Victoria business offers free poster printing to support live events in the city

Victoria event community receives boost As restrictions lift and live events return to Victoria, a local business is giving back by offering free poster printing services.

Victoria — Metropol has been in the business of promoting the arts in Victoria for the last 19 years.

"When COVID hit, that entire postering department just completely shutdown," said Steve Webb, founder of Metropol and administrator of Vicposters.com.

With no live events, the "postering" side of Webb’s business had nothing to promote. Now, with restrictions lifting and live events coming back, Webb has decided to give back to the community that helped build his business.

"The fact is that it’s been a year and half since we needed that, so we thought we would see if we could do it and offer it as a free service," said Webb.

By offering to print posters for free, each organization is expected to save hundreds of dollars per promoted event.

"It’s really incredible that he’s giving back to artists and doing this free campaign," said Ashley Wey, a musician and artistic director at Hermann’s Jazz Club in downtown Victoria.

Wey will be holding an album release party for her new album titled Hummingbird this Saturday night at Hermann’s Jazz Club. She took Webb up on his offer.

"I think it absolutely helped sell out my show on Saturday," said Wey.

Chris Fretwell is the general manager at the Victoria Events Centre (VEC) in downtown Victoria.

"It’s been a tough haul," he told CTV News on Thursday.

But the stage lights are back on at the VEC after a difficult pandemic year. Now the challenge is letting everyone know that shows are back on.

"Some people are very aware and have been looking out for this very actively," said Fretwell. "I find that a lot of people are not aware at all that shows are happening."

They too have taken up the offer of free posters and say that it’s made a difference filling seats.

"We had a very successful probably sold-out festival," said Francyne Morrison, marketing communication co-op student with Theatre Skam.

Theatre SKAM sold out last weekend's SKAMpede Festival, showing that there is a renewed hunger for live performances in the city.

"This thing is going to come back, it’s going to come back in full force,” said Webb. “It’s going to be bigger, it’s going to better, there’s going to be more stuff to do.”"

"I think if we can stick together as a community and support our local music and our local businesses, then we will all be better off for it," he said.

Event organizers looking to have posters printed can find further information on the Vic posters website here.