How art thrives under the scars: Busy artists pour their talent into the soul of a battered neighbourhood

Whoever first called Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside “the poorest postal code in Canada” sure came up with a potent and durable five words to describe the place. And there’s no getting around it. Walk through the area’s streets and alleys, and you’ll witness any variety of lives broken under the wheels of drugs, drink, mental illness, you name it.

The other day, driving east on Cordova, I saw a line of people stretching at least three sides of a city block just standing and waiting for something to eat. It’s a sad and incongruous thing to witness in a city of such stunning beauty and abundance.

But even with all the gloom so evident in the neighbourhood, peer beneath the obvious and there is a surprisingly vibrant artistic energy at work there. Whether it’s drama, the visual arts or music, there is an amazingly large population of amazingly busy and productive artists, writers and musicians turning out excellent work.

Comments

No comments yet.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.