Government of Canada funding of $7 million and BC provincial government funding of $1.4 million were announced during an event held at Arts Umbrella’s new home on Granville Island in Vancouver.
A private sector capital campaign to secure an additional $20 million for the project has already raised more than $10 million.
The funding will go toward building Arts Umbrella’s new 50,000 square-feet facility, which will be located on the South Building site previously occupied by the Emily Carr University of Art + Design.
The new facility will feature studios for dance, theatre, music, and visual, applied and media arts, a 160-seat professional theatre, and a publicly accessible exhibition gallery.
Architect Richard Henriquez, the founding partner of Henriquez Partners Architects, is leading the renewal of the Patkau-designed building constructed in the early 1990s.
ITC Construction group will be carrying out the upgrade, which is expected to be completed by fall 2019.
BTY is providing Project Management and Cost Management Services on the project. Managing Partner Joe Rekab, Senior Project Manager Nicholas Burrows and Project Manager Hannah Owens represented the firm at the event.
Canada’s Minister of Canadian Heritage, the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, the Honourable Lisa Beare and Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson made the funding announcements, sharing the floor with a number of students who recounted how Arts Umbrella programs had supported their artistic development and how the new facility would strengthen those opportunities for others in the future.
This is the largest-ever single amount of funding in the Province from the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund program, the federal government’s cultural infrastructure program.
Founded in 1979, Arts Umbrella offers arts education in dance, theatre, music, visual arts, and digital arts to more than 20,000 young people. Each year, more than 16,000 children are able to access programs free of charge or at a reduced rate through outreach programs and bursaries.
