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A Community Centered Vision of The Vancouver Art Gallery System Diversity and Plurality: The Publics Art on Exhibition in Vancouver Preface The $150 Million Solution (Iconic buildings plus $25 million for acquisitions) There has been much discussion of late about directions for the Vancouver Art Gallery. Unfortunately, much of this discussion is focused on a single large building, a 300,000 square foot, $300 million building. The focus puts the cart well before the horse, as the form truly should follow the function: before discussing a building it is necessary to know what the Vancouver Art Gallery must do to fulfill its responsibilities to the communities of Vancouver. Details of this big-box proposal are scarce, as are publically available documents that provide evidence that such a building is both appropriate and prudent, both of which are essential given the economic reality of the city and the province. This document reflects our perspectives on the responsibilities of the Vancouver Art Gallery and details as to how best to meet them. We are proposing that the Vancouver Art Gallery be transformed into the Vancouver Art Gallery System, an organization of diverse, dispersed and specialized exhibition spaces focused on community access to an iconic art collection. This structure is based on the nature of Vancouver and its communities, on the responsibility of the Vancouver Art Gallery to these, and on the opportunities and constraints on public and private expenditures on the arts. There is nothing revolutionary in our proposal, as it follows the decentralization of exhibition spaces evident in many other cities; nor is there anything excessive about it, as it strives to meet community responsibilities in the most effective and efficient way, respecting the constraints not only on visual art exhibition in Vancouver, but those on art funding in general.

For convenience, below is a checklist of the elements of our proposal: - an iconic building; - a new downtown exhibition space for major shows; - a custom designed space for a Gallery of Conceptual Photography; - a custom designed space for the Canadian Historical Collection; - a dedicated building for storage and administration; - four thematic community galleries; - no interruption in exhibition of the collection; - a total construction cost of $125 million; - $25 million for acquisitions; - a statement of vision and strategy; and - a financial plan and development schedule.

Thank you for taking the time to read, consider and discuss our proposal. Yours respectfully,

Bob Rennie

David Baxter

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VAGS A Community Centered Vision of The Vancouver Art Gallery System

Diversity and Plurality: Public Art Exhibition in Vancouver

A Proposal By Bob Rennie and David Baxter Introduction These brief notes are our contribution to the current discussion about the future of the Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG). Recently much of this discussion has been framed in the context of a locational decision, of where the VAG should be located, a proposal apparently involving some $300 million and 300,000 square feet of space at a single site in the downtown core. It is truly unfortunate that the discussion has become one of the size of a building, when the discussion should be about the desired content and exhibition of Vancouvers public art collection. Implicit in any discussion of where is a vision of what, of the VAGs roles and responsibilities to the diversity of people and communities of Vancouver and how it should function with respect to these. It is these responsibilities that should drive the discussion of buildings and locations, as form should not only follow function, but in fact support it. Clearly if buildings and locations evolve from the VAGs responsibilities, they will enhance its engagement with Vancouver; if they ignore these responsibilities, they will impede this engagement - so decisions better be demonstrably the right ones. Art1 is not mere useless beauty, but rather performs important social and community functions, thereby explaining the role of the City of Vancouver as the defacto principal in the Vancouver Art Gallery. Art holds a mirror for us to see ourselves, it holds a lens for us to see others; it shows us where we came from, where we are going, and where we might go. Art gives comfort and discomforts, it answers and questions, it engages and alienates, it offers hope and portends despair. Art helps us to not merely exist, but to live, with ourselves and with each other. It compels us to engage in dialogue, and it helps us to better understand, thereby contributing to building and supporting communities. It is arts role in sustaining communities that justifies public visual art exhibitions and civic government engagement in the art institution business. Certainly there are less prosaic, economic development, reasons for public sector involvement in the arts: we live in a cultural economy2 where not only is tourism pulled by the arts, but where retention and attraction of workers is significantly dependant on the relative cultural life of communities. But the core reason remains the role of the arts in civic discourse and engagement, and the need to have art, and discourse about art, accessible and accessed by the public. Hence the people and communities of
1 In the context of this discussion, while we refer specifically to the visual and plastic arts, the

principles considered here equally apply to the other disciplines of creative expression. 2 The recently opened Louvre satellite at Lens, Calais-Pas-de-Nord, France, has an explicit economic development purpose, to bring tourism and Euros to an economically depressed region. Gangnam style has been credited with bringing more economic focus on Korea than years of traditional economic development activity. Draft December 2012

VAGS A Community Centered Vision of The Vancouver Art Gallery System Vancouver, and the City of Vancouver, have a fundamental interest not merely in the outcome of decisions concerning the VAG, but also in participating in both the discussion leading up to decisions and in being represented in their making. It is essential that such decisions not be made in isolation by focusing only the interests of this single art institution. At the best of times, funding for the arts from both philanthropy and government are hard to come by in Vancouver, and now is most certainly not the best times. In this new economy, no one institution should seek a disproportionate share of the available resources, thereby attempting to cannibalize the funding from either public resources or private philanthropy for other institutions. Funding change for the Vancouver Art Gallery must be appropriate and prudent both specifically and within the broad context of arts funding now and in the future. The following is a proposal for development of the Vancouver Art Gallery System (VAGS) and its collection in a way that reflects the responsibility of Vancouvers public art institution to facilitate Vancouverites engagement with art and with each other through the establishment of partnerships and the development of accessible exhibition spaces in Vancouver communities. In preparing this proposal, we emphasize that the responsibility of public art institutions is to art, people and communities, not to buildings, and that ours is not a revolutionary proposal, as it follows a model widely used in other regions. Readers will discover that two distinct threads run through the proposal. The first is an emotional thread, one that envisions the VAGS having a fundamental role in community building and community engagement, in sustaining and supporting Vancouver, both culturally and economically. The second thread is less lofty, as it looks for evidence-based decision making: $300 million and 300,000 square feet are big numbers, and the decision to commit to such a proposal or any other (including ours) must be supported by independent, objective and empirical analysis that demonstrates that the decision is the most appropriate and prudent one. Decisions about collections, buildings and locations have to be independent of personalities, as personalities will change over the decades that Vancouver lives with VAGS decisions. The constants are the responsibilities of Vancouvers public art institutions to Vancouvers communities, and the requirement that decisions be the ones that will best serve this mandate, and the people and communities of Vancouver, over the coming decades. To respond to the immediate discussion of size and location this proposal starts with a description of what we are proposing before presenting the background discussion of why it is proposed: - Part One contains a specific, coherent and costed 15-year vision and strategy for the VAGS, outlining the development of partnerships for art exhibition of approximately 180,000 square feet of exhibition spaces and 95,000 square feet of storage space at 7 distinct venues.

