DTES Community Arts Network
Background:
Founded in 2003, DTES Community Arts Network brings together artists, residents, community agencies, and arts organizations to cultivate a vibrant and viable arts scene in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver.
Few neighbourhoods make as much noise as Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES). Although much of the attention it attracts focuses on drug addiction, mental health, and poverty, it is also one of the most creatively-inclined areas of the city, as seen in its street art, numerous art galleries, scores of artists, demonstrations, and even the unruly culture animating its streets and alleyways. While other neighbourhoods struggle to define themselves in a rapidly changing city, the DTES boasts a community that knows who it is and isn’t afraid to express it. DTES Community Arts Network strives to channel this creative power to make positive change in the neighbourhood by cultivating a viable and vibrant community arts sector.
DTES Community Arts Network emerged out of the 2003 celebrations commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Carnegie Centre and the historic role of the DTES as the “Heart of the City.” It is a network of individuals and community and professional arts organizations working through the arts to contribute to the economic, social, and cultural renewal of the DTES. As intense redevelopment transforms the area, DTES CAN aims to strengthen the DTES as a healthy, artistically vibrant, and culturally rich community where people with predominantly low incomes and from diverse lifestyles, abilities, and financial means feel at home.
DTES CAN is committed to providing opportunities for Downtown Eastside residents to experience the arts as aspiring and practicing artists, audience members, as a means of personal and collective expression, and to advocate on issues affecting the community. Using a cluster organizational model to bring artists and residents together, DTES CAN encourages participation, builds capacity, and supports, renews, and builds arts and related projects in the community to foster cultural redevelopment.
To receive information about DTES CAN's activities, subscribe to our announcement email list here.
Structure:
DTES Community Arts Network is constituted by various arts clusters that work independently and in a full range of media. Representatives from each cluster are members of CANCore, the oversight body of DTES Community Arts Network and which liaises with Downtown Eastside, business, governmental, and arts sector partners. DTES Community Arts Network operates as a project of the Community Arts Council of Vancouver (CACV).
CANCore:
CANCore is made up of representatives from each cluster, and in turn, is responsible for representing DTES CAN to the broader community. It makes decisions that affect all the clusters and ensures that the guiding principles of DTES CAN are upheld. CANCore also works closely with the Resource Cluster in managing financial and staffing issues.
Clusters are formulated around interests or projects, and can be ongoing or temporary. The structure is decided upon the cluster group itself, and each cluster chooses its own representative to CANCore. Clusters are open to participation by all interested parties who agree with the guiding principles of DTES CAN.
Current DTES CAN clusters include:
Representatives from the Downtown Eastside’s technology, arts, and social services sectors come together to imagine and build pioneering media infrastructure and resources. The inaugural project was Fearless: Arts & Issues from the DTES, a 10,000 circulation printed tabloid published in 2006 that has since evolved into the website www.fearlesscity.ca. The other main project is Fearless Mobile, which has received a grant from New Media BC’s Mobile Muse 3 program. It runs until March 2009 and brings cutting edge mobile technology to DTES artists and residents.
Fearless TV grew out of a workshop involving 30 DTES residents and artists that culminated in a three-camera mobile studio production at Gallery Gachet. Since then, dozens of hour-long broadcasts have aired on Shaw Television, reaching 600,000 homes throughout Metro Vancouver. The Fearless TV Cluster provides people living and working in the Downtown Eastside with opportunities to participate in the creation of a television program that reflects their community.
Using the “Munch!” brand, the NET cluster is responsible for regular public education events that foster an understanding amongst residents and artists of cultural development and planning principles in the context of a revitalizing neighbourhood. Events have included nine Munches, two day-long conferences, and four Business Breakfasts. Upcoming Munch! events will focus on establishing artist cooperatives and phantom galleries in East Vancouver.
Researches and advocates for the development of artist production and presentation spaces in the DTES. The cluster promotes cooperative modeling amongst local artist collectives and informal groups and lobbies for supports and changes in municipal zoning and other bylaws and connects with business, the City, and funders to develop new arts spaces and to provide ongoing support.
Supports the establishment of a 12,500 sq foot community media arts centre scheduled to open in September 2009 in the Woodward's development. The cluster works for the development of the centre and designs joint programs and services for DTES residents looking for multi-platform and cross-media opportunities (radio/web/tv/print). The W2 Cluster promotes art and technology innovation and opportunities which have a social benefit and support the development of an inclusive society. Visit the W2 website for more info.
Explores ways to animate and encourage the public use of civic amenities, sidewalks, plazas, and parks in the DTES. It is responsible for the Fearless Festival that takes place in Pigeon Park on August 24th. The Public Realm Cluster is also developing a multi-year plan for coordinating programming in the Downtown Eastside’s public realm.
The Writing Circle brings together emerging and experienced Downtown Eastside writers in an encouraging and supportive environment. Participants learn new approaches to writing and develop their confidence and writing skills in peer-led discussions. The Writer’s Circle is facilitated by Shannon Pidlubny, a local writer experienced in leading writing workshops designed to encourage personal and creative development. Writers have the option of participating in the Fearless blogging workshop led by Lorraine Murphy. The blogging sessions help local residents pick up the basics on how to start blogging and support peer learning and social contact with other new bloggers. The writing circle and blogging workshops are held on alternating Thursdays at 7:00 pm at Gallery Gachet, 88 East Cordova Street.
This is an administrative cluster for DTES CAN. It coordinates the participatory budget planning work of the clusters and is the finance hub for the resourcing and fundraising activities of DTES CAN. Human resources are managed by a committee of the Resource Cluster.
Clusters that are in the process of being formed include:
Building from a successful community forum on artist housing, more than 25 local artists have come together to share experiences, lobby for changes, and propose artist housing developments that support low-income artists.
Brings together the commercial, non-profit, and artist-run centres of the Downtown Eastside to facilitate networking, joint programming and marketing initiatives, general communication, and sector development. VAC also promotes the role and value of the visual arts in the community, bridging arts disciplines, community services, and business sectors.
To subscribe to a cluster, you need to have an account on fearlesscity.ca, then just click on the link of the cluster you're interested in. This website is still a work in progress, so if you don't see what you're looking for here and want more information, contact DTES CAN here.
To sign up for our announcement email list, click here.