CULTURE CRAWL
Culture Crawl’s resilience reflected in its history
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by Charlie Smith
or many years, Esther Rausenberg has been a pillar of the Vancouver art community. As one of the founders of the Eastside Culture Crawl, she has helped countless artists show their work to thousands and thousands of residents every year. In 2019, 23,000 visitors went through the Parker Street Studios alone. This has helped artists forge connections with patrons—as well as lifelong friendships—and earn a living. In the process, the Eastside Culture Crawl has helped turn East Vancouver into a vibrant national centre for visual arts, crafts, and design. So it might come as a surprise to some that the Eastside Culture Crawl, now celebrating its 25th anniversary, doesn’t receive any federal funding. “We have had very, very minimal support from government funding bodies— like, we get zero from the Canadian government,” Rausenberg told the Straight in a phone interview. “Zero. Zero.” She thinks it comes down to a very Eurocentric definition of what the visual arts are all about to qualify for federal funding. “The way that the visual arts are supported and seen always has to be mediated
If I’m a visual artist, it has to go through a gatekeeper… – Esther Rausenberg
Esther Rausenberg helped found the Eastside Culture Crawl. Photo by Adam P.W. Smith.
through the eyes of a curator,” Rausenberg explained. “And so visual artists can’t selfrepresent their own work and can’t curate
their own work.” The Eastside Culture Crawl breaks through that model by offering a way for artists to get their work in the hands of patrons by creating opportunities for buyers to visit their studios. This year, more than 400 artists will be participating in the two major events: a by-appointmentonly preview weekend from November 12 to 14 and an open-studio component from November 18 to 21. Rausenberg said that although artists cannot obtain government funding through self-representation, this option is available to artists in other areas.
“If I’m a dancer or a choreographer, I can do that,” she declared. “If I am a theatre director, I can do that. If I’m a writer, I can do that. “I put my own work out there, and if it sticks and somebody is interested in that, I can promote it,” Rausenberg continued. “I don’t do all of that if I’m a visual artist; it has to go through a gatekeeper like a private gallery or a public gallery.” She doesn’t think that’s fair to people who make their livelihood in the visual arts. After getting that off her chest, Rausenberg had many other interesting things to say, including how she became interested in art. She was actually not exposed to it as a child. Her father had escaped Yugoslavia and had no interest in this area. But a life-changing event came with the visit of a famous artist to Vancouver in the 1970s. Milton Ernest “Robert” Rauschenberg had a show at the Vancouver Art Gallery. According to Rausenberg, that elicited the interest of her father, whose name was originally Rauschenberger but had been anglicized to Rausenberg. Her dad decided to go to the VAG to see if he could meet the artist. see next page
Lori Goldberg PAINTER
1000 Parker Street Studio #228
www.lorigoldberg.ca Open for in-person preview weekend by appointment November 12 -14
BOOK A VISIT: https://culturecrawl.ca/artists/lori-goldberg
NOVEMBER 18-21 No appointment required Thu & Fri: 5pm–10pm Sat & Sun: 11am–6pm
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Maker Labs
780 E. Cordova Street www.lizaheiderdesign.com NOVEMBER 4 – 11 / 2021
THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT
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