media release
SFU receives landmark gift of Bill Reid art
Contact:
Erica Branda, SFU Advancement, 778.782.3353, ebranda@sfu.ca
Mike Robinson, Bill Reid Gallery, 604.682.3455, mrobinson@billreidfoundation.org
Dixon Tam, SFU PAMR, 778.782.8742, 604.417.0881 (cell), dixont@sfu.ca
Related links:
About Bill Reid
Bill Reid Gallery Facts
About Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast art
Photos on Flickr
The Bill Reid Foundation has gifted its entire collection of Northwest Coast art, worth more than $10 million and consisting of 158 works (including 112 masterworks by Bill Reid) to Simon Fraser University.
In return, SFU will contract the Bill Reid Foundation to continue to manage the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art, located on Hornby Street in downtown Vancouver.
A further $1-million donation from arts philanthropist Michael Audain will sustain the gallery and enhance programming in Northwest Coast art studies.
Mike Robinson, CEO of the Bill Reid Trust and president of the Bill Reid Foundation, is excited about what this partnership will bring to the community.
“With assurance that the entire collection will remain intact and available to the public, we have the freedom to ramp up the delivery of new shows and develop more curatorial ideas,” says Robinson. “A similar arrangement has been in place at Calgary’s Glenbow Museum for 45 years, and today it is one of the most creative cultural learning institutions in Canada.”
SFU president Andrew Petter says the gift and resulting partnership will support SFU’s emerging reputation for being Canada’s most community-engaged research university.
“This important collection will enhance SFU’s role in preserving and enriching culture and arts in this region,” says Petter. “It will also allow the university to expand Northwest Coast art studies, thereby broadening public understanding of the history and culture of B.C.’s Aboriginal communities.”
According to David Gillanders, chair of the Bill Reid Foundation, a group of local philanthropists – led by Audain, Milton Wong, and Mary Margaret Young – joined together 12 years ago to ensure this important collection was kept intact in trust for the people of British Columbia.
“Today,” says Gillanders, “we can all be proud that our original actions have resulted in a permanent legacy of cultural wealth for our community.”
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What Bill Reid would say? Ok, I can tell you he will be happy to see this if he is alive, he will be happy to see that his masterpieces can be gifted to SFU and let more students to access to this art, not only in UBC campus. Bill Reid's spirit is not only presented in MOA building, his spirit is presented in the whole world. Of course, MOA building is a fantastic place, it is amazing and it is gorgeous. I have been there one time, I like that place. Even though, it is ridiculous for saying that all his artwork should be put into MOA building, it is not valid.
Second, not just UBC has aboriginal student and Bill Reid's friends, SFU has the aboriginal club and the people who interest in and want to study aboriginal art. So again WHY should not Bill Reid Foundation gift the collection to SFU.
In addition, I think whatever the decision made by Bill Reid Foundation, all person relate to this foundation and the relatives of Bill Reid family are told, and also, all person have agreed. The decision of gifting these masterpieces is not a decision of what coffee should we buy, it is a decision weight too much, everyone took it seriously.
That is all I want to say, so if you can see this, if you go back to this webpage, i want you to rethink what you have said and i hope you know what is the meaning of art.
Darcy Rezac
Ana Pacific Consulting
drezac@gmail.com