New Study Looks at Cultural Precinct, Concert Halls

whatnext · #1 Posted **Sep 4, 2024, 12:19 AM**

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/vancouver-concert-hall-theatre-society-study

jollyburger · #2 Posted **Sep 4, 2024, 2:16 AM**

Quote:

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/vancouver-concert-hall-theatre-society-study

Vancouver Sun article about it from three days ago

https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columni...mbles-can-city-afford-arts-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 · #3 Posted **Sep 4, 2024, 6:59 PM**

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 · #4 Posted **Sep 4, 2024, 7:05 PM**

Quote:

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 · #5 Posted **Sep 4, 2024, 7:14 PM**

Quote:

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 · #6 Posted **Sep 4, 2024, 7:46 PM**

Quote:

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?

Glow Fun City · #7 Posted **Jul 23, 2026, 11:46 PM**

Big update:

Four new concert halls proposed for Downtown Vancouver, including Robson Square and Northeast False Creek
Kenneth Chan, Dailyhive

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-cultural-precinct-new-concert-halls-proposal-sites

Image credit: Diamond Schmitt Architects/Vancouver Concert Hall and Theatre Society

A coalition of 32 performing arts organizations has unveiled an ambitious vision to create four new and/or substantially renovated performance venues in Downtown Vancouver, with four possible location options identified.

This includes the Robson Square/existing Vancouver Art Gallery site, Queen Elizabeth Theatre plaza, Larwill Park parking lot (sharing the city block with the future Vancouver Art Gallery), and the Northeast False Creek waterfront.

The Vancouver Cultural Precinct proposal by the not-for-profit Vancouver Concert Hall and Theatre Society calls for a connected group of purpose-built venues ranging from an intimate 400-seat hall to a 2,000-seat theatre capable of hosting major operas, ballets, and other large productions.

A press conference held today drew municipal, provincial, and federal officials, all of whom spoke very strongly in support of the society’s vision...

Image credit: Diamond Schmitt Architects/Vancouver Concert Hall and Theatre Society

officedweller · #8 Posted **Jul 24, 2026, 12:20 AM**

Robson Square's plaza is sancrosanct.

Bing Thom's museum on the grassy knoll went nowhere, the clamshell roof was strongly opposed.

Bing Thom's dream for a world-class museum under Robson Square

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/robson-square-chinese-art-museum-gallery-bing-thom

and at least his concert hall proposal under the north plaza kept the heritage building intact:

Bing Thom’s big dig: reimagining Centennial Square

https://vancouverpublicspace.ca/2011/03/05/bing-thoms-big-dig-reimagining-centennial-square/

madog222 · #9 Posted **Jul 24, 2026, 12:34 AM**

Quote:

OVER THE PAST TWO years, the precinct alliance has looked at many site options and several configurations of theatres. But with the help of Diamond Schmitt Architects and what Anton describes as surveys and decision-making through intensive workshops, here are the options the group has now narrowed down:

Putting the small theatre and either the 850-seat medium venue or the 1,750-seat concert hall in a renovated Rattenbury Building. ...The logistics are challenging, as it would require getting the Province, the Arthur Erickson Foundation, UBC, and heritage advocates on board.
Adding the small venue, the medium venue, and the concert hall to the current Queen Elizabeth Theatre site and adjacent Larwill Park, where the new art gallery will be.
Creating the biggest 2,000-seat “large proscenium auditorium” for opera and ballet with either significant renovations and upgrades to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, and possibly sizing down the current home to Ballet BC and Vancouver Opera from its current 2,700 seats; or creating a brand-new, purpose-built 2,000-seater on the waterfront at Northeast False Creek, on the former Expo Lands.

https://www.createastir.ca/articles/vancouver-cultural-precinct-four-theatre-proposal

Changing City · #10 Posted **Jul 24, 2026, 1:42 AM**

I'm not sure how this differs from the 2024 'vision' at the top of the thread. That promised to create the business case - which I would expect to be a little more than a list of possible clients who might book the space(s). Unless there are some deep-pocketed secret arts lovers who might throw in a few hundred million (+), none of the ideas seem realistic in the current economic climate. If the Art Gallery have struggled to get their project moving with $350m potentially available, I don't see how any of these ideas could get realised with $31m seed money.

officedweller · #11 Posted **Jul 24, 2026, 1:57 AM**

Quote:

The plan was developed through a two-year feasibility study led by Diamond Schmitt Architects, which was commissioned by the society to perform the work. Participating organizations include the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Opera, Ballet BC, Chor Leoni, Music on Main, DanceHouse, and the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouve...ert-halls-proposal-sites#google_vignette

I see this study as a wish list from the arts organizations.
Whether or not they have consulted with the "site donors" seems unknown, but they haven't suggested other vacant sites or inclusion in other large projects in the vicinity of the existing arts facilities.
The suggested sites seem like "grabs" - from government (Robson Square = PavCo, Queen E = City) and the biggest developer Concord Pacific.
In a previous world, that could have been Westbank (Central Heating site?) - the Butterfly project has a performance space in the revamped church.

