The Kootenay Gallery of Art has been working on a relocation project to find a new home for the gallery, and last Thursday stakeholders were invited to help brainstorm programming and space ideas for the new gallery.
Before a new location for the Kootenay Gallery can be identified, the gallery staff and board need to know what’s required of the space.
“Because the Kootenay Gallery is considering moving to a different location, we felt it was necessary to get the community to come together, from all different sectors of the community, to give us their input, their reaction to that possibility of the gallery moving,” explained Val Field, executive director for the gallery. “Do they agree with it? What to they want to see the new facility look like? Where would it be?”
To that end, the stakeholder engagement sessions — attended by gallery staff and board members, local artists, City of Castlegar staff and council members, the president of Selkirk College, the regional coordinator of the Family Action Network, executive members of the Castlegar and District Chamber of Commerce and others — with the goal of creating “an idea bank of programming and space requirement options for the new gallery location, reflecting our community wants and needs.”
Audrey Maxwell-Polovnikoff, the gallery’s board chair, explained how the information gathered during the session will be used moving forward.
“The sequence of events after today will be for the relocation committee to further evaluate the program ideas and sort out the short, the medium, and long-term goals, determining a plan moving forward with a clear understanding of what the future holds,” she said. “We’ve applied for funding to hire a project manager, and this information will give the person hired clear direction.”
Pat Field, Cathy Scott-May and Dennis Hamilton facilitated the session, and engaged participants in a series of brainstorming activities to identify possible programming for the new gallery, requirements for the new space, and challenges or issues that need to be addressed when designing and relocating the gallery.
Issues raised by participants included the age and location of the facility, as well as its limited space. One group generated the problem statement: “The gallery’s facility and location are inadequate for the programming that is wanted and desired into the future,” which seemed to capture a lot of the concerns raised.
Asked if she was surprised by any of the feedback she heard during one of the season’s earlier exercises, Field said, “No, not at all. A good chunk of time was spent on the fact that this is definitely not a good location.
“One of the statements that somebody said was, ‘This building in a different location would not be adequate and building a different building in this location would not be adequate.’ So the building is not adequate to meet the needs of the community right now — it was built so long ago and it’s too small — and it’s in an isolated location,” she added.
As for the space and programming that people wanted to see, lots of ideas were brought to the table. Participants suggested a maker’s space, where people could use woodworking and metalworking tools, a repair shop for art, group installations addressing issues such as mental illness, concerts, TED Talks, special guests and special collections.
Asked what she thinks the role of the gallery is in the community, in regards to what the gallery should offer physically and what programming it should offer, Field said, “It’s not only a place to hang pretty pictures and have people come and look at them, and I think Pat Field did say that it’s changing. People want to come and do, they don’t just want to come and be bystanders and look at things. They want to come and get involved.”
What role do you think the Kootenay Gallery of Art should play in the community? Where do you think it should be located? What programs would you like to see? Share your thoughts and send a letter to the editor to newsroom@castlegarnews.com.