From Industrial Space to Arts Hub
Bez Arts Hub opened in Langley, BC in 2017, founded by career artists Russ Rosen, a musician, and Sandy Rosen, a trained dancer. The married couple had talked about creating such a space since they first started out together; Sandy had earlier run dance instruction for her children and friends, and the pair founded a dance studio in 2001. They found an industrial space in Langley and converted it into the venue. By its first winter in December 2017, the hub was raising matching funds against a Creative BC grant for curtains, theatre lighting, a sound system, staging, and seating, with a planned renovation raising capacity from 59 patrons to about 100.
CARE, CREATE, GATHER
Bez works as both a live-performance venue and an arts-training centre. It presents intimate concerts, open-mic nights, improv comedy nights, theatrical and dance productions, film nights, and community dances. Mid-week it runs classes and programs: dance (social dancing, hip-hop, ballet, contemporary), acting, a gospel choir, an Improv Academy, half-day and mentorship programs, and pre-professional training in music, acting, and dance for children, teens, and adults. The organization frames its mission around three pillars it calls CARE, CREATE, and GATHER, and Sandy Rosen describes the room as "a listening room where you come to hear the musician."
The Black Box
The venue is a versatile black-box theatre on the ground floor, with a black floor, a 27-foot ceiling, sprung floors suited to dance and high-impact movement, stage lighting overhead, a full sound system, and moveable chairs and risers. The risers can build a stage with the audience on the floor, or reconfigure for seating. The roughly 2,000 sq ft space doubles as a dance/fitness studio and a broadcast/production space, and is noted for its acoustics and intimacy. Rental amenities include a projector and 12' screen, a Clear-Com system, pipe-and-drape wings, a traveller curtain, a kitchenette, mirrors, and Wi-Fi, with parking nearby for about 50 cars on evenings and weekends.
A Stage for the Fraser Valley
Bez fills a gap in a community that, as Sandy Rosen notes, "isn't known for having many performance spaces," positioning it as a key intimate arts venue in Langley and the wider Fraser Valley outside Vancouver. For its small size it has hosted notable and Juno Award-winning Canadian artists, including Laila Biali, Barney Bentall, Jim Byrnes, Shari Ulrich, and The Sojourners, alongside emerging and local performers. It also lists on touring and booking networks such as Side Door and Indie on the Move.