Vancouver Art Gallery cutting staff, programming by about 30%

The Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) is making deep cuts to its programming and staffing in an attempt to balance its budget.

Eva Respini, VAG interim co-CEO, said overall, the cuts will amount to about 30 per cent. She said before the layoffs, there were 129 employees. Last month, 16 people accepted voluntary departure incentives, and 18 people have received layoffs since then.

"We're really looking across the institution, trying to leave no stone unturned, and we really tried to save as many roles, as many jobs as possible," said Respini, adding that there's a union seniority process now taking place that could affect the final number of people who lose their jobs.

"This is an incredibly difficult moment," she said. "It's quite literally every department in the museum that has been affected in one way or another."

The co-CEO said the gallery will be doing fewer exhibitions in the coming year — from 12 down to eight — and they will last longer. One floor will change to showing art from the VAG's permanent collection, rather than travelling exhibitions.

The gallery is planning a big Emily Carr exhibition this year, relying largely on the artist's more than 250 pieces in its collection. 

"We will be organizing an exhibition from our collection of Indigenous art, specifically from the Pacific Northwest coast. So it's an opportunity to lean into the local, and what I would say is that's what this upcoming year is. It's really about the local stories we can tell," said Respini.

Cultural sector under pressure

According to Jon Stovell, VAG board of trustees chair, the entire cultural sector across North America and Europe is struggling, as less money comes from philanthropists and governments and the cost of everything continues to increase. 

Stovell said attendance at the gallery never returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Respini said in the fiscal year that just ended, the gallery ran a $22-million budget, but with the cuts, they're looking to meet a balanced budget of $16 million.

According to a spokesperson with the B.C. Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport, the provincial government provided $1,987,000 in operating assistance from 2022 to 2025, as well as $1,581,000 in what it calls post-pandemic resilience supplements in 2022 and 2023.

"This [supplement] was a temporary funding measure introduced to help arts organizations manage the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. These one-time funds were always intended as short-term support," said the spokesperson.

New gallery construction plan proceeding

Despite the challenges operating the gallery with the resources it has at its disposal, plans to build a new building for the VAG continue.

"It seems a bit dissonant, I understand, in the current climate to be pursuing that, but it's something that I think if we don't pursue, will become a generational lost opportunity," said Stovell, adding that contributions from different levels of government and donors are still in place for the project.

In December, the gallery scrapped its design for the proposed building at Cambie and West Georgia streets after costs soared to $600 million.

Stovell said the VAG is now in the final stages of selecting a new architect from a pool of 14 Canadian firms. He said the goal is to announce the selection in late fall. 

According to Respini, the drawn-out project spanning 15 years to build a new gallery may make it more difficult to attract donations from philanthropists to cover operating costs.

"There's some truth to a limited pool of donors who, for the last 15 years, have been spoken to — a lot of asks about the shiny new thing, and it's hard to maintain that for 15 years," she said.

But Stovell disagrees, saying donors are generally quite specific in terms of whether their contributions will go toward operating or capital costs, and many prefer capital projects.

"I think it would be harder to raise operational funding if people didn't see the prospect for the new gallery," he said.