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A Tale of Two Art Galleries: By Jean Swanson

volc8no October 13, 2015     Culture, art & poetry, DTES organizations

gachet copy

Exhibit in Gallery Gachet

One costs $20 to get in. The other is free. One is backed by the rich. The other is revered by low-income Downtown Eastside (DTES) residents. One got $50 million from the province, $23 million from donors, and about $200 worth of land and foregone taxes from the city. The other got its funding cut by Vancouver Coastal Health.

The first one is the Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) which recently revealed to the public what a new Art Gallery would look like, a fancy building in Downtown Vancouver with wood on the outside. VAG supporters are trying to raise about half a billion dollars for their Art Palace.

The other is the Gallery Gachet, an old storefront in the DTES with a removable ramp from the sidewalk to the entrance so people with disabilities can get in. For 23 years Gallery Gachet has been a collectively run society with peer-based programming and participation. It includes studio and exhibition space and hosts exhibitions related to mental health and education, in addition to workshops, talks, and other projects with the DTES neighbourhood. “Our space provides essential skills development, peer support, referrals, community engagement and a healthy, non-hierarchal environment that provides both alternative and preventative mental health care,” says the Gallery Gachet website. Downtown Eastsiders feel welcome there to see what their neighbours have created and to contribute to the art of the community.

The Gallery Gachet is determined to find the funds to continue its work. To see how you can help, check out this website: http://gachet.org/2015/09/15/how-to-support-gallery-gachet/.

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2 Comments

  1. Naomi
    ― January 5, 2016 - 12:58 pm  Reply

    Great post. I will be going through many of these issues as well..

  2. Volcano no. 3, Fall 2015 | The Volcano
    ― February 4, 2016 - 4:55 pm  Reply

    […] A Tale of Two Art Galleries By Jean Swanson One costs $20 to get in. The other is free. One is backed by the rich. The other is revered by low-income Downtown Eastside (DTES) residents. One got $50 million from the province, $23 million from donors, and about $200 worth of land and foregone taxes from the city. The other got its funding cut by Vancouver Coastal Health. (…) […]

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Sad Siren Song: By Tracey Morrison

― February 12, 2017

Community Spotlight: Jean Swanson

For our issue on the BC Liberal legacy, Volcano editors turned to our Community Spotlight on a legacy of our own to highlight her over 40 years of anti-poverty work. Jean Swanson is an editor with The Volcano alongside her work with the Carnegie Community Action Project. She previously worked with the Downtown Eastside Residents’ Association (DERA) and is the author of a book titled Poorbashing: The Politics of Exclusion.

You’ve been active in anti-poverty work for a long time. What has been the biggest realization that you have had with regards to poverty in this province? Has your understanding or approach to government changed over time and through experience?

My approach to government has definitely changed. Back in 1979, I actually ran as an NDP MLA candidate because I thought being involved in electoral politics was a way of implementing the things you’ve been fighting for in the community. I ran with COPE for city council too, along with my co-workers Bruce Eriksen and Libby Davies, who were elected. In those days it seemed possible to get city council to do some good things for the Downtown Eastside if we worked hard at it: fund the Carnegie Centre, pass a Standards of Maintenance bylaw, put sprinklers in the hotels.

In the early 90s, after the NDP cut welfare and brought in a whole poorbashing framework to justify it, I couldn’t bring myself to vote at all, let alone run for office.

Read more about Jean Swanson's commitment to anti-poverty organizing here.

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Alliance Against Displacement: The Volcano is affiliated with the Alliance Against Displacement, a pan-regional anti-displacement network of local communities, organizations, and activists fighting displacement on the ground.

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