The Vancouver Visual Art Foundation has recently released a fundraising campaign asking for donations from the public which will go to supporting local artists, presenting educational art programmes, and covering the VVAF’s operational costs which have been affected due to Covid-19. After rescheduling our largest event Art Vancouver, which
generates the majority of our revenue, as well as cancelling many of our other events due to the pandemic, we are currently finding ourselves at a loss and we are looking for support during this time.
We would like to run our educational programming for over 500 high school students, as well as other events to support local artists, through providing them with a platform to exhibit and sell their work. We are currently asking for donations from the public to help us reach our target of $20,000, which will enable us to produce our programs and events, and thus help artists and the arts community get through these difficult times.
The Vancouver Visual Art Foundation is a non-profit organisation that brings you Art Vancouver, Western Canada’s largest annual international art fair, along with other arts events and programmes throughout the year such as Art Ignites, Art Masters, and their newest addition Art Downtown. The VVAF was established in 2017, two years after Art Vancouver began, and grew out of the need to increase the city’s position as a nexus to local and international visual art.
The events that VVAF produce are meant to help nurture Vancouver’s creative community and establish Vancouver as being a city that successfully supports the arts. At the heart of their organization is the mission to connect, inspire and educate communities through art both within their city of Vancouver and internationally.
The events that they produce work towards this mission, as they promote all forms of art and create safe and encouraging environments for artists and audiences to interact. This can be seen through their flagship event Art Vancouver which brings people together from around the world to provide artists with platforms to showcase and sell their work, and gives the public a chance to view art, engage in art conversation through their panel talks, and participate in interesting and unique art workshops. The VVAF also produces Art Ignites; a program for secondary school students designed to spark creativity in youth by providing interactive activities at Art Vancouver as a way to advance critical thinking skills. They also hope to continue Art for Youth with The Face of Today Foundation to provide free holistic art classes to vulnerable youth. Finally, their most recent program is the Art Downtown Summer Program, which is aimed at providing a platform for artists to showcase and sell their work to the community during these difficult times, while transforming spaces in Downtown Vancouver into creative and inspiring environments for the public to enjoy. These are just a few of the programs that the VVAF hosts and assists with, and which we hope to continue producing in the future.
With your help we will be able to continue producing these art programs that support the local arts community. Please help us spread the word about the VVAF’s new fundraising campaign, and if you would like to donate please go to https://www.vanvaf.com/donate.