New West's Anvil Centre seeing 'pre-COVID' service levels

During a special meeting on Monday, council heard that the Anvil Centre—despite some of the challenges it endured during the COVID-19 pandemic—was on its way to recovery and, in some cases, registered programs have returned to pre-pandemic levels. 

Its preliminary 2022 revenue projections are at $400,000 above budget, mainly due to audio/visual revenues and various bookings, along with COVID-19 federal recovery grants received by museum and heritage services. This, combined with less money spent on the centre than expected, brings the total projection for 2022 revenue to about $800,000. The operating budget was expected to be about $7.6M, but by the third quarter of the year, the Centre noted it had spent $400,000 less than it thought it would. 

During presentations, Indeep Johal, who speaks for Anvil Centre's financial services department, projected revenue would grow 7% year-over-year from 2023 to 2024, with the conference and cultural services still considered as being in a recovery phase. Expenses are expected to grow by 4% during the same time frame. 

Anvil Centre officially opened to the public in September 2014, with the goal of revitalizing the downtown core. The civic centre was designed as hub for culture and commerce activities. Staff say the venue has been able to keep its calendar fairly full, with weddings, celebrations of life, and retirement dinners, as well as through partnerships with groups like TransLink, Douglas College, and Metro Vancouver.

As part of the same presentation, council heard about the art services tied to the space, with community arts and theatre manager Todd Ayotte walking council through how it contributes to the city's community and public art initiatives. 

During Ayotte's presentation, Coun. Ruby Campbell asked how the department works with groups like the economic development team and the Downtown Business Improvement Association (BIA) to ensure people can enjoy other parts of Downtown New West while taking advantage of the arts opportunities offered through Anvil.

Ayotte pointed to the Outside/In series, in which both Hyack Square and Anvil Theatre are being utilized, while also confirming that they were working with groups like the BIA and the Arts Council. 

"I still think people come to the theatre, they're going to go for dinner before most likely than after. It brings people downtown, they may go for dinner before the show, but also just coming to the theatre and seeing what's around the theatre might prompt them to have the second visit," answered Ayote. 

Campbell wanted to know if people generally connected what is happening at the Anvil Centre with Hyack Square, noting that the latter is an outdoor space.

"I don't think they would," answered Ayotte. "I think this particular project ... we're drawing a connection that way, and we chose that space because it's adjacent to the theatre, and it is also easy access throughout the city, the Quay, but also through the SkyTrain."

Coun. Nadine Nakagawa—who, like Campbell, attended the Outside/In event—said she too had wondered aloud if people had gone out for dinner before or after the event, and if there was some way to quantify that.

"We actually, as part of the series, we are doing a survey, and we're sending a survey out to all the participants of these events. It is a free event, so we're going to have people coming broadly, and we can actually track them through postal code," explained Ayotte, adding that there were also opportunities to follow up with attendees to see if they would come back and pay to attend other events. "What kind of events are they interested in? Is it music, dance, etcetera?"

Chief administrative officer Lisa Spitale added that during first plans for Anvil Centre, there was a desire to quantify its economic benefits. 

"A few years ago, when we completed our economic development strategy, we talked about the role of culture as being a significant economic base for the city, and Anvil plays a role in that," said Spitale, adding that during the pandemic, the city was unable to do an impact analysis. 

Coun. Daniel Fontaine said that he was a bit surprised that said quantification hadn't happened yet.

"I think [quantifying] is critically important in our budget discussions, because we're going to be unfurrowing that over the next few weeks and talking about difficult decisions. The arts often struggle in terms of being able to connect, in terms of their quantified value, and there is a huge value. But if you don't quantify it, it's kind of opaque and people ... struggle to support it as much as they should."

Fontaine said he's noticed a number of parking spaces underneath the Anvil Centre reserved for others in the area—citing Douglas College as an example—saying that it seemed to be tough for people attending events to find places to park. Staff noted that they would begin a conversation with the parking department to keep this in mind. 

The New Media Gallery (NMG) is also in the Anvil Centre, with executive director and curator Gordon Duggan explaining tha attendee numbers were still not at their pre-pandemic levels, but they were on the way up. When asked by Nakagawa if there was a way to help NMG get the word out about its offerings, Duggan said it tends to be a bit of a challenge with the gallery relying on social media posts and word of mouth to increase its profile. 

Duggan also suggested ideas like wayfinding signs on the streets that would allow people to discover NMG. 

Additionally, its registered program numbers exceeded pre-COVID numbers, and NMG hoped to roll out some new pilots, including pay-what-you-can and tap-to-donate. 

Fontaine asked about capacity for more hotel space, and whether staff felt there was a need for one in the downtown core. Staff said a hotel feasibility study had previously been done, but ultimately there is a desire for one; a hotel with about 144 guest rooms would be ideal.

As for the museum and archives—which can be found on multiple floors of the Anvil Centre—tours at Irving House and Samson V have recovered, but there's still a bit more work to do around increasing gallery visitation. The museum and archives is also looking to continue work in decolonization, including in the interpretations and narratives of Irving House and Samson V. 

Coun. Campbell suggested looking at reimagining the use of the Anvil Centre during strategic planning. 

"I'm not going to put a motion together today—I don't think that's appropriate; I think we need to do it at strategic planning—but I will be asking my councillor colleagues at strategic planning that we really look at a renewed and refreshed vision for Anvil Centre. I see on the city's website it says, 'Anvil Centre is a vibrant cultural venue and boutique conference centre' ... and in that process also revisit adjacent elements of the public realm," she said, with Johnstone agreeing. 

Fontaine wanted to know the status of volunteer and/or other efforts to ensure the Samson V was being kept safe and up to date. 

"I'm hearing that there used to be community connection to this ... it's just, right now it's bubble wrapped, it's right on our waterfront, and I would dare say if that was on North Van's waterfront, they would never allow that to fall into that kind of condition."

Rob McCullough, manager of the museum and archives, said there was a buildout in the capital plan to fix what he called mostly cosmetic issues on the Samson V. "To give you a sense of the hull, and what's actually beneath the water, it's in really good shape. It's dry inside the bilge and there's no water coming in," said McCullough, adding that there is a marine surveyor who regularly inspects the vessel to make sure it's fine. The vessel is believed to draw the most donation revenue. 

"Right now, it's bubble wrapped because over the last two years we've seen an increase in pigeons." McCullough says the birds have been a challenge to keep away from the boat, and their droppings have created rot on the vessel's canvas roof. The wrapping is in place as an interim measure as the museum and archives looks for alternatives that won't be as impacted by pigeon poop. 

Fontaine asked how much money goes into the maintenance of the Samson V, and McCullough said approximately $30,000.

"Just so I'm clear ... how did we get to the point that the Samson V... roof is decaying, and we've just let it go? You're going to have to help me with that one."

McCullough said the roof was replaced through another capital project around 2017 or 2018, adding in that case, the pigeon problem was not an issue. He said some of the costs have gone towards painting and maintenance: painting must be done with consideration for the water the vessel is in, while maintenance is done without dry docking the vessel to mitigate cost. 

If you'd like to look at the presentation given to city council on Monday, you can do so here.