Tag: rentals

Can we penetrate the darkness?

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The featured image for this posting is the detail of a drawing titled “Many suns cannot penetrate the darkness” created in 1989 by the late long time Vancouver Unitarian member Daphne Naegele. Now, 30 years after Daphne created this image and posed this question, we are still faced with it — can Unitarian Universalism help penetrate the darkness? Part of the answer to this question resides in our capacity to sustain ourselves financially. To examine our options, the UCV board has created a task force to examine the many facets of this question over the summer and fall. Get in touch with Sheila Resels or Keith WIlkinson if you’d like to be part of this discussion.

The UCV Board established a Financial Sustainability Task Force (FSTF) in July 2019. The purpose of the Task Force is to review and strengthen the financial sustainability of the Vancouver Unitarian congregation in the face of reduced levels of pledging, possibly static membership growth, and the general decline of religious community across North America over recent decades.

The Task Force includes the following working groups and teams:

  1. Membership Growth Team
  2. Member Generosity Team (which includes the Canvass Committee)
  3. Legacy Team
  4. Space Use Team
  5. Transition Team
  6. Site Development Team
  7. Investments Committee
  8. Fundraising Events Team
  9. Risk Review Team
  10. Marketing/Fundraiser Initiative Team
  11. UCV Internal Funds Review Initiative
  12. UCV (ad hoc) Budget Committee
  13. Other working groups/teams approved by the Board.

These groups and teams are relatively self-directed and are guided by the recent working document UCV Financial Sustainability Matrix. The working groups and teams are expected to prepare reports in time for the board and the congregation to discuss them well in advance of the 2019 AGM scheduled for late fall 2019 when a vote of the membership regarding possible site redevelopment is anticipated.

For further information, or to provide support to some of these working groups, please contact one of the co-chairs of the Financial Sustainability Task Force (FSTF):

We’re a Welcoming Home for Many Artists, Musicians and Creatives

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For many years, UCV has been a welcoming home and refuge to a wide variety of artists, musicians, and creatives of all disciplines and backgrounds.

Our beautiful Sanctuary, with its wonderful architecture, ambiance, and acoustics, has become a favoured venue for local concerts, piano recitals, music festivals and plays. It has been the home of the Vancouver Kiwanis Music Festival for many years, and regularly hosts the Vivaldi Chamber Choir, Jubilate Vocal Ensemble, Vancouver Chinese Choir, West Coast Chamber Music, Highs and Lows Choir, and of course our own Chalice Choir. The Chor Leoni Men’s Choir and Elektra Women’s Choir even have their office spaces on the UCV campus!

Other regular rental clients of ours include the Pacific International Youth Music Society and the BC Registered Music Teachers’ Association, among many others.

Elaine Joe at our grand piano playing for the Highs and Lows choir who practise every week in our sanctuary.

Each month, our Arts Committee curates a new exhibition in our Sanctuary and Fireside Room, giving local artists the opportunity to have their work seen by hundreds if not thousands of congregants and visitors.

The Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild meets in the Hewett Hall monthly, and provides its members an opportunity to have a ‘show and tell’ of their latest creations.

Another UCV tenant, the Multifaith Action Society, produces a Multifaith Calendar each year that features beautiful community-sourced artwork from around the world as a means of promoting interfaith harmony and cross-cultural dialogue. Over 30,000 copies of the calendar are distributed across North America and beyond annually.

We have hosted book launches and readings from a number of renowned authors, and the UCV campus’ many unique and storied spaces have also been featured in a wide variety of television shows, movies, and amateur films. Most recently, the Hewett Hall and Fireside Room were transformed into courtroom sets for the Johnny Depp film “Richard Says Goodbye”.

Marcus Hynes is the person to contact about booking space at the Unitarian Centre.

We are proud of UCV’s commitment to and embodiment of the arts and look forward to many more years of serving Vancouver’s creative community!

To inquire about booking a space for your creative event, please contact Marcus at 604-261-7204, extension 0, or by email.