B.C. government announces an additional $50 million investment in new Vancouver Art Gallery
Coast Salish artists Debra Sparrow, Skwetsimeltxw Willard (Buddy) Joseph, Hereditary Chief Chepximiya Siyam’ Janice George, and Angela George collaborated with architects on the design of the building façade
Photo courtesy Vancouver Art Gallery.
THE PROVINCE OF B.C. today announced it is investing an additional $50 million toward a new home for the Vancouver Art Gallery.
The gallery will be located at Larwill Park on West Georgia Street in downtown Vancouver. The funding is the second investment by the provincial government toward the new venue. In 2008, the B.C. government provided $50 million, making for a total investment of $100 million.
As previously reported in Stir, the $400-million project project has received more than $190 million in private donations, including $100 million from the Audain Foundation in 2021 and $40 million from the Chan Foundation in 2019.
Lisa Beare, Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport, says the funding is to protect and support the expansion of the cultural and tourism icon.
“The Vancouver Art Gallery is a flagship cultural institution in B.C., and we are proud to provide this additional investment to make this new building a reality,” Beare says in a release. “The new gallery will be a social, artistic and commercial hub and will enrich tourism and cultural experiences in the region for residents and visitors alike. I’m especially pleased with the collaborative partnership with four local Indigenous artists to design the building exterior. Once built, it is sure to draw global attention as the largest building to reflect Coast Salish culture in the world.”
Coast Salish artists Debra Sparrow, Skwetsimeltxw Willard (Buddy) Joseph, Hereditary Chief Chepximiya Siyam’ Janice George, and Angela George collaborated in the design of the building façade with Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron and Vancouver architects Perkins & Will. According to the release, the exterior of the building is informed by a Coast Salish world view through consultation with Indigenous artists from the host Nations and reflects the gallery’s commitment to celebrating Indigenous art and advancing reconciliation in the province.
The new Vancouver Art Gallery will feature a theatre, library, research centre, artist studios, child care, restaurants, outdoor terraces, interactive art, increased accessibility initiatives, and retail space. There will be an Indigenous community space, along with five dedicated classrooms for specialized school programs and art instruction to serve more than 90,000 students annually. With 80,000 square feet of exhibition space, the new venue will have double the current space to feature ongoing exhibitions of Indigenous, Asian, Canadian, and international art as well as the permanent collection.
It will also house the Chan Centre for the Visual Arts, which will optimize capacity for safe and efficient storage of works of art in the gallery’s permanent collection, including Canada’s most important collection of works by Emily Carr.
“The new Vancouver Art Gallery will truly be a community space for the growth of B.C.’s arts and cultural sector, the enjoyment of the public and the prosperity of the region,” Anthony Kiendl, CEO and director of the Vancouver Art Gallery, says in the release. “Combined with the support of generous donors, members and stakeholders, we are closer to realizing our vision of a new gallery that better reflects everyone in B.C. Together, we are contributing to a rich cultural environment in Vancouver, through the voices of Indigenous communities and the people from many lands who have decided to make Vancouver and British Columbia their home. The gallery will create strong links between local culture and international art and audiences.”
Mass timber will be featured as part of the construction to reduce the building's carbon footprint. The new gallery will be North America’s first Passive House art gallery and the most environmentally sustainable art museum in Canada.
More information is at https://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/future-gallery.
Emily Carr, Loggers’ Culls, 1935, oil on canvas, Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Gift of Miss I. Parkyn. Photo courtesy Vancouver Art Gallery
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