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VAGS A Community Centered Vision of The Vancouver Art Gallery System - Part Two considers art and art institutions; costs and efficiency; and the diverse nature of the population and communities of Vancouver to which the VAGS is responsible. It also documents the widespread use of a decentralized gallery system in other regions, ranging from Honolulu to London and Paris. Please note that while we have gone so far as to present timing of development and costing, and even names for some of the facilities, these are meant to be illustrative as a construct for discussion rather than definitive we are specific only to provide grounding for what we hope will be the readers focus, a 15 year vision for public art exhibition in Vancouver. This proposal will, we hope, stimulate discussion, debate, and discourse, thereby contributing to a better decision about the future of the VAGS. We ask that you respond to it by articulating your perspectives, sharing them with your friends and colleagues, and forwarding them to the Board of the Vancouver Art Gallery and The City of Vancouver, thereby participating in the discussion, and ultimately, in the decisions. Out of all of this, what must be forthcoming, from the City of Vancouver and the Board of the Vancouver Art Gallery, is evidence that all decisions about the VAGS are based on independent, objective and empirical evaluation of all of feasible options in light of the fiduciary responsibility of the Vancouver Art Gallery to taxpayers and its civic reasonability to the people of Vancouver and their art, the collection of the VAGS. We ask for no more, and no less.

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VAGS A Community Centered Vision of The Vancouver Art Gallery System

Part One: Elements of the Proposal

I. The Responsibility of the VAGS From our perspective, it is the responsibility of the Vancouver Art Gallery System to support communities and community building in Vancouver through engagement in the exhibitions of art that are accessible to these communities and the development of a collection that will foster this engagement. II. VAGS Strategic Goals for 2027 1. The VAGS operates 180,000 square feet of art exhibition spaces located in and accessible to the communities of Vancouver. These include three larger exhibition spaces in the downtown core (a Gallery of Conceptual Photography and a Gallery of Historical Canadian Art, both of which are in the current Rattenbury-designed venue and a new space for a Gallery of Contemporary Art) and four smaller specialized exhibitions spaces in Vancouver communities (ArtsPlaces). 2. The VAGS is the lead partner in the operation of ArchiveArt, a 108,000 square foot administration, storage, restoration and preservation facility at an appropriate location for storage and back of the house administration. 3. The VAGS is supported and sustained by an active and engaged community of private philanthropists, as sage advisors and as donors of both collections and funds, and by the communities of Vancouver. 4. The VAGS is active and engaged in a partnership of local, regional and national art institutions, each working to sustain and support its own and others unique and focal strategies with respect to acquisitions, exhibitions and development. III. Principles Shaping Attainment of the Strategic Goals 1. On the national and international scale, Vancouver is a small city in a small region. The VAGS cannot be all things to all people and it cannot be world scale but it can be world class, having a unique focus and a known and defined difference from other collections and institutions. To do so it must focus on its comparative advantage by doing what it is best suited to do rather than trying to do a bit of everything. The VAGS must articulate a long-term vision for its collection and exhibitions that reflects it core competencies, and then pursue this vision. 2. Collaboration and partnerships are more productive in building and displaying collections than isolation and competition. Focused alliances and partnerships will help all parties in achieving their goals: the VAGS cannot and should not compete with MoA, AGO or The National, but rather should collaborate with them. The VAGS must work with and support others to achieve its acquisitions and operation goals.

