BC Business
George Macintosh and Jessica Yan Macintosh are hoping to make art education more accessible with their donation to the Vancouver Art Gallery
As a soprano from China, Jessica Yan Macintosh holds a deep passion for the arts. Her husband, George Macintosh—who was a judge on the Supreme Court of British Columbia—says it was her idea to donate $1 million to the Vancouver Art Gallery earlier this year.
“It was to support, in a small way, the new gallery, but our primary focus was to help disadvantaged and underserved kids—to enable them to perhaps be better able to connect with art,” he explains.
About a decade ago, the City of Vancouver donated a prime plot of land to the gallery through an in-kind lease. The nonprofit started fundraising to develop a bigger home for itself, and different levels of government, as well as philanthropists and organizations, stepped forward to support the $400-million project. According to the VAG, over $190 million came from private donations, with developer, art collector and philanthropist Michael Audain donating $100 million in 2022.
Within the Macintosh household, Jessica studied music at the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music. She joined the VAG board of trustees in 2019. One day, she came to the museum for a meeting and saw some school groups touring the exhibitions on display. Sirish Rao, the gallery’s senior director of public engagement and learning, remembers the moment well.
“When you see a school group going through, you can’t fail to notice it,” he says. “There’s this energy that’s going through—they’re bubbling, you can see their eyes opening, their perspectives changing. You can see it in their faces; it’s so tangible. And Jessica said, ‘I would really like to see my donation go towards creating access for young people.’”
Prior to his role at the VAG, Rao ran the Indian Summer Festival in Vancouver for 12 years. In his eyes, educational programming is an “unheard of, under-sung part of what the VAG does,” but it’s the most regular part of it, too. Every day, he explains, about four school groups will make their rounds through the gallery, which works with 130 different schools in B.C. At the end of each in-person tour, students can create their own art in the gallery’s designated studio—a sculpture, for example, if that’s the exhibition on show.
It also hosts long-distance learning opportunities through programs like Connected North. “If we’re contacted by a school in another region, we always work with them to see what we can do to facilitate learning opportunities,” says VAG CEO and executive director Anthony Kiendl.
He’s excited about the potential of building out the gallery to be more of a learning resource. “Here we have one room that’s used as a classroom. In the new building, we’ll have five dedicated spaces,” Kiendl notes. Once built, the new museum will support artist residency programs, offer multipurpose spaces, increase the exhibition space to 80,000 square feet and include a garden with outdoor artworks on display. It will also have a theatre that can be used for film production, cinema programs, poetry readings and literature and performance events.
“Donations like this help us build our resilience and our capacity for programs, and they help us keep operations going,” Kiendl says.
As firm believers in the idea that good art can be transformative, the Macintosh family sees the VAG as an expert in the field of art education. Their donation will help more under-resourced kids be able to access and learn from art, whether that’s through subsidized visits, scholarships or new programs.
“When we travel, we always find galleries to go to,” says George. “You see the kids traipsing through, and you see them with the right teachers or the right lecturers, and you can see their eyes light up. I don’t think you can have too much of that.”
Last year, 16-year-old Henry Wang sold his own art and donated proceeds to the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Born in China in 2007, Henry Wang started drawing at the age of five and moved to Vancouver at the age of 11.
After participating in the VAG Teen Art Group program (which, through a partnership with Emily Carr University, helps 15- to 18-year-old students explore art-making and culture), Wang decided to hold a solo exhibition in 2023.
He sold 10 of the 65 pieces displayed. “It boosted my confidence by a mile after seeing that people actually wanted to purchase my work,” he says.
Wang’s decision to donate $12,000 to VAG’s Institute of Asian Arts—which celebrates historical and contemporary Asian art through exhibitions, programs and events—comes from the heart.
“I wanted to represent the prospering young talents of Vancouver and bring more spotlight to up-and-coming artists,” he explains. “I also wanted to represent the Asian community. I believe that more and more young Asian talents are going to take the steering wheel in the Vancouver art scene in the next couple of years.”