In the council appointments shuffle, I find myself in 2025 assigned to two arts organizations as successor to Dana Lajeunesse. I'm now Sooke's appointee to the CRD Arts Commission and the Westshore Arts Centre Intermunicipal Committee. This page is where I’m filing links, clips and random notes for future reference. Welcome to it!
(this post is a work in progress)
i) CRD Arts Commission
The District first committed to this arts-funding and support service in 2018 thanks to the passionate advocacy of the late Brenda Parkinson. The annual investment (now $45k) allows our arts non-profits to tap into the service's $2.5m annual budget. Seven other CRD municipalities -- Saanich, Victoria, Oak Bay, Esquimalt, View Royal, Highlands, Metchosin -- and the Southern Gulf Islands electoral area also invest and participate. Its hoped Langford will join the fold in the near-term. Arts groups in non-participating jurisdictions -- i.e., Colwood, Central Saanich, Sidney, North Saanich and the JDF electoral area -- are not eligible for funding.
In 2024, Project grants totalling $18k went to Sooke Harbour Players, the Sooke Community Choir, the Sooke Festival Society and Choral Evolution. IDEA (Innovate, Develop, Experiment, Access) Grants, which are distributed to non-profit groups not specifically dedicated to the arts but who weave art in their public outreach, were awarded to the EMCS Society Programs, Harmony Project Sooke and the Friends of Sooke Parks ($8.5k total). The service has also supported SEAPARC in an analysis of its programming for youth and vulnerable populations.
Of course, we in Sooke can also enjoy arts of all kinds from 95 other regional groups that received $2.5m in CRD funding this year – the Belfry, Ballet Victoria, the Art Gallery of Victoria, Victoria Symphony, multiple festivals (jazz, film and ska included) and much else. (Stats in today’s agenda show that Sooke residents purchased 2,055 tickets to events at the Royal Theatre last year and 802 at the McPherson Playhouse – about a 2% share of all sales, which aligns with our share of the CRD population).
Why should a regional government support the arts? Answer: “CRD municipalities invest in the arts for the economic impact and employment they provide, for the provincial and national visibility arts organizations provide to the region, and to provide a wide range of educational, participatory and audience opportunities for citizens and visitors, improving quality of life.”
The Commission's Erin Sterling, a Sooke resident herself, recommends anyone with an interest in the regional arts scene subscribe to the CRD arts newsletter here.
CRD Arts & Culture Support Service
- Strategic Plan 2024-2027
- Archive of Arts Commission Agendas and Minutes
- CRD Establishing Bylaw No. 4173 (2017)
CRD Arts Commission 2025
* Marian Alto (Chair, Mayor of Victoria)
* Carey Smart (Vice Chair, Oak Bay)
* Andrea Boardman (Oak Bay)
* Sherry Epp (Metchosin)
* Colin Plant (Saanich)
* Paul Brent (Southern Gulf Islands)
* Jeff Bateman (Sooke)
* Gerry Lemon (View Royal)
* Karel Roessingh (Highlands)
CRD Manager, Arts & Culture Support Services - Chris Gilprin
Former executive director of the Community Arts Council of Vancouver.
- CRD Arts & Culture website homepage
- Impact Reports – 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020
- Statistics Canada and other third-party reports (health, economic, social impacts of the arts)
- Arts-based survey of CRD residents (2016)
- Public Art in the Capital Region (data base of 180 public art works)
- Directory of Non-Profit Arts Organizations in Greater Victoria
- CRD Arts Service Strategic Plan 2015-18 (approved March 2015)
Grants
Adjudication by the CRD Arts Advisory Council
-Comprised of a dozen arts professionals and chaired in 2025 by multi-disciplinary Victoria-based artist Sarah Reid. The council's recommendations are forwarded for approval to the CRD Arts Commission.
CRD Bylaw 2973 established the Arts Advisory Council (AAC) “as an independent community-based body to provide advice to the CRD” on matters relating to the Arts Service.
The AAC’s mandate is to act as an arm’s length adjudication body for the Arts Development funding programs and to advise the Arts Committee on policies that foster and promote:
• Support of the arts in the community,
• Public awareness of and involvement in the arts,
• The creation, exhibition and performance of artistic works, and
• The development of artistic and other requisite skills, and shall advise the CRD Arts
Committee of measures which the Council considers to be conducive to these ends.
