CouveCast episode 10 Inspire Vancouver

In this exciting episode learn about Inspire Vancouver which will help bring together the diverse interests and talents of Vancouver residents. I'm joined by Stacey Donovan, Cultural Services Manager with the City of Vancouver, Linda Reid, Inspire Vancouver Task Force Member and Brad Richardson, Vancouver Culture, Arts, and Heritage Commissioner.

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Speaker 1 0:00

Welcome to CouveCast, the City of Vancouver's official podcast, hosted by Steve Harris. Each episode is a mix of city insights, stories, behind the scenes, and hopefully a few laughs along the way. No jargon, just real talk with the people shaping Vancouver's future. One episode at a time.

Steve 0:19

Welcome to CouveCast, the City of Vancouver's official podcast. I'm your host, Steve Harris, and today we will be talking about Inspire Vancouver, which will help bring together the diverse interests and talents of Vancouver's integrating culture, arts, heritage, and science into our community. I'm joined by Stacey Donovan, Cultural Services Manager for the City of Vancouver, Linda Reid, Inspire Vancouver Task Force member, and former Culture, Arts and Heritage Commissioner, and Brad Richardson, Executive Director of the Clark County Historical Museum, and Vancouver Culture Arts and Heritage Commissioner. Thank you all for joining me. Thanks for having us. Great topic today. So to start with, for listeners who may not be aware, what is Inspire Vancouver?

Linda 1:01

It's very exciting, is what it is. Basically, a grant program at its roots funded by sales tax that's collected in our city limits.

Speaker 1:24

Fun. Why did the city decide to create this program now?

Stacey 1:30

Well, we you know, we really saw it as an opportunity to provide growth for the city with creative um avenues. You know, this provides access to arts, culture, science, and heritage, but not just access for um individuals, it also creates access for neighborhoods, nonprofits who are eligible for this grant funding, including individual artists and the schools, the Vancouver and Evergreen Public Schools. There are so many opportunities here to pull in creativity and provide access to seniors and youth, and just make sure that this is a part of the city's culture. It's a very vibrant piece of the ecosystem.

Speaker 2:15

I love how this is going to bring out some more of the arts.

Brad 2:18

Well, and I think like the two questions, they work really well together. What is it and why? And the thing is, we look at Vancouver right now, and so I've been, you know, I've been kicking around for about 16 years in Vancouver. Uh and what I've seen is we've had this amazing small business community that has grown. Uh, we've had the waterfront that's developed. We've had the city taking on new and innovative um opportunities, you know, with uh the um commission, obviously the arts hub project that we're working on. Like there's all this energy and there's all this attraction and there's a lot of economy, right? And it's like that iron is hot right now. And what you want to do is if you're gonna bring people into your city, if you're gonna start reintroducing maybe locals to Vancouver who maybe haven't been here for a while, then culture, arts, heritage, and science are just such an important piece to that engagement. Um, you know, people, you know, when they go visit a place, they go to that bar, they go to that restaurant, but the centerpiece of the moments that they make when they're visiting a place is that museum, or it's that, you know, art display that they're gonna see, or it's that cultural event. It's going to the theater, right? Right. You know, people say, Oh, when I, you know, go to London, like I'm going to the, you know, London Broadway to go see Chicago, and they say, Oh, yeah, and we went to this great restaurant before. The restaurants are awesome, but they're they're centered around that experience. And so what we have the opportunity with this, the why the city saw this as important, was because we need to make sure that we're investing in that portion of the economy that will be that tent pole of the experience. That's what we are in culture, arts, and heritage. We're the tent pole of the tourism experience. We're the tent pole of the community experience. We are the things that when people come and visit a town or they come to Vancouver, it's the things that they identify with that help grow stewardship and passion for a community. It brings them together face to face. And I know the city knows at this point in our in our story, like we really need to get together again. And so it's it's how we gather, it's how we engage, it's how we steward. And so the city saw this amazing opportunity to have, yeah, it's a tax, but it's a tax that we control locally. It's a tax that's home rule. It doesn't go up into Olympia and disappear. It comes back, and people in our community who actually get to speak with other people get to decide how we're going to shape the things that we're doing and how we can invest this money. And it is seismically changing investment for our arts, culture, heritage, and science community because we traditionally we're real McGifers. We're traditionally, you know, it's bubblegum and paperclips to like put together an exhibit or to do these displays. And just the city saw that we have so much economic activity, we have such a passionate local business community, and we have so many actors that are just rearing to go when it comes to culture, arts, heritage, and science, that this investment just makes sense in our economic growth and position us to be um a real player in the region. And I mean, we've seen that with the music and arts festival. We've seen that again with the activation of the arts hub. We've seen that my own museum that I that I work for, like we've seen huge growth. And now having some of that investment behind it, it's gonna just create a lot of really good economic activity that's gonna benefit the whole ecosystem. And the city recognized that in my opinion.

