THUNDER BAY - For Gail and Brian Scott, the arts are an important part of any community and can help foster healing and inspiration.
“People can look at one piece and have different feelings about it,” Gail said. “Maybe their own problem are solved or realized in a different way so they can have a different perspective on how they feel about themselves or the world around them. It’s an uplifting kind of feeling.”
“I think it’s important because it’s inspirational. It gives people something to dream about or think bigger,” Brian added. “It’s like you’re in a different place.”
This is what motivated Gail and Brian Scott to donate $150,000 to the new waterfront art gallery capital campaign.
The $150,000 is part of the more than $600,000 in donations to the capital campaign announced on Friday at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery.
“With these donations it brings us to $2.5 million that’s been raised and our goal is $3.5 million,” said Sharon Godwin, director of the Thunder Bay Art Gallery. “We are going to be soon coming to the community on a more public campaign, but at this moment we are talking to donors who are interested in supporting the project.”
The Paterson Foundation, which already has a gallery at the current location named after it for past donations, donated $250,000 toward the new waterfront location.
“We’ve supported the arts for many years,” said Alexander Paterson, president of the Paterson Foundation. “That was easy. When we heard they were building an art gallery on the waterfront, we have some 25 miles of waterfront in Thunder Bay that is wounded from the past glory days of our economic past, getting people to the waterfront is a huge revitalization for the city of Thunder Bay.”
The $33 million project has received $21.8 million from the federal and provincial governments and $5.7 million from the city of Thunder Bay.
Other donations announced on Friday include $100,000 from Maurice and Jackie Black, $25,000 donated individually by Ken Boshcoff, Greg and Carol Ann Brumpton, and Cathy MacDonald, and corporate gifts of $10,000 from TBT Engineering and $25,000 from Bruno’s Contracting.
“For us it’s really meaningful that the people that are coming forward to give donations really understand the importance of the new gallery for everybody who lives in this community because it is for everyone,” Godwin said. “Many of them have been longtime members but not all. So they are coming forward and they understand what the impact of the gallery has been over the last 45 years so they want to support that growth in the new facility.”
Godwin said construction is expected to start by the end of this year and it is estimated to take two years to complete.
But for Gail and Brian Scott, it will be worth it for the people of Thunder Bay and they hope others will donate as well.
“I realize there are so many worthy causes to donate to, hospitals and food banks, these are all very worthy causes for funds, but we have to encourage the artistic elements in the city and let people dream big,” Gail said.
