Vancouver's Contemporary Art Gallery sees huge increase in attendance in nine years
Credit to Author: Kevin Griffin| Date: Wed, 28 Aug 2019 22:40:07 +0000
At the Contemporary Art Gallery, the numbers tell an impressive story.
During the past nine years, annual attendance at exhibitions has increased from 8,667 to 234,261.
Annual participation at community events, screenings and performances also increased dramatically from 551 to 5,132 between 2010 and 2018, according to statistics compiled by CAG using the app Canadian Arts Data.
And then there’s the size of the endowment. When the endowment was established in 2001, the CAG had a target of $1.1 million by 2021. The CAG is already reached $1.2 million with almost two years to go.
The numbers indicate how executive director Nigel Prince has engaged the community with contemporary art from Canada and around the world.
“There is just the growth across CAG as a whole, in particular in education, learning, public programming, community outreach,” Prince said.
“For me, it’s a fundamentally held belief that as a public institution, you need to engage with the range and diversity of communities and publics that make up the city where you work.
“For that not to exist prior to my arrival and for it now to exist in a robust way is a very positive legacy and one that is commented on by a whole number of people, artists, supporters, and donors.”
Earlier this year, the CAG announced that Prince was leaving the gallery after almost nine years to become director of Artes Mundi International Visual Arts Exhibition and Prize in Cardiff, Wales. He starts his new job in September. Before joining the CAG in 2011, he was senior curator at Ikon Gallery in Birmingham.
Prince’s departure is among a number of changes that have taken place or are about to in the arts community in Vancouver. Earlier this year, Kathleen Bartels didn’t have her contract renewed as director of the Vancouver Art Gallery. And Ballet B.C. has announced that artistic director Emily Molnar is taking over as artistic director of Nederlands Dans Theater in The Hague next summer.
Nigel Prince started as executive director of the Contemporary Art Gallery in 2011. He’s leaving CAG to start a new job as director of Artes Mundi International Visual Arts Exhibition and Prize in Cardiff, Wales in September.
The CAG was founded in 1971, became an artist-run gallery in 1984, and transitioned in 1996 into an independent public art gallery.
In 2001, the CAG moved into a new 551 sq. m (5,500 sq.-ft), purpose built art space at 555 Nelson. The space was created as a result of the city’s amenity housing program. The CAG got the ground floor and mezzanine in exchange for Bosa Ventures receiving seven extra stories in one of two towers.
In an interview in 2011 in The Vancouver Sun, Prince said he was looking to expand the CAG beyond the gallery walls. He’s done that in several ways.
One of the most prominent is at the Yaletown Canada Line station where the CAG programs visual art three times a year. Another ongoing initiative is the artist residency at the Burrard Marina Field House.
The CAG has also expanded beyond Vancouver to include working with Ballet B.C. on a performance at Art Basel in Switzerland, starting an ongoing series of art exhibitions at Canada House in London, England, and organizing a five-museum tour in Europe of works by local artist Liz Magor.
Prince said he’s worked to engage Vancouver and Canadian artists with an ongoing conversation about contemporary art with their peers outside of the country.
“I see that as two sides of the same coin: one thing feeds the other,” he said.
“You’re constantly ensuring that balance, how artistic practice speaks to broader debates and discourses that are happening globally.”
When Prince joined the CAG there were three staff. Now there are 12. Space is at such a premium that workers are hot desking rather than being assigned one of their own.
“Simply put, the container we’re at is a modest scale and we’re at capacity for various reasons to do with activity and programming we do and people and staff,” he said.
The CAG is in the process of applying for funding to do a feasibility study about moving into a new location.
“It’s my one regret that I won’t be the person to see that through,” he said.
“I do think whoever is the incoming person to replace me inherits a very positive situation.”
The CAG expects to announce its new executive director in mid-November.
Current CAG exhibitions include Maryam Jefri’s Automatic Negative Thought in the exhibition space inside and Rolande Souliere’s Frequent Stopping IV and V in the facade at 555 Nelson and at the Yaletown Roundhouse. Both continue to Sunday, Sept. 22.