• Other appropriate duties as assigned by the Arts Committee from time to time."
Grant Opportunities
- Arts Funding home page
- Video overview (YouTube)
- Arts & Culture Grant Recipients 2017-Present
- Greater Victoria Grant Writing Handbook (Victoria Foundation, 2018)
Operating Grants ($2.4m annual budget)
Stable, reliable funding open to arts group of “regional significance” who have been in operation for at least two years with annual budgets of at least $90k and guided by a Board of Directors. Available as either annual or multi-year grants.
2025 recipients: Notice of Significant Concern (NOSC)
Project Grants ($280k)
“Projects, Series & Extended Programming Grants (Project Grants) provide support for emerging or
established arts organizations to produce or present one-time projects, a short series of events, or
extended programming, taking place over a period of time leading up to the next year’s project grant
deadlines. Project Grants are not available to organizations receiving assistance through the CRD
Operating Grant program.” (guidelines)
Equity Grants ($50k)
“Funding arts programing by and for communities that face significant collective barriers to accessing funding. They may be marginalized based on race, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or something else.” Up to $10k per approved applicant as per these 2025 guidelines. Independent groups not registered as a society are encouraged to find and work with a sponsor organization.
IDEA Grants ($33k)
“IDEA (Innovate, Develop, Experiment, Access) Grants is a flexible, small-awards program designed to respond to one-time opportunities and to encourage new, innovative, or developmental arts projects and events. IDEA Grants are intended to encourage and support arts participation by organizations that are not eligible for other CRD Arts & Culture Support Service programs.” See IDEA Grant guidelines.
Grow Forward Grants ($30k)
New in 2025: Grow Forward Grants provide up to $5k to not-for-profit arts organizations seeking to grow and evolve. Funds are to be used for: “Capacity-building; Planning; Mentorships; Sectoral initiatives; and Significant and strategic adaptations to operations.” (Replaces the former Incubator Grant program.) + guidelines.
Six applicants will be accepted for a pilot version to launch in spring 2025. If successful, the program would expand to 30 groups in 2026.
"• Developing mentorships for arts leaders internally or between organizations.
• Making shifts to business models and organizational structures.
• Forming strategic partnerships with other organizations, including resource sharing.
• Sectoral initiatives that benefit multiple arts organizations in the Capital Region.
• Cross-sectoral initiatives that create collaborations between arts and other sectors or industries.
• Planning for leadership succession from founding and longstanding leaders.
• Addressing organizational life cycle questions, including potential mergers and closures."
2025 Grant Results
* Project Grant - January uptake (second uptake in April)
- See March 26 agenda, pp. 14-51 (includes analysis of each application)
"At the January 2025 deadline of Project Grants, 34 applications were received, higher than the 4-year average. No applications were ruled ineligible by staff. The total request from eligible applications of $316,020 was significantly higher than the 4-year average. 17 grants were awarded with a higher-than-average award amount and four applications are funded at the full amount of their request. The applicant success rate of 50% was lower than average, in part due to the high number of applications." (One Sooke-based grant application by Choral Evolution was declined.)
Sooke grant recipients since joining the service in 2019:
- Sooke Fine Arts ($11k, 2020/21/22)
- Sooke Region Museum ($3k, 2021)
- Sooke Arts Council ($4k, 2020)
CRD Project Grant recipients from Sooke in the first two years (2019/20) of our participation in the service:
Sooke Fine Arts Society ($10k)
Harmony Project Sooke ($2k)
Sooke Community Choir ($2k)
Sooke Folks Music Society ($2k)
Sooke Festival Society ($1.5k)
Sooke Philharmonic Orchestra ($5k)
From the CRD Arts FAQ page: "Where else can I get funding?"
Related: CRD Performing Arts Facility Service
Establishing Bylaw No. 4445
Performing Arts Facilities Select Committee
- Terms of Reference
- Stage One: A Public Conversation about Performing Arts Facilities in the CRD (2020, PDF file attached below)
Core beliefs:
- Performing Arts in the CRD are regional in nature and our regional facilities attract audiences, volunteers and artists from all over the CRD, regardless which municipality or electoral area they live in.
