Login / RegisterArtist live-work rentals at Railtown Studios questioned
A Gastown resident has claimed that his landlord is not fulfilling an obligation to the City of Vancouver to provide live-work spaces for artists.
Gordon Brent Ingram said in a phone interview that Rossmore Enterprises, a subsidiary of Reliance Holdings, has been evicting artists from 321 Railway Street, also known as Railtown Studios.
Ingram also said that Reliance is charging high rental rates. He alleged that Reliance has taken in tenants who are not actually artists.
Ingram, who describes himself as an urban designer involved in public art, added that the City of Vancouver has not enforced provisions of a bylaw that designated the 38-unit property as live-work studios for artists.
“The developer had a commitment for artist live-work rental but now they’re renting it at Coal Harbour rates, like West Side rates,” Ingram told the Straight.
Reliance controller Lynn Luong rejects all these claims.
“When we rent to someone, we tell them that it’s an art live-work building, and you have to be an artist and you have to do some art work,” Luong told the Straight in a phone interview. “Majority of artists, if you think about it, they have a job somewhere doing something else and art is just their part-time thing. How do you define artist in that sense? We try to get people to do as much art as it should be, but some people come and say, ”˜Yes, I’m an artist. I’m doing this as my hobby.’ And you know, do you stop these people from renting from us? No, because they’re artists in some sort, right?”
Luong also said that tenants are evicted only if they don’t comply with the rules and policies of the building. She added that the rent Reliance charges is comparable to that in other nearby cities. “Our rent is not much more than if you live in New West,” she said.
Coalition of Progressive Electors councillor Ellen Woodsworth told the Straight that she is familiar with the situation at 321 Railway.
“When people leave, they’re actually then increasing the rents and getting people who may or may not be artists and who are then in a much higher rent, which is exactly the opposite to the reason why these units were created,” Woodsworth said in a phone interview.
Ingram said he will make a presentation about 321 Railway to Will Johnston, the city’s director of licenses and inspections, in a meeting today (July 7) at City Hall, starting at 3:30 p.m.
We are sculptors, painters, photographers, textile artists and musicians that struggle everyday to create our work and some of us must work in other fields to pursue our interest in the arts.
We don't expect or demand that Rossmore or any other landlord or govt subsidize our work or rent. We also don't expect Rossmore to keep rents below market to subsidize our life pursuits. For some of us, that would cheapen our work which we do because of our love of the arts and our need to pursue it.
We are offered a place to create our work and to live and there are many amenities in the building that allows us this luxury. These include woodshops, paint rooms, metal working facilities, band rehearsal spaces and darkrooms. There is a rooftop garden where we meet and discuss our work and build relationships with others in the building.
Most of us don't feel entitled to our spaces and are grateful for what Rossmore delivers to its tenants. I've lived here for years as have a number of other artists and we appreciate our living spaces and work hard to maintain what we have built.
By combining my work and live space into 1 unit I'm actually able to save money by not having to run both an apartment and a studio space.
We artists are definitely grateful for these spaces and appreciate the fact that we may have to rent both a home and studio in a situation where such spaces don't exist. But the spaces do exist, and they are meant to be provided for artists only. Lynn Luon's quote from the article seems to be deflecting attention toward a greater question what is an artist?, when this is not as difficult or grey of an answer as she makes it out to be. A carpeting company that occupies two commercial only spaces in Railtown is not an artist. There is a clear line between a company that can afford two spaces (avoiding commercial space rental prices) and individual artists willing to literally starve to put there art first each month and pay rent.
"Truth be told", I feel like you have spoken on behalf of all us artists living at Railtown and painted us living in the lap of luxury, but lets be real. This building is a great place to live and the amenities are very valuable to artists. But you also make no mention of the very loud crashing trains directly outside our windows, or the questionably safe neighborhood in which we live. I personally have feared my own safety in multiple instances and it is not always easy to bring my clients into my space because of the neighborhood. This is not an area at which "Coal Harbor rates" (as Brent mentions) are warranted. One could argue that artists are being exploited for their dedication to living in a place where they have access to amenities and an artist community. How then is this "expect[ing] Rossmore to keep rents below market"? And with Reliance/Rossmore owning 60+ buildings, they are now large contributing factors to setting these market rates in the first place. ("truth be told" you also mention that you have lived here for many years, so I am wondering if you are aware of the prices that are being charged to new renters which by default are commonly emerging artists?)
Yes some of us supplement our artist income with side jobs, but a full time artist's first priority is their art. Wanting an affordable place to live is not expecting a hand out, and I find this comment insulting. A true artist never stops working and 80% of our hard work goes unpaid. We don't work 9-5 Monday to Friday, we work all the time. Those are the type of artists these buildings were made for.