The Yukon Arts Centre (YAC) an

arts centre An art centre or arts center is distinct from an art gallery or art museum. An arts centre is a functional community centre with a specific remit to encourage arts practice and to provide facilities such as theatre space, gallery space, venues for ...

and

gallery Gallery or The Gallery may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Art gallery ** Contemporary art gallery Music * Gallery (band), an American soft rock band of the 1970s Albums * ''Gallery'' (Elaiza album), 2014 album * ''Gallery'' (Gr ...

located in

Whitehorse Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas ...

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

, Canada. The art centre opened in May 1992 and contains a 428-seat theatre, and a used to hosts arts performances and exhibitions. The arts centre permanent collection of visual art includes over 100 works from artists throughout

northern Canada Northern Canada, colloquially the North or the Territories, is the vast northernmost region of Canada variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three Provinces_and_territories_of_Canada#Territories, territor ...

History

Prior to the completion of the Yukon Arts Centre, musical and theatre performances in

were typically conducted in borrowed spaces and venues; including the local courthouse, and in the gym of F. H. Collins Secondary School. In 1980 the Arts Canada North Society was established to advocate to the

federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

territorial A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

and municipal governments for an

. After nearly a decade of lobbying, all three levels of government provided million for the purposes of establishing a new arts venue. Two locations were initially proposed for the arts centre, along the riverfront in downtown Whitehorse, or adjacent to

Yukon University Yukon University (formerly Yukon College) is a public university in the Canadian territory of Yukon. The university main campus is based in Whitehorse, although the institution also operates 12 campuses throughout the territory. The university c ...

. The site adjacent to the college was selected after the territorial government provided a guarantee it would cover the centre's maintenance and operations costs for the building if it was situated there. In 1988, the territorial government passed the ''Arts Centre Act'', which confirmed that the territorial government would own the facility the art centre operated out of, and it would pay for the building's maintenance. The Yukon Arts Centre was formally opened into the public on 29 May 1992. In 2007 the arts centre hosted arts performances at the Old Fire Hall in downtown Whitehorse. In April 2008, the Yukon Arts Centre announced it formed a partnership with the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce to use the Old Fire Hall as a year-round venue to host events organized by the arts centre. In 2016, the

Magnetic North Theatre Festival The Magnetic North Theatre Festival is an annual festival celebrating theatre and related performing arts in Canada operated by the Canadian Theatre Festival Society in partnership with the National Arts Centre. The festival is held Ottawa every ...

was held in Whitehorse, with the Yukon Arts Centre named a presenting partner for the festival. In the same year, the Yukon Arts Centre opened an art gallery and storefront in

Carcross Carcross, originally known as Caribou Crossing, ( tli, Nadashaa Héeni) is an unincorporated community in Yukon, Canada, on Bennett Lake and Nares Lake. It is home to the Carcross/Tagish First Nation. It is south-southeast by the Alaska Highway ...

, in partnership with the

Tagish The Tagish or Tagish Khwáan ( Tagish: ; tli, Taagish ḵwáan) are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group that lived around Tagish Lake and Marsh Lake, in Yukon of Canada. The Tagish intermarried heavily with ...

First Nation.

Building

The Yukon Arts Centre is located southeast of Yukon University's main campus in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. The facility houses a theatre for arts performances, and an

art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own Collection (artwork), collection. It might be in public or private ownership and may be accessible to all or have restrictions in place. A ...

. Situated off centre to the building, the theatre features 306 seats on its main level, 112 seats on its balcony, and 10 spaces for wheelchairs. The stage itself is and has a depth of . A loading dock at the back of the theatre stage provides immediate outdoor access from the stage. In addition to the main theatre, other facilities used by arts performers include the green room, studio rehearsal theatre, and dressing rooms. The building also contains an art museum with three galleries; encompassing of floor space. Other facilities in the building includes a bar station, community gallery space, and offices.

Operations

A number of arts exhibitions relating to music, the performing arts, and visual arts are organized and hosted at the Yukon Arts Centre; including several

travelling exhibition A travelling exhibition, also referred to as a "travelling exhibit" or a "touring exhibition", is a type of exhibition that is presented at more than one venue. Temporary exhibitions can bring together objects that might be dispersed among severa ...

s. The arts centre also funds several other programs, including an

artist-in-residence Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...

program at the arts centre, known as ''@YAC Residency''.

Permanent collection

The art centre also has a permanent collection that includes over 100 works from artists in

. The permanent collection was started by the arts centre in 1995. Approximately 80 per cent of the arts centre's collection is held in a climate-controlled storage facility, although the entire collection has been made available for viewing online since December 2016. In addition to the Yukon Arts Centre's permanent collection, the storage facility also contain works from the

Yukon Permanent Art Collection The Yukon Permanent Art Collection is the permanent art collection of the Yukon Government. Works from the Yukon Permanent Art Collection are exhibited in Yukon Government buildings throughout the Yukon, and occasionally loaned to exhibitions. Curr ...

, an art collection owned by the government of Yukon. The storage facility holds approximately 300 works from YPAC not on display in government buildings.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yukon Arts Centre Buildings and structures in Whitehorse Arts centres in Canada Museums in Yukon Culture of Whitehorse Art museums and galleries in Canada 1993 establishments in Canada