- The arts are a valued aspect of our region’s cultural health and need support to ensure their ongoing sustainability.
- Like our municipal and regional parks systems, there can be government support for both municipal and regional facilities for performing arts.
- As this will be a new regional service, it is understood there will be an evolution to the service as new facilities are developed and older facilities are renovated/replaced. Some proposed components of the new service to be considered:
1. The new Arts Facilities Service is intended to consolidate and replace the two current CRD services (Royal and McPherson) into one new service: The Regional Performing Arts Facilities Service.
2. The new service is intended to have a broader scope than just the two facilities referenced in Item #1 above. It will also support the Charlie White Theatre (located in the Mary Winspear Centre on the Saanich Peninsula) as well as future theatres that are regional in nature being considered in the Westshore. As additional spaces are developed, they can also be considered.
3. The service will support both regionally/municipally owned and not-for-profit society-owned theatres. For-profit theatres, school-based and church-based performing arts facilities will not be supported by this service.
ii) Westshore Arts Centre Intermunicipal Committee
Committee of west shore councillors in support of the JDF Performing Arts Centre Society
Karel Roessingh, Gery Lemon, David Grove, Colby Harder, Sharie Epp, Jeff Bateman, Chris Fraser, Judith Cullington
Juan de Fuca Performing Arts Centre Society
"Our mission is to build a regional theatre and associated arts infrastructure in a community consisting of the rapidly growing British Columbia municipalities of Colwood and Langford, together with the Districts of Metchosin, Highlands and Sooke, the Town of View Royal and the Juan de Fuca Electoral Area, representing a population of approximately 79,000 people."
President: Judith Cullington
Vice-President: Chris Fraser
Directors: Duc Le (Treasurer), David Stocks, Dorothy York
- West Shore Community Arts Centre: Preliminary Feasibility Study (Oct. 2022)
- Development Study (City of Colwood, 2013)
Proposed Space
- Artists' Workshop with Alex Sarian and Cascadia Architects - Sat. April 26, 2025, Elements Casino
- Purpose: To ground-truth spaces identified above with performing arts organizations in the region
- Sarian is CAO of The Arts Commons in Calgary and the author of The Audacity of Relevance
- Former senior executive at the Lincoln Centre for the Performing Arts in NYC
- Cascadia Architects is a Victoria-based architectural firm that will develop a working sketch of the facility
iii) Sooke Arts Scene
District of Sooke support
* Line-item annual funding ($7k each) ...
- Sooke Fine Arts Society
- Sooke Philharmonic Society
- Sooke Community Arts Council
* Community Grants Program ($65k, annual application deadline is March 15)
SPA Committee - proposed revision of the Sooke Region Cultural Plan (June 2022)
"The Sooke Program of the Arts committee first discussed a revision of the 2011 Taking it to the Streets Sooke Region Cultural Plan at the July 8, 2021, meeting. It was recognized that the content of the plan was relevant but needed updating the reflect the needs of Sooke's current population. Since then, members have discussed the ways in which the plan might be revitalized and how to proceed, resulting in the writing of a discussion paper for Council's receipt and action." (see attached file below, pp. 5-37)
Sooke Region Cultural Plan (2011)
"The Sooke Region Cultural Plan was initiated to serve as the starting point for discussions around developing a healthy arts community for the Sooke Region. A funding collaboration between the District of Sooke, Juan de Fuca Economic Development, Sooke Community Arts Council, Sooke Region Tourism and the Sooke Fine Arts Society enabled the Sooke Region to become one of a number of municipalities in BC to undertake a Cultural Plan as guided by 2010 Legacies Now and Creative City Network of Canada."
Preliminary: ArtsWave Cultural Mapping Project (2010)
Follow-Up: Sooke Region Cultural Planning Advisory Committee Business Plan (2012)
First task: Hire a Sooke Region Cultural Planning Coordinator (fail)
From the priorities identified in ArtsWave, the Cultural Plan focused on five Strategic Directions:
Strategic Actions and Directions
HIGH Priority
* Create a Cultural Planning Advisory Committee
* Amalgamate with the existing Sooke Program of the Arts Committee and explore additional partnerships (appoint membership and establish funding through DOS and JDF)
* Annual Cultural Summit to foster partnerships and enact the Plan
* Seek grant opportunities to provide funding for collaborative regional approach
* Sooke Region Volunteer Centre
* Coordinate pro-active marketing and promotion campaigns for the arts, cultural and heritage sector, including regular interaction with local print, radio, TV and online media.
