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City grants $20,000 to Grand Forks Art Gallery for upgrades

The money will be used to leverage additional provincial funding
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Gallery 2 will be upgrading the HVAC system in the old courthouse building after receiving funds from the City of Grand Forks on Aug. 17. (Grand Forks Gazette Fil Photo)

Gallery 2 in Grand Forks will have a leg up when it starts applying for grants this year.

Grand Forks council will allow the art gallery to use $20,000 in capital funds as leverage for applying for funding to upgrade their HVAC systems and public washrooms.

The renovations are planned to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 by improving control over the airflow in the 1911 courthouse building the gallery currently occupies.

The money was already budgeted to the gallery for upgrading the HVAC systems, and with the approval of the council, that money will be used to apply for fund-matching grants from BC Gaming Capital for up to an additional $80,000 in funding.

That $80,000 would go towards renovating all four of the gallery’s public washrooms. The bathrooms would be redone, with new tiling, flooring, touchless fixtures, new lighting, and ventilation. The ventilation upgrades are especially important for the two main floor washrooms, as they currently do not exhaust outside the building.

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In previous years, the gallery has applied for similar grants from BC Gaming Capital, which offered dollar-to-dollar matching investment. The grants the gallery are currently applying for are special for COVID-19, with a higher rate of return for invested money.

Even if the gallery does not receive the additional funding, they will still recieve the $20,000 to upgrade the HVAC systems.



Brennan.Phillips@grandforksgazette.ca

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Brennan Phillips

About the Author: Brennan Phillips

Brennan was raised in the Okanagan and is thankful every day that he gets to live and work in one of the most beautiful places in Canada.
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