The Vancouver Art Gallery is thrilled to announce that it is the recipient of a $1 million gift from philanthropists Jessica Yan Macintosh and George Macintosh. Their generous donation will support the Gallery’s extensive educational initiatives, with a particular focus on breaking down barriers and ensuring that art is accessible to newcomers and underserved children and youth from diverse backgrounds. A portion of the Macintosh’s gift will also support building the new Vancouver Art Gallery at the Chan Centre for the Visual Arts, which is expected to open in 2028.
“We are so grateful to the Macintosh family for this transformational gift and for their ongoing support of the Gallery,” says Anthony Kiendl, Vancouver Art Gallery CEO & Executive Director. “This donation will help to bolster the tremendous educational programming that directly impacts our community every day and that is integral to our future. Every donation helps us to deliver our vision of the Gallery as a cultural hub and a space where communities can meet, learn and shape our collective futures.”
During a special reception last night, the Macintosh family announced their donation and spoke about the importance of supporting the Gallery as a place of learning and belonging. Currently serving over 130 schools throughout the Lower Mainland each year, in addition to ongoing programs for youth and teens, the Gallery fosters self-expression, creative thinking and problem-solving for all ages.
“The Vancouver Art Gallery has shown it knows how to connect underserved kids to the magic of art. That’s why we donated,” explain Jessica and George Macintosh. “If just five children a year sense what art can do to enrich the rest of their lives, our gift will have been worthwhile.”
As part of last night’s event, there was a presentation by Sirish Rao, the Gallery’s Senior Director of Public Engagement & Learning, who is part of the senior leadership team that Kiendl has built over the past year. Since joining the Gallery, Rao has fostered innovative programming and public events while strengthening ties with educational institutions and local community associations.
“We envision the Vancouver Art Gallery as a place of possibility for individuals and communities. A welcoming space where people of all ages can gather, spark curiosity, catalyze connections, experience great art and great ideas and be storytellers themselves,” says Sirish Rao, Senior Director of Public Engagement & Learning at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
A longtime supporter of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Jessica Yan Macintosh is a soprano from Mainland China who studied music at the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music. She first joined the Gallery’s Board of Trustees in 2019. Together with her husband George, Jessica is especially active philanthropically in the art and health sectors.
George Macintosh was a Judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia and has served on various committees addressing legislative reform in matters of evidence and civil procedure. He was appointed King’s Counsel in 1987 and elected as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers in 1991 and as a Fellow of the International Society of Barristers in 2001.
As dedicated community leaders committed to fostering the growth of the arts in Vancouver, the Macintosh family is part of a group of patrons who are pivotal to the ongoing transformation of the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Image: (from left to right) Anthony Kiendl, CEO & Executive Director; philanthropists Jessica Yan Macintosh and George Macintosh; and Sirish Rao, Senior Director of Public Engagement & Learning, with works by Teen Art Group students at the Vancouver Art Gallery, April 2024, Photo: Sheng Ho