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VAGS A Community Centered Vision of The Vancouver Art Gallery System 3. Vancouver is not in a head office region, and hence while the corporate philanthropy it enjoys is greatly valued, it is not and will not be sufficient to sustain Vancouvers public art institutions. The VAGS must rely much more on the philanthropy of individuals and attract private collectors and donors. 4. The VAGS responsibility is to the people and communities of Vancouver and to their art (the collection of the VAGS). This responsibility means that the VAGS must articulate a vision of its futures, and plans and strategies to attain these, all of which are communicated to and known by the people and communities of Vancouver. Plans for and decisions about the VAGS must be expressed in terms of art, people, and communities, not in terms of architecture or buildings. 5. Vancouver is place of diversity, of diverse values, interests and communities. The vision and the operation of the VAGS must not only reflect diversity but must also actively engage in its expression and life. 6. Money matters: no purpose is served in having the VAGSs storage and back office administration in the downtown core on the regions most expensive and publically accessible land. Choices must be priced: engagement in art means having an engaging collection, and hence decisions must be made between spending on soaring marble lobbies or on acquisitions and endowments. Decisions about art collections, exhibitions and buildings must reflect the VAGS fiduciary responsibility to taxpayers and its civic responsibility to provide for engagement in art, and hence must meet efficiency and effectiveness criteria. IV. Elements and Steps in Attaining the Strategic Goals. A. Organizational Partnerships: Fundamental to achieving its strategic goals, the VAGS must become an engaged and active leader in the development of partnerships that will ensure that it meets its responsibilities. Four such partnerships are required, all of which should be established immediately so that they may provide guidance as the VAGS moves from vision to implementation and development. 1. Community of Museums and Galleries. VAGS must lead in the development of partnerships with other institutions and agencies engaged in collection and exhibition of art, in order to help each and all to achieve their goals. While much of this partnership will be local, with formal engagement with institutions such as the Museum of Anthropology, the Belkin Gallery, the Bill Reid Gallery, Emily Carr University, and others, it must also be regional, involving the galleries of other municipalities in the region, and national, including the AGO and the National. While such partnerships will be concerned with high-level issues (acquisitions, specializations, and curating and coordination of shows, etc.), they must also address practical issues such as shared ticketing (as with the Paris museum
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VAGS A Community Centered Vision of The Vancouver Art Gallery System system), day programs, and storage and maintenance. One early task for such a partnership will be the development of ArchiveArt, the proposed art storage facility, which could provide storage not only for the VAGS collection, but for others as well, sharing both the cost and the value of the facility. Additionally, articulation and support of each institutions focus will ensure that there is no duplication of effort, or of bricks and mortar, or competition for acquisitions: answering such question as Which institution will be the champion of contemporary First Nations art? and Should Emily Carr University play a greater role in the art education programs of other institutions? will also provide a useful focus for this partnership. 2. Community of Private Philanthropy. In order to build the philanthropy that will sustain the VAGS in terms of financing, collections and endowments, it is essential to engage those who might be benefactors of the VAGS. Having lost the Audain collection to Whistler, it is imperative this engagement take place now to stem the loss of philanthropy to other places. In order to do so, it is essential to find out why such individuals (and groups) would donate money and collections to VAGS and respond to these reasons. A permanent advisory council of collectors and benefactors must be established, allowing VAGS to listen to, learn from, respond to, and respect, them. It is anticipated that one of the major objectives of potential benefactors will be that their contributions and legacy be acknowledged and that their collections be shown, if not permanently then frequently something that will require more, and unique, exhibition spaces such as presented in this proposal. In particular, the community galleries, which we have called ArtsPlaces, have the potential for being significant magnets for focused philanthropy. This Community of Private Philanthropy will be most interested in the VAGSs long term vision for its collection and exhibitions and the discussions of the Community of Museums and Galleries as these will effectively identify the brand and specialization of not only VAGS but of other institutions as well, critical information for benefactors in making plans for bequests. 3. Community of ArtsPlaces. Four significant 12,000 square foot exhibition spaces in Vancouver communities will reflect the depth of VAGS responsibility to support community building and engage in the daily life of communities they will also provide the opportunity for exhibition facilities that attract focused benefactors and collections. To design and construct these facilities will require a process where benefactors and residents provide guidance concerning the specialization, characterization and development of these ArtsPlaces. The task of this group would begin at a conceptual level, working with the philanthropy group, to articulate opportunities and organization, before focusing on a proposal for the first one such opportunity in 2014. Note that while we have proposed four such spaces, their number and size, as well as their location and specialization,

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VAGS A Community Centered Vision of The Vancouver Art Gallery System would inevitably differ as a result of the engagement of the philanthropic and resident communities. 4. Establish Planning and Development Committees for each specific physical structure as detailed in the next section. B. Physical Structures From our perspective, in order for the VAGS to meet its responsibilities to Vancouvers communities, it will need to focus and enhance its collection (discussed in IV.C. following) and develop a number of specialized art exhibition spaces. In this latter regard, we propose the retention and redevelopment of the current Georgia Street building and the continuation of the Offsite at Shangri La plus the development of a new major exhibition space for contemporary art in downtown and of four community galleries. This section considers these physical elements required to the achievement of the VAGS strategic goals, working from redevelopment of the existing to the development of the new. 1. Existing Element Offsite at Shangri-La exhibition space - unchanged 2. Existing Element Current Georgia Street Venue. Currently this 165,000 square foot venue3 has 40,000 square feet of exhibition space, 45,000 square feet of storage space and 80,000 square feet of space used for shops, restaurants, administration, entrances, exits, lobby and corridors. During the current discussion of the future of location of the VAGS, much has been said about the need for an iconic architect designed gallery building well, there already is one. In terms of icons and architects designs, it is hard to top the iconic character and iconic location of this Rattenbury-designed National Historic Site and Class A heritage building, particularly when it is renovated to house the collection of two of the VAGS unquestioned core competencies, the Canadian Historical Collections, built around Carr and the Group of Seven, and the Foundation of Conceptual Photography Collection, built around notables such as Wall, Douglas, Graham, and Wallace, to name but a few. To use this structure and location to its fullest potential, the storage4 has to go to where it belongs, which is not in downtown (see IV.B.3, below). Once this is done, the main and upper floors, comprising some 40,000 square feet of space, will be redeveloped into dedicated exhibition space for the Canadian Historical Collection. We have provided $425 per square foot for redevelopment of this
3 All measurements referring to the Robson Square Venue and the big box proposal for a single

building replacement are based on information that we have been able to obtain from media publications and are subject to clarification. 4 Storage here is used to include passive storage, maintenance and restoration, as well record keeping and other administrative activities not required downtown. Draft December 2012

