Artist in Community

The Artist in Community Program is jointly operated between the Vancouver Parks Board and the local Community Association.

The Artist in Community program makes our neighbourhoods more vibrant. We use art as a catalyst for engaging individuals and communities, inspiring participation, and building relationships.

We host artist residencies each year in participating community centres to support artists working in neighbourhoods and encourage a wide variety of interactions between artists and residents.

Artists collaborate with community members (who may not see themselves as artists) as creators, producers, performers, and active audiences.

The residency projects leave lasting physical or social legacies in the community, such as learning new creative processes, developing collaborative skills, creating an artwork.

2022 Marpole-Oakridge Community Centre

Artist in Community Project featuring:
Jimmy Joseph and Lisa G

Artists Jimmy Joseph and Lisa G co-created community art panels that are be displayed in the Marpole Oakridge Community Centre. Everyone was welcome to help design, paint, and document this centerpiece artwork during regular weekly workshops.

Master Carver, Jimmy Joseph, is Kwagiulth from Alert Bay. He is a fourth generation carver and has been carving professionally for over 40 years. He lives a traditional lifestyle of hunting, fishing, and attending potlatches. He is also an active member of the Native American Church. Jimmy is a residential school survivor. He gave up drinking when he began carving, and never picked it up again.

Lisa G is a member of the Iris Film Collective, which currently works out of the Burrardview Fieldhouse (as part of the Park Board Fieldhouse program). She has been conducting community-led filmmaking workshops since 2005, such as the Our World program, which visits remote Indigenous communities across Canada and provides opportunities to create community directed short films.

This project creates a three-panel carved and painted artwork with a corresponding documentary short film sharing how it was made.

Lisa G is a member of the Iris Film Collective, which currently works out of the Burrardview Fieldhouse (as part of the Park Board Fieldhouse program). She has been conducting community-led filmmaking workshops since 2005, such as the Our World program, which visits remote Indigenous communities across Canada and provides opportunities to create community directed short films.

This project creates a three-panel carved and painted artwork with a corresponding documentary short film sharing how it was made.