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fo c u s Deep Cove Cultural Centre Opens its Doors by Ann Macklem After being in the works for nearly five years, the Deep Cove Cultural Centre finally opened its doors in early April. Home to four resident groups, whose concerns range from the visual and performing arts to civic heritage, the centre promises a wide variety of cultural programming. Indeed, its structure is quite unique. Deep Cove Cultural Society board member Damian Inwood can think of only one venue in the Lower Mainland that serves a similar function--ihe Vancouver East Cultural Centre. Yet the V E C C has only a theatre and a gallery, and no resident groups. The cultural centre, on the other hand, houses two theatre companies (Deep Cove Stage and First Impressions Theatre), a gallery (the Seymour Art Gallery) and a heritage group (the Deep Cove and Area Heritage Association). These groups came together, along with a fifth--the Pro Nova Ensemble (formerly the Deep Cove Chamber Soloists)--at the prompting of the Deep Cove Stage theatre group, who. in 1987, were faced with the loss of their building. At the time, the Seymour A n Gallery and the Heritage Association were squeezed into the wings of Seycove elementary school, and First Impressions Theatre made use of the James Cowan Theatre in Bumaby. They realized thai their chances of getting funding for a new local venue would be greatly improved it the) banded together and proposed a multi-use facility. Having got a commitment from the District of North Vancouver with regards to land, they got down to serious fundraising business. This included telethons, walkathons. fashion shows, murder mystery nights, evenings at the Yacht Club, and even, for the bravest souls, the Penguin Plunge. Building on an initial $60,000 pledged by the Lion's Club (as compensation to Deep Cove Stage for the loss of their community hall), the Cultural Society went far beyond its initial fundraising projection of $50,000, raising close to $120,000. The various levels of govem-ment kicked in the difference and saw to it ihai the SI million facility was built. For a long lime, though, the future of the cultural centre was uncertain. "We didn't know whether it was going to happen for a long time--probably three or four years." but "it got to the point where, having already raised quite a bit of money, we just had to decide to go ahead," recalls Damian Inwood. Having a permanent--not to mention dedicated--faciliiv is bound to make life ihe IK Ma Deep Cove lit borders on Panorama Park) will only increase the groups' visibility. Attendance at the art gallery. lor instance, has improved dramatically, going from 20 r 30 > location to thai same number per Jay at the cultural centre. The new space has also allowed the gallery to up the profile of the artists it represents. This will, in turn, boost the stature of the gallery. An. Ace. In addition, having all the groups housed in the same location increases the potential for audience crossover. Someone who drops by to pick up theatre tickets might very well at the same time pop into the gallery or the heritage office to take a look at their exhibits. Ann Booth, president of the Deep Cove Cultural Society, sees the cultural centre as "a building that we all belong to. We don't want each group to only do their own thing," she continues. While representatives from three of the resident groups were enthusiastic about the potential for joint programming, no concrete plans have been made to date. For the moment, they are still settling in. One thing the\ are doing in terms of looking ahead is consolidating their volunteer base, making sure that volunteers are acquainted with the aims and workings of the Society as well as those of each of the resident groups. This will help to ensure that the groups don't become too insulated. The cultural centre represents a real opportunity for cultural development. A s Ann Booth explains, the role of the Cultural Society is "to develop the artistic needs of the community" rather than simply respond to them. Having the cultural centre so entrenched in the community, with such a variety ol services and programming at hand, can only have a positive effect on the arts community, both on the North Shore and at large. The cultural centre also has incredible potential in terms of new directions for the arts. Avant-garde groups have for a long lime been experimenting with artistic boundaries by presenting inter-disciplinary works. If the various groups at the cultural centre do eventually undertake joint programming events--ideas here include developing a theatre piece around heritage issues, or using the gallery as the setting for a play and incorporating the artwork on the walls into the set--they loo will be testing the limits of "acceptable art Given that all the groups alread) have a loyal and trusting audience, this shouldn't prove loo difficult. After all. the cultural context has been there from the outset. It just so happens that the cultural centre is built on the site of Deep Cove's very first house. The significance of this is not lost on the Centre's tenants. "It's a nice connection." says Damian Inwood. "we've got our culture back in the place where Deep Cove really started." It is now up to the cultural large, to keep that culture alive.. It is highly unlikely that they will do anything but that. C^orneby a n d be \nsp\y trie w o r k o f local artisans. 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ACTIVEWEAR* IIIIIIKS IIIIN AT EII On May 30. 1992, the West Vancouver Sketch Club presented the West Vancouver Memorial Library with three an books in memoriam, as follows: Painting Seascapes in Sharp Fot us in memory of Marial Keillor Pauulng Flowers i memory of Betty Grey ; Te\tures in Water Colour emory of Rene Schack The West Van Sketch Club meets every third Tuesday of the month al St. Stephen's Anglican Church in West Vancouver, from 7:30 lo 10:00 pm.