Participants contemplating the future of the Nanaimo Art Gallery from an open house they hosted in 2022. (Dana Gage/Nanaimo Art Gallery)

By Jordan Davidson

MORE SPACE

Nanaimo Art Gallery planning for future expansion

Feb 10, 2023 | 5:26 AM

NANAIMO — The Nanaimo Art Gallery is looking for more space to serve the community.

The gallery, located at 150 Commercial St. and founded in 1976, has been consulting with the City and the community about how they can be better prepared for the future.

Executive director Carolyn Holmes said after first presenting their information to Council last year, the City and the Nanaimo Hospitality Association provided funding for a feasibility study to see if they could expand their building, or find a new location.

“We presented the feasibility study that said loud and clear, that we were unable to expand on this current building, attach or add to it, and we needed to create a new purpose-built gallery for the community.”

The feasibility study, produced by consulting group Nordicity, conducted interviews with local artists, City staff, and other local groups such as the Chamber of Commerce and the Vancouver Island University faculty members.

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They also hosted a pair of focus groups, an open house last year, and an online survey completed by over 100 community members.

Holmes told NanaimoNewsNOW, ideally, they would like to see a number of different indoor and outdoor exhibition spaces in order to eliminate downtime between exhibits.

“Right now when we have an exhibition changeover, the gallery is closed for three weeks at a time. We’d love to have something in our future gallery so that there is always at least one exhibition open at all times, but more importantly, we’d like to have a third space which would be a space for regional artists so we can share their work.”

Holmes said most galleries in B.C. are about four times the size of theirs.

While they still host events like teen and adult drop-in art and story-keeping sessions, they’ve had to turn other groups away due to a lack of programming space.

Holmes said they’ve been working with the City of Nanaimo’s real estate team to figure out the ideal downtown location for a future art gallery.

“And we’ve been doing some work with Snuneymuxw to kind of create a path forward where together we can figure out what an art gallery in Snuneymuxw territory might look like.”

The Nanaimo Art Gallery is hosting an open house on Feb. 17 from 3-6 p.m. so the community can see the progress, as well as hear ideas about how they can create more space for arts, culture and community in Nanaimo.

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jordan@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @JordanDHeyNow