New performing and cultural arts centre coming to Vaughan
Partnership with QuadReal Property Group will champion the city’s arts and creative industries
The City of Vaughan is setting the stage for our next act! Today, during a special signing ceremony, the City and QuadReal Property Group (QuadReal) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to guide planning for a state-of-the-art performing and cultural arts centre in the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre (VMC).
Mayor Steven Del Duca, Members of Council, representatives from QuadReal and other dignitaries attended the Assembly Park events space in the VMC for the ceremony, reinforcing the city’s commitment to embracing the arts as a catalyst for both personal and economic growth.
The new venue, which will be situated in QuadReal’s Assembly Park community, will be a cornerstone of the VMC and a significant investment in the city’s cultural vitality and economic prosperity. A feasibility study conducted in 2019 estimated a cultural facility in the VMC can stimulate more than $100 million in economic activity related to one-time construction and has the potential to inject more than $2.5 million directly into the local and regional economy every year.
This new performing and cultural arts centre will also help grow local talent and spur the growth of the city’s creative economy. Vaughan is currently home to more than 3,500 creative businesses in the sector, which account for nearly one-third of all creative businesses in York Region. These businesses contribute to multiple sectors, including arts, entertainment and recreation, information and cultural industries and professional, scientific and technical services. Together, they added more than $2.4 billion to Vaughan’s real gross domestic product in 2022.
As a key emerging sector in Vaughan and one of the fastest-growing sectors globally, creative industries create employment and income opportunities, promote innovation and contribute to community well-being.
The performing and cultural arts centre is expected to open between 2029 and 2032.
For more information, visit vaughanbusiness.ca/PerformingArtsCentre.
QUOTES
“I am thrilled that Vaughan will soon be home to a state-of-the-art performing and cultural arts centre – and today’s signing ceremony represents the next step in this historic journey. This initiative represents a significant investment in our city’s cultural vitality and economic prosperity. The new venue will be a cornerstone of the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre and reflects our commitment to embracing the arts as a catalyst for both personal and economic growth. Our city is a launchpad for the creative industries and our state-of-the-art performing and cultural arts centre will help us strengthen our incredible local talent and spur the growth of our creative economy. I want to thank QuadReal for their continued leadership and investment in Vaughan and look forward to working with them to raise the curtain on this incredible new facility.”
- Mayor Steven Del Duca
“For QuadReal, meaningful community building means enhancing the experiences of people who live, work and visit our spaces. Assembly Park will deliver quality housing, and a dynamic multi-purpose offering but it is the people who champion art, music, dance and events that bring neighbours together that really make a place unique. Alongside our partners at the City of Vaughan, we are excited to take this significant step forward towards developing this from the ground up and bringing a performing and cultural arts centre to Assembly Park in the South Vaughan Metropolitan Centre. It will greatly enrich the broader community for generations to come.”
- Toby Wu, Executive Vice President of Development at QuadReal
QUICK FACTS
The plans for the development of a Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Vaughan and QuadReal Property Group were approved by Vaughan Council at the March 19, 2024 Special Council Meeting.
LEARN MORE
- Performing and cultural arts centre development webpage
- Advancing a cultural arts centre in the VMC backgrounder
- May 15, 2024 Staff Report: Partnership to advance a performing and cultural arts centre in the VMC
- March 20, 2024 News Release: Performing and cultural arts centre plans take centre stage
- Dec. 4, 2019 Staff Report: Feasibility Study for a Cultural Arts Centre in the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre
