About Center A
About Center A
Centre A: Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art is a leading public art gallery currently situated in the heart of Vancouver’s Chinatown, on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. It is a registered charity and the only public art gallery in Canada dedicated to contemporary Asian and Asian-diasporic perspectives since 1999.
Centre A is committed to providing a platform for engaging diverse communities through public access to the arts, creating mentorship opportunities for emerging artists and arts professionals, and stimulating critical dialogue through provocative exhibitions and innovative public programs that complicate understandings of migrant experiences and diasporic communities.
Centre A’s mandate is to be an engaged participant in the ongoing production of a pluralistic and democratic society. We strive to activate contemporary art’s vital role in building and understanding the long and dynamic Asia-Canada relationship while tackling questions of broader concern from Asian and Asian-diasporic perspectives. Amidst the absence of institutional commitment in Canada to contemporary art as a vital site for social engagement and critical cultural production in local, migrant, and global Asian contexts, the gallery has continued to be dedicated to:
Supporting the creation of new works by Asian and Asian-diasporic artists in Canada, particularly emerging artists and artists within the Asian milieu whose voices are underrepresented due to the particular intersectional spaces that they occupy; facilitating collaboration and creative exchange between Asian artists in Canada and abroad, in order to engage critically with local, regional and national concerns from a global perspective; fostering meaningful relationships with local arts organizations, collectives, community organizations and groups within the Asian community and beyond; and engaging meaningfully with the call for Reconciliation and contribute to the understanding and navigation of non-European settler identities from Asian perspectives.
While we play an active role in community enlivenment and conviviality, we are a means for broader cultural productivity; a local and transnational community-building apparatus that acts as a conduit for the contest of ideas and a site for the contemplation of issues of contemporary concern.
Centre A: Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art is a leading public art gallery currently situated in the heart of Vancouver’s Chinatown, on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. It is a registered charity and the only public art gallery in Canada dedicated to contemporary Asian and Asian-diasporic perspectives since 1999.
Centre A is committed to providing a platform for engaging diverse communities through public access to the arts, creating mentorship opportunities for emerging artists and arts professionals, and stimulating critical dialogue through provocative exhibitions and innovative public programs that complicate understandings of migrant experiences and diasporic communities.
Centre A’s mandate is to be an engaged participant in the ongoing production of a pluralistic and democratic society. We strive to activate contemporary art’s vital role in building and understanding the long and dynamic Asia-Canada relationship while tackling questions of broader concern from Asian and Asian-diasporic perspectives. Amidst the absence of institutional commitment in Canada to contemporary art as a vital site for social engagement and critical cultural production in local, migrant, and global Asian contexts, the gallery has continued to be dedicated to:
Supporting the creation of new works by Asian and Asian-diasporic artists in Canada, particularly emerging artists and artists within the Asian milieu whose voices are underrepresented due to the particular intersectional spaces that they occupy; facilitating collaboration and creative exchange between Asian artists in Canada and abroad, in order to engage critically with local, regional and national concerns from a global perspective; fostering meaningful relationships with local arts organizations, collectives, community organizations and groups within the Asian community and beyond; and engaging meaningfully with the call for Reconciliation and contribute to the understanding and navigation of non-European settler identities from Asian perspectives.
While we play an active role in community enlivenment and conviviality, we are a means for broader cultural productivity; a local and transnational community-building apparatus that acts as a conduit for the contest of ideas and a site for the contemplation of issues of contemporary concern.
HISTORY
HISTORY
Centre A was founded in 1999 by Hank Bull (Founding Director), Zheng Shengtian and Stephanie Holmquist, who assembled an all-star board consisting of such distinguished figures as Milton Wong, Joanne Louie Mah, Joe Wai and Anndraya Luui. Through their, and subsequent boards’ leadership, as well as the contributions of our curators and directors (Sadira Rodrigues, Alice Ming Wai Jim, Makiko Hara, Haema Sivanesan, Tyler Russell, Henry Heng Lu, and Ellie Chung), and a robust list of donors, volunteers, interns and staff, Centre A continues to make an important impact on Vancouver’s art scene and community at large.
Over the years, Centre A has worked with countless artists including Yoko Ono, Ho Tam, Vanessa Kwan, Young Hae Chang Heavy Industries, Hong Kong Exile, Samson Young, Khan Lee and Subodh Gupta. Additionally, we have collaborated with numerous organizations, locally and internationally, such as the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Or Gallery, the Vancouver Art Gallery, and Long March.
Centre A was founded in 1999 by Hank Bull (Founding Director), Zheng Shengtian and Stephanie Holmquist, who assembled an all-star board consisting of such distinguished figures as Milton Wong, Joanne Louie Mah, Joe Wai and Anndraya Luui. Through their, and subsequent boards’ leadership, as well as the contributions of our curators and directors (Sadira Rodrigues, Alice Ming Wai Jim, Makiko Hara, Haema Sivanesan, Tyler Russell, Henry Heng Lu, and Ellie Chung), and a robust list of donors, volunteers, interns and staff, Centre A continues to make an important impact on Vancouver’s art scene and community at large.
Over the years, Centre A has worked with countless artists including Yoko Ono, Ho Tam, Vanessa Kwan, Young Hae Chang Heavy Industries, Hong Kong Exile, Samson Young, Khan Lee and Subodh Gupta. Additionally, we have collaborated with numerous organizations, locally and internationally, such as the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Or Gallery, the Vancouver Art Gallery, and Long March.
