The Vancouver park board has selected the artists it will offer special studio residencies to in community spaces around the city.

Through the program, participating individual artists and artist collectives will be able to use field houses in seven parks as studio spaces. In exchange for the free, temporary studio space, the artists will put on workshops, concerts, and other activities for the public.

“I think it’s going to make Vancouver more fun and if you have one in your park you can go over and check it out and, you know, hopefully, people who are into the arts can go over there and meet their artists and welcome them and get involved,” park board chair Sarah Blyth told the Straight by phone today (October 3).

“For artists it’s a huge thing. Artists have been lacking proper spaces and it’s expensive,” Blyth said. “I think it’s really a big step forward and I think it’s one of the biggest, greatest things the park board’s done because we’ve just opened up more space to the public. And [by] reusing some old buildings as opposed to just going and building new stuff all the time, we’re actually taking what we have and seeing what we can do with it, you know?”

The park board announced this week that more than 30 local artists from a range of disciplines are taking part in the initiative. The field houses are located at Burrard Marina, Elm Park, Falaise Park, Hadden Park, Memorial South Park, Slocan Park, and Strathcona Park.

The park board’s field house residency program runs from October 2012 to January 2015.