* Collaborate to improve upon existing calendars of arts, cultural and heritage activities and events.
* Encourage event organizers to partner with community arts, cultural and heritage organizations in the planning process.
* Seek joint marketing opportunities for celebrations and festivals to be promoted and champion celebrations and festivals regionally, provincially and nationally.
* Continue to build the Sooke Region’s brand as a cultural hub on Vancouver Island through hosting high caliber and unique cultural events.
* Create opportunities for youth to exhibit and perform at events within the Region.
* Develop mutually beneficial and inclusive relationships with First Nations Bands in the coordination of arts, cultural and heritage festivals and events.
MEDIUM Priority
* Review possibility of shared administrative space for arts and heritage organizations, and festival groups
* Work with SRTA to coordinate cultural tourism
* Coordinate pro-active marketing and promotion campaigns for the arts, cultural and heritage sector, including regular interaction with local print, radio, TV and online media.
* Advocate for youth-friendly spaces to be incorporated in to cultural infrastructure planning.
* Review the possibility of working with local businesses for creating a shared storage facility.
* Seek expertise and leadership to identify a well-defined process for cultural facility development in the Sooke Region.
* Advocate for incentive grants to build or convert spaces for commercial/cultural use.
Sooke Arts Facilities
* Sooke Community Theatre at EMCS (with 350 newly replaced seats)
* Edward Milne Community School (rentals of space in it and all Sooke school facilities through the EMCS Society)
* Sooke Community Hall
* Royal Canadian Legion
* Holy Trinity Anglican Church
Proposed ...
~ Sooke Gathering Place (multi-use seniors space with intergenerational programming at the ground floor and below-grade levels + 77 units of affordable BC Housing seniors rental apartments above)
~ Sooke Arts Council at the Gathering Space (TBD gallery and studio spaces should the project move ahead)
- Arts groups in the past have expressed keen interest in a black-box theatre in the town centre (Kelowna example) as a flexible space for rehearsals and smaller-scale events.
- An arts gallery/studio space in the spirit of the celebrated Old School House Arts Centre in Qualicum was explored by the Mayor's Advisory Council on Arts & Beautification circa 2012/13 at the former Mulligans property when it was on the market.
From This Blog:
* Some Thoughts on the Arts (Oct. 2018)
<clip from 2019> The SPA Committee is returning a year after the sad passing of its former chairperson, the irreplaceable Cllr. Brenda Parkinson. In keeping with tradition, it will feature a mix of public members (hopefully a number of fine returnees among them) and one representative each from the Sooke Arts Council and the Sooke Region Historical Society. Other organizations will be considered. The new committee will, I imagine, be asked to initiate action on the previous group's top recommendations -- the painting of the town centre's three crosswalks (featuring, in turn, a rainbow, musical notes and the combo of whale's tail and leaping salmon) and a makeover of the tourism kiosk at Evergreen Mall. The new committee will also have license to conjure fresh ideas that will (to quote the existing terms of reference) "foster public awareness, recognition, education, support and celebration of the community arts in Sooke." (The Whiffin Spit memorial wall is also a legacy of Brenda's SPA committee; the staff recommendation for a display space for memorial plaques in Quimper Park near the Spit parking lot is being brought back by Mayor Tait for reconsideration Monday night; this is to ensure staff will work with the new committee and in consultation with the T'Sou-ke on a dignified, effective, respectful and yet also unique and artistic memorial facing the harbour.)
(this post is a work in progress)
i) CRD Arts Commission
The District first committed to this arts-funding and support service in 2018 thanks to the passionate advocacy of the late Brenda Parkinson. The annual investment (now $45k) allows our arts non-profits to tap into the service's $2.5m annual budget. Seven other CRD municipalities -- Saanich, Victoria, Oak Bay, Esquimalt, View Royal, Highlands, Metchosin -- and the Southern Gulf Islands electoral area also invest and participate. Its hoped Langford will join the fold in the near-term. Arts groups in non-participating jurisdictions -- i.e., Colwood, Central Saanich, Sidney, North Saanich and the JDF electoral area -- are not eligible for funding.
