{"id":26075,"date":"2024-11-13T09:00:47","date_gmt":"2024-11-13T17:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/?p=26075"},"modified":"2024-11-14T12:47:18","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T20:47:18","slug":"the-end-of-the-victoria-event-centre-a-reminder-to-stay-loud-and-united","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2024\/11\/13\/the-end-of-the-victoria-event-centre-a-reminder-to-stay-loud-and-united\/","title":{"rendered":"The end of the Victoria Event Centre a reminder to stay loud and united"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Victoria Event Center (VEC) has given Victoria a space for its locals in the music and art communities for 21 years. But, facing a 40-percent rent increase, the venue is now closing its doors, leaving a massive hole in the city\u2019s art scene, with people struggling to find a new home to host and curate their shows.<\/p>\n

The VEC has given stage space to local drag shows such as ManCrush Monday by King Fling and the forever empowering burlesque shows such as Melanin Magic by Diosa De La Luna Entertainment and Thick: An Evening of Fat Celebration by Brick & Lavender. There were musical performances by, among many others, OKGB, Ryan Harris, and All Together Now. This was a place for weirdos to thrive, pride parties to kick off, a safe space for kink, and was always available to become a place to celebrate those in the community that passed on a legacy, and to fundraise for those who may have had a rough go lately.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The last night at the Victoria Event Centre was full of smiles and tears (photo by Acacia Tooth\/Nexus<\/em>).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sunday, October 27 was the final night of events at VEC. Not a dry eye was in the house as multiple people took the stage to perform one last time and express gratitude for the home away from home. Laughs were had with comedian Emily Woods, a cheeky performance from Holly Shirt and Hazel Nunez, and music from Hello Luna Land and Daisy Scorsese. Many shared stories of the VEC being where they first performed, met their significant others, hosted their own shows, got their start, and found a place they needed to be in those moments of unknown. The happiness, fear and warmth that surrounded all those who attended felt like a hug right when you walked in.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Without the VEC, I would have spent many nights with anxious thoughts, struggles and feelings. Nowhere to see myself in others who shared in my struggle to belong. It became a place for me to celebrate with my friends, find\u2014and perform\u2014my love of burlesque and drag, discover the community that has grown to become my chosen family.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the outside it may be seen as four walls and a stage, but for us, it was a home. It was a place to belong, thrive, and, for a moment, forget the turmoil of the world. Melting into one being if just for a night or event.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Victoria Mayor Marianne Alto has expressed that we should support local venues and pride ourselves on being a city of art and music. With the purchase of Hermann\u2019s Jazz Club earlier this year by the city, the space was saved from closing its doors. But it makes me wonder if we saved the right spot in the community. Hermann\u2019s was great for live music and comedy events, but what about inclusive spots for drag and burlesque performances and 2SLGBTQIA+ events as a whole?<\/p>\n

Where does that leave us as students? If you\u2019ve enjoyed any space that has made you feel free to express yourself, made you feel safe, has given others you care about a place to thrive, then you have been in a space that is now under attack. Increased rent, lack of grants and funding, and pure greed advertised as \u201caffordable housing\u201d continuously shutting down or demolishing these magical places is happening right under our noses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We are left with the duty to make some noise and write to our mayor holding them accountable for their supposed shared values. We must continue to show up, support, and share events that are happening around the city.<\/p>\n

We are stronger together than on our own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Victoria Event Center (VEC) has given Victoria a space for its locals in the music and art communities for 21 years. But, facing a 40-percent rent increase, the venue is now closing its doors, leaving a massive hole in the city\u2019s art scene, with people struggling to find a new home to host and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26076,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,14,322],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-views","category-november-13-2024"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26075"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26077,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26075\/revisions\/26077"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}