At next week's Vancouver city council meeting, managing director of cultural services Richard Newirth is scheduled to give a presentation on initiatives to provide new studio and creative spaces in the city.

A request to the city's communications staff to speak to Newirth ahead of the meeting was declined. Communications staff said Newirth's report would be available following his presentation. City staff reports are normally accessible prior to city council meetings.

A number of new developments in Vancouver have recently been tied to art studios.

The Rize Alliance development at Main and Broadway was initially meant to contain 10,000 square feet of artist studios, but at the city's request, the plan was changed to an amenity contribution of $6.25 million in lieu of the studio space.

Another development at Howe and Drake, proposed by Merrick Architecture - Borowski Sakumoto Fligg Ltd, includes 11,000 square feet of artist studios. The 41-storey residential building plan received rezoning approval last April. Currently, plans are for 17 Class B artist studios, whose ownership would be transferred to the city, along with $850,000 to be held in a facility reserve fund to offset amenity costs for 16 to 20 years.

And a Wall Financial Group development at 955 East Hastings is being proposed with 25,000 square feet of artist studios, to be potentially managed by the Eastside Culture Crawl.