Michael Audain’s $5-million gift to Emily Carr, through the Audain Foundation for the Visual Arts, will create an enhanced visual arts learning environment offering a studio-based education reflective of the diversity and complexity of contemporary art. The Audain School of Visual Arts will be a cornerstone for the new Emily Carr Great Northern Way Campus.

The School will be a space where future generation of artists will have the facilities, tools and opportunity to gain the knowledge they need to meet and exceed their potential as visionaries. It will encompass the Faculty of Visual Art + Material Practice and house studio-based areas of study, including Painting, Ceramics, Print Media, Illustration, Photography, Sculpture and Drawing. It will attract and inspire the very best visual arts practitioners from around the world, and will be a global centre for transforming artistic paradigms.

“Emily Carr University of Art + Design is indisputably the best art school in Canada and a major reason why Vancouver has become such an internationally important centre for visual arts over the last few decades,” says Michael Audain. “With this grant from our family foundation, I’m helping to kick off Emily Carr University’s capital campaign. We hope that individuals and businesses quickly climb aboard with their support.”

“Michael’s extraordinary contribution to Emily Carr is a testament to the importance of art and the artist in creating vibrant and thriving communities,” says Dr. Ron Burnett, President + Vice-Chancellor, Emily Carr. “This historic support is a transformational gift that moves us one step closer to our new state-of-the-art campus at Great Northern Way and we are grateful to Michael for his vision and generosity.”

The Faculty of Visual Art + Material Practice is world-renowned for fostering leading international artistic talent — putting Vancouver and Canada on the map. Alumni and faculty work is exhibited and held in the collections of galleries such as the National Art Gallery of Canada, Vancouver Art Gallery, National Gallery London, Museum of Modern Art, New York, and Tate Modern, UK. Award-winning alumni include: Marianne Nicholson, Attila Richard Lukacs, Corin Sworn, Brian Jungen, Gareth Moore, Gordon Smith, Geoffrey Farmer, Angela Grossmann, Steven Shearer, and Sonny Assu.