Dear Editor,
I am writing to thank the Burnaby NOW for your paper’s excellent coverage of the public forum for the new art gallery presented the Burnaby Arts Council held on Nov. 3 at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts. The attendance was over 100, including City of Burnaby councillors Nick Volkow and Anne Kang, school board member Larry Hayes, and members of the parks, recreation and culture commission.
We were extremely pleased with the unanimous support expressed by the speakers who said that the current art gallery, which opened in a heritage house in 1967, no longer meets the needs of the artistic and cultural community of Burnaby.
Several speakers pointed out that our city has seriously fallen behind neighbouring municipalities and other B.C. cities. As an example, Abbotsford built a gallery with 20,000 square feet of exhibition space, compared to the present Burnaby gallery space of 1,700 sq. ft. The outdated facilities are on two floors with no elevator access to the second floor. We also heard that a new gallery would be an important educational, cultural and tourist attraction and would provide greater resources, access and stimulation to the children of Burnaby, especially in the high school arts programs. Others pointed out that after 40 years of trying to realize the goal of a new gallery for the city, the time is now!
For your information, the Burnaby Arts Council will be making its annual report of its activities to the parks, recreation and culture commission at the commission’s next meeting on Nov. 18 at city hall. We shall also provide a brief update of the public forum and speak about our gallery plans for the future.
Bill Thomson, chairperson, Burnaby Arts Council board of directors
