Comox Valley Arts supports, promotes and celebrates our vibrant, inclusive arts community.

Arts Councils ensure that communities have an active team of people making the arts a priority.

Did you know that Vancouver Island, and in fact the Comox Valley, is the top producing cultural hub in the entire country?

We estimate that there are 5000 creative workers in the Comox Valley (based on extrapolated data and responses to our 2016 Cultural Inventory) and they are significant contributors to our quality of life, as an economic driving force, and as a motivator for why people choose to live, work, and raise their families here. We take our work of supporting, promoting and celebrating our vibrant and inclusive arts community very seriously.

A study conducted by Nordicity, Inc in Summer of 2021, supports our findings by estimating 35,000-40,000 artists and arts workers on Vancouver Island, who, with the arts organizations many of them work with, generate over 900Million in GDP for Vancouver Island each year. 

CVA embraces the depth and breadth of how Arts & Culture bring us together and we would like to bring you in on it. Our approximately 25 annual and ongoing programs are run with the support of 500 volunteers, over 50 community partners, led by a volunteer board of 9, two staff and a gambit of contractors.

Since the pandemic, we have continued to create programming with a significantly smaller crew of volunteers (about 40 over the course of a year, currently). Although some of our larger projects have been postponed until further notice, we have created new ones and grown others that were more flexible in the current circumstances. 

SOME PROGRAMS THAT MIGHT BE OF INTEREST TO YOU…

LOCAL COLOURS

Community celebrations and inclusive art events are at the heart of CVA’s activities. Local Colours is one of our longest running community outreach programs, providing participatory arts events and music programming. Local Colours highlights the positive impact arts & culture has on our community by showcasing and paying industry standards to our community’s cultural creators; it contributes to defining our capacity in arts production while providing barrier free access to the public in a variety of locations.

PRACTICE: Inside The Creative Process

In multiple formats, such as Artist talks, “artists at play” and “ask me anything”, audiences will get glimpses into how creativity manifests, where it comes from, what inspires it, and what it takes to bring it to life for artists working in a variety of creative practices. We’ll explore the social return on investment when artists are supported, and their environment fosters their growth and contribution to their communities. Live multi-genre panel discussions will offer unique perspectives and insights on topics like health & wellness as an artist, political, social and environmental activism through artworks, and how to keep going when the going gets tough.

All events are recorded or broadcast live, online, and available in a public archive, with transcriptions and resource materials.

To supplement the sharing of the artists, PRACTICE also includes a learning component for the artists themselves – clinics and coaching in “talking about your work” and “self-promotion for artists” as well as myriad technical workshops will help them gain more confidence and competence to share their practices.

30-DAY DRAWING CHALLENGE

2022 is the 8th Annual 30-day challenge - which is conducted entirely online and "at home" since it's inception. With more than 1400 people participating around the world, we enjoy welcoming new folks every year. The official challenge kicks off Jan 2 each year and runs for 30 days. A calendar of prompts is provided, and participants can choose to share their work through the official facebook group, or instagram - or just on their fridge. During the first two years of the pandemic we offered 6 additional challenges to help with lock-down cabin fever. We are proud to say that many folks have kept up their daily drawing habit since first joining a challenge. 

COMMUNITY LOAN PROGRAM

We have small but important and well-used collection of items we currently make available and advise on, including four sound systems, digital projectors, painting equipment, signage, a large event tent, popup tents, electrical gear, tables, chairs and a variety of other event needs. This program has grown to include art supplies (both new and gently used) and technical gear in our small recording studio - suitable for 1-2 people to record audio and video. 

COMOX VALLEY PLAYLIST

Comox Valley Arts is not a one-discipline pony…We are about ALL art forms and creative pursuits. The Comox Valley is PACKED with incredible, diverse musical artists and is heavily represented here with 100s of extremely talented folks creating original work in all genres.

ADVOCACY

The arts play an important role in in the vitality of our cities by uniting diverse communities and fostering social well-being. For these reasons and more, we engage the federal, provincial and municipal governments on developing important policy issues and pushing for sustained support for the arts, culture and heritage sector.

LOOKING AHEAD

We envision our region as an Arts Capital of Canada, and are actively engaging to extend that mindset to our community leadership, activists and economic development, to embolden the already active creative sector by focusing attention on it from outside the valley, and bringing more audiences to our doorstep. 

We can do great things when we work together to fulfill the creative capacities of our communities! Let’s come together and make amazing things happen.

EVERY DOLLAR HELPS!

We appreciate your support of Arts & Culture!