The University of Victoria has the power to save the surrounding community from its "newlywed and nearly dead" image, says a municipal politician.
Judy Brownoff, a longtime Saanich municipal councillor and council liaison to the university, said surrounding municipalities such as Saanich, Victoria, Oak Bay and Esquimalt should look to graduating students as a resource for growth and opportunity.
"What we need to be able to do in this region is capture those students graduating to keep them here," said Brownoff. "[The potential] for great knowledgebased employment is being released right into our region," she said. "Somehow, we have to be able to create opportunities for them to get jobs and stay in our region."
She said the old clich脙漏 of Victoria being the city of the visiting honeymooners - the newlywed - and retirees - the nearly dead - is not really deserved.
But statistics indicate Greater Victoria, along with Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, has an aging demographic.
With a student population of 20,000, UVic attracts 76 per cent of its mostly young undergraduates from outside the city, according to the university's enrolment numbers.
By comparison, at the University of British Columbia, the vast majority of undergraduates come from Vancouver or elsewhere in the Lower Mainland.
UVic's population exceeds that of 10 of the Capital Regional Districts' 13 member municipalities. Only Saanich, with 109,752 residents, Victoria, with 80,017, and Langford, with 29,228, have larger populations, according to 2011 CRD census data.
A 1998 university study - more recent figures are unavailable - estimated the economic impact of all those students and the university's 4,584 employees at about $300 million a year.
Saanich, Oak Bay (population 18,015) and Victoria receive no property taxes from the university.
Instead, they receive a small grant from the provincial government
Brownoff said the UVic administration has worked to lessen some of the more obvious negative effects of the institution, such as students parking in surrounding neighborhoods. Measures such as providing every student with a bus pass have helped reduce the need for students to bring cars to campus.
While the university has more students than ever, fewer cars are heading back and forth to the campus, Brownoff noted.
She also pointed to the resources UVic supplies for municipalities, community groups and individuals, including athletic facilities, recreation opportunities and cultural pursuits such as theatre and music.
Ian Case, now director of the University Centre Farquhar Auditorium - who has spent two decades working in Victoria's arts community - said university students also provide a built-in audience for arts in the community, going to movies and clubs and buying tickets for music and theatre performances. It's an evolving audience that looks for more forward, or progressive alternatives.
"They are part of that young segment that is an important part of any arts group's audience development," said Case.
That audience contributes to the success of annual events such as the Fringe Festival, as well as venues such as The Belfry Theatre, Pacific Opera and Victoria Symphony.
UVic has also provided the Victoria arts community with a steady stream of recruits, said Case.
Facilities and programs such as the Phoenix Theatre and Maltwood Gallery offer chances for young, emerging artists to cut their teeth.
"The university is the Petri dish where so many of those artists get infected with the culture they are going to create," said Case.
Case, who graduated in 1991 with a double major in English and theatre, remembers arriving 24 years ago from Kelowna after graduating from high school. Victoria offered the opportunities he wanted: it was a place he loved, and it provided a community where he could experiment and be creative.
"There is so much happening here and the rest of sa国际传媒 is starting to pay attention."
