42
B C B U S I N E S S . C A
J U LY/A U G U S T
2 0 24
"It was awesome to see so many people
come back and embrace the space," says
LMG executive director Brent Constantine.
"It wasn't so much an exhale—more like
an ongoing slow breath through the nose,
given what we've gone through."
The previous Little Mountain locale on
East 26th Avenue off Main Street was an
incubator for local comedic talent, serving
as a springboard for Vancouver comedy
from 2001 to 2021. Sean Devlin, Andrea
Jin, Erica Sigurdson, Ivan Decker and
many more comedians cut their teeth in
the aging, 1,300-square-foot shack.
But as most people in the Vancouver
cultural scene know all too well, grassroots
art groups simply can't have nice things—at
least not for long.
That demoviction came in early 2022 to
make way for low-rise condos that were in
the preliminary stages of construction as of
May this year.
The process wasn't necessarily surpris-
ing to Constantine, nor does he hold ill
will toward his previous landlord. He had
already recognized that the space had out-
lasted its capacity and functional needs,
and was searching for an alternative option
as far back as 2019.
The group secured its new Water
Street location in 2021 through the help
of grants and a team of consultants, but
then things went awry: the aftereffects of
COVID-19 meant that the city's permitting
process was moving like molasses—to the
point where project costs ballooned from
roughly $250,000 to $1 million. During the
two-year period before the gallery's grand
opening earlier this year, Constantine's
team was on the hook for all operational
costs—rent, utilities, insurance—while that
permit process dragged on.
"YOU HAVE BEEN
LOUD LATELY.
PLEASE BE QUIET
AT LIKE 12:00 AM
BECAUSE THAT
SEEMS REASONABLE. THE NEIGHBOURS"
–A framed note in reception