VAGS A Community Centered Vision of The Vancouver Art Gallery System space (a total cost of $17 million), a number that many will see as inordinately high but which we chose in order not to be accused of low-balling the costs. The space freed up by the relocation of the storage will be redeveloped into a purpose-built custom 40,000 square foot Gallery of Conceptual Photography. As much of the storage space is underground, it is particularly suitable for the display of photography, which must be protected from sunlight. Housing the foundation works of this school of photography and laying claim to this practice in the flagship building for the VAGS will both cement VAGS world- class status in this genre and facilitate focused philanthropy. Again a cost of $425 per square foot is used for redevelopment costs, for a total of $17 million. Additionally it proposed that the management and appropriate administration functions remain at this venue in its current Hooper-designed Annex building (with back of the office and non-critical administration shifted to the storage facility), and that the restaurant and gallery shop functions continue. Retaining management and core administration functions at this flagship location and relocating storage to an appropriate specialized facility removes the need for such activities at other exhibition locations, thereby both increasing the building efficiency of new construction and reducing construction costs. Overall, this iconic building will, on its own, contribute 80,000 of the envisioned 180,000 square feet of display space at a cost of $34 million. Note that while discussed first, redevelopment activity here would not commence until 2016, awaiting completion of construction on both the storage facility (ArchiveArt) and a new downtown gallery (Temporary to Contemporary, which would be used to display the collection and travelling shows during renovation of the Rattenbury building, thereby ensuring continuity of exhibition in the VAGS, an approach currently being followed at SFMoMA). 3. New Element - ArchiveArt. Pivotal to, and hence the first step in, achieving the strategic goals of the VAGS is the relocation of storage from the downtown iconic flagship building to a specialized storage facility, which we have called ArchiveArt. This storage facility, which will also include some of the increasingly interesting open storage, will be outside of the downtown core on land and in a building whose costs are appropriate for a storage function. This 108,000 square foot facility, with net useable space of the 95,000 square feet, will be purpose built, at a cost of $60 per square foot buildable for land and $200 per square foot for construction, for a total cost of $28 million5. The relocation of storage will both free up the space for the Gallery of Conceptual Photography and remove the need to have back of the house administration, storage, maintenance and restoration space in new exhibition
5 Please note that in all costs associated with our proposal, we have assumed that donations, both

financial and in kind, together with joint development using CACs, will be effectively pursued. Draft December 2012

VAGS A Community Centered Vision of The Vancouver Art Gallery System facilities, thereby reducing their size and increasing their building efficiency. It is also proposed that the ArchiveArt facility, whose development will be lead by VAGS, be a partnership facility, with other art galleries and private collectors engaged in both the development and use of the facility. For this reason, there is a year for development of a proposal and partnership at the beginning of the timeline for this facility: the 95,000 square feet of storage and administration is based on VAGS anticipated future requirements plus a margin for other partners, a figure that may change as the partnership develops. At this point it has been assumed that the cost of the facility would be mainly borne by VAGS: it is imperative to explore the degree to which these costs can be reduced by a partnership in a development using some form of CAC and/or donations. 4. New Facility Temporary to Contemporary Gallery. In parallel with the development of ArchiveArt, work on the VAGSs first new exhibition space would proceed. This would be a new downtown gallery with 50,000 square feet of exhibition space, which would ultimately be devoted to larger contemporary, travelling and borrowed shows, but which would provide temporary accommodation for shows while the galleries for the Canadian Historical and Conceptual Photography Collections were being developed. Please note that this 50,000 square feet does not limit the scale of exhibition space for block buster shows, as it can be used together with the space in the other proposed galleries, a practice that has become common in other gallery systems. Our proposal requires that, as the purpose of the VAGS is to exhibit the collection in a way that is affordable and accessible to Vancouvers communities, strict building efficiency requirements be imposed on new development, with the goal being to maximize the ratio of exhibition space to gross building area. With no need for administration, management or storage in new development, and an emphasis on art exhibition rather than architecture, 50,000 square feet of new exhibition space can easily be achieved in 90,000 square feet (a 55 percent gallery to gross building efficiency), leaving room for a gallery and caf (and perhaps a restaurant if it can be justified, although there is no compelling reason for one, given the number of restaurants present in the downtown). We would like to see an even higher building efficiency, achieving the 50,000 square feet of exhibition space in a smaller and less expensive gross building area, but have worked within this 55 percent ratio to avoid unnecessary debate about detail. We have used a cost of $500 per square foot for exhibition space and $250 for non-exhibition space, for a total cost of $35 million. It will be particularly exciting to explore the possibility of this gallery being integrated into a new downtown commercial development through a CAC, along the lines of the Sunatory Museum in Tokyo, the Asian Art Museum in Fukuoka, or the Peabody, something that could have been done in the Telus or Nordstrom
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VAGS A Community Centered Vision of The Vancouver Art Gallery System developments and that could be done at a future Bay Parkade or Larwill Park development, and something that could bring the cost down significantly from the $35 million we have estimated. 5. New Facility - Community ArtsPlaces. Having addressed the requirements for storage, for display of the Canadian Historical and Conceptual Photography Collections, and provided for display of contemporary, large and travelling shows, the final, but integral, element is the development of exhibitions spaces in and with the communities of Vancouver. To engage with the communities of Vancouver, the VAGS must become part of the daily lives of Vancouvers diverse populations, many of whom do not live or work downtown. The VAGS must have a presence in their communities, certainly to increase their accessibility to the collection, but also to invite people from other neighborhoods to visit, so that people engage not only in the collection, but also in the neighborhoods, of Vancouver. Community ArtsPlaces will provide not only the opportunity for the resident of Collingwood to go Downtown to see exhibited art (and to shop, have a coffee, eat and meet people), but also for the resident of Downtown to go to see exhibited art (and to shop, have a coffee, eat and meet people) in Collingwood. For illustration, we have proposed four ArtsPlaces be developed over the next 15 years. These are in the 12,000 square feet of exhibition space range, with a gallery to building efficiency of 75 percent, a ratio based on the absence of administration and storage, and providing for modest gallery shops and cafes: it was not proposed that extensive non-exhibition space for commercial activities be provided in these community ArtsPlace, as the intention is that they support local establishments rather than compete with them. With costs of $500 per square foot for exhibition space and $250 for non-exhibition space, these community galleries are priced in the $7 million per structure range. As these small module galleries can offer not only strong donation and naming attraction for benefactors, but also can be readily incorporated into new real estate development and hence benefit from CAC provisions, their cost to the taxpayer can be significantly reduced from this estimate. There are a number of ways these spaces may be focused, with the specifics emerging from the guidance communities of benefactors and residents. Some might be focused on the basis of the collection of a benefactor, the way the Audian collection might have been housed. Others might be focused thematically: we have a particular interest in seeing the development of a specialized community gallery for the exhibition of Contemporary Asian Art as an expression of an increased engagement of the VAGS with Vancouvers communities of Asian heritage and interest. Further, the number and size of such spaces in our proposal is somewhat arbitrary, as the potential for a greater diversity of spaces and locations may emerge from discussions.

