Discussing the future of the Art Gallery

I’ll be participating in what promises to be a very interesting panel discussion on the future of the Vancouver Art Gallery. Not only is the subject itself a fascinating one, but I have the good fortune of appearing on the same bill as

• Joost Bakker, Architect, FRAIC, MAIBC, AIA
• Heather Deal, Councillor City of Vancouver
• Michael Audain VAG, Representative Board of Trustees
• Ian Wallace, Artist
• Gordon Price, SFU City Program

Panelists will be looking at some key questions: Should the Gallery move? What are the financial challenges? What’s the nature of a cultural precinct? What’s the public process? All good things to think about given the way the VAG has ramped up the discussion recently, pushing things along with full page ads in the major dailies and weeklies.

For my contribution I plan to look at the importance of the existing and proposed VAG sites as public spaces, and how these spaces may (or may not) intersect with the notion of a cultural precinct. I’ll probably riff a little off of the ideas I was working on in my post from a couple of months back – exploring the history of the two sites and sketching a few ideas on the importance of continued public access to the Rattenbury/Court House building that the Gallery now occupies.

The event takes place this Thursday, May 20, at 7:00pm at Robson Square Theatre and will be moderated by Gordon Price, Director of SFU’s City Program. It’s co-sponsored by the UBC School of Community and Regional Planning, the SFU City Program and Architecture Canada (RAIC Metro Vancouver).

Hope you can make it!