The Build Up

After celebrating 90 years of operation, the Vancouver Art Gallery is preparing to embark upon one of the most significant cultural projects undertaken in Western Canada to date. Our goal is to build a new, purpose-built home in the heart of downtown Vancouver—one that will serve as a model for what a 21st century museum can be.

The vision for the new Gallery will take into consideration how society has evolved into a global, interconnected network. We believe that art museums are uniquely positioned to engage communities in creating a better world by providing the resources and opportunities necessary to face the challenges of our time with purpose, hope, playfulness and creativity.

Following the temporary pause of on-site construction activity announced in August 2024, we have been reassessing the direction of the Vancouver Art Gallery’s new building project.  

Our goal is to create a building that embodies a diverse and inclusive artistic vision while ensuring financial sustainability within a fixed budget. We recognize that inflation has put tremendous pressure on our plans, as it has done with many capital projects following the pandemic. It has become clear that we require a new way forward to meet both our artistic mission and vision and our practical needs.

Over the last few months, the Gallery’s Board and staff have carefully considered the path forward for realizing a future home for the Gallery. We are pleased to report that on January 22, the Vancouver Art Gallery Association’s Board of Trustees passed a motion to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) to invite a select group of Canadian–based architecture firms to submit proposals to design a new building.

Art plays a crucial role in promoting the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities. Studies and surveys conducted over the past few decades in the fields of health, psychology and art therapy have shown a strong link between close engagement with art and improved mental and physical wellbeing.

While there is growing recognition that art is a powerful healing modality—indeed, in recent years we have seen the rise of numerous expressive therapy programs where art, dance, music and other creative activities are used to help individuals process emotions—formal infrastructure that can connect art to those who need it the most is still in its infancy. Development of such infrastructure is important as it can address clinical and non-clinical cases efficiently, which can alleviate significant pressure on our traditional healthcare system.

Recognizing this need in the Greater Vancouver region, the Vancouver Art Gallery is launching its Art of Wellbeing lab, a pilot project that seeks to benefit the wellbeing of community members through the arts by leveraging an established ecosystem of researchers, scientists, physicians and Indigenous Elders and healers. Led by Sirish Rao, Interim Co-CEO, and Paula Toledo, Lead Wellbeing Consultant at the Vancouver Art Gallery, the lab utilizes existing infrastructure—formed through close collaborations with renowned health experts and organizations that believe in art’s capacity to heal—to ensure that specific individuals who could benefit from artistic experiences have access to such experiences.

The Centre for Global Asias (CGA) is a platform dedicated to catalyzing, amplifying and sharing new understandings of modern and contemporary Asian art and thought. The CGA recognizes Vancouver’s unique location on the Pacific Rim, and the cultural and geopolitical connections that radiate from here, thanks to the diverse people who call this city home. Acting as a vital bridge, the CGA aspires to be Canada’s cultural gateway to the world. The CGA amplifies the work of artists through exhibitions and performances, fosters research within our institution and with other cultural partners, and engages the public through educational tours, dialogue and art experiences. An important part of the CGA’s work is to expand the Gallery’s collections and exhibitions, and to be a gathering place for thought leaders. 

The new Gallery provides an exciting opportunity for the CGA to expand its public and academic engagement through dedicated spaces in the building for exhibitions, education, performance, acquisitions, research and publishing.

Art, artists and creativity are at the centre of everything we do at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

The Gallery is committed to creating a community that supports artists, their practices and their development. We are a cultural hub for creativity that provides a platform for the work of artists and other cultural practitioners across British Columbia and beyond, through commissions and acquisitions, exhibitions, publications, performances and programs.

Complementing and building upon a rich institutional history of exhibiting photography and moving image, design, and 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, and embrace interdisciplinarity.

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

• 50% more exhibition space to feature exhibitions of Indigenous, Asian and international art, as well as works by iconic Canadian artists such as Emily Carr.
• Increased space to install the Gallery’s permanent collection of more than 12,600 works of art.
• Dedicated space for the Institute of Asian Art to expand its public and academic engagement.
• Dedicated and shared classrooms with artist studios.

