That Council direct Staff to work with the Nanaimo Art Gallery to identify two to three sites so the Nanaimo Art Gallery can develop a detailed business plan, a case for support, and a test case for a capital campaign.
I do want to ask a question. The art Gallery is sometimes positioned as oppositional to local artists, and I'm noting that. That's actually not the case. So can you
just expand on that a little bit? Of course. I'd love to. I told you that through our exhibitions in the last three years, we've exhibited the work of 26 local artists. Last year, we worked with 150 artists, most of them local. They teach in our Artists in the Schools program in three districts. They teach in our programs in Art lab. Gallery Workshops, classes. There are staff. They are in our retail store. So if you come by to our holiday market Friday, Saturday or Sunday, you'll see so many of them featured there. We also have artists like Amber Morrison Fox, who's now teaching at the University, but came by with her class on Friday and was proud to tell them this is the Gallery that launched her career. Steven Dennis is with us as the President of Nanaima Art Council. We work side by side with the Nation Arts Council trying to figure out. This whole infrastructure for supporting local artists so that we're not duplicating services, but we're complementing each other. Our team programs and the Gallery participated in their nanimo Art Walk in the last few days. I'm sure many of you enjoyed as much as I did, and we continue to partner in many ways. Of course, we have limited Gallery space, but a new facility would give us double the space. And we'd love to have a dedicated space for regional artists.
your worship. And a question through you to Mrs. Holmes. I really want to know why it is that our
Gallery is not large enough. Well, we're in a bank building, and so much effort has been done by previous boards and city staff and previous councils to bring us from the facility we had at viu and to merge them in 2014 and 15 here in a downtown location. We had two spaces. And now we have one. So that's been ideal for our growth in our trajectory. But we are about a quarter of the size of most galleries with a city are a size, and we're bursting at the seams. So if you came to our making waves like councilor manley did last week, we sold. 40 tickets. We thought that was a full house. Somehow we fit in another 25. It was very tight. We also have 75% of our children's classes have waiting lists, and some of our spring break sessions are more than half full spring breaks a little way away. I actually went
There one time, went back into one of the teaching rooms, and the teenagers were just wonderful to see. So the best thing that we can do to support you now is to ask staff to help us secure a
site and a site that could be transformational for the city. It's one that could provide opportunities and potential to create some kind of urban design anchor for the community, something that locals could be proud of. But also attract
much, councilor thorpe, thank you. Worship through you. Thanks, Ms. Holmes, for being here again. And I used to know the answer to this, but I admit I've forgotten. Can you give us the definition of what is a Class
A Gallery? Yes, of course. It's to do with the stability of the climate. That we can ensure for our artwork, both the exhibitions that we host and touring exhibitions, but also our small permanent collection. It's mainly to do with temperature and humidity. But it's the stability of that. So there's no fluctuations that would harm the art. I
see. Thank you very much. I was glad to hear your answer about the relationship with local artists and the local art community, because that is a question that I wanted to ask. And it's one that I've wondered about. You mentioned your direct relationship with sfn. But as you look forward. To a new location, would you be actively partnering with other local art groups in terms of coexistence
or some type of synergy in the building? Yeah. Well, I think all that's open and maybe we'll come out in our community engagement through the next stage of the business plan. We know that these are hard times. And we're looking at any opportunities for public and private partnership. And if a facility can meet the needs of more than one group in the community, well, I think that
would be a win for all of us. Right. I would just in my opinion, say that your Gallery is as much as anything known for your workshops, your learning labs, and so on, which is great. And I'm being honest here. And I mean, no offense. The common comment that I hear from visitors is where are all the pictures. And they expect to go into an art Gallery and see walls filled with pictures. And I've heard people compare it to the Art Ten facility. In nanaimo North Mall, which is exactly that walls filled with pictures. So I hope there is an opportunity to showcase local artists, have more of their work on display and promote the talent that we have here in our area, as well
as bring in visiting exhibitions. Yes. The next exhibition, you'll love it's on loan from the Vancouver Art Gallery and. It's going to be full of pictures. Stories. That animate us, but we do only have four exhibitions a year. We like to show a variety, and there are galleries like Art Ten that will host local artists. And the Community Arts Council is great for local venues. I told you that we do support local artists, but we're also our job is to bring in artists from further. Up field and expose the community to other arts. Barney Alice Perry, one of our board members, was telling me just before we came that he's been talking to a family, that's a physician and an anesthesiologist. And their questions were, Why should we loan K Two Victoria, Vancouver, or nanaimo? Does nanaimo have an art Gallery? Does it have an arts community? Those are things we need to think about,
Thank you so much for the presentation. What are your thoughts on an art center or ArtHub that could include a potential theater space. It's really challenging economic times. And I think I'd really be excited to support a multi use space that could bring together the different facets of our arts and our performing arts community. Yeah. I realize
There's a need and that we support culture and arts throughout the community. So we're totally open to those partnerships. Right now as a nonprofit organization, we're kind of furthering along the process to see if we can get what we need. But we're open to those kind of partnerships. And I think that counselors at the table can help us make those connections to other groups. And we can
Thank you, Worship. And thank you for the presentation. My question was kind of along the same line as councilor Eastmere. We have a lot of demand for another performance space 150 to 200 seat. I was curious about if you've heard from other members of the community because we hear from members of the community about that need and about the synergy of maybe having a center. And then also you work with Snowmo. You've mentioned that you've worked really closely with Sanamo about maybe having a cultural center. That could encompass a partnership with Nannymo as well. Have
you explored some of those options. Yeah, both of those things are on the table. I know that the South End Community Center is also exploring. A black box space there. So there might be another location, but we're very much open to that. We love to work with Nanemo. I've met with the consultants that are working on their pre feasibility study. And if there's a synergy there, I think our organization. Is very much aligned with their values. And it could be fantastic. All right. Well, thank you
very much for your presentation. And I'm going to support a motion as well. Thank you. Thank you. Councilor hins.
Back to you. Thank you, Worship. I'd like to move that Council direct staff to work with an imar Gallery to identify two to three sites for potential new Gallery.