Trillium grant helped keep the lights on at Burlington Art Gallery

The Art Gallery of Burlington (AGB) celebrated a grant of almost $208,000 from the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) on Thursday night (Nov. 3).

The grant through OTF's Community Building Fund was received in the fall of 2021 and was instrumental in allowing the gallery to survive and retain staff through the pandemic.

"Art galleries, exhibitions, educational centres — they are soulless without people creating, engaging and learning within their spaces," said AGB Director Emma Quin. "They should be places bursting with activity, activations and inspiration. We are returning to this place after periods of extended closure and beginning to flourish once again."

Representing the OTF, grant review team member Dianne Lawson noted that the foundation invested $209 million in funding to over 2,000 Ontario non-profits last year alone.

"I see the requests coming in and we have a huge team that goes through them and there are just some wonderful things going on in our province," she said.

"Our mission is simple: we build healthier, more vibrant communities across Ontario. That means communities like this one. With this grant, you will be able to re-open the gallery and allow your public engagement programs to resume."

Lawson said the AGB's reach extends beyond Burlington. "For 47 years the AGB has offered its community and beyond a place to learn and create," she said. "Your impact is felt not just within Burlington but across the country and the world as the home of the world's largest collection of contemporary Canadian ceramics. I saw a few on the way in and they were certainly creative. I look forward to seeing more grant requests."

Burlington MPP Natalie Pierre was to attend the event but was delayed at Queen's Park as the provincial government stand off with CUPE education workers continued. She sent a note of thanks to the OTF and praised the gallery as a "cornerstone of the community".

While the gallery could not operate as normal for the past two years, board member and city councillor Angelo Bentivegna noted AGB was able to run 30 art outreach programs and 80 creative digital projects, and hosted over 1,500 students through digital visits.

"The AGB was able to continue doing important work connecting people during a time when we were all in isolation, allowing our artists and art workers, to find ways to share their work and stories," he said.

"Without the support of the Community Building Fund, we would not be here today."

The AGB is looking forward to a "robust" and full program of events in 2023, board chair Susan Busby added, and they will hold their first in-person fundraiser since 2020 later this month — the Soup Bowl fundraiser.

"The pandemic caused so much suffering for everyone and in so many diverse ways," she said. "Ways that I think we are still realizing and it my take some time before we eventually figure it all out. What we all lost was a sense of community, and the AGB has a very long history of providing a community to this larger community of Burlington and beyond."