Burlington, ON. May 29, 2013. The Burlington Art Centre announces the appointment of Denis Longchamps as Director of Programs. Longchamps replaces George Wale, who is retiring from the position after 27 years of exemplary service to the BAC during which time he built an outstanding ceramics collection.
Longchamps comes to Burlington after serving as Manager of Exhibitions and Publications at The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery in St. John’s, Newfoundland. He brings a passion for his curatorial work, which bridges both contemporary art and craft practices.
Longchamps created the Craft Journal (craftjournal.ca), which he edits and publishes semi-annually.
Longchamps studied Art History at York University before moving to Concordia in Montreal, where he received a Masters and PhD in Art History.
Longchamps will oversee the BAC’s Programs department, including the planning and implementation of 20 exhibitions and related receptions and artists’ talks; 200 studio courses for adults and children every year; the Permanent Collection, which now numbers over 2,000 contemporary Canadian ceramic artworks; and guild-related programs with seven juried exhibitions each year. The role also involves mentorship and professional development programs and special projects.
“Denis’ proven experience in exhibitions, education and collections will be a great addition to the BAC’s Program team,” says Ian Ross, Executive Director of the BAC. “His strong connections in the art scene will build on the BAC’s solid foundation to increase its profile in Burlington, the Halton region and across Canada.”
That experience may become very useful to Burlington and the evolution of the Art Centre as the city looks at its cultural assets and thinks forward about how to best manage them and get full value for what we have.
There has been more than one conversation about re-locating the Art Centre from its site on Lakeshore Road to a possible new structure in the downtown core. Some at city hall believe that the value of the land the Art Centre sits on could be realized if it were sold and used to develop additional condominium housing – the site is certainly well suited to that.
The $6 million the property is said to be worth would go a long way to building a structure that could house a truly superb Art Centre.
Denis Longchamps may be part of a very significant change to the arts community in this city.
At a recent council committee meeting earlier this week General Manager, Budget and Corporate Affairs Kim Phillips advised that the cultural plan expected in June will not be ready – then – it has been pushed back to the fall.