The Vancouver Art Gallery celebrates Indigenous cultures through respectful and collaborative relationships and programs.

Located on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, the Gallery underwent an intensive review of its policies and procedures in 2020 and made reconciliation and the celebration of Indigenous cultures key strategic priorities.

As the leading art museum in British Columbia, the Gallery will highlight the voices, perspectives and artistic practices of local, national and international Indigenous communities through its programs and planning. Building on a rich institutional history of exhibiting Indigenous art, the new Gallery will feature innovative exhibitions of Indigenous art and include an Indigenous community space dedicated to programs and celebrations.

The Vancouver Art Gallery is a reflection of our communities and a place to meet and share ideas.

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 new Gallery aims to inspire innovative ways of learning through art and to serve diverse audiences, providing individuals across the region with access to art and its benefits.

The new Gallery will contain the following facilities and spaces to advance our programming vision:

• Double the amount of public programming space to foster creative thinking and problem-solving for all ages and demographics.
• A library and reading room, including an art library and archive available to artists, curators, scholars, educators and the general public.
• A 265-seat theatre that will host film screenings, talks and performances.
• Public dining spaces, including a restaurant and café/teahouse.

The Vancouver Art Gallery is committed to demonstrating leadership in environmental responsibility. We believe that we can create a healthier planet through creative acts.

Designed to rigorous environmental standards, the new Gallery will set a precedent for climate resilient design. Environmental responsibility has informed all aspects of the building design from the conceptual and aesthetic framework of the facade to mass timber components, triple-glazed windows and curtain walls. The articulated form of the building with its extensive canopies and overhangs provides solar shading and passively cooled exterior spaces as well as facades and windows throughout.

The new Gallery will promote enjoyment of the outdoors, celebrating Vancouver’s mild climate through the creation of outdoor spaces that are protected from rain. The design incorporates an abundance of green space, both in the courtyard and along the streetscape.

The Centre for Global Asias (CGA) is a platform dedicated to catalyzing, amplifying and sharing new understandings of modern and contemporary Asian art and thought. The CGA recognizes Vancouver’s unique location on the Pacific Rim, and the cultural and geopolitical connections that radiate from here, thanks to the diverse people who call this region home. Acting as a vital bridge, the CGA aspires to be Canada’s cultural gateway to the world.

The Vancouver Art Gallery has a long history of showing works by Asian artists, going all the way back to the Gallery’s founding in 1931. In 2014, the Gallery created a dedicated forum called the Institute of Asian Art (IAA): a platform for research, art education and public engagement. Since then, the Gallery has presented 27 exhibitions, 15 publications and over 100 events under the umbrella of the IAA, welcoming more than 2 million visitors to exhibitions and programs both off-site and in the Gallery.

In 2024, the Institute of Asian Art became the Centre for Global Asias (CGA), a new name that recognizes the Gallery as a leading cultural institution for the amplification of Asian art and thought—nationally and internationally.

The new Gallery provides an exciting opportunity for the CGA to expand its public and academic engagement through dedicated spaces in the building for exhibitions, education, performance, acquisitions, research and publishing.

The Vancouver Art Gallery holds the most significant collection of work by Emily Carr in the world, and is committed to recognizing and amplifying her artistic legacy.

The Vancouver Art Gallery acquired its first painting by Carr in 1937, which was followed by her first solo exhibition at the Gallery in 1938. These two events would have a tremendous impact on the artist who, prior to her death in 1945, bequeathed many of her artworks to the people of British Columbia to be held in trust by the Vancouver Art Gallery. Especially rich in works from the 1930s, the Emily Carr Trust Collection offers the full scope of her artistic production, including watercolours, canvases, oil-on-paper works and charcoal drawings.

The new Gallery will provide an opportunity for the continuous display of Carr’s art, and will serve as an important research centre for scholarship on her work as well as that of the artists with whom she engaged.