On July 10th, Vancouver’s City Council voted to take steps towards implementing measures that better support the city’s music ecosystem. Council came to a unanimous decision to approve a grant of $400,000 to help provide funding for “Vancouver-based music-focused projects,” as well as to enhance the growth of accessible, vibrant cultural spaces within the city.

The approved recommendations arose from two reports presented to Council that provided policy suggestions for additional support for the city’s music community and industry: the Vancouver Music Strategy Interim Report and Making Space for Arts and Culture: 2018 Cultural Infrastructure Plan.

“Vancouver’s vibrant, diverse arts and culture community puts us on the map as a city with a thriving creative scene,” said Mayor Gregor Robertson in a media release. “These actions will crank up support for our growing arts and culture community, create and preserve important spaces, and focus the city on ensuring that creative people are able to stay and build a future in Vancouver.”

One of the report’s key recommendations that was approved is the establishment of a temporary full-time staff position within the City that will act as a resource and advocate for the music community, and be responsible for facilitating the completion of the final Vancouver Music Strategy report. Of the total $400,000 grant amount, $100,00 will be allocated towards supporting this staff position.

Other proposed future measures include the development of a Music Office and the creation of a Music Advisory Council. These policy measures echo those recommended in Music Canada’s groundbreaking 2015 report, The Mastering of a Music City.

Also included in the Music Strategy interim report were the findings of the recently released Vancouver Music Ecosystem Study, facilitated by the Music BC Industry Association, Creative BC, Sound Diplomacy, and other key partners.

Some of the study’s key findings include:

• Economic Impact: the economic impact of music in Vancouver is over $690 million (per year).
• Employment: the music ecosystem supports a total of 14,540 jobs, including 7,945 direct music jobs in Vancouver for musicians, venues, festivals, music publishers, music teachers, studios & sound engineers, managers and labels, and music press and marketing.
• Income/Wages: the employment impact of Vancouver’s music industry is over $520M annually.

Read the full Vancouver Music Ecosystem report here.