W2 Community

Media Arts

Opening in September 2009, W2 Community Media Arts Centre will be a centre unlike anything in Canada, offering quality arts and cultural opportunities for the Downtown Eastside (DTES) and Vancouver residents through a range of programs, resources and activities.

W2 is currently proposed as a 14,395 square foot facility, providing a vibrant complementary focal point in the Woodwards’ redevelopment and a flagship project in the City's revitalization of the DTES.

Imagine… As residents and visitors look across the glass-ceilinged Woodward's atrium, they will be drawn towards the open W2 stairwell, which will be filled with an interactive video installation. They can enjoy a coffee at the W2 Cafe before proceeding up to the second floor. This space will welcome visitors to an incredible cultural creation centre, much of which will be available for public use and enjoyment – a gallery space, a library showcasing Vancouver’s literary heritage, a meeting room/classroom, a state-of-the-art digital print co-op and a heritage Woodward's flatbed press, technical booth, storage, public assembly space, and kitchen.

Proceeding up to the third floor, visitors will find labs and edit suites, a youth media lab and a disability arts studio run by member organizations. A creative technology incubator and a crossmedia lab will offer mentorship and support for ground-breaking new work. Also on this floor, the professional arts clusters/tenants will be supported with collaborative administrative, facility, and outreach systems, providing unparallel opportunities for collaboration, administrative efficiencies and cost savings. The basement houses a TV lab as well as a performance space. In the evenings, W2 will be host to many of Vancouver's most innovative performing and multi-disciplinary artists in this flexible area designed to adapt to as-yet-unforeseen performance forms.

Negotiations are ongoing with our partner, the City of Vancouver, to confirm the space allocation.

Image: Henriquez Partners

W2 is designed to be a collaborative system for the participating organizations to share facilities, maximize opportunities for new programming creation and delivery, and to integrate and combine training programs and services for the public. Founding core members of W2 include:

CHAKRAS/teaspace Society CJSF (SFU) Radio Gallery Gachet IMAGeNation/Indigenous Media Arts Group Independent Community Television (ICTV)
Kootenay School of Writing
Redwire Native Youth Media
Society for Disability Arts & Culture
Vancouver Community Network
Vancouver Co-operative Radio (CFRO) 102.7FM

The founding groups have also welcomed the involvement of other community collaborators who have expressed a commitment to satellite program delivery at the new W2 Centre. These associate members include:

BC Regional Integrated Arts Network (BRIAN) Carnegie Community Association desmedia DTES Community Arts Network LIVE Performance Biennale Radix Theatre
Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Association
SFU Student Society
Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU)
Video In/Video Out (VIVO)