In 2024, Project grants totalling $18k went to Sooke Harbour Players, the Sooke Community Choir, the Sooke Festival Society and Choral Evolution. IDEA (Innovate, Develop, Experiment, Access) Grants, which are distributed to non-profit groups not specifically dedicated to the arts but who weave art in their public outreach, were awarded to the EMCS Society Programs, Harmony Project Sooke and the Friends of Sooke Parks ($8.5k total). The service has also supported SEAPARC in an analysis of its programming for youth and vulnerable populations.
Of course, we in Sooke can also enjoy arts of all kinds from 95 other regional groups that received $2.5m in CRD funding this year – the Belfry, Ballet Victoria, the Art Gallery of Victoria, Victoria Symphony, multiple festivals (jazz, film and ska included) and much else. (Stats in today’s agenda show that Sooke residents purchased 2,055 tickets to events at the Royal Theatre last year and 802 at the McPherson Playhouse – about a 2% share of all sales, which aligns with our share of the CRD population).
Why should a regional government support the arts? Answer: “CRD municipalities invest in the arts for the economic impact and employment they provide, for the provincial and national visibility arts organizations provide to the region, and to provide a wide range of educational, participatory and audience opportunities for citizens and visitors, improving quality of life.”
The Commission's Erin Sterling, a Sooke resident herself, recommends anyone with an interest in the regional arts scene subscribe to the CRD arts newsletter here.
CRD Arts & Culture Support Service
- Strategic Plan 2024-2027
- Archive of Arts Commission Agendas and Minutes
- CRD Establishing Bylaw No. 4173 (2017)
CRD Arts Commission 2025
* Marian Alto (Chair, Mayor of Victoria)
* Carey Smart (Vice Chair, Oak Bay)
* Andrea Boardman (Oak Bay)
* Sherry Epp (Metchosin)
* Colin Plant (Saanich)
* Paul Brent (Southern Gulf Islands)
* Jeff Bateman (Sooke)
* Gerry Lemon (View Royal)
* Karel Roessingh (Highlands)
CRD Manager, Arts & Culture Support Services - Chris Gilprin
Former executive director of the Community Arts Council of Vancouver.
- CRD Arts & Culture website homepage
- Impact Reports – 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020
- Statistics Canada and other third-party reports (health, economic, social impacts of the arts)
- Arts-based survey of CRD residents (2016)
- Public Art in the Capital Region (data base of 180 public art works)
- Directory of Non-Profit Arts Organizations in Greater Victoria
- CRD Arts Service Strategic Plan 2015-18 (approved March 2015)
Grants
Adjudication by the CRD Arts Advisory Council
-Comprised of a dozen arts professionals and chaired in 2025 by multi-disciplinary Victoria-based artist Sarah Reid. The council's recommendations are forwarded for approval to the CRD Arts Commission.
CRD Bylaw 2973 established the Arts Advisory Council (AAC) “as an independent community-based body to provide advice to the CRD” on matters relating to the Arts Service.
The AAC’s mandate is to act as an arm’s length adjudication body for the Arts Development funding programs and to advise the Arts Committee on policies that foster and promote:
• Support of the arts in the community,
• Public awareness of and involvement in the arts,
• The creation, exhibition and performance of artistic works, and
• The development of artistic and other requisite skills, and shall advise the CRD Arts
Committee of measures which the Council considers to be conducive to these ends.
• Other appropriate duties as assigned by the Arts Committee from time to time."
Grant Opportunities
- Arts Funding home page
- Video overview (YouTube)
- Arts & Culture Grant Recipients 2017-Present
- Greater Victoria Grant Writing Handbook (Victoria Foundation, 2018)
Operating Grants ($2.4m annual budget)
Stable, reliable funding open to arts group of “regional significance” who have been in operation for at least two years with annual budgets of at least $90k and guided by a Board of Directors. Available as either annual or multi-year grants.
