Deer Lake Gallery is closed until further notice

Burnaby Arts Council (BAC) announced on Aug. 23, 2024, the closure of Deer Lake Gallery (DLG) until further notice. The gallery closed its doors at the end of August after the conclusion of its last exhibition, MULCHMULCHMULCH.  

BAC will hold its annual general meeting on Sept. 24 at 7pm at DLG, which will be open to the public. At the meeting, Burnaby residents can share suggestions and ideas on how to raise funds and promote the arts in Burnaby.  

The Winter Crafts Festival, scheduled for November 22-24, will take place as usual in the Deer Lake area. The festival is the most important annual fundraising event for the BAC and DLG. This year more than 50 local artisans will be displaying their work.

In its Aug. 23 announcement, the BAC said that earlier this year, in June, the former executive director of DLG Jody Phillips resigned. According to Maria Anna Parolin, co-chair of the BAC, the reasons for Phillips’ resignation are financial; the gallery can no longer support full-time staff members. Since the executive director’s resignation, DLG has been operating entirely using volunteers and interns. 

Parolin told the Beacon the DLG’s closure is part of a wider trend where arts organizations are generally struggling in Canada. According to Parolin, the reasons are complex and multifold. Non-profit organizations, especially those concerned with the arts, are struggling to obtain funding for their programming. 

“We’re still able to get support and funding from BC Arts Council and the City of Burnaby, and the gaming grants, but it’s just getting harder and harder to raise the funds,” Parolin said. “There’s more people asking and sometimes a lot of less funds to spread around… It’s just getting harder to have sustainable, ongoing funding to run operations.” 

Parolin, an artist, mother of two, and art instructor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, is also a volunteer on the board of directors. She said that the board is struggling to find new volunteer board members with expertise in specific fields. For example, the BAC currently needs a treasurer and members with experience in fundraising and marketing, among others. 

“We need professionals to be on the board and volunteer their time, and that’s getting more and more difficult,” Parolin said. “I’ve been a volunteer on the board for eight years, and it’s time for me to step away. I’m now in my sabbatical year of teaching, so I’d love to hand over the chair position.”

Since it opened, DLG has been integral in supporting emerging artists in Burnaby by providing a space for them to exhibit their work, hold musical and theatrical performances and other types of programming for more than 15 years. The DLG is located adjacent to Shadbolt Centre for the Arts and close to the Burnaby Art Gallery.

Parolin said closing the gallery will mean losing a one-of-a-kind space for Burnaby artists and residents to experience the joy of creativity. Parolin added that the gallery is an essential venue for people to interact with the arts in a community. 

“I’m not a wordsmith, but how can you explain and communicate the feeling you get when you sit down and the stars align and you get to focus on creating? It’s the most incredible feeling in the world,” Parolin said. “I’m terrified that people aren’t able to experience that, and more and more people are isolated…That’s another reason for the DLG: to invite people out of their homes and into a creative community.”

Burnaby residents can apply on the DLG website to become board members or volunteer at the gallery. There is also an option to donate funds through the gallery’s website. The upcoming annual general meeting at DLG on Sept. 24 is an opportunity for community members to share their thoughts, experiences, and ideas for the gallery’s future. 

“What role do they want to play in making the arts more impactful, more sustainable, maybe more innovative?” Parolin said. “It comes from the community. I believe we need the community to voice their opinion.”

This piece was made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.

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