Following a two-year trial, the City of Vancouver has decided to keep a program allowing arts events in non-conventional venues like factories, stores, and studios.

Council approved staff recommendation to make permanent the Arts and Culture Indoor Event Licence Program in a meeting last Tuesday (October 20).

“Anecdotally, the police observed fewer underground events since the launch of this program,” stated a staff report.

The report noted that conventional venues like theatres and halls are “not always suitable for smaller performances or audiences, limited budgets, or the artistic intent of site-specific works”.

“There is a growing demand for alternative venues for innovative works that allow audiences to engage in new ways,” the report continued. “In the past, the producer who wished to hold a show in a space not designed for assembly (for example, rehearsal studios, warehouses, factories, etc.), was faced with a dilemma: either undertake a number of potentially complex City approvals and costly building upgrades, or operate outside City safety and other regulations.”

During the trial period between April 2013 and March 2015, a total of 110 events and 12 locations were approved by the city.

“The majority of events took place in neighbourhoods where artists are concentrated: the Downtown Eastside, Mount Pleasant and Grandview-Woodlands,” staff reported.

About 84 percent of the events were licenced to serve liquor.

Staff also reported that 85 percent of the events during the pilot did not have any incidents or complaints.