Speaker 5:45

So so there is a need and a want, obviously. What what are some examples of of what could this grant would go towards? What what what would what would we see?

Speaker 2 5:55

Well, there's I mean, there's lots of opportunities in different areas, but through cultural events that we hold in our parks, through historical or children's museum getting operating funds to help sustain their programs. Um the school transportation program is gonna bust thousands of kids to cultural events. Um just yeah. An artist painting a mural.

Speaker 4 6:17

I mean, it's just so designing things, even uh Absolutely. Yeah, and and the folks that are right now giving so much and doing a lot of this work, it's gonna purchase stability. Yeah. Open studios, you know, all the stuff that's happening with that, like they would have an opportunity potentially to stabilize and enhance what they're doing. Uh groups like the Magenta Theater, right? When they're doing performances, they would have access to maybe enhance and stabilize. And you just you can't um uh, you know, the the stabilizing of the industry is really huge with this funding. And that's part of the benefit you're gonna see is more consistency from a lot of groups, the ability to be able to be more innovative and and think outside of the box because it's not just hand-to-mouth um operations funding, it's stabilization. And that was the intent of the legislature when they passed this funding was often in the culture, arts, and heritage field and in science too, what happens is very project-centered on funding. So, say I run a walking tour program for 15 years, right? Yeah, and I have this amazing program that's super solid, and I want to go and say, you know what, I've I've paid this on our dime, you know, and at this point we'd like to see some support to stabilize this benefit, right? Because we're bringing people into shops, we're bringing people into downtown, we're doing all these things. The way the funding traditionally works in the culture, arts, and heritage sector, it says, well, that's an existing program. You need a new program, and they make you create something new. And now I come from a business background, and that's not how you run a business. You know, you maximize your product, and once your product is doing well, yeah, you diversify and do some other things, but you reinvest in that current product to continue to, you know, draw more of your market. Okay. And that's what this funding is designed to do. It's designed to do those multiple things. It still allows the projects, it allows for capital, and at the same time, it allows for that stabilization of the industry that is supportive of our broader community. And that's just like that's huge in what I don't think people recognize that we're always missing in this sector.

unknown 8:22

Yeah.

Speaker 3 8:22

It really gives a voice to underrepresented communities. Once they have the opportunity to receive funding and create that stable growth within their nonprofits, they feel like they have more of a voice, they see themselves more in the community life, and then they feel that they can help share what their cultural backgrounds are and share their programming. It's a really important aspect of um vitality for a city.

Speaker 8:48

Yeah, and I'm I'm assuming they'll probably turn out in numbers. I mean, this is just a small example, but the the people that did the designs for the new city flag, there was 138 submissions for that. And one person that was actually one of the designers that was picked said that she was really not sure she was even going to apply for that, but she designed hers at the midnight hour of the day before the designs were due. So I I'm assuming with the arts uh gr you know grant that the people will be turning out and and applying for that.

Speaker 4 9:18

And uh, you know, who knows what what what could come of it. And again, because the commission, you know, because again, we home rule how this funding is used, the commission is obviously um that group that works with that, and then we're gonna have a committee that then is gonna help shape and engage with the community and do it in a meaningful way and reach out to people, you know, like that that young woman who maybe didn't necessarily see herself in that spot, but be able to make sure that they know this money is for them. This is for our community and a whole.

unknown 9:50

Yeah.

Speaker 2 9:51

Inspire Vancouver really wants to make sure this entire community is aware of this program, not just through the regular channels. So the commission, along with the task force and probably some other ambassadors that we will bring together to get out into the community and share what this program's about, how it works, are you eligible? Because we do want everybody, even the littlest artist that does pottery in their garage, right, to know about this program.

Speaker 10:16

So to build on that, does someone have to be an artist or part of an organization to participate in this?

Speaker 3 10:23

No. And I'm glad you brought that up because the funds do need to stay within the city limits within the city of Vancouver. So it needs to be an eligible 501c3 nonprofit that its main focus is in culture, arts, heritage, and science, or an individual who is working with a fiscal sponsor who is also in that culture, arts, heritage, and science field. So there is a lot of opportunity. And we, like Linda said, we plan on really engaging in these communities that have traditionally been underserved to make sure that they have the access to this funding. That is really the what this was intended for.

Speaker 11:00

It sounds exciting. Uh, so what are you doing to reach out to communities that uh don't typically interact with city employees?

Speaker 3 11:08

First, we're really trying to get a good understanding of who those are in the city. What are the organizations, the individuals, the assets that already exist here in the city? So we're putting time and effort and energy into finding all of that out. We'll have ambassadors for the Inspire Vancouver program who will help us go to where those community members are to engage in conversation with them to help them understand the programming.

