Woodhaven Eco Culture Centre
Through an agreement with the Regional District, FCCS manages the Woodhaven Eco Culture Centre, located in the Woodhaven Nature Conservancy Regional Park –29.8 hectares that the Regional District of Central Okanagan has designated for conservation of wild animals and their habitat. It is part of a vital wildlife corridor along Bellevue Creek which flows down from Myra Bellevue Provincial Park.
The property features a large heritage home with two self-contained apartments, offering housing for graduate students during the academic year and accommodations for visiting artists and scholars in the summer. Alongside the home, the site includes a small studio cabin and a newly built 360 sq. ft. art studio surrounded by mature fir and pine trees. This studio, with its high walls and expansive glass doors, provides an inspiring setting for art-making, intimate events, and eco-cultural study.
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Woodhaven Art Studio Launch, June 2024
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Telling Stories Symposium, Multispecies Workshop hosted by the Post-Antropocentrism & Critical Animal Studies Research Group, summer 2023
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Woodhven AiR Karen Zalemea cyanotype workshop, August 2024
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Land as a Teacher workshop hosted by the Feeled Lab, fall 2025
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Outdoor public open mic poetry event, hosted by the Inspired Word Cafe
FCCS has hosted artists, writers, and scholars in residence, and an artist-in-residence program at the Woodhaven Eco Culture Centre. It has become a hub for author readings, art events, and outdoor learning activities for local schools. The FEELed Lab, located on the top floor of the main house, fosters interdisciplinary research and dialogue on environmental questions, emphasizing inclusive perspectives. Situated in an “in-between” space—neither fully urban nor remote wilderness—Woodhaven offers a lived experience of nature that deepens connections to land, culture, and community.
Woodhaven Artists in Residence
Summer Residency Program
The FCCS Woodhaven Artist in Residence Program provides a paid residency opportunity for a diverse variety of visiting artists including writers, visual artists, digital media artists and performance artists. During the summer months (July and August), visiting artists live in the main floor of the house and use the art studio as a place to create their work.
FEELed Lab Arts and Science Residency Program
The FEELed Lab Arts and Science Residency Program offers a unique opportunity for artists and scientists to collaborate in a shared space of mutual learning. This residency brings together diverse perspectives from the arts and sciences, fostering dialogue and experimentation that bridges disciplinary boundaries, using innovative approaches that explore the intersections of creativity and scientific research.
The ASiR, supported by FCCS and hosted by the FEELed Lab, will be piloted in March 2026.
The FEELEd Lab
The FEELed Lab research centre, located on the top floor of the main house, is led by Dr. Astrida Neimanis, Canada Research Chair in Feminist Environmental Humanities here at UBC Okanagan.
The FEELed Lab is a feminist environmental humanities field research lab with the goal of creating a hub for researchers, students and community members who share common interests in environment and sustainability issues, specifically from feminist, queer, anti-colonial and disability justice perspectives.
Woodhaven Rentals
On the property, FCCS manages a large heritage home as well as accessory buildings for studio work, workshops and events. The outdoor space, art studio, small cabin and studio apartment are available for rentals to UBC collaborators; students and employees.
The Woodhaven Eco Culture Centre is located at 969 Raymer Road, and is in a vital wildland corridor along Bellevue Creek which flows down from Myra Bellevue Provincial Park.
Dedication to Lori Mairs
Lori Mairs leading a group through the Woodhaven park
For many years, Lori Mairs (1961-2021) was a caretaker of not only the Woodhaven Eco Culture Centre but also Woodhaven Nature Conservancy next door. Lori had a wide range of connections to UBC. She got her BFA in 2005 just as UBC was established in Kelowna, and then she received her MFA here in 2013. During her Masters degree and after, she was a collaborator on several eco-art themed research grants, she mentored and tutored several BFA students, gave guest lectures on art and the Okanagan environment, and taught a UBC course on Eco Art.