Emma Lancaster named new executive director of Eastside Arts Society

Longtime Vancouver arts worker will oversee Eastside Culture Crawl, with Esther Rausenberg moving into new role as artistic director

By Janet Smith

Emma Lancaster. Photo by Jon Benjamin

THE PRODUCERS OF the Eastside Culture Crawl, Eastside Arts Festival, and other East Vancouver arts events have a new executive director.

Longtime local arts professional Emma Lancaster has been announced as the new executive director of the Eastside Arts Society. Current artistic and executive director Esther Rausenberg, who has been with the society since 2013, now moves into the sole position of artistic director.

Lancaster has a 30-year history in the arts working across everything from communications to fundraising, with her last position as director of marketing and communications at Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival. She’s also worked at the Arts Club Theatre Company, Vancouver Opera, The Cultch, DanceHouse, Vancouver Latin American Cultural Centre, the Firehall Arts Centre, Coastal Jazz and Blues Society, New Works, Music on Main, the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, and more.

In a statement today, Eastside Arts Society board chair Kristin McDougall said Lancaster’s goals will focus on raising the group’s profile and fundraising. “We’re entering a period of tremendous potential and growth, and we look forward to the increased capacity this change brings us,” she said.

Over her tenure, Rausenberg has sustained the Eastside Culture Crawl through the pandemic; last year saw its largest festival yet, with more than 500 artists across 55 locations. She’s also overseen the establishment of the summertime’s hands-on Eastside Arts Festival, expanding it to include concerts and other performances. Plus, the society has expanded its Studio 101 program, offering 150 inner city youth in-studio workshops by Crawl artists.

Rausenberg has also developed the Eastside Arts District as a way to market and strengthen the arts community in Vancouver’s Eastside, advocating for new artist production spaces amid a real-estate crisis. Her work has included the “A City Without Art? No Net Loss, Plus!” report that quantified displacement in the area.  

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