'This should be protected': Vancouver art venues struggling with rent hikes and development

When the Toast Collective artist space found out last month it was getting a $200-a-month rent hike, organizer Tracey Vath worried it would mean the end of the Toast — a narrow, alternative music venue that's served as practice and performance space for the past decade. 

The space itself is not much to look at, but it means a lot for the community. The walls are thick with layers of paint over the years, and filled with nail holes from various installations. Of course, there's a toaster to make a slice of toast whenever you'd like. 

And to stay alive for emerging artists, its costs must stay low.

"With the rent increase and with a small group of volunteers, we just didn't know how we were going to continue," said Vath.

So, Vath and her co-organizer launched a fundraiser, with 12 hours of music and a little jar set up to collect donations. By the end, it was overflowing.

"We just had to call up the community for support. And we got it. We got support all right," Vath said. 

Through the jar and online donations, they raised around $7,000 — enough to keep the Toast afloat for months without Vath subsidizing rent from her own pocket. 

But many other art spaces aren't so lucky in a city with rising rents and rampant development. 

Alix Sales, head of cultural spaces for the City of Vancouver, said the displacement of artists has accelerated over the past few years. She said since 2018, her office has learned of 300 artists losing their studio spaces — a blow for the city's social cohesion and economy. 

"It's a crisis of affordability," Sales said, adding that 63 per cent of artists live below the poverty line and have a need to keep costs low.

"We don't want to live in a city where artists can't afford to live and share their work."

Indie comedy venue at risk 

The Little Mountain Gallery, which hosts an indie comedy venue near Main Street and 26th Avenue, is worried it will be next on the chopping block. 

Their perpetual fear has come true: the property is slated for development, pending approval from the city.  

"The owner of the building had kind of hinted at the fact that he was probably going to redevelop it at some point in the future, but he didn't really give us a heads up when that development application was going to be going up," said Abdul Aziz, operations manager at the Little Mountain Gallery. 

"I don't see anything as funny about this," said Comedian Ross Dauk, the seven-year host of a weekly show at the venue called Jokes Please.

When he broke the news that the site was going to be developed, he said regular audience members hugged him and cried. 

"It was heartbreaking because I know comedians love this space, you don't necessarily understand how much the person on the street cares about a space like this," Dauk said.  

"I love coming here. It's a great place," said Robert Ferguson, who takes the bus to watch the show every Thursday night. "I'd really be sad to see it go."

'I don't think it has to be inevitable'

Aziz said the non-profit board has been looking for possible replacements, but it's a tough grind, as the venue is already seen as a bit of a unicorn in Vancouver. 

"This space the rent that we pay here and the the amount of space that we have and kind of its central location is something that is incredibly rare in the city." Aziz said.

They pay $2,200 a month for rent. So far, the places they've found that are a similar size range between $4,000 and $6,000 per month. 

"We got a great deal for a really long time," he said. 

Paying more rent would mean the non-profit's model wouldn't work anymore, he said. Their options are to charge more for entry, or move to a smaller space — both of which go against their mandate to lower the barriers to entry for comedians and make art spaces as accessible as possible.  

Both Aziz and comedian Dauk think more should be done to preserve and create art spaces in the city. 

Why can't a space like this exist?- Ross Dauk, comedian

"Some people think it's inevitable that this venue is going to leave. I don't think it has to be inevitable. I think this should be protected," Dauk said. "Why can't a space like this exist?"

Dauk said emerging comedians need smaller venues to practice their jokes and take risks. If the Little Mountain Gallery goes, that just leaves a few bars and a dwindling number of comedy clubs in town. 

"There, people are mostly there to buy drinks and have drinks and then maybe there's a comedy show. This venue, people come to see comedy and it is a whole different thing," Dauk said. 

"Comedy changes depending on where it's made. So comedy in Vancouver would change." 

City says preserving art spaces will take time

Alix Sales with the city said her department is aiming to keep art a priority. 

In a report filed to council in the fall, the city approved a goal of building 800,000 square feet of new, repurposed or expanded art space over the next ten years. 

It also set a goal for no net loss of cultural spaces like artist studios and music spaces. 

And while there is little the city can do to prevent the loss of the Little Mountain Gallery, Sales said in the future, she wants to get to a place where the city regularly negotiates with developers to retain art spaces. 

"You don't solve massive infrastructure problems in a few years. It takes decades," she said. 

Treading Water is a series from CBC British Columbia examining the impact of the affordability crisis on people in Metro Vancouver and across the province, including the creative solutions being used to make ends meet.

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