The old library building on Mill Plain may not seem like the obvious place for a thriving arts scene, but Vancouver native Christine Richardson has transformed it into just that. As the facilitator of the Arts Hub and the executive director of nonprofit theARTScentered, she’s supporting local artists and fostering interdisciplinary cultural collaborations.
As a child in Vancouver, Christine’s mother nurtured her creativity and curiosity. A simple parks and recreation crafting event at Marshall Center sparked a lifelong passion for fiber arts, and Christine went on to have a long - and successful - career as a costume designer for major regional theaters and opera companies.
After her final chemotherapy appointment for breast cancer, Christine decided to return home. Home was where the heart was, but was it where the art was? All she knew was that it was time to bring what she’d learned from decades of working around the country back to Clark County.
Thus was born a nonprofit Christine calls theARTScentered, created to offer resources, space, equity, access, professional expertise, and collaborative opportunities to local artists and arts & culture groups.
At the heart of Christine's work is a commitment to community building and relationship building. "Being a part of a community means sometimes things get messy or they're not perfect... but staying a part of community and being a part of answering whatever questions come to community, that's where you show up," she says.
It was this showing up that opened the biggest door possible. As a member of the City Culture, Arts, and Heritage Commission, Christine saw firsthand Vancouver’s commitment to building a hub for arts and culture. But their plan to use the old main library building on Mill Plain was moving a bit too slowly for someone who’d spent their career making full-blown operas happen in 6 weeks.
So… she made a proposal to the city: “I want to get in there and just start some stuff because people are practicing in their basements. People are practicing outside. People are making art by themselves. This is a 50,000 square foot building!. . . Sometimes you can plan all you want, but you just got to throw some clay on the plinth and just start molding it.”
And the city? Well let’s just say: the keys are in hand and the doors are wide open. The Arts Hub is space that provides a much-needed place for artists to create and showcase their work. Every week, artists and cultural groups from the Vietnamese Community of Clark County’s lion dance classes to Vancouver Ballet Folklórico rehearsals to poetry readings and art therapy classes are all thriving in this wide open space. And they often come together on First Fridays, when we’re all invited to take a look at what they’re making (and have some cookies and tea while we’re at it).
While the city finalizes plans to replace the roof and upgrade the sprinkler system, allowing the structural and infrastructural build-out to truly begin, the Arts Hub continues to grow. There are visions for its future that include flexible performance spaces, studios, and galleries. The space will continue to evolve to meet the needs of the community, but the core mission remains the same: to center the arts and provide a platform for creative expression.
