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46 BC BU S I N E S S .C A J U LY/A U G U S T 2 0 24 For those in the city's arts and entertainment scene, it's just become part of life. There is, however, a land ownership model employed in the U.S. and U.K. that could slow the decline. At its core, the cultural land trust model is based on the promise of long-term secu- rity and viability, such that it shelters art spaces from real estate speculation. By doing so, it locks in sustainable rents and ownerships of those properties. Under a cultural land trust system, land is acquired—or donated by government— specifically for art spaces and lower- income housing through government subsidies and donations. Its principal benefits include stable rents, long-term leases and a realistic prospect of land ownership. Similar models are in place as close by as Seattle and San Francisco, or further afield in England and Scotland. It's a model that Brian McBay sees a future in. McBay is the executive director of 221A, a nonprofit group established in 2005 that has a long history of sourcing, securing and operating artist spaces and housing across the Downtown Eastside, Chinatown, Mount Pleasant and Downtown Vancouver. He's lobbying at the municipal and provincial levels to establish cultural land trusts in B.C., but the pitch doesn't come cheap: $15 million just to get started, funds that would come by way of government subsidies, grants and philanthropy. "The alternative is that when you go to city hall and say you want to open an artist studio, they have to open a dictionary, blow the dust off of it and ask themselves, 'What even is an artist studio?'" McBay says. "Whereas if you say you want to open a hair salon, for example, it's so much easier." Like McBay, Vancouver councillor Pete Fry has been an active participant in the city's arts scene for decades. From the late 1980s through until the late 1990s, Fry operated warehouse spaces for live gigs across the city, while his background in graphic design has seen Fry work with hundreds of bands over the years. "I do think Vancouver punches well above its weight as a creative city, as a hub for artists," says Fry, who sits on the city's arts and culture advisory committee. "But it also has some of the lowest-paid artists and one of the highest-value housing and real estate markets." Fry's committee is seeing such an alarm- ing pace of displacement that a subcommit- tee has been struck solely for the purpose of finding and retaining art space. He too sees value in the cultural land trust model. "I like the idea and I think it's a viable way to create spaces, but it's not going to be the silver bullet for all the space needs and it will never be able to address the up-and-coming, independent, do-it-yourself approach," Fry says. "In a compact city where space is scarce, we're going to find that cultural and certain DIY artist space use is going to butt up against residential density needs." Meanwhile, back on Water Street, Con- stantine looks out the window at the bus- tling city and acknowledges the constant friction of a city bound by water on almost every side, and with homes so expensive that only a relative few can afford them. Now, he finally has time to reflect on the past four years—and to look ahead. Money is tight, but the comedy calen- dar is nearly booked through to Decem- ber. Constantine was run ragged through the regulatory processes, but he doesn't begrudge the city entirely. He notes that he actually never saw himself as the manager of a comedy club—but if he doesn't do it, who will? "When you are an artist, you don't nec- essarily want to run a space, you just fall backwards into it because you don't want to see it disappear," Constantine says. "And then if you want to develop a space, you have to become a project manager and all of a sudden you're dealing with archi- tects and engineers and you've become so removed from practicing your art. No one wants to do this." And so what would make all of this easier? "Money," Constantine says instantly. "It always comes back to money." "I DO THINK VANCOUVER PUNCHES WELL ABOVE ITS WEIGHT AS A CREATIVE CITY, AS A HUB FOR ARTISTS. BUT IT ALSO HAS SOME OF THE LOWEST-PAID ARTISTS AND ONE OF THE HIGHEST-VALUE HOUSING AND REAL ESTATE MARKETS." Vancouver councillor Pete Fry

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