The Vancouver East Cultural Centre: Change and Rejuvenation
The History: The building now known as the Vancouver East Cultural Centre was originally built in 1909 as the Second Grandview Methodist Church. In 1967, the church witnessed a downward shift in membership and closed its doors, disbursing the congregation to other ministries.
After the church’s deconsecration, the Trustees of the Grandview Church saw an opportunity to use the building for projects aligned with the problems faced by low-income, post-war urban areas. They turned the building over to Vancouver’s Inner City Services, and until 1972, it was home to Vancouver’s Free University and several storefront lawyers including, a young Mike Harcourt.When Inner City Services vacated the premises in the early 70’s, Chris Wooten, an ‘Opportunities for Youth Arts’ project officer, began a campaign to convert the building from a church into one which would house arts performances, public meetings, and neighbourhood activities. Architects submitted an application to convert the building into a performance space.On October 15th, 1973 the Vancouver East Cultural Centre opened its doors as a performing arts centre with a performance by the Anna Wyman Dance Company.
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My wife may not like me
My wife may not like me mentioning this, but I had one of my first real kisses at the Cultch. Used to hang there a lot when I was a high-school theatre geek. Had forgotten all about that kiss until we moved back to Vancouver three years ago to a place not 3 blocks away and it all came back to me.
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That is adorable! My friends
That is adorable! My friends and I are all high school (or in my case, recently graduated) students who work around VECC a lot... of course, as theatre geeks. :D
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Hi Rob, That is great to
Hi Rob, That is great to hear that you are going to make apoint of attending an event at the VECC. If you go to our website www.vecc.bc.ca you can see what is coming up at the Cultch. Also if you would like to take a tour of the building and see what rennovations are planned I would be happy to arrange it. Take care
Duncan
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Only three blocks
Only three blocks away....then you must bring your wife to an event at the Cultch - take seats in the back row and steal another kiss that you will remember for future years. Take care
Duncan
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Duncan, thanks for this
Duncan, thanks for this beautiful history! I am visiting soon there and this information really help me a lot. I really appreciate your effort.
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Duncan, thanks for the
Duncan, thanks for the history! I've gone past the centre many times, but never had the occasion to actually go inside -- I'm going to make a point of attending an event at the centre sometime soon.