Like Vladimir and Estragon, they wait. And wait. And wait.
This year, we offer up the Waiting for Godot Award to the members of the Burnaby Arts Council who have been lobbying the City of Burnaby for a new art gallery. And lobbying. And lobbying some more.
2016 was the year of much and little in the quest for a new art gallery for the city. It got started somewhat slowly in February, when a delegation from the arts council made a pitch to city council asking for help in building an art gallery – specifically, for the city to take the lead on a feasibility and desirability study. In a nutshell, council gave the arts council delegation a hard time, then finally agreed to have staff look at the question and report back about whether the city should, in fact, embark on a full study.
The arts council’s quest seemed to gain some momentum in March, when a Luminescence exhibition at the arts council’s Deer Lake Gallery attracted unprecedented crowds and seemed to prove the demand for a gallery in the city.
In May, arts council members met with city planners, only to discover the city hadn’t started working on the report. Then came July, and the arts council was still asking where that study was. (In a story at the time, we attempted to get comment from the city but were unsuccessful.)
By September, Coun. Nick Volkow, who chairs the parks, recreation and cultural commission, said the planning department is tied up dealing with housing issues. He told the NOW he hadn’t been pushing the issue.
And that was the end of it. The Burnaby Arts Council is still waiting. And will apparently be waiting into 2017.
Call us cynics, but we have a sneaking suspicion they may be waiting even longer than that, even while watching new ice rinks and swimming pools get approval.
We have a feeling that a new Burnaby art gallery may prove to be as elusive as Godot himself – or even as elusive as a homeless shelter. But that’s a whole other story.
