Introducing The Granville Island Theatre District- A Vibrant, Creative Performance Hub In The Heart Of The City

Boca Del Lupo, Carousel Theatre for Young People and CMHC-Granville Island are delighted to announce a new vision for theatre and performance on Granville Island: The Granville Island Theatre District will steward performing arts programming at Performance Works, Festival House and the Waterfront Theatre, effective July 1, 2018.

This vision will establish strong artistic identities for each of these three performance venues, creating a robust theatre district in the heart of the city. With over 64 years of collective experience in theatre production and artistic venue management, the founding companies of the Granville Island Theatre District look forward to increasing cultural community access to these venues through its artist-managed model.

The Granville Island Theatre District will continue the long-standing commitment to hosting performances and events for Arts Umbrella, New Works Dance, Vancouver International Children's Festival, Vancouver Fringe, Writer's Fest, Vancouver International Jazz Festival and the Push International Performing Arts Festival - all valued Cultural Partners of CMHC-Granville Island - while opening its doors and establishing new relationships with local, national and international theatre, dance and music producers.

A focal point for Vancouver's vibrant contemporary performance scenes, Performance Works programming will focus on performance innovation, new forms and cultural multiplicity. The curatorial framework of Performance Works will encourage values of equity and diversity alongside artistic excellence. Performance Works will also house BDL's successful artist residency program, making space for some of Vancouver's most interesting artists to create new works at crucial times in their development.

Festival House will be the home of Granville Island Theatre District administration, host Granville Island resident arts festivals, and act as an accelerator for the incubation of new and emergent work. It will focus on being a functional and vibrant home for festivals that produce on Granville Island and on programming at Studio 1398 that engages emerging artists, emergent forms and developing audiences while maximizing venue usage.

The Waterfront Theatre, through the vision of Carousel Theatre for Young People, will become Vancouver's first venue dedicated specifically to live performance for families and young people. In addition to hosting CTYP's professional mainstage season, the Waterfront Theatre will continue to be a pivotal performance venue for the Vancouver International Children's Festival and will welcome a diverse range of theatre, dance and music companies whose focus is the creation of inspiring programming for families.

Jay Dodge, spokesperson and founding member of The Granville Island Theatre District and Artistic Producer of Boca Del Lupo, notes "As part of the 2040 Granville Island planning process, we have been a strong advocate for the stewardship of cultural venues being placed in the hands of cultural organizations. This is a thrilling development for Boca Del Lupo for certain but also an incredible opportunity for Vancouver's live performance scene. We look forward to working with our contemporaries to create unique identities for Performance Works, The Waterfront Theatre, and Festival House. We are also keen to collaborate with our colleagues at the Arts Club Theatre Company, Vancouver TheatreSports League and Arts Umbrella in building a vision of the Granville Island Theatre District as a world class destination for live performance."

Carole Higgins, founding member of the Granville Island Theatre District and Artistic Director of Carousel Theatre for Young People states: "This is a wonderful opportunity to cement Granville Island as a world class theatre destination. We are thrilled that CMHC-Granville has embraced our collaborative vision to create a diverse, vibrant theatre and performing arts hub here in the heart of the city, and we look forward to working with and welcoming artists, producers and audiences of all ages to our stages."

Lisa Ono, Manager of Public Affairs and Programming notes: "As many world class cities have shown, creating a vibrant theatre district fosters a strong collective identity and high-demand destination that works to the benefit of all, including other businesses and industries on Granville Island".

The Granville Island Theatre District is committed to working with CMHC-Granville Island, Granville Island Cultural Partners and the Vancouver performing arts community to improve venue accessibility for theatre artists and audiences in the years ahead.

The Granville Island Theatre District gratefully acknowledges that we steward performance venues located on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tseil-Waututh nations.

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