The B.C. provincial government has announced an additional $50 million in funding to build a new Vancouver Art Gallery.

The new Vancouver Art Gallery will be a multifaceted facility featuring a theatre, library and research centre, artist studios, childcare, restaurants and retail space. There will be an Indigenous community space, along with five dedicated classrooms for specialized school programs and art instruction to serve more than 90,000 students annually. The project is expected to generate an estimated 3,000 construction jobs and 1,000 permanent jobs in the tourism sector.

“The Vancouver Art Gallery is a flagship cultural institution in BC, and we are proud to provide this additional investment to make this new building a reality,” said Lisa Beare, B.C. minister of tourism.

The building façade was designed through collaboration with Coast Salish artists Debra Sparrow, Skwetsimeltxw Willard (Buddy) Joseph, Hereditary Chief Chepximiya Siyam’ Janice George and Angela George, and Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, with Vancouver architects Perkins & Will. The exterior of the building is informed by a Coast Salish world view through consultation with Indigenous artists from the host Nations and reflects the gallery’s commitment to celebrating Indigenous art and advancing reconciliation in the province.

In addition, the new Vancouver Art Gallery’s Chan Centre for the Visual Arts will optimize capacity for safe and efficient storage of works of art in the gallery’s permanent collection, including Canada’s most important collection of works by renowned Canadian artist Emily Carr. The new gallery will be located at Larwill Park on Georgia Street in downtown Vancouver.

This is the second investment by the province toward the new gallery. In 2008, the B.C. government provided $50 million for a total investment of $100 million This project 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.