Full Breakdown
Ryan Davis Brings Student String Quartet to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside via UBC Learning Exchange
4/29/2026, 7:21:01 AM
Background & Context
Violist Ryan Davis studied at the Colburn School in Los Angeles and performed with Street Symphony, which brings classical music to Skid Row. In 2024 he returned to Canada as an associate professor at the University of British Columbia’s School of Music. Seeing parallels between Skid Row and Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, he partnered with the UBC Learning Exchange, a Chinatown-based hub offering free arts and educational programs for Downtown Eastside residents.
Key Figures
Key participants are violist and UBC associate professor Ryan Davis, Learning Exchange director Kathleen Leahy, UBC music professor David Metzer, composer Ben Shirley, the UBC student quartet, and Downtown Eastside community members.
Timeline
The partnership began early 2024 when Davis returned, advanced after Metzer’s spring invitation, and culminated on April 28, 2024 with a student quartet at the Learning Exchange.
Performance & Programming
The intimate Learning Exchange, seating only a few dozen, prioritized Downtown Eastside patrons. The program featured works by Ben Shirley, whose recovery from addiction informs his music. Davis led the quartet and said music “is medicinal, healing, and connective.” The concert supported the Exchange’s English Conversation Program, where singing aids immigrant seniors’ pronunciation. Davis also mentioned his electronic-music project “Radia,” which has received positive responses in Street Symphony audiences.
Official Statements
Learning Exchange director Kathleen Leahy emphasized that creative expression and emotional release are essential in a neighbourhood dealing with social isolation and systemic barriers. She added that the concert helps shift university perceptions of the Downtown Eastside, challenging notions of hopelessness.
On-the-Ground Perspective
Davis said the event lets students learn from “new spaces” and residents experience university musicianship without a grand agenda, noting music serves as “connective tissue” that lets participants set aside background differences.
Verbatim Quotes
- “So many beautiful things can come out of struggle and great difficulty,” Davis says. “Music is medicinal. It is healing. It is what connects us, and that is especially going to be present in [Shirley's] music.” — Ryan Davis, Violist
- “We find we're demystifying the Downtown Eastside to the UBC community,” — Kathleen Leahy, Learning Exchange Director
- “You don't have to have airs of being on any kind of mission [or] doing something grand,” — Ryan Davis, Violist
- “creative expression and emotional release [are] really important in a neighbourhood that's facing lots of social isolation and systemic barriers.” — Kathleen Leahy, Learning Exchange Director
What’s Next
Leahy plans to repeat the model at the larger Carnegie Community Centre, and ongoing dialogue aims to sustain the music-based bridge from the April 28 concert.
