Nanaimo Art Gallery Mandate
What started out over 30 years ago, as a space to display works by fine arts students at Malaspina College has grown into a Nanaimo cultural institution. The Nanaimo Art Gallery includes two locations: the Campus Gallery is located at Vancouver Island University overlooking the City of Nanaimo, Strait of Georgia and the Coastal Mountains and the Downtown Gallery is located on Commercial Street in the heart of the Arts District in Nanaimo’s revitalised city centre.
The mandate of the Nanaimo Art Gallery is to enhance the cultural environment of the Nanaimo/Central Island region through exhibitions and outreach programming that encourages active public involvement with the visual arts. The Gallery’s primary goals are to:
- Encourage the increased awareness of and the development of the role of the visual arts in the life of the community through the presentation of exhibitions and programs that promote visual arts and visual artists.
- Reflect the growing cultural diversity of Nanaimo and increase the accessibility of the Gallery to the local community.
- Provide relevant interpretation, animation and educational programming to the public in the form of artist’s talks, workshops, seminars, panel discussions and educational programs.
The Nanaimo Art Gallery is committed to maintaining a high level of programming and professionalism and creating a balance between accessibility and artistic challenge. The Gallery is committed to being more accessible to local, regional and national professional visual artists as well as members of local arts organizations, community and cultural groups and Vancouver Island University students and teaching faculty. The Gallery is committed to exploring, investigating and broadening artistic boundaries, theoretical concepts and mediums through its exhibition programming. The Gallery is also committed to enriching the viewer’s experience and appreciation of visual arts through the interpretation and animation of public programs.
