Beaverbrook Art Gallery expansion plans unveiled

Plans for a renovation and expansion of theBeaverbrookArt Gallery, including new gallery spaces, aterrace, and a street-sidecaf, were unveiledWednesday at the gallery.

Director TerryGraffsaid the gallery will be "a living laboratory ofcontemporaryideas andcreativity."

"The new and improvedBeaverbrookArt Gallery will provide a wide range of stimulating experiences that will contribute to New Brunswick's quality of life, to the promotion of creative thinking and artistic excellence, and important economic opportunity to the province by attracting new people,businesses and tourists to consider New Brunswick and by providing increased opportunities for [the province's] visual artists and cultural workers," saidGraff.

"This incredible transformational investment in theBeaverbrookArt Gallery is about community engagement, collaboration and about celebrating and promoting New Brunswick's collective cultural history and shared values through the visual arts."

The 14,000-square-foot expansion, which is expected to take about two years to complete, is being paid for by all three levels of government and private donors.

Theplans,detailed in aslideshowand video before an audience that included politicians and donors, showa new pavilion attached to the existing building, as well asupgrades and refurbishments throughout the existing gallery space.

Some of the new features will be a terrace, acafwith doors that open to the street during the summer months, an artist-in-residence studio, as well as a multipurpose theatre for film showings or children's activities.

There will be an Elizabeth A. CurrieGallery on the Green in the new space, thanks to a contribution of more than $2 million from Elizabeth A. and Richard Currie. The gallery is intended to show more contemporaryworks, said Richard Currie.

"What we want in the gallery is paintings that are abstract, modern, contemporary," hesaid.

"It has Beth's name on it becausethat was, and is, her great interest and she has transmitted that to me."

There will also be a Harriet Irving Gallery included in the upgrades, thanks to a $3.5 million contribution from Arthur, Jim and John Irving and their families.

Arthur Irving said hismother was a "good friend" of Lord Beaverbrook'sand shewould be very proud to have her name onthe space in the original gallery.

He saidBeaverbrookwould visit the Irving family in Saint John whenever he flew in to attend business at the University of New Brunswick.

"My mother and father were great friends of LordBeaverbrook. They admired him a great deal," said Irving.

Fredericton MP KeithAshfieldsaid the federal government's commitment of $1.5 million for the expansionwas made possible through the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency's innovative communitiesfund.

The provincial government is contributing $5 million in matching funds for the gallery's growing endowment and the City of Fredericton is providing $500,000.

The new structure will be made largely with Dorchester stone, in keeping with the neighbouring legislature. The stone will be "floating" above a level of glass, meant to open the public spaces to the environment and engage passersby.

Construction is scheduled to begin this fall, and be completed by late 2017.

The expansion will allow for greater rental opportunities, better ability to accommodate large travelling exhibits, improved accessibility and increased revenue, officials said.