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VAGS A Community Centered Vision of The Vancouver Art Gallery System In terms of the scheduling, the process of development of the first community ArtsPlace commences in 2014, once the Temporary to Contemporary Gallery and ArchiveArt are out of the proposal stage and into the design stage. This is to ensure that the communities of benefactors and residents are securely engaged and providing guidance for the community ArtsPlaces. The full development of these exhibition spaces is seen as being the focus of expansion activity for VAGS after 2018, with the fourth completed by 2027, at the end of the 15-year time frame. C. The Collection and the Endowment The heart of the VAGS, the one thing without which everything else is irrelevant, is the collection and the resources to maintain, expand, focus and exhibit it. Art galleries are about art - a vital art gallery must have a vital, focused collecting strategy to display collections. To achieve such a collection, the VAGS must be clear and specific on what it is and what it does, defining its brand in order to draw people, communities, acquisitions and endowments. This is not the place to discuss what the collection must be and how it must change to fulfill the VAGS strategic goals, but it is the place to insist that such a discussion, and its confirmation with Vancouvers communities, precede the discussion of buildings the collection is to be displayed in. Our proposal provides for a more than four-fold expansion of exhibition space for the VAGS, from its current 40,000 square feet to 180,000, for a cost of $125 million. This increase in exhibition space will not only allow a greater expression of the current collection, but will re-assure potential benefactors that their gifts will also be accessible to and appreciated by the communities of Vancouver, rather than being in storage forever. The proposal emphasizes requiring efficient ways to provide the required spaces, both in terms of design and financing. This is to move the price point down sufficiently so that benefactors will deem it reasonable to provide not only their collection, but also a matching endowment to ensure that it will be displayed. The proposal also provides $25 million to expand and refine the collection, to help to keep it vital and contemporary. In developing our proposal, we placed a cost constraint of not exceeding $150 million to achieve our stated vision. If there is actually $300 million available to expand and reposition the Vancouver Art Gallery, then we suggest that our $150 million proposal be followed, and that the remaining $150 million be put into an endowment fund to ensure that Vancouvers communities have access to the collection in perpetuity in a range of distinct and dispersed galleries.

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VAGS A Community Centered Vision of The Vancouver Art Gallery System Development Schedule

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VAGS A Community Centered Vision of The Vancouver Art Gallery System Cost Schedule

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VAGS A Community Centered Vision of The Vancouver Art Gallery System

Part Two: Background to What We are Proposing

I. A single star or a constellation. There is a continuum of spatial arrangements for cultural institutions, from highly centralized to significantly dispersed. This range must be considered in answering questions with respect to how a cultural institution such as the VAGS can best respond to the diversity that characterizes the communities of the 21st century. Further, in the contemporary context, a systematic and dynamic view of institutional response, rather than a static one, is required. The highly centralized approach is the one that others have suggested for the VAGS a single big building located downtown. This is what VAG is now, writ large, with a number of galleries in a single building, much like a department store for art. In celestial terms, this might be characterized as a single brilliant star in an empty sky model. At the other end of the continuum of spatial arrangements is a distributed system comprised of an organization of a number of smaller, specialized gallery buildings throughout Vancouver. This might be likened to constellation model, with many separate stars, each bright in its own accord but none blotting out the others, forming a coherent pattern. Functionally, it may be may be seen as simply taking the galleries out of the building and putting them in an appropriate location and building for each of them (and several more given the proposed space expansion). Such a decentralization process for the VAGS, it should be noted, has already begun, as evidenced by the existence of Offsite exhibition space at the Shangri-La Hotel. Between a fully distributed model and a fully centralized one, of course, lie a number of combinations of large and small exhibition spaces. Our consideration of the responsibilities and realities of the VAGS lead us, ascribing as we do to the principle of form follows function, to a format within this intermediate range. What we propose is a constellation in which the downtown core remains dominant. The major, iconic, flagship building would be the Rattenbury heritage building (and its two specialized galleries) as part of a system that includes a new contemporary art gallery in the downtown core, four community galleries and a dedicated storage facility. In this format, the Vancouver Art Gallery would cease to be synonymous with an edifice and instead would become synonymous with a diversity of places and presentations, as it appropriate in a diverse city that participates in a diverse global culture. Elements of a constellation approach to the display of publically owned art collections are already evident in other cities. As one current example, the Louvres first satellite location, the Louvre Gallery in the French city of Lens, opened this week to display over 200 works from its collection. Interestingly, the purpose of developing this gallery was essentially building and supporting a community, as it is intended to bring tourists and their Euros to the economically

