Beaverbrook Art Gallery facelift receives $1.8M

The federal government is investing $1.8 million for a massive expansion and facelift of Fredericton's Beaverbrook Art Gallery.

Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency Minister Keith Ashfield, who is also the Fredericton MP, announced the new funding a day after the art gallery emerged victorious from a five-year legal battle over many of its prized paintings.

"Our government, through the economic action plan, is providing a timely, targeted, stimulus to communities in New Brunswick, to help reduce the impacts of the global economic downturn," Ashfield said in a statement released by his office.

The federal funds will allow the art gallery to push forward with a major renovation project, which includes adding security, storage and accessibility upgrades to the building.

Allison McCain, the chairman of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery's board of governors, said in the statement that the gallery worked closely with the federal government to secure the funds.

"This project will ensure that we have the appropriate infrastructure to house some of the world's finest art treasures," McCann said in the statement.

The art gallery is preparing to celebrate its 50th anniversary in a few weeks.

On Wednesday, a panel of three retired judges upheld an early decision by retired Supreme Court of Canada justice Peter Cory that awarded 85 of 133 paintings to the Beaverbrook Art Gallery.