[BCMA] FW: Royal BC Museum to Open Satellite Location in Vancouver

Sat Sep 17 15:36:11 PDT 2011

The acquisition of the decade for this museum - well done!

Dan Gallacher
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  Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2011 10:35 AM
  Subject: [BCMA] FW: Royal BC Museum to Open Satellite Location in Vancouver

                                     NEWS RELEASE

  September 15, 2011  

  Royal BC Museum to Open Satellite Location in Vancouver

  Victoria, BC - For the first time in its 125-year history, the Royal BC Museum - based in the province's capital of Victoria - will be opening a satellite museum gallery in Vancouver.  The Royal BC Museum at Wing Sang, located in historic Chinatown, will display treasures from the human and natural history collections of the Province's museum and archives. 

  "As the stewards of the Province's human and natural history collections, we are extremely proud and truly excited about sharing these treasures and BC's important stories with a wider audience," says Royal BC Museum CEO Pauline Rafferty.  "The Royal BC Museum at Wing Sang is due to the generous philanthropy of our Sustaining Patron, Rennie Marketing Systems.  The foresight of Bob Rennie and Carey Fouks creates a legacy for our children and grandchildren by enabling us to provide access to, and share our collections with, the people of BC in the largest city of this great province."

  Wing Sang building at 51 East Pender, Vancouver, built in 1889.  Photo by Martin Tessler.

  (Higher resolution images available from the Royal BC Museum)

  "We knew that the restoration of the oldest building in Vancouver was going to be a journey," said Bob Rennie, Principal of the Rennie Collection. "If we could have scripted how the journey would unfold to bookend our contemporary collection, we couldn't have come up with a better fit for Wing Sang or the community than the Royal BC Museum and its extraordinary historical collections. We are all looking forward to welcoming the community into this space next summer."

  Nestled in the heart of Chinatown, the Royal BC Museum at Wing Sang will display treasures from the museum and archives collections each summer.  The opening feature in June 2012 will be The Other Emily: Redefining Emily Carr, a popular exhibition on the early life of Carr, from her teenage years to her emergence on the national art scene in 1927.  The Other Emily includes her well-loved masterpieces, early sketches, photographs and journal entries as well as displays of period clothing, objects and artifacts.  In addition, the museum will be curating an exhibition of significant pieces from the museum collection.

  The Royal BC Museum began in 1886 and now has the largest collection of artifacts and specimens to preserve and showcase the story of British Columbia.  

  The Wing Sang Building at 51 East Pender was built in 1889 for Yip Sang, a prominent Chinese-Canadian businessman.  It has a rich and varied history, housing Yip Sang's import-export business and providing a range of services to the community.  Its heritage centrepiece, the boardroom, was once a schoolroom for Yip Sang's children and remains virtually unchanged.  The building acquired historical preservation and heritage designation in 1999.  Since then it has undergone careful restoration and renovation - winning a City of Vancouver Heritage Award of Honour in April 2011. Today, the Wing Sang Building is the permanent home of the Rennie Collection of contemporary art, currently open to the public on Thursdays & Saturdays - and the offices of Rennie Marketing Systems.  

  About the Royal BC Museum

  As the provincial museum and archives, the Royal BC Museum preserves and shares the stories of British Columbia - on-site, off-site and online - through its research, collections, exhibitions, publications and educational programs.  Its two-hectare cultural precinct in Victoria also includes a number of historically significant buildings and First Nations sites; and its seasonal satellite museum gallery in Vancouver showcases BC's history in one of the oldest buildings in Chinatown - Wing Sang.

  For more information about the Royal BC Museum, visit www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca or 
  call 1-888-447-7977.

  -30-

  Media contact:

  Royal BC Museum Media Enquiries

  250-387-3207

  news at royalbcmuseum.bc.ca

  Follow this link to Media Images, for Royal BC Museum at Wing Sang images, credits, cutlines and terms of use.

  Follow this link to News Releases, for backgrounders on: Royal BC Museum; Bob Rennie bio, Rennie Collection, Wing Sang Building; and the Royal BC Museum Year in Review.

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