I found this article in the Vancouver Courier, State of the arts, which
pretty much sums up the state of the arts scene in Vancouver and what
I was thinking about in my previous post.

  “But his report confirms what artists, arts policy-makers, and
  administrators of big and small arts institutions throughout the
  city have said for years. "Vancouver does not have a cultural
  system of interacting actors," Sacco writes in the report.
  "Instead, it has an astounding collection of isolated players that
  try to make a living on their own." That chronic lack of
  connection between art communities and artists and the lack of
  a consistent arts policy will be the reason no "consistent
  cultural identity" ever emerges in Vancouver, and why this
  city's glorious and historic opportunity will be missed.”
 

Statements like this have been coming out for years and nothing ever
seems to change.

The article seems to suggest that it’s up to the City of Vancouver to
create this art scene.  At best I think all it can really do is create a
supportive environment for the arts.  The artists in Vancouver have tried
time and time again to create an arts scene, but whenever something
reaches a critical phase where a bit of funding or financial support would
push it to the next level things fall apart.

I think the problem lies with Vancouver’s small art market which
consistently ignores the talent in its own back yard in favour of a stamp
of approval from Toronto, New York, or Europe.  I think it’s a real
shame that Vancouver artists enjoy greater success and
acknowledgement from the rest of the world, than from the city they live
in.