Organizers and supporters pose around a powder-blue Pacey's Pianos upright under a white sail canopy on a waterfront pier.

The Public Piano Project · est. 2009

Music that belongsto the street

To make music and art accessible to everyone, and to create moments of joy and connection in our everyday lives.

The Public Piano Project is a not-for-profit initiative that places pianos in public spaces so that everyone has access to music and art, whatever their background, age, or ability.

Since 2009 we have installed pianos throughout the Lower Mainland: from Maple Ridge to Squamish, at the top of Grouse Mountain, and at Main and Hastings downtown. Community artists transform each piano into a piece of public artwork, and each piano becomes a gathering place, a small stage where the city celebrates itself.

Six young women lean chin-in-hands around an orange-and-green piano in a sunny park circle, listening.

One man, one truck, one idea

Sean Pacey introduced public pianos to Vancouver with a simple goal: a more inclusive and uplifting city, where people from all walks of life could share a universal language of music and love.

What began as one piano shop's experiment became a region-wide tradition: twelve municipalities, dozens of community partners, and hundreds of artists have since played their part.

In golden late-afternoon light, a woman plays a dark-wood upright at a crosswalk corner, red balloons overhead.

The Public Piano Project belongs to all of us. Thank you for playing your part.

Play your part See the pianos