Quadratic Sound has been operating in Victoria since 2016 as a small music venue and space to support musicians in whatever way possible.
Originally, they were situated in a small space on Discovery Street, at the end of 2021, their rent was going to be raised to a point they would no longer be able to function.
Soon after this, they found their new home above the bottle depot on Queens Avenue, just off Douglas Street, and have been putting on shows, offering jam spaces as well as providing the music community with a much-needed hub since that time.
Quadratic Sound is operated by Noel Anstey, Emily Mahbobi, Lee Gauthier and Shane Battley who do all their work to provide this space on a volunteer basis, while ensuring they can pay the bands and their staff a fair wage.
Things were running smoothly and the group of owners were avidly putting on shows and providing a space for musicians until Wednesday, November 6th, when they received news from the City of Victoria that they would no longer be able to operate as a venue.
“They brought up our zoning and said that our activities are not allowed based on the zoning,” Mahbobi told Victoria Buzz.
The space had been zoned by the City as a warehouse space, meaning it was not designed or meant to hold more than a handful of people and by hosting shows, the venue was in violation of what the space was set up for.
“After we got this news we started looking at what we would need to do. We would need to rezone, but that’s going to be kind of a non-starter,” Mahbobi continued.
She said that to do this, they would have to get the land owner to go through the lengthy process of rezoning their space.
A few days after they received the news from the City that they could no longer put on shows, City Councillors Matt Dell and Susan Kim reached out to see what they could do to ensure another one of Victoria’s venues did not have to close.
“City council is on our side, they want to know what happened, they want to connect us with City staff,” Mahbobi said.
“Now City staff are talking to us—they’re trying to connect with bylaw, they’re trying to connect with the Fire Department and we actually don’t think it’s a zoning issue anymore.”
Mahbobi says that City staff are now putting in the work to sort out the path of least resistance so that Quadratic Sound can put on shows once again.
Based on her communications with the City, she says it seems like they need a new building permit.
“City staff are being really supportive right now, we had a meeting with them a couple of days ago. We’re still waiting for them to get back to us about what [the Fire Department] said and a bit more detail from bylaw, just to make sure we aren’t missing anything, but they’re going to be helping us through the bureaucracy,” Mahbobi explained.
“I’m very grateful to the City for being very supportive. It’s funny because the reaction from the community was, ‘oh the City shut down another venue,’ but from my perspective the City is saying we should help out these people.”
“The people are on our side, it’s just the paperwork that’s kind of messed up right now,” she added.
Mahbobi told Victoria Buzz it’s been really heartwarming to have the city council on their side, especially having Matt Dell trying his best to ensure City staff help out in any way they can.
“With [Quadratic Sound], I saw it on social media, and just knowing the power you have as a councillor and knowing you can get things done, it’s such a priority for me so I just immediately reached out to staff,” Dell told Victoria Buzz.
“A lot of my job is just flagging it for staff, and going, ‘hey, we’re going to lose this really cool space, get this on your radar, let’s see if we can do something about this.’”
From there, the City’s arts and culture staff reached out to the venue and put the matter at the top of their priority list to see what could be done.
Dell added that he prioritizes keeping arts spaces and venues alive, while making sure they are safe for the people who frequent them.
So in this case he said that as long as all the fire systems and precautions are in place to ensure the venue is physically safe for concert-goers, City staff should have no problem providing an adequate permit to Quadratic Sound.
At this time, Mahbobi says that they are unsure of when the space will be able to reopen, but in the meantime the space is still able to operate as a jam space and DJ practice space, among other services.
Quadratic Sound was booked up for the remainder of the year and has thus far had to cancel 14 shows, while being able to relocate four shows.
