The Vancouver Art Gallery is committed to creating a community that supports artists, their practices and their development—art and artists are at the centre of everything that we do. We are a creative hub that supports the work of artists and other cultural practitioners across British Columbia and beyond, through commissions and acquisitions and opportunities for greater visibility and public engagement through exhibitions, publications, performances and programs.

Complementing and building upon a rich institutional history of exhibiting photography and moving image, design, craft, material and popular culture—in an expanded field of visual culture—the Gallery is a leader in interpreting the Province’s past, present and future. Art inspires us to cross boundaries, work in new and unprecedented ways, to embrace interdisciplinarity.

The new Gallery will enhance artistic life in this region through the following features:

• 65,000 square feet of temperature controlled exhibition spaces
• Display areas for Indigenous, Asian and Canadian art as well as larger works in the permanent collection
• A 40,000 square-foot open exterior community and garden meeting place
• A lively public plaza for art, people and events
• Four studio workshops for art-making activities and artist residency
• Safe and efficient storage for works of art in the permanent collection, including those by renowned Canadian artists such as Emily Carr, Brian Jungen, Ian Wallace and Ken Lum
• Enhanced conservation lab
• A viewing area in the main foyer that will provide visible access to the permanent collection

The Gallery has a long history of supporting performance and experimental arts pedagogy, and over the past few years we have embarked on a fundamental shift in how we think about our place in the community. We have established partnerships and have initiated learning opportunities that have allowed our visitors—of all ages and backgrounds—to expand their minds and connect with others. The Gallery aims to inspire new ways of learning with art and to serve a variety of diverse audiences, providing many individuals across the region with access to art and its benefits.

The new Gallery will contain the following facilities and spaces for these programs:

• An arts-focused Early Childhood Education Centre with more than a 100 childcare spaces, which will help alleviate BC’s childcare shortage and offer a safe and creative space for young children of all cultures including those of Indigenous heritage
• A resource centre, art library and archive for artists, curators, scholars, educators and the general public
• A 265-seat theatre for film screenings, talks and performances
• Public art spaces for broad community access
• A telepresence facility, media lab and broadcast studio
• Five dedicated classrooms for school programs and art instruction to engage over 90,000 students per year

Can we create a healthier planet through creative acts? While the new Vancouver Art Gallery will be a leader in environmental sustainability, we are committed in our current moment to demonstrating leadership in environmental stewardship through both the artworks we exhibit as well as our operational and administrative activities. From Edward Burtynsky’s captivating images of how we have inscribed our presence on the world’s land and water, to Keith Langergraber’s meditation on the devastation wrought by widespread wildfires, and Song Dong’s Waste Not, we present art that encourages a considered reflection on the state of our planet. We believe that artworks can change our perspectives and how we view and understand the world.

The new Vancouver Art Gallery will be the first museum in North America to be constructed to meet the Passive House standard for energy efficiency. Passive House is acknowledged to be the most rigorous energy standard in the world.

Notable features of the new building include:

• geo-exchange system connected to heat pumps
• heat recovery generators
• locally sourced woods
• high performance triple-glazed windows
• super insulation and sealing of the building envelope

Our new Membership program has launched!

Level 1: Art Opens Access | $58

• Individual admission to the Gallery for 12 months
• Regular email communications

Level 2: Art Opens Ideas | $125

• Individual admission to the Gallery for 12 months
• Three complimentary one-time-use guest passes
• Invitation to one major exhibition preview for you and a guest
• 10% discount in-store and online at the Gallery Store
• 10% discount at 1931 Gallery Bistro
• Regular email communications and voting privileges at the Annual General Meeting

Level 3: Art Opens Experiences | $250

• Admission for you and a guest (accompanied by member) for 12 months
• Three complimentary one-time-use guest passes
• Invitations to all major exhibition previews for you and a guest
• 10% discount in-store and online at the Gallery Store
• 10% discount at 1931 Gallery Bistro
• Regular email communications and voting privileges at the Annual General Meeting
• Discounts, advance tickets and select seating for all Public Programs for you and a guest
• Art History Study Group
• Reciprocal membership and discounts at participating museums across Canada, including the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; Royal BC Museum, Victoria; Glenbow Museum, Calgary; and the Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton

JOIN TODAY

Quick Facts:

• The Vancouver Art Gallery 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.

The new Vancouver Art Gallery will provide:

• 80,000 square feet of exhibition space, doubling the current space to feature ongoing exhibitions of Indigenous, Asian, Canadian and international art, as well as the permanent collection
• Enhanced accessibility initiatives, including enriching experiences for visitors who are visually impaired
• Over 60,000 square feet of outdoors terraces, including a 25,000 square foot open exterior community and green meeting place to serve as a lively public gathering place for art, people and events, including interactive art
• A resource centre, art library and archive available to artists, curators, scholars, educators and the general public

Building Project Update

The Development Permit for the New Vancouver Art Gallery Project is currently underway. The Gallery submitted an updated application for the permit on December 16, 2021, following the unveiling of the new façade design at The Audain Foundation announcement on November 4, 2021.

Both the Urban Design Panel and the Development Permit Board unanimously approved the Gallery’s permit application. Currently, the Gallery is working on resolving the Prior To Conditions, which is a standard outcome of the Development Permit Board meeting. Once resolution is reached, the Gallery will receive the Development Permit for the Project and proceed to working on the second major permit, the Building Permit, which is issued in phases.

On June 22, 2022, the Association Board approved moving to the next phase of the Project—the Construction Documentation Phase. This is a key next step in the overall project timeline, which reflects the significant work completed thus far.