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Six years after the Conservative government pulled the plug on the Portrait Gallery of Canada, momentum is building to restart the project and make it a lasting legacy of Canada’s 150th birthday next year, says one of its original supporters.
A group of local politicians, including Environment Minister and Ottawa Centre MP Catherine McKenna and Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, toured the shuttered former U.S. embassy at 100 Wellington Street, directly across from Parliament Hill this week and heard from officials at Public Works about the building. McKenna has pledged to launch consultations soon about what to do with the building, which has sat vacant since the U.S. embassy moved to a new location on Sussex Drive 18 years ago.
Liberal Senator Serge Joyal, one of the original proponents of the portrait gallery when Jean Chrétien’s Liberals were in power, was also along on the tour. He said he was surprised at what good shape the building is in after sitting vacant for so long, and how much potential there is for exhibition space.
Joyal said he believes the timing is perfect to restart the portrait gallery project and leave it as a legacy of Canada’s 150th birthday next year — similar to the way construction of the National Arts Centre marked Centennial year in 1967.
“I feel the planets are more or less aligned now that we have that celebration,” said Joyal.
“Besides the hoopla and fireworks, there has to be a permanent legacy. This would be as important for Canada as the NAC was in 1967.”
The former embassy, he noted, is in the heart of the parliamentary precinct and an ideal location for public use, directly across from Parliament.
McKenna has indicated there will be public consultations on the best use of the building, but Joyal said he hopes, given the work already done on the building and the importance of Canada’s portrait collection, that a political decision can soon be made to restart work on the gallery.
He called the portrait gallery’s collection of more than 20,000 paintings, drawings, prints and photographs “a treasure trove that has never really been made accessible,” and a “reflection of who we are as a people.”
Portrait galleries in Washington, London and elsewhere around the world are often the most popular galleries, he said, because people are drawn to portraits and the stories they tell. “It is not without reason that around the world the portrait galleries are the most attended museums.”
Joyal said he and former senator Jerry Grafstein convinced the Liberal government during the Chrétien years to turn the former embassy, “one of the proudest locations in Canada”, into a portrait gallery.
Work on the gallery was well under way when the Conservative government shut the project down in 2006. About $11 million had been spent to prepare the former embassy. More than a million has also been spent maintaining the abandoned building.
The former Tory government initially talked about putting a portrait gallery in Calgary, partly funded by energy company EnCana. Later, they invited nine cities to bid on the gallery, but that plan was also scrapped.
Joyal said there would not be time to complete the project by 2017, even if it was approved by the Liberal government. But work could begin and a small exhibition space could be opened on the ground floor in 2017 to give the public some idea of the “wealth of the portraits” and what the finished gallery would look like.
“There is momentum, “ he said. “Really, since the day the project was abandoned in 2006, I feel rejuvenated. This is such an important thing to build for the future.”
epayne@postmedia.com
查看原文...
A group of local politicians, including Environment Minister and Ottawa Centre MP Catherine McKenna and Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, toured the shuttered former U.S. embassy at 100 Wellington Street, directly across from Parliament Hill this week and heard from officials at Public Works about the building. McKenna has pledged to launch consultations soon about what to do with the building, which has sat vacant since the U.S. embassy moved to a new location on Sussex Drive 18 years ago.
Liberal Senator Serge Joyal, one of the original proponents of the portrait gallery when Jean Chrétien’s Liberals were in power, was also along on the tour. He said he was surprised at what good shape the building is in after sitting vacant for so long, and how much potential there is for exhibition space.
Joyal said he believes the timing is perfect to restart the portrait gallery project and leave it as a legacy of Canada’s 150th birthday next year — similar to the way construction of the National Arts Centre marked Centennial year in 1967.
“I feel the planets are more or less aligned now that we have that celebration,” said Joyal.
“Besides the hoopla and fireworks, there has to be a permanent legacy. This would be as important for Canada as the NAC was in 1967.”
The former embassy, he noted, is in the heart of the parliamentary precinct and an ideal location for public use, directly across from Parliament.
McKenna has indicated there will be public consultations on the best use of the building, but Joyal said he hopes, given the work already done on the building and the importance of Canada’s portrait collection, that a political decision can soon be made to restart work on the gallery.
He called the portrait gallery’s collection of more than 20,000 paintings, drawings, prints and photographs “a treasure trove that has never really been made accessible,” and a “reflection of who we are as a people.”
Portrait galleries in Washington, London and elsewhere around the world are often the most popular galleries, he said, because people are drawn to portraits and the stories they tell. “It is not without reason that around the world the portrait galleries are the most attended museums.”
Joyal said he and former senator Jerry Grafstein convinced the Liberal government during the Chrétien years to turn the former embassy, “one of the proudest locations in Canada”, into a portrait gallery.
Work on the gallery was well under way when the Conservative government shut the project down in 2006. About $11 million had been spent to prepare the former embassy. More than a million has also been spent maintaining the abandoned building.
The former Tory government initially talked about putting a portrait gallery in Calgary, partly funded by energy company EnCana. Later, they invited nine cities to bid on the gallery, but that plan was also scrapped.
Joyal said there would not be time to complete the project by 2017, even if it was approved by the Liberal government. But work could begin and a small exhibition space could be opened on the ground floor in 2017 to give the public some idea of the “wealth of the portraits” and what the finished gallery would look like.
“There is momentum, “ he said. “Really, since the day the project was abandoned in 2006, I feel rejuvenated. This is such an important thing to build for the future.”
epayne@postmedia.com
查看原文...
