The Bill Reid Foundation Today Announced its Intention to Create a Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art in Vancouver

-For immediate release: July 11, 2007

Vancouver BC. The Bill Reid Foundation today announced its intention to create a Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art in Vancouver. The announcement follows the July 10 decision of Vancouver City Council to award the sublease of the purpose-built art gallery at 639 Hornby Street to the Bill Reid Foundation. The sublease for 639 Hornby Street, a City cultural amenity space originally occupied by the Canadian Craft Museum and more recently by the Chief Dan George Centre, was awarded after an extensive public bid process.We would like to express our thanks to the City of Vancouver for this opportunity to create a home where we can celebrate not only the art of Bill Reid but also the extraordinary art being created by a new generation of artists along this Coast. The Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art will be a gem of a public art gallery in the heart of Vancouver. We hope it will serve as a portal to other Aboriginal cultural destinations throughout our Province. We are pleased to be able to share our new home with the Chief Dan George Centre for Advanced Studies and the SFU Bill Reid Centre of Northwest Coast Art Studies, stated Dr. George MacDonald, President of the Bill Reid Foundation.

Todays decision by the City of Vancouver ends five long years of searching for a suitable home for Bills work, and we are very thankful, said Dr. Martine Reid, Honourary Chair of the Bill Reid Foundation and Bill Reids widow. Dr. Reid donated most of her personal collection of Bill Reid’s art to the Bill Reid Foundation so that a permanent gallery could be created in Vancouver. Details of the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art exhibition programs will be announced in the fall of 2007, with an opening exhibition expected in spring 2008.

The Chief Dan George Centre for Advanced Education will continue its long time commitment to Aboriginal education in British Columbia and across Canada, delivering programs in the building that bears the legendary Chiefs name. Leonard George recounted that his father Chief Dan George hunted for food on the land where the Chief Dan George Centre is located, adding today Aboriginal students can still hunt on this land only this time for knowledge. We look forward to our association with the Bill Reid Foundation.

Dr. Warren Gill, Vice President, University Relations at SFU stated we are excited to be able to share this outstanding facility. This will allow the SFU Bill Reid Centre of Northwest Coast Art to carry forward its educational commitments, house the Bill Reid Centres library of Coast Salish culture and art, and share with our students an internationally significant art collection.

Bill Reid (1920-1998) left a legacy of magnificent works of art from the most intricate to the monumental in wood carving, jewellery, print and sculpture. Bill Reid was pivotal in introducing to the world the great art traditions of the indigenous people of the Northwest Coast of North America. Images of his works of art from the Bill Reid Foundation collection along with Reids The Spirit of Haida Gwaii are featured on the Canadian $20 bill.

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For further information contact: Maureen Verkaar, 604-731-2428,