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VAGS A Community Centered Vision of The Vancouver Art Gallery System depressed Nord-Pas-de-Calais northwestern region of France, as part of the Louvres acknowledging its responsibility, in Louvre President Henri Loyrettes words, to get out of its cocoon. Other examples of distributed gallery systems include: - The Seattle Art Museum with its three spatially separate locations; - The Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dreseden (Dresden State Art Collection) is presented by a 12-museum alliance that sees itself as a point of intersection between the past and the future; - The Paris Museum Pass system provides a method of both linking and promoting attendance at over 60 museums and monuments in Paris. - Romes MACRO (Museo dArte Contemporanea Roma), located in north central Rome opened MACRO Testaccio in the old meat packing district of south Rome; - The Honolulu Museum of Art with five venues (The original Museum near downtown Honolulu, Honolulu Museum of Art at First Hawaiian Centre, Spalding House, Shangri La in partnership with the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, and the Museum Art School); - Art Setouchi, an amazing coordinated collection of installations and galleries, located in Japan on seven islands in the Seto Inland Sea and in Takamatsu on Shikoku Island; and, of course, - The Tate, the Tate Modern, the Tate St. Ives, and the Tate Liverpool. Readers, of course, will have other examples that might be considered. II. Storage. Decentralization of function is fundamental to the future of the VAGS, as there is no case for having collection archiving functions (storage of collections; restoration, repair and maintenance of works; and of archival and research activities) and routine record keeping and administration in downtown Vancouver on the most expensive land in the region. There is no just-in-time need for immediate access for any of these functions, and their presence proximate to display spaces has no synergistic value they do not belong downtown and they do not have to be in a gallery building. There is no need for these functions to be in the same building and/or location as galleries (big or small); in all cases, individual galleries, be they the single star or part of the constellation, can draw on the collection and services offered by a specialized (non-downtown) storage and back office function in a non-core location. III. Synergy or mere proximity The explanation that has repeatedly been given for having a single 300,000 square foot building for Vancouvers public art exhibition space that by having all of the works together in one place, visitors will be more likely to see works and shows that were not their focal reason for visiting a museum building than if

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VAGS A Community Centered Vision of The Vancouver Art Gallery System the works were in spatially separate buildings is an incredibly simplistic vision of both art museums and of the public. The many-rooms-single-building option suggests that there is a great degree of synergy resulting from proximity. The assertion that exhibition spaces have to be in the same building in order to tempt people to venture into the unfamiliar seems akin to saying that people are only going to sample new cuisines in a food court. Similarly positing the one stop shopping department store model of getting all of your art in a single visit is akin to saying that people want to buy their underwear in a place where they can, at the same time, buy a deep freeze. The internet has shown that we are all specialists, even as we become generalists. It would seem somewhat extreme were someone to suggest that there be only one massive public venue for music, or theatre, or dance, so it is hard to understand why it is ever suggested for the visual arts. Just as the one massive megastore selling everything has not really worked out for retail except in the realm of bulk discount sales. A structure of a diversity of sizes, specialization, and locations seems more characteristic of retailing, as it does of exhibition of visual arts, at least in personal experience, for the walk from the Musee DOrsay to the Rodin to the lOrangerie to the Louvre to the Centre Pompidou to the Musee Picasso is a staple of visits to Paris, as are numerous other walks in numerous other cities. It seems demeaning to suggest that in a city as diverse as Vancouver people are not adventurous enough to either seek other art venues or other visual experiences if they have to travel a bit6 One could assert that the excitement of exploring the city, its neighborhoods, and distinct community gallery exhibitions within an art constellation would bring more, not less, traffic to the collection of the VAGS. The VAGS to take on an arts and cultural leadership role, as part of its engagement in communities and partnerships, the Vancouver. Having said all of this, if a $300 million expenditure is to be justified by a one- stop-shopping model, it must be backed up by a lot of hard, independent objective evidence, rather than mere opinion, as it runs counter to not only experience, but the decentralization that many major galleries and museums are pursuing as they get out of their cocoons, and that is reflected in the pattern of both contemporary programming and philanthropy. So we ask, Where is the objective comparative analysis that shows that a big box is the only viable way for Vancouvers public art collection to be displayed? Let us also understand that this model frees up the value of Larwill Park which could be monetized for a broader public good. IV. Community Artsplaces To meet its responsibilities, the VAGS must be part of communities, with a presence in their daily life that supports their social, cultural and economic base.
where and when. Draft December 2012
6 Of course these have to be adequately marketed to ensure that people are aware of what is on

