Author: Natalie Dobbin

False Creek Community Centre’s subsidized youth programs create access for youth with diverse economic circumstances, said youth worker Nathan Pope on Friday night.

“There’s like a horseshoe of BC Housing around Granville Island and you know there’s also multi-million dollar units in the same area, so having kids next door to each other with different economic status is challenging,” said Pope, who wore a brimmed cap and black-rimmed glasses.

Tension would possibly exist if the youth programs were not subsidized by the non-profit centre from profit made through areas such as the gym, and sometimes government grants, said the 25-year-old.

“You might see discrimination based on the cost of the program,” said Pope. He said there wouldn’t be many kids from low-income families in a costly program if this was the case.

“So thankfully for the subsidization we’re able to mingle both groups together so there is no distinction,” said Pope

A free youth open house took place in the games room next to the office where Pope sat. Loud voices and music played like a steady soundtrack in the office.

Pope said the centre’s focus on social and active recreation is difficult because of the neighbourhood diversity.

In the games room, one boy concentrated on the task that was literally in front of him‒ playing the drums for the video game Rock Band. Other boys assembled on the couch behind him. A video game guitar player sat off to one side.

 A projection of Wii Fit, a physical activity video game, covered a section of a wall in the room. A group of kids huddled around a foosball table at the back of the room. Around ten boys and girls and a few adults stood outside by the BBQ area.

According to the centre’s website, youth can use the games room Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 3:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.The centre offers various youth programs including a popular Friday night program that takes youth off the island, said Pope. The website shows the Friday events range from being free to $29.

Travis Hayes, a youth worker at the centre, said most kids come from False Creek Elementary School and Henry Hudson Elementary School.

Pope said when there’s conflict it’s usually because of something that happened at one school during the day.

Hayes said if a kid is banned from the centre, there’s always a chance they can come back. However, Hayes said the kids are proud of the centre and don’t want to have to leave.

“The kids want their relationship with the community centre to be a good one,” said Hayes.

Weavers are challenged by the popularity of low-priced items, said Barbara Heller, a tapestry weaver based on Granville Island.

“People don’t want to pay what things are worth,” said Heller, 63, who stood behind a wooden counter at Fibre Art Studio on the island late Friday morning.

“We’re so used to mass produced items from Third World countries you know you go to The Bay and you can find something for five dollars and to pay 50 or $100 for the scarf that’s hand-woven, it’s that we’ve lost touch with how things are made,” said Heller.

Heller, who wore jeans and a blue top and sweater, is one of five weavers who share the studio.

The studio is participating in Culture Days from Friday to Sunday. “Culture Days is a collaborative movement to raise the awareness, accessibility, participation and engagement of all Canadians in the arts and cultural life of their communities,” according to the Granville Island website.

The weavers will demonstrate and talk about their work from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. Heller said this isn’t a big change from what they usually do, but the studio is normally closed Sundays.

The studio resembled a 360-degree rainbow of mixed colours and textures. Yarn wound into balls filled baskets on the floor. A yellow and green scarf draped a mannequin neck on the counter.

A loom across from the counter revealed Heller’s work in progress‒ a large tapestry of a crumbling stone building.

Apart from the studio, Heller said she’s represented by Elliott Lewis Gallery.

Heller, who’s been weaving for around 35 years, said locals aren’t coming to the island as much since the Olympics, which she said she attributes to Olympic parking bans. She said she thinks people started shopping elsewhere.

She said a benefit of being located on Granville Island is that there are a lot of tourists who buy items such as yarn and scarves.

A man and woman from Ontario popped into the studio. The woman, with white hair, looked for yarn and pulled a green sock out of her purse with knitting needles still attached.

“In the ‘70s and even into the ‘80s there was a real love of the handmade. You know the hippy generation, whatever, there was a return to it,” said Heller.

She said people started to shift their focus to fitness.

“And now people are back,” said Heller.

“Young people are knitting and learning to weave and spin and maybe we’ll come back to the appreciation of the handmade.”

Wood shavings lightly gathered on the concrete floor around Luke Parnell’s feet on Tuesday as he carved a small wood figure with its hands wrapped around its knees. A cool breeze entered the room through a partially opened bay door. Outside three words illuminated in red: Aboriginal Gathering Place.

The gathering place recently opened and is part of the Emily Carr University of Art and Design on Granville Island.

Parnell, who is half Haida and half Nisga’a, said it was his second day using the space. Parnell is taking a Master of Applied Arts at Emily Carr. He worked in a small studio space at the back of the open space gathering spot.

Brenda Crabtree, aboriginal program manager at Emily Carr, said boxes and furniture were moved into the space a couple of weeks ago and the official opening has yet to take place.

Crabtree, a member of the Spuzzum Band, said studies done by the Ministry of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development found Aboriginal students often feel isolated in post-secondary settings and students who had a designated space to go to felt a better sense of belonging.

“We were looking at sort of a holistic perspective of what would enable us to increase our recruitment retention and completion rates for Aboriginal learners and we have certainly found that having even the smallest of spaces to provide a sense of cultural community for them makes a huge difference,” said Crabtree.

Crabtree said although measurable things such as enrolment and graduation numbers for Aboriginal students are looked at frequently, immesurables need to be looked at such as self-esteem and feeling safe. She said this space was funded by a grant from the Ministry of Advanced Education.

Black sofas and chairs formed a circle at the end of the gathering place that overlooks False Creek. Beige drums served as coffee tables. Crabtree said she made them and they’re pow-wow drums. A small table that looked like a piece of a cedar tree trunk rested next to a low red chair with rounded edges.

Large windows filled the space with sunlight.

A small computer lab and a couple of offices used one side of the space.

Crabtree said there will be school and community events held in the space, but the space is meant to be primarily for Aboriginal students.

Parnell said he’ll continue to use the space.

“There’s a masters studio but you’re not allowed to carve wood in it. Anything else I’ll do up there, but any wood carving I’ll do down here.”