Event Detail

September 25, 2023 to November 22, 2023

Free

Community Art Gallery, 3rd Floor, Anvil Centre

Changing the Conversation

September 25 - November 22

Communities across Canada are experiencing a housing crisis involving rising unaffordability, housing insecurity, and homelessness. Housing and homelessness are often polarizing topics to discuss.

Changing the Conversation (CTC) is a three-year project that examines how public spaces and public art can facilitate a healthier discourse about housing in the community.

The perspectives of those most impacted by housing insecurity are frequently left out of the discourse. People forget the very human faces of this crisis. Market-driven housing policies and other systemic forces often seek to invisibilize housing precarity rather than alleviate it. If we are committed to housing as a human right, we need to listen to those who have endured housing injustices.

What are the struggles, hopes and dreams of people experiencing housing insecurity? What possibilities for meaningful change and solidarity might we find if we pause to delve beyond headlines and statistics?

This exhibit centers the intersectional, multi-faceted stories that exist on the frontlines of the housing crisis. It features the work of CTC Artists in Residence Amal Ishaque and PJ Patten and community members in New Westminster with lived experiences of housing insecurity.

Join us for the exhibition reception on Thursday, November 9 from 6:00 – 8:00 pm.

Community Art Gallery, 3rd Floor

Anvil Centre, 777 Columbia Street

New Westminster, BC

Admission is free.

Upcoming Artist in Residence Talk: Amal Ishaque

Sunday, November 12 from 1:00 – 3:00 pm

Join us for an interactive, roundtable discussion on the intersections of housing insecurity, racism and art as a tool for social change. Featuring Changing the Conversation Artist in Residence Amal Ishaque and New West Community Action Network peer leaders Margaret Wanyoike and Monica Deng. Amal, Margaret and Monica will also share some poetry.

Studio 411, Anvil Centre

777 Columbia Street

New Westminster, BC

604.527.4640

Event is free to attend.

Please note that the Community Art Gallery will be closed Saturday, November 11, 2023.

Anvil Centre Events Theatre Events

Plan your visit

Located at the geographical centre of Metro Vancouver in the heart of downtown New Westminster, Anvil Centre is within easy reach of downtown Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and nearby suburbs, YVR and Abbotsford airports and BC Ferries.

By Transit

Anvil Centre is located at 777 Columbia St., and is across the street from the New Westminster SkyTrain station (Eighth St. exit). The New Westminster station is serviced by the SkyTrain Expo and Millennium Lines, and is less than a 30-minute ride from downtown Vancouver.

Translink’s trip planner tool provides connections and schedules from your point of departure.
By Car

New Westminster is connected to Metro Vancouver’s major highways and arteries via three bridges: the Alex Fraser and Queensborough Bridges (connecting Highway 91 and the East-West Connector), the Pattullo Bridge (connecting Surrey’s King George Boulevard) and the Port Mann Bridge (connecting Highway 1). The South Fraser Perimeter Road (Highway 17) also provides a quick, direct route to New Westminster.
By Bike

The scenic 26-km BC Parkway is a multi-use path that roughly parallels the SkyTrain Expo Line, connecting Surrey City Centre, New Westminster, South Burnaby and Vancouver. The BC Parkway passes within a block of Anvil Centre. Bike racks can be found along Columbia St.
Parking

Underground parking
Anvil Centre features three levels of underground parking with 270 stalls. The parkade is accessed off of Eighth Street.

1 hour: $3.25
5 hours: $9.00
10 hours: $15.00

Rates for less than one hour are also available.

Parkade
Parking is also available at two large nearby parkades. Adjacent to Anvil Centre is the Shops at New West multi-level parkade, located at the corner of Eighth Street and Columbia St. The Front Street Parkade, accessed from Fourth and Sixth Streets and just south of Columbia, offers reasonably priced hourly and daily parking rates.

On-street parking
Hourly pay meter parking can be found on the streets in and around Anvil Centre. Please note most meters have time limits.

There is complimentary drop-off/pick-up parking (15min MAX) for all Anvil Centre program on Parking Level 1 (in non-reserved stalls). Please note that complimentarily spaces are not reserved and depend on availability.

MASTER