2025 recipients: Notice of Significant Concern (NOSC)
Project Grants ($280k)
“Projects, Series & Extended Programming Grants (Project Grants) provide support for emerging or
established arts organizations to produce or present one-time projects, a short series of events, or
extended programming, taking place over a period of time leading up to the next year’s project grant
deadlines. Project Grants are not available to organizations receiving assistance through the CRD
Operating Grant program.” (guidelines)
Equity Grants ($50k)
“Funding arts programing by and for communities that face significant collective barriers to accessing funding. They may be marginalized based on race, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or something else.” Up to $10k per approved applicant as per these 2025 guidelines. Independent groups not registered as a society are encouraged to find and work with a sponsor organization.
IDEA Grants ($33k)
“IDEA (Innovate, Develop, Experiment, Access) Grants is a flexible, small-awards program designed to respond to one-time opportunities and to encourage new, innovative, or developmental arts projects and events. IDEA Grants are intended to encourage and support arts participation by organizations that are not eligible for other CRD Arts & Culture Support Service programs.” See IDEA Grant guidelines.
Grow Forward Grants ($30k)
New in 2025: Grow Forward Grants provide up to $5k to not-for-profit arts organizations seeking to grow and evolve. Funds are to be used for: “Capacity-building; Planning; Mentorships; Sectoral initiatives; and Significant and strategic adaptations to operations.” (Replaces the former Incubator Grant program.) + guidelines.
Six applicants will be accepted for a pilot version to launch in spring 2025. If successful, the program would expand to 30 groups in 2026.
"• Developing mentorships for arts leaders internally or between organizations.
• Making shifts to business models and organizational structures.
• Forming strategic partnerships with other organizations, including resource sharing.
• Sectoral initiatives that benefit multiple arts organizations in the Capital Region.
• Cross-sectoral initiatives that create collaborations between arts and other sectors or industries.
• Planning for leadership succession from founding and longstanding leaders.
• Addressing organizational life cycle questions, including potential mergers and closures."
2025 Grant Results
* Project Grant - January uptake (second uptake in April)
- See March 26 agenda, pp. 14-51 (includes analysis of each application)
"At the January 2025 deadline of Project Grants, 34 applications were received, higher than the 4-year average. No applications were ruled ineligible by staff. The total request from eligible applications of $316,020 was significantly higher than the 4-year average. 17 grants were awarded with a higher-than-average award amount and four applications are funded at the full amount of their request. The applicant success rate of 50% was lower than average, in part due to the high number of applications." (One Sooke-based grant application by Choral Evolution was declined.)
Sooke grant recipients since joining the service in 2019:
- Sooke Fine Arts ($11k, 2020/21/22)
- Sooke Region Museum ($3k, 2021)
- Sooke Arts Council ($4k, 2020)
CRD Project Grant recipients from Sooke in the first two years (2019/20) of our participation in the service:
Sooke Fine Arts Society ($10k)
Harmony Project Sooke ($2k)
Sooke Community Choir ($2k)
Sooke Folks Music Society ($2k)
Sooke Festival Society ($1.5k)
Sooke Philharmonic Orchestra ($5k)
From the CRD Arts FAQ page: "Where else can I get funding?"
- BC Arts Council
- BC Cultural Services Branch
- BC Gaming
- Canada Council for the Arts
- City of Vancouver, Office of Cultural Affairs
- City of Victoria, Arts & Culture
- Department of Canadian Heritage
- First Peoples' Cultural Council
- Indigenous Curatorial Collective
- Koerner Foundation
- Hamber Foundation
- McLean Foundation
- Vancouver Foundation
- Victoria Foundation
Related: CRD Performing Arts Facility Service
Establishing Bylaw No. 4445
Performing Arts Facilities Select Committee
- Terms of Reference
- Stage One: A Public Conversation about Performing Arts Facilities in the CRD (2020, PDF file attached below)
Core beliefs:
- Performing Arts in the CRD are regional in nature and our regional facilities attract audiences, volunteers and artists from all over the CRD, regardless which municipality or electoral area they live in.
- The arts are a valued aspect of our region’s cultural health and need support to ensure their ongoing sustainability.
- Like our municipal and regional parks systems, there can be government support for both municipal and regional facilities for performing arts.
- As this will be a new regional service, it is understood there will be an evolution to the service as new facilities are developed and older facilities are renovated/replaced. Some proposed components of the new service to be considered:
1. The new Arts Facilities Service is intended to consolidate and replace the two current CRD services (Royal and McPherson) into one new service: The Regional Performing Arts Facilities Service.
