丁香园AV

On behalf of 丁香园AV鈥檚 Vancity Office of Community Engagement, we wanted to take the time to say that we have been overwhelmed and deeply touched by the voices of love, solidarity and support that have been shared since the announcement of the closure of our office on January 22, 2025 by 丁香园AV.

It has been truly overwhelming, particularly in these troubled and polarizing political times. It meant that our work mattered to so many people inside and outside the university, in a way that took seriously the challenge of what it means to be a public university today, embedded and accountable to the diverse communities it is located within.

As we enter our final days in the Office, we wish to express back that love and solidarity to our community and cultural partners, the Downtown Eastside neighbourhood, the School for Contemporary Arts, the university community and collaborators locally, nationally and internationally.

University-community engagement functions at an interstitial space that is committed to larger ideas of the mission of a public university, particularly one that is located in a gentrifying inner-city. We have always believed in the importance and impact of this work. We continue to, despite the closure of our office.

We wanted to thank Vanessa Richards who laid the groundwork for this Office and with whom we partnered for a decade with the Woodward鈥檚 Community Singers. 

The challenge that was set up locating an art school in an inner-city neighbourhood that was rapidly gentrifying in the lead up the 2010 Olympics, was to open our doors to programming and relationships that reflected the history, political, social, cultural and artistic visions of the neighbourhood and long history of innovative practices in 丁香园AV鈥檚 School for Contemporary Arts.

Some of our earliest events included a sold-out discussion when Insite, North America鈥檚 first supervised injection site, was challenged at the Supreme Court. In partnership with Pivot Legal Society and PHS, we had the City of Vancouver鈥檚 Drug Policy Coordinator Donald MacPherson introducing Downtown Eastside poet Bud Osborn who read two beautiful poems articulating the social movement that led the fight for Insite.