[jlousa]

Figured I'd revive this thread, I had posted the $50Million comintment for the new VAG in the downtown thread. Didn't remember there was one for this. Anyways more news from tomorrow's Sun.

Decision time for new art gallery location
Kevin Griffin, Vancouver Sun

Within weeks, city officials could be deciding whether a downtown site at Georgia and Hamilton will be the home of a new multimillion-dollar Vancouver Art Gallery.
The VAG has targeted the former bus depot adjacent to Queen Elizabeth Theatre as the only remaining spot in the downtown core that can hold an expanded art gallery of at least 30,000 square metres.
That's double the size of the current gallery in the heritage buildings in the prominent block bounded by Hornby, West Georgia, Robson and Howe.
Premier Gordon Campbell announced over $200 million in funding to enhance B.C.'s arts and culture during a press conference at the Vancouver Art gallery.
Premier Gordon Campbell announced over $200 million in funding to enhance B.C.'s arts and culture during a press conference at the Vancouver Art gallery.
Sue Harvey, the city's director of cultural services, said council is expected to receive recommendations from staff early this spring on the VAG's new home as part of a major rethinking of all the city's cultural institutions for the next 15 years.
Kathleen Bartels, director of the VAG, said in an interview that the next step for the gallery is to secure a site.
"We can't move ahead until we have a site," she said. "We have been working on the old bus depot site most aggressively in the last six or seven months, but we have nothing confirmed at this time."
Bartels said it's still too early to announce how much a new gallery might cost.
"We don't have our final cost estimates because we don't have a site, we haven't selected an architect and we don't even have a preliminary design. We can't release a final cost because we don't know."
On Thursday, Premier Gordon Campbell announced several new arts and cultural initiatives totalling $209 million, including $50 million for a new home for the Vancouver Art Gallery, $150 million for an arts endowment fund and nine million for an expanded and renovated Vancouver East Cultural Centre.
The endowment fund is expected to generate up to $8 million annually for arts and cultural groups in B.C.
At a news conference in the lobby of the VAG, Campbell referred to many famous B.C. artists with works in the gallery's collection, including Emily Carr, Bill Reid, Robert Davidson and Jeff Wall, who was among the dignitaries seated on the stage in the art gallery's lobby.
Wall is considered one of the country's leading artists for his work in making photography one of the major art forms of the late 20th century.
"What Jeff Wall really does is he says, 'Here is a different lens for you to look at the world at, here's a different way to see things.' That's what arts and culture is always striving to do," Campbell said.
Campbell repeatedly referred to the national importance of the Vancouver Art Gallery.
"I think our art gallery can reflect not just the city, but can reflect the province and the country," he said.
"This is a national institution - we should not forget the national importance of the Vancouver Art Gallery. We're here to work with the government of Canada as they recognize the national contribution of the Vancouver Art Gallery."
Wall, the recipient of the Order of Canada this year, said he was "very encouraged and excited" by Campbell's arts and cultural announcements.
Wall said that while growing up in Vancouver, he recalled seeing serious art for the first time at the old Vancouver Art Gallery on Georgia Street.
"To go to the gallery and see the real thing was a transformative experience for me as a child and I've never forgotten it," he said.
"I think a museum is always a fundamental domain of support for a young artists and for an artist at any stage of their development. I felt supported somehow by the little gallery on Georgia Street. And I've always felt supported by the gallery that we're in now."
Wall said he thinks the city is poised to create a new art gallery "that will both recapitulate all the values that I've always felt important of the art of the past, and at least make some kind of gesture for the art to come."
Bartels said at the news conference that great cities require great culture, art and architecture. "Vancouver is without question an increasingly important city in the world," she said.
"And with its growing prominence, [it] deserves a great art museum, one that will fuel the ambitions and aspirations of this thriving creative community."
"We will construct a compelling, purpose-built art museum in Vancouver's vibrant downtown core, one that will stand as a lasting cultural and architecture icon for Vancouver, British Columbia and Canada."