2. The new service is intended to have a broader scope than just the two facilities referenced in Item #1 above. It will also support the Charlie White Theatre (located in the Mary Winspear Centre on the Saanich Peninsula) as well as future theatres that are regional in nature being considered in the Westshore. As additional spaces are developed, they can also be considered.
3. The service will support both regionally/municipally owned and not-for-profit society-owned theatres. For-profit theatres, school-based and church-based performing arts facilities will not be supported by this service.
ii) Westshore Arts Centre Intermunicipal Committee
Committee of west shore councillors in support of the JDF Performing Arts Centre Society
Karel Roessingh, Gery Lemon, David Grove, Colby Harder, Sharie Epp, Jeff Bateman, Chris Fraser, Judith Cullington
Juan de Fuca Performing Arts Centre Society
"Our mission is to build a regional theatre and associated arts infrastructure in a community consisting of the rapidly growing British Columbia municipalities of Colwood and Langford, together with the Districts of Metchosin, Highlands and Sooke, the Town of View Royal and the Juan de Fuca Electoral Area, representing a population of approximately 79,000 people."
President: Judith Cullington
Vice-President: Chris Fraser
Directors: Duc Le (Treasurer), David Stocks, Dorothy York
- West Shore Community Arts Centre: Preliminary Feasibility Study (Oct. 2022)
- Development Study (City of Colwood, 2013)
Proposed Space
- a theatre of about 350 seats (smaller than was previously recommended) with lobby
- a variety of smaller rooms that can be used for recording, teaching, classes, workshops, meetings
- a space with a sprung floor (suitable for dance)
- classroom spaces
- space for exhibiting
- a dedicated art room and pottery studio
- a small space for recording/podcasting
- space for gathering
- storage – by user groups, those who may teach/instruct etc., and regular users
- a café or similar
- accessible and inclusive spaces and programs – physically accessible for all; inclusive of all with any interest level and ability in the arts; every age and cultural background; welcoming
- Artists' Workshop with Alex Sarian and Cascadia Architects - Sat. April 26, 2025, Elements Casino
- Purpose: To ground-truth spaces identified above with performing arts organizations in the region
- Sarian is CAO of The Arts Commons in Calgary and the author of The Audacity of Relevance
- Former senior executive at the Lincoln Centre for the Performing Arts in NYC
- Cascadia Architects is a Victoria-based architectural firm that will develop a working sketch of the facility
iii) Sooke Arts Scene
District of Sooke support
* Line-item annual funding ($7k each) ...
- Sooke Fine Arts Society
- Sooke Philharmonic Society
- Sooke Community Arts Council
* Community Grants Program ($65k, annual application deadline is March 15)
SPA Committee - proposed revision of the Sooke Region Cultural Plan (June 2022)
"The Sooke Program of the Arts committee first discussed a revision of the 2011 Taking it to the Streets Sooke Region Cultural Plan at the July 8, 2021, meeting. It was recognized that the content of the plan was relevant but needed updating the reflect the needs of Sooke's current population. Since then, members have discussed the ways in which the plan might be revitalized and how to proceed, resulting in the writing of a discussion paper for Council's receipt and action." (see attached file below, pp. 5-37)
Sooke Region Cultural Plan (2011)
"The Sooke Region Cultural Plan was initiated to serve as the starting point for discussions around developing a healthy arts community for the Sooke Region. A funding collaboration between the District of Sooke, Juan de Fuca Economic Development, Sooke Community Arts Council, Sooke Region Tourism and the Sooke Fine Arts Society enabled the Sooke Region to become one of a number of municipalities in BC to undertake a Cultural Plan as guided by 2010 Legacies Now and Creative City Network of Canada."
Preliminary: ArtsWave Cultural Mapping Project (2010)
Follow-Up: Sooke Region Cultural Planning Advisory Committee Business Plan (2012)
First task: Hire a Sooke Region Cultural Planning Coordinator (fail)
From the priorities identified in ArtsWave, the Cultural Plan focused on five Strategic Directions:
- Strengthen arts, cultural and heritage organizations;
- Encourage community celebrations and festivals;
- Expand youth opportunities in the arts;
- Strengthen cultural infrastructure;
- Secure greater connection with and visibility for First Nations artists and local regional artists.
