SFU launches ‘City Conversations’ with ‘State of the Arts’
A new series of lunchtime meet-ups featuring prominent experts discussing timely matters of civic importance will launch on April 19, at SFU’s Vancouver campus.
Designed to provide contrasting views in order to promote discussion on topics ranging from transportation, city planning, environmental and social issues, and the arts, City Conversations will be held the first and third Thursday of each month.
The inaugural conversation, State of the Arts, will examine the current artistic scene in the Lower Mainland.
Vancouver is a vibrant city, but its cultural quantity and quality are not often compared to New York or Toronto. With the recent end of the Vancouver Playhouse Company, along with public battles by small independent theatre owners fighting for financial survival, Vancouver’s cultural scene is under significant strain. What will it take to raise Vancouver’s cultural star?
Featuring PuSh Festival executive director Norman Armour, Georgia Straight editor Charlie Smith, and ION Magazine publisher and founder Vanessa Leigh, State of the Arts will explore these issues and more when the conversation begins on April 19.
What: Launch of City Conversations: State of the Arts
When: April 19, 2012 – 12:30-1:30pm
Where: SFU Vancouver, Room 1425, Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings
Cost: Free
The Vancouver Playhouse has not closed. The theatre company has ceased operations but the theatre, operated by Vancouver Civic Theatres, continues to used for a wide-range of performances by many other groups. It probably seems like a pedantic point on my part, but the distinction is crucial to the other arts organizations that use the Playhouse Theatre. Single ticket sales for many groups have taken a hit in the wake of the wide-spread publicity of the theatre company’s demise. It is unfortunate that they are caught in the cross fire of the media attention, an outcome no one intended.