VANCOUVER City Council on Tuesday approved $4.3 million in grants to 208 cultural organizations in Vancouver. As directed in Culture|Shift, the City’s 10-year culture plan, this funding centres Reconciliation and equity and will support a range of programs and services for artists, cultural groups and the public and introduces a new initiative offering multi-year funding to participating organizations.

Through multi-year funding the City said it aims to give cultural organizations the confidence and flexibility to plan and implement long-term programs and initiatives, enabling them to continue to serve their communities and contribute to the city’s cultural landscape. In addition, the program aims to reduce administrative burdens for applicants and provide new groups with access to City resources. This investment aligns with the City’s Reconciliation Framework, UNDRIP Strategy, Equity Framework and Accessibility Strategy.

“We’re excited to be making this significant investment in arts and culture organizations in Vancouver. These groups play a vital role in the city, and this funding will allow them to continue offering important programs and services to artists, cultural groups and the public,” said Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim.

“This investment not only supports the cultural community, but also helps to enrich the cultural landscape of our city, and we’re thrilled to support Vancouver arts and culture with these grants.”

Included in this announcement is $85,000 in multi-year funding over three years for Miscellaneous Productions Society, a hip hop dance theatre boot camp for culturally and socially representative youth.

Elaine Carol, Artistic Director at Miscellaneous Productions, said: “We are deeply grateful to the City of Vancouver for this funding. It will enable us to conduct outreach, give access and free professional performing arts training to the most challenged young folx in Vancouver. It will also enable us to create original performing arts and digital projects featuring the voices of young folx using the arts as a tool for social change.”

Funding highlights

1. WePress Community Art Space received $90,000 in multi-year funding to advance education and provide art-making opportunities, particularly for marginalized communities in Vancouver’s DTES, using unique technologies such as a letterpress and 3D printers.
2. Heritage Vancouver received $16,000 in funding through the Communities and Artists Shaping Culture program (CASC) to support the Sliced Mango Collective, an organization that centers Filipinx identity and culture and is comprised of Filipinx youth. The collective aims to provide a sense of belonging and a space for Filipinx youth to connect with each other and their roots in the Philippines through art, performance, and community work.
3. The Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop Society (ACWW) received $9,000 in funding through the CASC program to support the 2023 LiterASIAN Festival, which celebrates the works of Asian Canadian and racialized writers and is the longest running Asian-inspired writers festival in North America.
4. The Live Biennial of Performance Art Society received $10,000 through the Cultural Learning and Sharing program to support a creative residency for Black emerging performance artist Chipo Chipaziwa. The residency will involve documenting the experiences of established racialized Vancouver performance artists and sharing this knowledge with other racialized emerging artists through a podcast.

Read the full report, including the full list of recipients and the Cultural Learning and Sharing Grants 2022 report back.