Langara Creative Arts & Industry staying on campus
The program was supposed to move to Emily Carr University's Granville Island campus, but the vacant space has not been given to Langara College
Reported by Lindsey Lloyd
Langara College has not been granted the empty space on Granville Island for the college’s Creative Arts and Industries Division.
In September, Emily Carr University of Art + Design left their space in the South Building of Granville Island, allowing other institutions and organizations to express their interest in taking over the venue.
Government involvement
Carolyn Jack, a Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture spokesperson said the government had originally made the commitment to Arts Umbrella, a non-profit arts education centre in March 2017. But a review was conducted in October 2017 because the government needed to determine ‘where things stood’ with other applicants for the building.
The B.C. government decided to stay with its original decision by giving the empty space to Arts Umbrella.
“After reviewing the matter, we determined that the selection process by the former government had been rushed, however Arts Umbrella had moved forward with planning and fundraising in good faith,” Jack said.
“By allowing this non-profit school for the arts some much-needed room to expand, the creative and performing arts on Granville Island will continue to thrive”
Discussions regarding the decision
Lisa Fisher, the Director of Communications and Marketing Services at Langara, said that a meeting between Langara College and senior Ministry staff will be happening this week regarding the decision.
Earlier this year Langara began the process to update the campus master plan due to the growing enrollment at Langara.
The Granville Island location would have been used for Langara’s creative arts programs.
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