These sites were not suggested:
- the 500 West Georgia vacant lot
- incorporated into the Bay Parkade redevelopment
- the parkade site at Pender & Beatty next to Victory Square (that office project must be dead)

Migrant_Coconut · #12 Posted **Jul 24, 2026, 2:15 AM**

Yeah, the "non-profit" part is all you need to know - they're coming up with an idea and asking somebody else to pick up the bill.

urbanight93 · #13 Posted **Jul 24, 2026, 3:04 AM**

I appreciate the bold thinking and the visions. Obviously in the current economic climate little is going to be done but if we are going to think long-term, this is a great time to get conversations started and push these ideas forward in unison. Hopefully governments see the need to stimulate the economy through investments in arts and culture and this precinct can benefit from synergies and induce downstream benefits in the City across the board. Seeing the City prioritize hotels has encouraged a market response and I sure hope that an emphasis on arts, culture and sports sees us enter a new era. First starting by breaking ground on the new VAG.

Changing City · #14 Posted **Jul 24, 2026, 5:52 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by officedweller

.
The suggested sites seem like "grabs" - from government (Robson Square = PavCo, Queen E = City) and the biggest developer Concord Pacific.

I think they're all three public sites. Robson Square is (as you say), provincially owned (although not part of Pavco's responsibilities), QE is City owned, and the location they identified on NEFC is included as part of the park land for the area. There are all sorts of contamination issues and responsibilities with the site, and I doubt whether a project there would make any sense financially to overcome them.

It's probably not realistic to suggest any privately owned sites (assuming the cost of construction could be raised), as we don't have much undeveloped land Downtown, and it's worth a lot. I don't see a developer giving them a site, and we now entertain development at very high density and height without a major public benefit being required, so that's no longer a route to get significant facilities.

csbvan · #15 Posted **Jul 24, 2026, 6:06 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Yeah, the "non-profit" part is all you need to know - they're coming up with an idea and asking somebody else to pick up the bill.

Yes, major arts facilities in cities require public investment. That's part of being a 'city'.

Migrant_Coconut · #16 Posted **Jul 24, 2026, 7:05 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by csbvan

Yes, major arts facilities in cities require public investment. That's part of being a 'city'.

And most of them wait to actually have a plan in place before making big announcements, lest they end up jokes like the VAG proposal.

officedweller · #17 Posted **Jul 24, 2026, 10:45 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Changing City

I think they're all three public sites. Robson Square is (as you say), provincially owned (although not part of Pavco's responsibilities), QE is City owned, and the location they identified on NEFC is included as part of the park land for the area. There are all sorts of contamination issues and responsibilities with the site, and I doubt whether a project there would make any sense financially to overcome them.

It's probably not realistic to suggest any privately owned sites (assuming the cost of construction could be raised), as we don't have much undeveloped land Downtown, and it's worth a lot. I don't see a developer giving them a site, and we now entertain development at very high density and height without a major public benefit being required, so that's no longer a route to get significant facilities.

I looked it up and PavCo only managed the Robson Square Conference Centre before UBC took over the space.

Yeah, there's a lot of pollution at the NEFC site and I doubt they could excavate deep as the park there will be the repository for contaminated soils from NEFC.

whatnext · #18 Posted **Jul 24, 2026, 3:17 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Yeah, the "non-profit" part is all you need to know - they're coming up with an idea and asking somebody else to pick up the bill.

Sort of like FIFA then?

mcj · #19 Posted **Jul 24, 2026, 3:57 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by whatnext

Sort of like FIFA then?

Could get at least one of these built for that ~$700M+ spent on FIFA. Not to mention whatever the Whitecaps are about to be gifted by the Provincial government. We have priorities, arts and culture is not one of them.

whatnext · #20 Posted **Jul 24, 2026, 4:29 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcj

Could get at least one of these built for that ~$700M+ spent on FIFA. Not to mention whatever the Whitecaps are about to be gifted by the Provincial government. We have priorities, arts and culture is not one of them.

Certainly a sad time if we’ve gotten to a point where an NDP government is going to hand out untold millions to wealthy team owners.