Sun
VANCOUVER – Vancouver city and the province are jointly spending $10 million for planning and initial construction of a new “cultural precinct” that will help highlight B.C.’s cultural institutions during the 2010 Winter Olympics.
The precinct will include two areas in downtown Vancouver: a two-block area around the Queen Elizabeth Theatre and a city-owned block next door, and the Robson Square complex.
On Wednesday, the two governments chipped in $5 million each. The city will lead a planning exercise this year to look at what kinds of cultural facilities are needed. The last such inventory was done 15 years ago.
The city is undertaking a $35-million, three-year renovation of the Queen Elizabeth Theatre complex and is also considering relocating the Vancouver Art Gallery from its cramped quarters at Robson Square.
In its throne speech in February, the province also proposed a provincial Asia-Pacific Museum of Trade and Culture and a new National Gallery of Aboriginal Art, which could be built in the precinct, according to Sue Harvey, Vancouver’s managing director of cultural services.
The city-led review will be finished by the end of the year, she said. Some of the $10 million could be used for the Queen Elizabeth renovation project or for seeding construction of other cultural institutions.
In a news release, Premier Gordon Campbell linked the cultural precinct to the Olympics.
“Vancouver is home to Canada’s most vibrant artistic and cultural community — it helps define our community and it’s critical to our economy. It is Vancouver’s face to the world in 2010.”
© The Vancouver Sun 2006