Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation supports community groups with funding for projects that will creatively enhance parks

 January 28 2021 

 Eleven new projects that creatively enhance parks and build community connections have received funding from the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation.

The funding comes from the Neighbourhood Matching Fund (NMF), which supports neighbourhood-based groups that want to creatively enhance parks or other public lands through community art, environmental stewardship, or garden projects. The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation provides up to $10,000 to match volunteer time and donated contributions from the community. Applications for NMF, which was launched in 1994, are accepted in the spring and fall.  

“Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we revised our application guidelines to only support projects taking place in Vancouver parks or virtual projects that have a strong community focus,” said Camil Dumont, Park Board Chair.

“The NMF is crucial in these unprecedented times as it is very important for communities to be creatively and socially connected while staying at a safe physical distance.”

Recipients

The Invasive Species Council of Metro Vancouver was one of the recipients of the NMF. 

“The Invasive Species Council of Metro Vancouver is grateful for the opportunity to build connections between people and their neighbourhoods, even while our capacity has been decreased due to COVID-19,” said Executive Director Tasha Murray. 

“With Neighbourhood Matching Funds, we will offer a free seminar series in spring 2021 on how to observe and document local plants. Participants will be invited to submit their artwork for publication in a local plant guidebook available online for anyone to enjoy. 

11 projects that received NMF funding

The Overdose Prevention Society’s DTES Artist Collective, with the support of Atira Women’s Resource Society, will paint and weatherproof 10 picnic tables located in a park setting. A different artist in the Downtown Eastside will design and paint each table. 

Sound Sculptures supported by Vancouver New Music will explore and animate three public sculptures in parks, playing them as musical instruments while engaging the public with three performances in collaboration with two community dance groups and releasing a film documentary of the resulting work.

Vines Art Festival’s Sculptural Community Gathering Table & Zine Library will engage the community to design and build a sculptural gathering table with Black, Indigenous and People of Color artist leadership outside the Pandora Park Fieldhouse. The space outside the Pandora Park Fieldhouse will include a large working table, queer zine library and performance space.

EartHand Gleaners’ Weaving our Community SkillShed: Tending our Community FibreShed will focus on sedge area revitalization at Trillium Park North, increasing plant knowledge, widening skill holders circle and deepening our understanding of the local fibreshed.

Wildcoast Ecological Society’s Trout Lake Stewardship Project will continue stewardship activities with volunteers around Trout Lake including invasive species removal, education talks and native species planting.

Walking the Mycelial, supported by the Collingwood Neighbourhood House, is a series of community engaged arts activities inspired by ecology and fungal life, culminating in the production of a collection of self-guided mushroom walks for different parks in the Collingwood-Renfrew neighbourhood.

Community Art Plant Guidebook is an online workshop series presented by the Invasive Species Council of Metro Vancouver that will inspire community members to observe and document local plants and contribute artwork for a local plant guidebook to produce a free, educational resource.

Cathedral Square Invasive Plant Removal will replace invasive ivy and blackberry in the northwest area of the Pollinator Meadow at Cathedral Square Park with ecologically appropriate Indigenous plants. Hives for Humanity will work alongside the community on plantings, and offer experiential workshops to build community engagement and to foster environmental and social awareness, inclusion, diversity and pride in this green space.

Strathcona Conversations, supported by the Strathcona Community Centre, is a regular (monthly or bi-monthly) exhibition and zine, produced through conversation, collaboration and cooperation amongst neighbours in the Strathcona community, exploring a chosen theme each issue.

Still Moon Arts’ Colour Me Local Dye Garden Accessibility Improvements will enhance the existing space on the west side of Renfrew Ravine by building a compost, an accessible raised garden box and art benches to improve their art and environment programming with the community. 

Public Art and Placemaking, supported by the South Vancouver Neighbourhood House, will work with South Vancouver community members to highlight their community and its unique stories and histories and distinguish its narrative through visual, accessible, and geographically central artwork in local parks created by artists that live in the neighborhood. 

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