ADVERTISING INFORMATION

 Vancouver - Culture

Vancouver City Council adopted a program that provides for public and private-sector funding of public art. In keeping with similar programs which distinguish major cities worldwide, Vancouver’s Public Art Program seeks to incorporate contemporary art practices into city planning and development. The Program encourages art-making of many kinds, from single-artist commissions to collaborations with engineers, architects and neighbourhood groups. Projects initiated by the Program express the spirit, values, visions, and poetry of place that collectively define Vancouver.

Vancouver Civic Theatres is a department of the City of Vancouver , responsible for the operation of three facilities for live entertainment, the performing arts and public assembly. The theatres are, Vancouver Playhouse, Orpheum  Theatre & The Queen Elizabeth  Theatre.
Vancouver Public Library is the second largest public library system in Canada, with over 395,000 cardholders and more than 8 million items borrowed annually. The library's origins go back as far as the 1869 New London Mechanics Institute. Today, with 20 branches, the Central Library, and Outreach Services to visually impaired and home-bound patrons, VPL is accessible to all citizens of Vancouver.

The museum-In 1894, it expanded into the "Art, Historical, and Scientific Association of Vancouver", and its members began collecting artefacts for a museum. The Governor-General officially opened the exhibition of pictures and curios on the upper floor of Alderman Dunn's building on Granville Street. "The object of our Association," said Rev. Tucker, "is to cultivate a taste for the beauties and refinements of life. We have the opportunity of making the hard and unlovely lot of our toiling and struggling fellow citizens a little less hard and unlovely."
For the first few years, the newly-formed Association rented premises to hold exhibitions of art and curios, while constantly appealing to the city for its own facility. From the anteroom of Christ Church, the society moved to two temporary locations on Granville Street. In 1895, there was another move to the elementary school of Burrard Street, and then back to Granville
In 1905, the museum opened in the Carnegie Library, and began an uphill climb, that was to survive two World Wars, and the great depression. These calamities took their toll on the citizens of Vancouver, but when times were toughest, they rallied behind their museum.
The Vancouver Maritime Museum  Society is a non-profit organization headed by a volunteer Board of Trustees. The Museum was founded in 1959. Its mission is to collect and interpret the rich marine heritage of the West Coast and its links with the Pacific Rim.

Originally, the City of Vancouver operated the VMM as a stand-alone museum. In 1988, the Vancouver Maritime Museum became an independent entity, operated by the Vancouver Maritime Museum Society, under provision of a lease/grant from the City of Vancouver.

Stanley Park, Vancouver's first, is an evergreen oasis of 1,000 acres close to the heart of Vancouver's downtown core. Its natural west coast atmosphere offering a backdrop of majestic cedar, hemlock and fir trees embraces visitors and transports them to an environment rich in tranquillity. The park abounds in wildlife and its features appeal to the naturalist, the plant lover or one who would do nothing more than relax in beautiful surroundings. The Nature House, located on Lost Lagoon's south side, offers educational materials as well as seasonal walking tours. Lost Lagoon is the haven for many varieties of birds including swans, ducks and Canada geese. Everyone wants to get married in Queen Elizabeth Park or at least have their pictures taken there. Staff are working on a special permitted wedding location but for now only wedding photographs are permitted in the Quarry Gardens on a first come, first served basis and only for a few minutes at a time. The more passive areas of the park make for better picture backdrops with less pressure from the visiting public who come to enjoy viewing the gardens

Hastings Park, with its 65 hectares (162 acres) of land, is destined to become the second largest park in the City of Vancouver. Bounded by Hastings Street, Renfrew Street, McGill Street and the Trans-Canada Highway, it is currently used as the fairgrounds for the Pacific National Exhibition  in the northeast sector of the city. The PNE will relocate to a new site by the end of the decade, allowing for the "greening" of the grounds into a beautiful park.

In June of 1998, the Province announced an expansion of the SkyTrain system. Planning, design and construction is underway on Phase 1 of the extension. It is expected to open in 2002. The City of Vancouver is working with the Provincial SkyTrain Rapid Transit Project 2000 office to plan the areas around the new SkyTrain stations, to integrate the stations into neighbourhoods and to facilitate construction.

© Copyright 2000 - 2004  AMERICAtravelling.net  POWERED BY wORLDTRAVELGATE.NET

Back to America

 Back to WTG