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VAGS A Community Centered Vision of The Vancouver Art Gallery System Located along community high streets and at community centers, the individual stars in the constellation of the VAGS will bring customers to local restaurants and stores, helping to support community economies, and bring people to share in the community. A constellation approach with a number of exhibition places throughout Vancouver will also permit incremental development, easing budgeting, fundraising and financing requirements by spreading costs and activity over a number of years and a number of sources. This will maintain interest in the on- going activities of the VAGS; to the extent that government funding is involved, it is safe to say that politicians would prefer 8 ribbon cuttings, and 10 budget years, to one; and its range of specialization will open the door to a wider and deeper range of philanthropy. The pluralistic model means greater diversity in our art portfolio. There are many contexts in which greater diversity could be considered. One very practical consideration is with respect to risk management having all art eggs in one basket is much riskier than having them spread out. Another dimension of diversity is the excitement of different programming that would inevitably result, with different opening hours7 and curatorial styles attracting and creating different audiences at different times, reflecting not only collections but neighbourhood characteristics. Frequent openings would also bring more excitement and traffic to the VAGS brand. With such a range of venues, even with a four month show cycle there would over 20 openings a year, bringing a constant refreshment and buzz to not only the VAGS brand, but also to the communities where the galleries were located: instead of going to a public art gallery three times a year people might go twice a month if they could see new focused shows in a diversity of locations. The decentralized exhibition space model will also broaden donor opportunities and increase donation attractiveness. It will attract donors seeking a greater visibility in giving, as rather than having there names in galleries inside a building (which the community sees only once inside the building) it would be buildings that would be named to represented their legacy, names that would be on every community map. While Vancouver has lost the opportunity for the Michael Audain Museum of First Nations Art, there are perhaps eight other remaining opportunities for Vancouver (perhaps the Audain Whistler Museum could be part of VAGS).8
7 As an example, Romes MACRO has opening hours from 11:00 to 19:00, while MACRO Testaccio

hours are from 16:00 to 22:00. The differences reflect the nature of the programming at the two venues and the specific character of the communities in which they are located. 8 In Saskatoon, a gift of $30 million from the Frank and Ellen Remai Foundation under-wrote the successful funding of the Remai Art Gallery of Saskatchewan. Given the comparative scales of the Saskatoon and Vancouver regional populations, this suggests that some eight such donations might be achieved here. Draft December 2012

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VAGS A Community Centered Vision of The Vancouver Art Gallery System It has been suggested that the pluralist model would involve higher operating costs than the big-box model, and this may well be the case. This is something that must be considered in a comparative evaluation, but this consideration must be in a cost/benefit framework measured in terms of total costs and benefits in meeting VAGS responsibilities. A lower operating cost model that does not meet these responsibilities is not superior to a higher operating cost model that does. Relative operating costs in isolation are not a justification for a decision, but rather something to provide for in making the decision there is more than one hospital, more than one restaurant, one school, and more than one theatre in Vancouver in spite of the fact that this involves higher operating costs. V. Costs and efficiencies9 The simple math of the big box proposal is that $300 million will buy 300,000 square feet of art gallery building, and, within that building there will be 80,000 square feet of exhibition space. This suggests that the costs are $1000 per square foot of gross building area and $3750 per square foot of exhibition space. These are simply not reasonable for public art exhibition by an institution whose responsibilities are to the communities of Vancouver and their art collection, and which must consider its requests for funding, be it from public or private sources, in light of not only its vision, but in light of the limited resources available to all of Vancouvers arts community. There is a wide range of issues that this excessive cost raises, many of which can be considered under the heading of building efficiency, the ratio between exhibition space and gross building area. In the big box model, this ratio is 27 percent: we must ask what is happening to the other 73 percent, which is costing the same $1000 per square foot as the display space? Obviously, some of it is being lost to storage and administration, but as we have argued elsewhere in these notes, neither of these should be located in prime space, be it measured in terms of location or construction. The first step towards prudent funding of VAGS exhibition space is to move activities that are not immediately connected to the exhibition of art to a non-core, less expensive land and construction cost location. Right now the art gallery is using about one square foot of storage space for each square foot of exhibition space, so presumably in the 300,000 square foot building, some 80,000 feet are for storage. Moving this storage (and adding a bit) to a non-core location would cost $28 million ($260 a square foot buildable), but would reduces the expensive construction to 220,000 square feet to get 80,000 square feet of display space (a 36 percent efficiency), knocking $54 million off of the price tag. This still would require constructing 220,000 square feet to get 80,000 square feet of exhibition space as our proposal demonstrates, this much space can be
with our proposal, we have assumed that donations, both financial and in kind, together with joint development using CACs will be effectively pursued. Draft December 2012

9 To reiterate to ensure that there is no misunderstanding, please recall that for all costs associated

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VAGS A Community Centered Vision of The Vancouver Art Gallery System found in the iconic Rattenbury building alone. With renovation costs estimated at a substantial $425 a square foot of gallery space (as the building is already built), and with the storage gone, 80,000 square feet of exhibition space can be achieved in the Rattenbury building for a cost of $34 million. For a total of $62 million the same quantitative increase in exhibition space for the VAGS can be achieved as the big box would achieve for $300 million. From our perspective, in order to meet its responsibilities, the VAGS requires more than what the big-box offers, and specifically it needs a new downtown contemporary gallery and four (or more) community galleries. In the big-box proposal, to get 80,000 square feet of display 220,000 square feet of construction is required (a 36 percent building efficiency). For our perspective, a minimum building efficiency of 55 percent must be the standard for the new downtown exhibition space, and a minimum of 75 percent must apply for community ArtsPlaces. To do so requires eliminating things from new construction that is not necessary. On the function side, meeting rooms, lofty entranceways and lobbies, grand staircases, extensive offices, all of the things that are not directly connected with exhibition of art, have to be evaluated in terms of their contribution versus their costs. This does not mean that the VAGS does not have access to these, but rather they are in the most appropriate place, given their cost and function, with the opportunity to use other spaces (for example, at UBC Robson Square, Emily Carr, or MoA) for the functions that are necessary, and getting rid of the ones that are not. Even with the shop and caf, efficiency and effectiveness criteria must apply, as every dollar spent on construction of these is a dollar not going to exhibition, collection and endowment. It is also presumed that land costs for new exhibition spaces will be effectively zero, as it is intended that new construction occur in conjunction with appropriate commercial development, by way of a CAC, and hence that only facility specific construction cost are involved. As well, by including gallery space within new commercial development, the risk of excessive spending on what has been called starchitecture will be eliminated, keeping construction costs in the range of those for commercial space: the mission of VAGS involves supporting communities and art, not architects. We have used $500 per square foot for new construction of exhibition space and $250 for new non-exhibition space, with $260 per square foot for the storage facility and $425 per square foot for the reposition of the current space in the Rattenbury designed building. While it is easiest to contemplate co-venture exhibition space development in the core, it can also occur at the community locations, through the same CAC approach. Further, community centers, schools, and libraries might be willing to provide sites in exchange for the agglomeration advantages that an adjacent art institution would bring, and the City of Vancouver might provide sites from its land bank. To the extent that the VAGS is able to attract philanthropy to fund legacy buildings, costs for community ArtsPlaces would be further reduced. And finally, of course, as part of the joint venture with private donors to build a

