$40m gift a giant step for new art gallery
‘Unprecedented’ donation from Chan family could help VAG be up and running by 2023
If fundraising goes according to plan for the Vancouver Art Gallery, construction could start late this year or early 2020 on a brand new building.
A new gallery moved a step closer to reality Wednesday with the announcement of a $40-million donation from the Chan family, the same family that donated $10 million to the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at UBC more than 20 years ago.
If everything goes according to plan and the VAG can raise another $165 million from private and public sources, the new gallery could be ready to show art by about 2023. That would mean being able to see art for free in two lower-level galleries, visit a dedicated area for the work of Emily Carr, and have a glass of wine in the restaurant overlooking the city.
VAG Director Kathleen Bartels said at a news conference that the donation was an “unprecedented gift” to the gallery and represented a “profound investment in the future of the city and the province.
“We are overwhelmingly grateful,” Bartels said at the event at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia in downtown Vancouver.
Christian Chan said his family made a significant contribution to the city’s cultural heritage in 1997 with its donation to the Chan Centre at UBC.
He said his family has been talking with the VAG during the past year to take part in what he called an “exciting and pivotal milestone in the evolution of our great city and province.”
“The new Vancouver Art Gallery will unequivocally contribute in an exceptionally profound way by providing a much needed and purposeful venue for arts, culture, education, community and civic life,” Chan said.
Christian Chan is on the VAG’s board of trustees. He is the son of Caleb Chan, co-founder and CEO of Burrard International Holdings, Inc.
With the Chan family’s donation, the new building will be named the Chan Family Centre for the Visual Arts. The gallery is not changing its name and will still be known as the Vancouver Art Gallery.
The Chan gift means the VAG has raised $85 million in private sector funding for the new building designed by the Swiss architectural firm of Herzog & de Meuron.
The gift by the Chan family was described as the biggest ever donation to an arts and culture organization in B.C.’s history.
In 2018, the provincial government said it would contribute another $50 million if the VAG showed progress toward reaching its goal of raising $100 million from the private sector.
Lisa Beare, minister of arts, culture and tourism, was at Wednesday’s announcement.
Afterwards, Beare said the province was awaiting another request for funding from the VAG.
Project lead architect Christine Binswanger said the final design for the gallery has replaced the exterior wood finish with vertical glass logs. Outside, wood will still be used in recessed areas away from direct rain and in interior spaces such as ceilings.