Login / RegisterNew indy arts guide launched in Vancouver
A new magazine-style guide promoting Vancouver’s independent arts scene has hit the streets.
The Catalogue of Independent Arts—or CIA—provides information about local cultural events and groups involved in theatre, dance, music, and visual arts.
Produced by See Seven Performing Arts Society, the hardcopy version of the guide was to have an initial print run of 5,000 copies. An electronic version is also available.
“What we’re doing is we’re highlighting the independent arts scene in an organized and imaginative way,” society president Diane Brown told the Straight.
“Obviously, we’re hoping that we raise the profile of…these communities and by raising [their] profile increase audience and cross-pollinate audiences as well,” she said.
The free, annual guide is being distributed around Vancouver in locations such as libraries, community centres, theatres, and businesses.
Around two dozen groups are participating in the inaugural edition of the guide, including Neworld Theatre, Or Gallery, W2, and Raven Spirit Dance, among others. Those groups have advertising space in the publication to showcase what their organizations are up to.
Brown described the new guide as a follow-up to the See Seven promotional campaign, a long-running subscription series for theatre groups that folded in 2010.
“We regrouped and decided: what’s a marketing initiative that could address the needs now of our community?” she said. “And we decided that it wasn’t enough just to try to profile independent theatre, that the independent arts in general could use a boost.”
The Catalogue of Independent Arts and a related website launched earlier in September.
