New Study Looks at Cultural Precinct, Concert Halls

[whatnext]

Interesting, I hadn't heard of this before (except maybe the Bing Thom proposal). Given the VAGs painfully slow fundraising and subsequent construction cost debacle, is this even realistic?

New study to consider building a new Vancouver cultural precinct with three concert halls, including an 1,800-seat venue
Kenneth Chan

A decades-old idea to build a brand-new purpose-built concert hall in Vancouver has gained fresh momentum from the efforts of former BC Attorney General Suzanne Anton, who is the chair of the rebooted Vancouver Concert Hall and Theatre Society.

Anton, who was also previously a Vancouver city councillor and currently serves as a director on boards such as the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, announced today a feasibility study will be performed to determine the viability of building a new cultural precinct with multiple performing arts theatres.

This would fill a gap in Vancouver’s venue offerings in terms of both spectator capacity and the calibre of the venue for symphony, opera, ballet, lyrical, and other types of performances.

Such venues would fill the current mid-size gap — venues that are smaller than the City of Vancouver-owned and operated existing major venues of the Orpheum Theatre and Queen Elizabeth Theatre, which each seat about 2,800 spectators.

Anton says the potential vision is to have such a complex featuring a concert hall with about 1,800 seats, an opera/ballet theatre also with approximately 1,800 seats, and a recital hall with roughly 800 to 900 seats.

“It’s clear that there’s a really strong demand for new facilities in Vancouver,” Anton told Daily Hive Urbanized in an interview on Thursday, who stated the study would help identify the potential solutions.

The society has contracted architectural firm Diamond Schmitt to conduct the study over the next nine months. Their work will include creating the business case, identifying potential locations, and performing public consultation....

...While the Orpheum Theatre and Queen Elizabeth Theatre are highly valued assets, they are deemed too big for the regular needs of some of these organizations.

Moreover, the Orpheum Theatre, the home of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, was originally designed as a vaudeville, before its previous four-decade use as a cinema under the Famous Players chain....

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vanc...-society-study

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Interesting, I hadn't heard of this before (except maybe the Bing Thom proposal). Given the VAGs painfully slow fundraising and subsequent construction cost debacle, is this even realistic?

New study to consider building a new Vancouver cultural precinct with three concert halls, including an 1,800-seat venue
Kenneth Chan

A decades-old idea to build a brand-new purpose-built concert hall in Vancouver has gained fresh momentum from the efforts of former BC Attorney General Suzanne Anton, who is the chair of the rebooted Vancouver Concert Hall and Theatre Society.

Anton, who was also previously a Vancouver city councillor and currently serves as a director on boards such as the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, announced today a feasibility study will be performed to determine the viability of building a new cultural precinct with multiple performing arts theatres.

This would fill a gap in Vancouver’s venue offerings in terms of both spectator capacity and the calibre of the venue for symphony, opera, ballet, lyrical, and other types of performances.

Such venues would fill the current mid-size gap — venues that are smaller than the City of Vancouver-owned and operated existing major venues of the Orpheum Theatre and Queen Elizabeth Theatre, which each seat about 2,800 spectators.

Anton says the potential vision is to have such a complex featuring a concert hall with about 1,800 seats, an opera/ballet theatre also with approximately 1,800 seats, and a recital hall with roughly 800 to 900 seats.

“It’s clear that there’s a really strong demand for new facilities in Vancouver,” Anton told Daily Hive Urbanized in an interview on Thursday, who stated the study would help identify the potential solutions.

The society has contracted architectural firm Diamond Schmitt to conduct the study over the next nine months. Their work will include creating the business case, identifying potential locations, and performing public consultation....

...While the Orpheum Theatre and Queen Elizabeth Theatre are highly valued assets, they are deemed too big for the regular needs of some of these organizations.

Moreover, the Orpheum Theatre, the home of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, was originally designed as a vaudeville, before its previous four-decade use as a cinema under the Famous Players chain....

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vanc...-society-study

Vancouver Sun article about it from three days ago

https://vancouversun.com/opinion/col...-mega-projects

I doubt the VAG option goes anywhere if the costs are significantly higher than a more traditional building.

I wonder what their membership/ticket/finance numbers are. I assume they are worse than VAG..

[djmk]

i would love to see more cultural spaces but don't limit this to just downtown Vancouver. put some love into East Van. Commercial drive, Collingwood/Joyce, Hastings @ Nanaimo

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by djmk

i would love to see more cultural spaces but don't limit this to just downtown Vancouver. put some love into East Van. Commercial drive, Collingwood/Joyce, Hastings @ Nanaimo

They'd have to take a look at their subscriber base and where they're coming from. I always get the feeling from the VSO that there's a significant contingent from the North Shore and I expect the same is true of Vancouver Opera.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by whatnext

They'd have to take a look at their subscriber base and where they're coming from. I always get the feeling from the VSO that there's a significant contingent from the North Shore and I expect the same is true of Vancouver Opera.

Their best bet is doing a Goh Ballet/Oakridge Park deal and trying to get some kind of benefactor that can leverage them as an amenity for a future project.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

Their best bet is doing a Goh Ballet/Oakridge Park deal and trying to get some kind of benefactor that can leverage them as an amenity for a future project.

Is that being built in Oakridge right now? Wasn't it something like 3,000 seats?