Strategic Actions and Directions
HIGH Priority
* Create a Cultural Planning Advisory Committee
* Amalgamate with the existing Sooke Program of the Arts Committee and explore additional partnerships (appoint membership and establish funding through DOS and JDF)
* Annual Cultural Summit to foster partnerships and enact the Plan
* Seek grant opportunities to provide funding for collaborative regional approach
* Sooke Region Volunteer Centre
* Coordinate pro-active marketing and promotion campaigns for the arts, cultural and heritage sector, including regular interaction with local print, radio, TV and online media.
* Collaborate to improve upon existing calendars of arts, cultural and heritage activities and events.
* Encourage event organizers to partner with community arts, cultural and heritage organizations in the planning process.
* Seek joint marketing opportunities for celebrations and festivals to be promoted and champion celebrations and festivals regionally, provincially and nationally.
* Continue to build the Sooke Region’s brand as a cultural hub on Vancouver Island through hosting high caliber and unique cultural events.
* Create opportunities for youth to exhibit and perform at events within the Region.
* Develop mutually beneficial and inclusive relationships with First Nations Bands in the coordination of arts, cultural and heritage festivals and events.
MEDIUM Priority
* Review possibility of shared administrative space for arts and heritage organizations, and festival groups
* Work with SRTA to coordinate cultural tourism
* Coordinate pro-active marketing and promotion campaigns for the arts, cultural and heritage sector, including regular interaction with local print, radio, TV and online media.
* Advocate for youth-friendly spaces to be incorporated in to cultural infrastructure planning.
* Review the possibility of working with local businesses for creating a shared storage facility.
* Seek expertise and leadership to identify a well-defined process for cultural facility development in the Sooke Region.
* Advocate for incentive grants to build or convert spaces for commercial/cultural use.
Sooke Arts Facilities
* Sooke Community Theatre at EMCS (with 350 newly replaced seats)
* Edward Milne Community School (rentals of space in it and all Sooke school facilities through the EMCS Society)
* Sooke Community Hall
* Royal Canadian Legion
* Holy Trinity Anglican Church
Proposed ...
~ Sooke Gathering Place (multi-use seniors space with intergenerational programming at the ground floor and below-grade levels + 77 units of affordable BC Housing seniors rental apartments above)
~ Sooke Arts Council at the Gathering Space (TBD gallery and studio spaces should the project move ahead)
- Arts groups in the past have expressed keen interest in a black-box theatre in the town centre (Kelowna example) as a flexible space for rehearsals and smaller-scale events.
- An arts gallery/studio space in the spirit of the celebrated Old School House Arts Centre in Qualicum was explored by the Mayor's Advisory Council on Arts & Beautification circa 2012/13 at the former Mulligans property when it was on the market.
From This Blog:
* Some Thoughts on the Arts (Oct. 2018)
<clip from 2019> The SPA Committee is returning a year after the sad passing of its former chairperson, the irreplaceable Cllr. Brenda Parkinson. In keeping with tradition, it will feature a mix of public members (hopefully a number of fine returnees among them) and one representative each from the Sooke Arts Council and the Sooke Region Historical Society. Other organizations will be considered. The new committee will, I imagine, be asked to initiate action on the previous group's top recommendations -- the painting of the town centre's three crosswalks (featuring, in turn, a rainbow, musical notes and the combo of whale's tail and leaping salmon) and a makeover of the tourism kiosk at Evergreen Mall. The new committee will also have license to conjure fresh ideas that will (to quote the existing terms of reference) "foster public awareness, recognition, education, support and celebration of the community arts in Sooke." (The Whiffin Spit memorial wall is also a legacy of Brenda's SPA committee; the staff recommendation for a display space for memorial plaques in Quimper Park near the Spit parking lot is being brought back by Mayor Tait for reconsideration Monday night; this is to ensure staff will work with the new committee and in consultation with the T'Sou-ke on a dignified, effective, respectful and yet also unique and artistic memorial facing the harbour.)
| appendix_a_stage_one_report__december_2020_.pdf |
| committee_-_sooke_program_of_the_arts_-_29_jun_2022_-_agenda_-_pdf.pdf |
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