Little Mountain Gallery is a Vancouver-based non-profit art collective that has been operating since 2006. Originating out of a 1930s auto repair shop, the gallery was home to numerous types of artistic performances before transitioning to being a comedy club in 2016. Since then, the gallery has navigated changing venues following the garage they called home being torn down for condo developments in 2021. After a few years without a permanent home, Little Mountain Gallery resettled on Water Street in April 2024. The Peak spoke with manager and curator Brent Constantine to learn more about the non-profit’s journey on its 10 year anniversary.
The interview has been edited for concision.
Little Mountain Gallery started as an artist collective, yet really became a comedy space 10 years ago. What made comedy the thing that stuck when the space could have gone in so many other artistic directions?
Little Mountain Gallery slowly transformed over the years just based on who was doing shows there. Ehren Salazar was one of the founders in the early 2000s and was a visual artist who started putting on music shows. The city began getting complaints about the noise and they pivoted more to theatre. When Ehren decided to step away, Ryan Beil started putting on really unique comedy shows and turned it into a hub for the scene with a lot of different people who were basically given free rein over what happened there. I took over and did the same after he decided to move on.
“It was the accessibility to produce whatever you wanted with really no experience that attracted people.”
— Brent Constantine, manager and curator, Little Mountain Gallery
Why it turned into a comedy space was because there just wasn’t any other space like it in the city at the time. It started to snowball as more and more people performed there and saw what a low barrier it was to put on a show. The space started getting a reputation for having comedy shows all the time, you’d have general audiences starting to come out to LMG just for “comedy” rather than any specific show. It was the accessibility to produce whatever you wanted with really no experience that attracted people.
What role did that community play in keeping Little Mountain Gallery alive when there was no physical space to gather following the demolition?
We had a lot of support from the community to reopen but there were basically two years when we were just working on opening the new space. Between COVID-19 and the building being torn down, there was a whole generation of comics that had started or moved here that had never heard about LMG. I think our biggest strength though, is just the depth of history we have with people who immediately started their shows with us again, or new people that wanted to give it a try.
What does Little Mountain Gallery give Vancouver’s comedy scene that a bigger commercial club couldn’t replicate?
The club system is an important part of the stand-up ecosystem and it’s definitely something that Vancouver’s scene is lacking right now. We give people the chance to put on whatever show they want to in a place where the risk is pretty low. You can rent the venue for 90 minutes for a show for an accessible price. Most venues rent out their space by the day and you’re required to pay for tech and door, etc. Most comics aren’t at a level where they can fill a room like that.
What do you think the future holds for the gallery?
We’ve seen the space get busier over the last two years of being open. It was a real reality check when we came back and not every show was busy. We had the die-hard fans that knew about us, but, with relocation to Gastown and years of being dark, it’s basically like we started a new business.
We still regularly have people who come in and say they used to go to the old space but had no idea that we reopened. They’re surprised we’ve been back for years now.
We’ve got a 10 year lease on the current building so by that time, the hope is that the venue is packed every night. We want to keep seeing people develop cool new shows and see performers develop on our stage. If you’re looking for something to do in Vancouver, come out to Little Mountain Gallery Comedy and check out a stand-up, improv, sketch, or weird alternative show — there’s something you’re going to like happening here.