Speaker 4 11:32

Yeah. And and I would say too, just as a commissioner, um, you know, we work with the parks department. They've done a really good job of working with us, knowing that we're professionals in the field who have these deep relationships with lots of community, and they're empowering us to bring our relationships to the table. Um, and I just think it's such an amazing way of seeing how you know uh the government is working with the commission to then actually meaningfully engage with people authentically through our relationships. And and it's just been this amazing um, you know, uh way to work together to do that.

Speaker 2 12:10

Yeah, to add to that, um the city has really embraced Inspire Vancouver so much so that we get our own website, we get our own logo, um, we have our own marketing plan because this is such a huge project for this city.

Speaker 12:24

Yes.

Speaker 2 12:25

So people will identify us as Inspire Vancouver, not as a city of Vancouver program.

Speaker 12:30

So a follow-up question to that. So since this is a new thing for the city, and it's it's sort of a new outreach, uh, anything like that that's that's sort of undertaken usually takes you know a little bit of muscle to kind of get to where you wrap your head around it. Has it been a little bit, you know, taken a little bit to sort of get to you know where you are now and and uh you know sort of put this together?

Speaker 2 12:51

I would say yes. Um it's a very community-led program in collaboration with the city. We started off with a strategic planning committee, um, and we had been meeting, and then now there's a marketing and brand committee working on the logo and the website, a communications plan. Everything takes time, sure. Um, but well thought out.

Speaker 1 13:10

Yeah.

Speaker 2 13:10

And I appreciate the community aspect of it, involving them in it, that the city just didn't take it and say, we're just gonna do this, right?

Speaker 4 13:16

No, and the city was responding because we we had an informal group of people in the sector who were hearing from the people that you know we engage with, like, we really need these resources to take our organizations to the next level to create the stabilization. And the city recognized that grassroots energy that we had created and like responded with like passion to make this happen. And so that's just like a really amazing story of like people in the community wanting something and the city like fully seeing it, recognizing that and acting on it. Um, and yeah, it took years, right? Because you want to be thoughtful, right? This is you know, people's hard earned dollars that we're using in the program. So we want to be making sure we have a really good, solid program to return community benefit. But the city saw that through the whole process and realized it was a grassroots thing that people in the industry, people in this field were passionate. And embraced it, yeah.

Speaker 3 14:11

And it's truly community-led throughout the whole process. Well what the review grant review committee will be all community members, and then they make recogn recommendations to the Culture, Arts and Heritage Commission, which is again all community members. So every step along the way, from planning the what the policy looks like to deciding who gets granted is all done by community members with support of city staff.

Speaker 14:35

Sounds like the way it should be done. Uh, from a commissioner's pers perspective, why was uh it important to support the program?

Speaker 4 14:44

I think it was important to support the the program because we have so much amazing energy in arts, culture, heritage, and science in our community right now. And then we had this alignment of this opportunity to actually create the investment. And so being able to produce um, you know, the investment that'll allow people to take us to the next level. And right now we're at such a pivot point in Vancouver where we're growing. People are starting to recognize us. We have a lot of runway, right? Um, because you know, there's the little city to the south of us, Portland. Uh and and which one's that again? Yeah, I don't know. It's a little town over there. Um, but we have some strategic opportunities economically if we invest in our culture, arts, heritage, and science and pair that up with our local small business economy and the waterfront and all the activity to really clearly have a defining moment where Vancouver can come into its own and and you know, kind of that um identity we've all been kind of seeking to figure out who we are can be really substantiated in a real grassroots organic way because there's there's just tons of people with energy right now. So you want to, when you have that, invest in that, especially when people are asking you for that. It does feel like a good time to do it right now.

Speaker 2 16:02

Yeah, well, and it aligns with everything that the city has put into arts, culture, and heritage already, forming the commission, taking on the arts hub, conversations about future projects. It just aligns with that whole plan.

Speaker 16:15

So so you you've you've done all of this putting this together, and you're getting ready to roll out the grant and the website and everything, all that's coming together. So so when it does roll out, how will the projects be selected?

Speaker 3 16:28

That's when it comes down to our grant review committee. Okay. And we'll have different uh grant allocations, so there'll be different grant categories available, and it could be for programming or capital funding also. So there are several opportunities, and of course, the school districts will get a certain percentage of the funding. But our um committee review review committee will be the ones to kind of take a look, make sure everyone is meeting the eligibility requirements, and then make suggestions to our Cultural Arts and Heritage Commission.

Speaker 16:56

To find out more about Inspire Vancouver, visit the website at inspirevancouver.org. Well, I want to thank you all for joining us today on the podcast from Inspire Vancouver. I'm excited about hearing about this as it comes out. Uh if you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend and leave us a message, or get out there and enjoy the arts.