“The idea to have an art gallery simply so that a small group of people can have a place to go isn’t viable. It’s got to be something that is going to have significant engagement for the public.”
Those were the words of Mayor Derek Corrigan, responding to a recent delegation from the Burnaby Arts Council. The arts group wants the city to help build a new art gallery in the city – specifically, to approve and take the lead on a full feasibility study.
The city has been reluctant to plunge into the idea too quickly, and, thus far, city councillors have only agreed to have staff report back on the issue.
We hear their concerns, and we understand them. A new gallery would be an expensive proposition, and in these somewhat fragile economic times, we know city councillors don’t want to burden taxpayers.
A large part of city council’s concern has also centred around whether there is a real need for and interest in the gallery.
We get they don’t want to build an expensive facility that will only be enjoyed by the hoity toity art elites. We get that they want to make sure there is genuine interest from the public at large.
We’d like to reassure them on that point, in case any of them happened to miss that thousand-strong lineup that wended its quiet and patient way down Deer Lake Avenue on Saturday night.
Drawn in by the significant public attention surrounding the arts council’s new Luminescence exhibition, folks turned out in unprecedented droves to the tiny Deer Lake Gallery to enjoy the night of light-related art. It was a cheerful crowd, despite waits of two hours or more just to get inside the jam-packed gallery.
And, even more hearteningly, it was a diverse crowd, featuring people of all ages and backgrounds, and full of families and young people – not just the silver-haired set we tend to associate with all things cultural.
That lineup alone should be enough to set Corrigan’s mind at ease.
If the crowds coming to Burnaby for an art opening are already rock-concert-worthy, just imagine what the arts community could do with an actual gallery.
The public is engaged, Mr. Mayor.
Over to you.
