Lulu was topping the Billboard charts, The Graduate was one of the hit films of the season, Lester B. Pearson was the prime minister of Canada – and, in a room in the New Westminster Public Library, a group of arts lovers was laying the foundations for what would become a catalyst for cultural growth in the city.
It was 1967.
Flash forward five decades, and it’s time for a party.
The Arts Council of New Westminster is marking its 50th anniversary this year, with a celebration coming up on Sunday, Nov. 26. The city has proclaimed November as the “Arts Council of New Westminster’s 50th anniversary month.”
It’s not coincidental that the anniversary happens in the same year that Canada marks its 150th – since, back in Canada’s centennial year, federal money for community projects was abundant.
Stephen O’Shea, who has served as the arts council’s executive director since 2015, notes the council came to life in an era where cultural groups sprouted up across the country.
“Like any good organization in this city, it began at the New Westminster Public Library,” he says with a smile.
In its early years, the members of the arts council met at the library, followed by a couple of years in portable buildings on the site where the Justice Institute of B.C. is now – the former premises of Douglas College, before the New West campus opened downtown.
In 1985, under Mayor Tom Baker, the arts council finally got its own space, known then as the New Westminster Arts Centre – at Centennial Lodge in Queen’s Park, in what is now known as The Gallery at Queen’s Park.
“City gets its own arts centre,” trumpeted the banner front-page headline on the New Westminster NOW from Aug. 12, 1985.
“In the nine years that I have been a member of the arts council, I have sometimes wondered whether it would be 125 years before New Westminster had its own arts centre,” arts council president Eileen Thompson is quoted in the paper.
Thompson thanked the city for donating the $145,000 necessary for building the gallery – an 800-square-foot addition to the lodge in Queen’s Park. The space has since seen changes – recent upgrades include new lighting, new hardwood floors, and renovations to move office space out of the main-floor gallery and into the lower level.
But the arts council has always been about far more than just its gallery space.
“The purpose has always been to promote the arts in the community, to expose audiences to what we have at a local level,” O’Shea says. “There’s a pull to Vancouver a lot of times for cultural consumption. This has always been about promoting the arts in New West.”
The definition of “arts” has continued to evolve and expand over the years.
For much of its lifetime, the arts council was helmed by Andree St. Martin, the previous executive director, who served from 1987 until 2015 – overseeing a wide range of projects that included art rental programs, the Last Mondays at the Movies film series, concerts and an annual Christmas Treasure Room, among many others.
O’Shea notes the arts council is constantly coming up with new programming to try to reach everyone in the city.
“What we’ve tried to do is take the arts and reimagine it in the most creative way possible,” O’Shea says. “Not everyone’s going to come to our gallery in Queen’s Park, but we can take the arts to where people are.”
In so doing, he says, the arts council works to reach out to all members of the community, whether they’re longtime residents or newcomers, senior citizens or young families.
Whether it’s the largely senior audience who are the regulars at the Last Mondays at the Movies series, the families who turned out to enjoy the Music by the River series over the summer, or the craft-beer-drinking, vinyl-loving crowd that attends the Analog: Pop Up Vinyl Shop, the audiences for the arts council’s events are as diverse as the population of the city itself.
Taking the arts to the people also includes such endeavours as ArtsToGo workshops, which the arts council offers at Royal City Centre mall as a way to reach everyone in the city – especially those who might shy away from entering an art gallery.
“Wherever people are, we can just have the arts pop up and come into their regular lives,” O’Shea says.
And, within the Gallery at Queen’s Park, O’Shea is also working to make sure that there are no limits on who gets to enjoy the art.
The three- and four-year-olds at Queen’s Park Preschool, which is housed on the lower level of Centennial Lodge, come up regularly to the gallery to check out the shows and then draw their own art inspired by what they’ve seen.
It’s just one small part of O’Shea’s desire to take away anything that would make the arts feel pretentious or intimidating, and instead make it welcoming for all.
“Community art galleries are that safe space for people to experience the arts,” O’Shea says. “The gallery is always open to everyone, always free.”
While its mission is to nurture the arts within New Westminster, the arts council also aims to help attract tourists to the city. Events such as the New Westminster Cultural Crawl and New West Craft have become a draw for out-of-towners.
“New West Craft has quickly become one of our flagship programs,” O’Shea says, noting that winter and summer night markets have been huge draws.
O’Shea is already eyeing next year, and the possibility to expand the arts council’s offerings just a little bit more.
“I’m already working on 2018,” O’Shea says. “2018 looks to be bigger, better, brighter and busier. We’re just super-excited to keep bringing the arts to where people are at.”
O’Shea is excited that the arts council finds itself operating under the leadership of a city council that supports and encourages the arts as part of civic success – he notes that Mayor Jonathan Cote, at the city’s recent civic dinner, took the time to highlight the city’s many cultural success, rather than simply focusing on development and growth.
“It’s been thrilling for the arts council to be a part of council’s vision,” O’Shea says.
What it all means, in the end, is that this weekend’s celebration gives the arts council a chance to celebrate the fact that it has spent five decades living up to its mission: to promote and celebrate the arts in New Westminster.
Everyone is welcome to take part in the celebration – something O’Shea notes is particularly important for the arts council and its president, Leanne Ewen.
“It’s the belief that all of us are the arts council,” he says. “It’s not the board, it’s not me, it’s not this space, it’s all the people. It’s all of us together that make up the arts community. It’s all of us together that make up the arts council.”
CHECK IT OUT
What: The Arts Council of New Westminster marks its 50th anniversary.
When: Sunday, Nov. 26, with annual general meeting from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. and reception from 2:30 to 5 p.m. Attendees can enjoy the current exhibition of the work of Joseph Plaskett, on at the gallery now.
What: Reception will include a short formal program, including an aboriginal welcome, plus a chance to mingle and celebrate with wine and food.
Who: Everyone is invited. If you love the arts, participate in the arts or are just interested in the cultural life of New Westminster, stop in to celebrate.
What else?: If you can’t make the reception, what about a “secret” concert? The gallery is hosting a special, intimate concert on Wednesday, Nov. 29 at 7:30 p.m. (see sidebar)
Info: See www.artscouncilnewwest.org.
