VANCOUVER City Council on Tuesday approved $3,486,586 in grants to support the city’s vibrant arts and cultural sector.
Chinatown, recently infused with financial support from the federal, provincial, and municipal levels, will receive an additional investment exceeding $1.1 million from the City of Vancouver.
This substantial contribution aims to enhance Chinatown’s cultural vibrancy, solidifying its place as a cornerstone of the city’s cultural heritage.
“This significant investment reinforces our commitment to fostering vibrancy through arts, culture, and heritage within the city,” said Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim on Tuesday. “With a substantial focus on revitalizing Chinatown, we are taking bold strides towards preserving and enhancing the cultural heritage of this community and ensuring that it can be a vibrant, prosperous neighbourhood for generations to come.”
While cultural space and infrastructure projects in Chinatown have been and will continue to be a priority for all Cultural Spaces grants streams, the Chinatown Cultural Infrastructure Grants recommends an additional $750,000 for three major projects to invigorate Chinatown’s vibrant tapestry.
Funding will support the transformation of the historic Wing Sang building into the Chinese Canadian Museum, a ground-breaking initiative by the 221A Artist Housing Society to revive a heritage building into a dynamic cultural hub, and the Wongs’ Benevolent Association’s essential upgrades to the Hon Hsing building, to support a sustainable future for its cultural activities and legacy businesses.
The Chinese Canadian Museum Society of British Columbia (CCMSBC) will also receive $334,500 from the ACCS operating budget to support operational funding for the next three years, and an opening exhibit titled “The Paper Trail to the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act”.
The grants also include the following investments:
* Communities and Artists Shifting Culture (CASC) Grants worth $537,500 to 79 organizations city-wide, fostering artistic creation, community-engaged arts practices, and vibrant celebrations. $54,000 in CASC grants will be allocated to five projects supporting Chinatowns cultural vibrancy and diversity.
* Cultural Spaces Grants amounting to $1,864,586, supporting 40 projects including operational support for affordable cultural spaces for artists and organizations as well as infrastructure projects to research, plan, improve, buy and build cultural spaces throughout Vancouver.
Vancouver City Council had also previously approved four grants as a part of the Uplifting Chinatown Action Plan, for community organizations totaling $387,000 to pilot graffiti abatement and removal projects and community supports in Chinatown.
