The Vancouver Extracurricular Music Society (VEMS) was started by parents working with the Vancouver District Parent Advisory Council (DPAC).
In June 2020, the Vancouver School District released an Elementary Music Review.
This was partly due to the cancellation of the Elementary Band and Strings program in 2016. See the Georgia Straight article. Parents and educators continued lobbying for equitable music education. The result was the Elementary Music Review.
On January 13, 2022, the VSB completed the first recommendation of the review and produced the Mission Statement.
The VSB K-7 Music program’s mission is to provide all students with:
A consistent, robust, inclusive, experiential music program based on active music making including Indigenous musical opportunities which respect cultural protocols and nurture the unique and diverse culture of each school community.
Two parents with the DPAC helped on this committee. The mission statement was inspiring; parents wondered how to help. The COVID-19 pandemic was part of the reason there was such a gap between the Elementary Music Review report and the Mission Statement. The pandemic closures and disruptions to schools also ended a vast majority of in person extracurricular programs.
Since parents are generally not allowed, nor able, to fund curricular activities, the DPAC chose to attempt to bring community singing (i.e. no auditions) to VSB schools as an extracurricular. This was intended to meet the demand of parents for some music and support the Mission Statement.
The DPAC formed a Music Working Group to find ways to advocate for the completion of the Elementary Music Review and to explore the feasibility of an extracurricular choral program.
The DPAC Extracurricular Choral Program was approved on May 26, 2022, at a DPAC General Meeting. 30 individual Parent Advisory Councils (PACs) voted in favour. The program was intended as a test. And what a test! In the 2022-2023 school year, the Choral Program 1200 children sing in the district across 13 schools with 23 choirs.
Given the restrictions on what DPACs and PACs can handle operationally, the Choral Program was moved to the Vancouver Extracurricular Music Society. VEMS was registered as a non profit BC Society on May 24, 2023.
Given the restrictions on what DPACs and PACs can handle operationally, the Choral Program was moved to the Vancouver Extracurricular Music Society. VEMS was registered as a non profit BC Society on May 24, 2023.
On April 1, 2024 VEMS was granted tax-exempt status as a registered charity under the Income Tax Act. Our CRA number is 71264 3543 RR0001. apps.cra-arc.gc.ca/ebci/hacc/srch/pub/dsplyBscSrch
To learn more about the DPAC’s music advocacy, please visit vancouverdpac.org/music.