Vancouver Art Schools

Undoubtedly one of North America’s most beautiful cities, Vancouver borders the Pacific Ocean (via the Strait of Georgia) and the Coast Mountains, making it one of those rare cities that makes it possible to ski and sail in the same day. The birthplace of Greenpeace, Bryan Adams, and Inspector Gadget, is also home to a vibrant art scene that not only reflects Vancouver’s rich history and colorful heritage, but also the great diversity of its population with 35% of its residents hailing from foreign countries. Equally diverse are the innumerable museums, galleries, and public art programs that suffuse the city, also making it a great place to pursue a study of the arts. Among its most prominent museums, the Vancouver Art Gallery exemplifies the definition of a misnomer with its permanent collection numbering close to 8,000 pieces, as well as a large collection of one of Canada’s most recognized artists, Emily Carr. Additionally, the Vancouver Museum (Canada’s largest civic museum) and the Museum of Anthropology are popular attractions. Furthermore, the creation of the Alliance for the Arts and Culture in the mid 80s provided a strong voice for the arts community and now numbers more than 320 arts groups among its coalition. The Alliance has helped enhance the city’s prolific public works program and encouraged the incorporation of the arts in and around the city. Vancouver is also home to numerous artist-run galleries, including the Helen Pitt Gallery, Studio Blue, Gallery Gachet, and Artspeak. Other public galleries include Pendulum Gallery, Charles H. Scott (at the Emily Carr Institute), and the Belkin Art Gallery (at UBC). In fact, the list of attractions in Vancouver are so extensive that a four year program at any one of the esteemed schools provided is just about the amount of time it will take a student to properly discover its endless allure. Moreover, Vancouver may also be Canada’s third largest city, but with its rapid population growth (and the influx of Hollywood production companies), this western Canadian city is on pace to surpass both Montreal and Toronto over the next few decades…a testament to its great culture, climate, and communities.