Art Gallery of Sudbury continues search for new home

The Art Gallery of Sudbury has been searching for a new, larger home for years.

Its current John Street location can only accommodate the display of about ten per cent of its collection, the facility itself is cramped, and not fully accessible.

Plans for a new facility could be expedited now that Sudbury city council has made the gallery one of its priority projects.

Two facilities sharing a common space

Demetra Christakos, director and curator of the art gallery, said they've joined forces with the Sudbury Public Library to work together on the project.

"We're still looking at two separate facilities, but basically they cross over in the public areas," Christakos said,  "so that we'd have our own facility but we would share the entrance, we would share potentially a beautiful outdoor space, we would share a beautiful lobby. That's the point of working together in this joint committee."

A new facility would also put the Art Gallery in a higher category, as far as galleries in the country are ranked, Christakos said.

• GoFundMe Campaign for a new art centre in Sudbury

"Looking at a purpose build, category A, art museum that would really put us on a different register of public visitation," she said, "putting us on the same register as the Art Gallery of Ontario or the National gallery of Canada."

The gallery portion of the proposed project has a $27 million price tag.

• Art Gallery of Sudbury welcomes Group of Seven paintings
• Art Gallery of Sudbury looking for a new home
• Sudbury commits staff to help find new home for art gallery