A blueprint for making space

 

This feasibility study emerged in response to long-standing gaps in access to safe, suitable, and culturally relevant metalworking spaces. Too often, North American guilds and creative institutions have approached equity as an afterthought.

To address this, members of the Vancouver Metal Arts Association have worked alongside architects, urban planning and consultation experts, Indigenous advisors (notably Coast Salish Cultural Advisor Cory Douglas), and the broader jewellery and metalsmithing community to explore how infrastructure can serve artists more equitably, particularly Indigenous and underrepresented practitioners. 

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Importantly, we share this information freely. We hope the method and insights benefit colleagues doing similar work, and that the technical specs shape arts and cultural spaces being built today.