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VAGS A Community Centered Vision of The Vancouver Art Gallery System cultural institution for the future, the current real estate endowment of the VAG could be monetized to provide sites for and/or fund development of facilities. As a close to the cost discussion, some consideration should be given to ensuring that operating cost are supported by endowments: clearly donors want to see not only their names on buildings but that the collections are viewed and benefit our communities. To return to the example from Saskatoon, the Remai funding was $15 million for capital and a $15 million endowment for programming over the next 30 years. XIV. A Background of Diversity. Diversity is a mainstay in discussions of communities: ironically, in most of these discussions, there is little acknowledgement of how diverse diversity is. Most commonly, there is some mention of cultural diversity (usually in a reference to multicultural), which is, sadly, equated with ancestry, as though where ancestors came from explains culture. In Vancouver at least diversity is much more than merely derived from ancestry, and, more significantly, culture is most certainly not equateable with ancestry, and hence VAGS must address contemporary diversity. Vancouver is a specialized and mobile society, the product and the producer of a multi-dimensioned diversity. Certainly it is diverse in terms of ancestry, with people from 223 distinct ethic origins resident in metropolitan Vancouver as counted in the 2006 Census. Not only is it diverse but, within the Canadian context it is also distinct, with one out of five people in this region citing an ethnic origin in East or South East Asia, four times the national average and the highest percentage of the countrys major urban areas (for example, our share is 1.5 times second place Torontos 13 percent share). This suggests that VAGS should include in its vision some specialization towards an Asian collection. For some, the connection with an ethnic origin is direct, as some have immigrated, either recently or in the past. For others, the connection is indirect and generational, through ancestors who immigrated. The result is that while people may share the same ancestry, they do not share the same experience of it, with those born in Canada having their formative experiences within the matrix of Canadas communities. This means that even within ancestry groups there is a great diversity of people and perceptions. The same may be said of religion two-thirds of our community take part in one (or more) of 80 different religious affiliations while one-third belong to no religion again there is a great diversity of religious affiliations within which there is a great diversity of interpretation and expression. While ancestry and religion may influence how people see the world, in contemporary society it is hard to argue that they are the only lenses through which people view: there are other measurable dimensions of society that demonstrate diversity age, gender, relationships, income, education, etc. For
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VAGS A Community Centered Vision of The Vancouver Art Gallery System many, occupations and vocations play a significant role, and in this context again there is a great diversity of how people earn their living and dedicate their lives. Such measures are formal metrics of the dimensions of diversity; there is also a wide range of informal dimensions. The regions residents have a wide range of experiences, with many having travelled and lived elsewhere on the globe, and of hobbies, recreations and skills. People live in a diversity of types of neighbourhoods, from sparsely rural to densely urban, and for many downtown is neither a focus or of much interest. Even hours of work demonstrate a wide diversity, with 9 to 5 now merely an example rather than a rule. Placing individuals in this matrix of multi-dimensional diversity, linking ancestry, age, occupation, experience, income, gender, orientation, interests and skills, no concentration of similarity emerges not only is there not a majority with shared characteristics, there is not even a single space that would include a significant minority. This is not a homogenous society, nor is it a society characterized by a homogenous sub-group. Rather it is a society of pluralities, a single atomized mass, with each individual a distinct element moving within larger inter- connected networks of family, friends, co-workers, clients, acquaintances, and strangers within the broad and changing matrix of actions and activities that is our shared culture. In such a diverse society, what ties people together is culture, the amalgam of individual cultural expressions. And given Vancouvers diversity, individual cultural expressions are also very diverse, creating an encompassing culture that is a sea rather than a landscape. Everyone is a cultural swimmer now, navigating their way through the changing currents of a sea of one water but many waves, currents, and tides, each of which reflecting things that historically have been called the determinant of culture and each of which are now one of the many elements of personal culture. In swimming in this sea, a person is at any one time perhaps in a particular basin of a culture, and shortly thereafter in another, but always in the sea. Culture now is not an inheritance, nor the domain of a state or religion or region, but rather a fluid and nuanced shared expression of the lives, aspirations, imaginations, skills and talents of the people in communities, both local and global culture is a reflection of people as they move and change. Formal culture the business of cultural institutions is the process (no longer the mechanism) by which individuals, and hence communities, record, archive, document, analyze, transmit, and formalize their shared cultural experience, and our art it one way that this formalization is viewed. Art is one of the ways communities communicate, and given their diversity, there is the need and the opportunity for a range of ways and places for such communication, for a range of access points to art, and hence for a diverse gallery system that places art in the daily lives of communities.

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