient quality theatre space. The Cultch may evolve into a facility that just happens to be located in the Eastside while serving the amorphous interests of the city at large, or an even larger, more homogeneous constituency than that. Or, it may remain primarily concerned for the audiences in the community directly around it, with the selection of shows and artist residencies, not to mention ticket prices, reflecting that outlook.

The Cultch itself would like to know what you see as its best, most useful future, and they're serving wine and cheese in the evening meeting and sandwiches in the morning meeting to get you to come down and tell them. It might be a good idea to do so.

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