Vancouver Art Gallery cutting staff, programming by about 30%

Rafferty Baker · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 09, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours ago

The Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) is making heavy cuts to its programming and staffing successful an effort to equilibrium its budget.

Eva Respini, VAG interim co-CEO, said overall, the cuts volition magnitude to astir 30 per cent. She said earlier the layoffs, determination were 129 employees. Last month, 16 radical accepted voluntary departure incentives, and 18 radical person received layoffs since then.

"We're truly looking crossed the institution, trying to permission nary chromatic unturned, and we truly tried to prevention arsenic galore roles, arsenic galore jobs arsenic possible," said Respini, adding that there's a national seniority process present taking spot that could impact the last fig of radical who suffer their jobs.

"This is an incredibly hard moment," she said. "It's rather virtually each section successful the depository that has been affected successful 1 mode oregon another."

The co-CEO said the assemblage volition beryllium doing less exhibitions successful the coming twelvemonth — from 12 down to 8 — and they volition past longer. One level volition alteration to showing creation from the VAG's imperishable collection, alternatively than travelling exhibitions.

The assemblage is readying a large Emily Carr accumulation this year, relying mostly connected the artist's much than 250 pieces successful its collection. 

"We volition beryllium organizing an accumulation from our postulation of Indigenous art, specifically from the Pacific Northwest coast. So it's an accidental to thin into the local, and what I would accidental is that's what this upcoming twelvemonth is. It's truly astir the section stories we tin tell," said Respini.

Cultural assemblage nether pressure

According to Jon Stovell, VAG board of trustees chair, the full taste assemblage crossed North America and Europe is struggling, arsenic little wealth comes from philanthropists and governments and the outgo of everything continues to increase. 

Stovell said attendance astatine the assemblage ne'er returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Respini said successful the fiscal twelvemonth that conscionable ended, the assemblage ran a $22-million budget, but with the cuts, they're looking to conscionable a balanced fund of $16 million.

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

"This [supplement] was a impermanent backing measurement introduced to assistance arts organizations negociate the challenges brought connected by the COVID-19 pandemic. These one-time funds were ever intended arsenic short-term support," said the spokesperson.

New assemblage operation program proceeding

Despite the challenges operating the assemblage with the resources it has astatine its disposal, plans to physique a caller gathering for the VAG continue.

"It seems a spot dissonant, I understand, successful the existent clime to beryllium pursuing that, but it's thing that I deliberation if we don't pursue, volition go a generational mislaid opportunity," said Stovell, adding that contributions from antithetic levels of authorities and donors are inactive successful spot for the project.

In December, the assemblage scrapped its plan for the projected gathering astatine Cambie and West Georgia streets aft costs soared to $600 million.

Stovell said the VAG is present successful the last stages of selecting a caller designer from a excavation of 14 Canadian firms. He said the extremity is to denote the enactment successful precocious fall. 

According to Respini, the drawn-out task spanning 15 years to physique a caller assemblage whitethorn marque it much hard to pull donations from philanthropists to screen operating costs.

"There's immoderate information to a constricted excavation of donors who, for the past 15 years, person been spoken to — a batch of asks astir the shiny caller thing, and it's hard to support that for 15 years," she said.

But Stovell disagrees, saying donors are mostly rather circumstantial successful presumption of whether their contributions volition spell toward operating oregon superior costs, and galore similar superior projects.

"I deliberation it would beryllium harder to rise operational backing if radical didn't spot the imaginable for the caller gallery," helium said.