History

The Victoria Arts Promotion and Preservation society was officially incorporated April of 2014 after a number of years of formative meetings and planning. In its early days VAPPS served as an advisory board to ensure that the ArtsVictoria.ca website, which was solely funded by the City of Victoria at that time, served the needs of the entire arts community.

In 2015, in partnership with the City of Victoria we added a public art map and gallery to ArtsVictoria.ca which merged the City’s official public art database, with an open community driven system that allows anyone to post notable art of any kind. Later in 2015, VAPPS organized their first event where teams of people travelled around the city photographing and publishing information on local street art.

In 2020 the City of Victoria gifted ArtsVictoria.ca to VAPPS so it could run independently. At the same time LiveVictoria.com which had been run privately for more than 20 years was also donated to VAPPS.

In 2021 with a small grant from the City of Victoria and a gargantuan volunteer effort we built a new visual identity and design for the sites and set a course to be a model for other communitites to follow.

In 2024, like-minded folks in Kingston Ontario began using our platform for KingsonLive.ca and in 2025 RockyMountainLive.ca was born serving communities in the BC and Alberta Rockies.

Photography courtesy of the Victoria Arts Promotion and Preservation Society

In this photo:

Victoria Musican Wes Carroll performs at Hermann's Upstairs in Victoria

Mission

To increase access to Victoria’s artistic output; today and for future generations.

Mandate

To enable and support the promotion of Victoria's artists and artistic events locally, nationally and internationally.
To host and maintain a permanent, living archive of the artistic activity in Victoria and support others who do so.
To support the development of effective communication tools, which facilitate connections within the local artistic community.
To provide education regarding technology and online solutions to artists and cultural organizations

Responsibilities

Oversee the ArtsVictoria.ca and LiveVictoria.com websites. This means ensuring they serve the needs of all members the arts community.
Hold in trust the historic data. Our database contains 50+ years of band rosters and musician profiles, 16+ years of arts event listings, hundreds of pieces of art, videos, articles and more. It is our responsibility to ensure this data remains archived and accessible in perpetuity.
Represent the entire arts community. VAPPS, has an open board meeting policy, and strives to maintain a board of directors which represents all disciplines of the arts in Victoria. It is our role to listen to the community and ensure they are all represented.