Brian McBay (he/him) is a leader in arts infrastructure. He is a fourth-generation Chinese-Canadian living in Vancouver on the unsurrendered lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, or Tsleil-Waututh Nations. Over the last 20 years Brian has made a unique contribution to British Columbia’s cultural security by developing and advocating for community-controlled arts spaces. He is co-founder and Executive Director of 221A, a Vancouver-based non-profit organization that operates a growing network spanning over 140,000 square feet across nine properties, providing space for affordable artist housing and artist studios. Recently, he has been advancing the application of “Cultural Land Trusts” as a collective governance and financing solution for non-profit arts spaces facing closure or displacement due to escalating real estate costs. In addition to his role at 221A, Brian has served on various non-profit and public sector boards including the BC Arts Council and the National Gallery of Canada.
As a student Co-founder of 221A during the height of the 2007-08 global economic crisis, he is part of a new generation of leaders in the cultural sector aiming to advance the public appreciation of the arts while also reversing deepening inequality, xenophobia, and colonialism in Canada.
Hong Kong Cafe, known for its apple tarts and wide variety of Chinese-Canadian dishes, was owned and operated by Brian McBay’s maternal family at 149 E Pender Street from 1952 to 1993. Photo by Paul Yee, 1986. Courtesy the City of Vancouver.
Brian’s dad was adopted, and is of mixed European ancestry. Brian’s mom is Chinese-Canadian. His great-grandfather, “Charlie” Lum Foon Ting, first arrived in Vancouver in 1898 as a teenager. His grandfather was Victor Gee Sow Lum (b. 1921), known as a local Chinatown baker alongside his brother Vernon Kwok Shing Lum (b. 1925) at the legendary Hong Kong Café (approx. 1941–1993).
Brian holds a Bachelor of Design in Industrial Design from Emily Carr University and applies his training to non-profit property design, construction and regulation. Brian was Vancouver Magazine Power50 and Emily Award laureate in 2025, and named a 2018 Fellow at the Salzburg Global Forum and has been invited to speak and write on art, policy and urban development at a variety of institutions and public forums.
In 2020, he co-founded the Sector Equity Alliance for Anti-Racism in the Arts (SEARA), a BC-based consortium that raised $300K in emergency relief funds for BIPOC Artists with over 100 non-profit cultural organizations. He is known as an active and outspoken collaborator, critic and advisor, championing inter-cultural anti-racism in government policy and cultural development in Canada.
Brian was a SEARA Steering Committee member from 2020-2021 and a current member of the SEARA Community Council.
