From left; Trico Communities President Patrick Chiu
National accessArts Centre President and CEO Jung-Suk Ryu, National accessArts supporter Gerald Chipeur, National accessArts board chair Stephanie Chipeur and National accessArts board member Jody Lynn Roll pose with a rendering of the new state-of-the-art visual arts learning centre supporting Canadian artists with disabilities. (photo courtesy National accessArt)
The National accessArts Centre (NaAC) has released plans for a new location, according to a story in the Calgary Herald.
The facility, to be named the Trico Communities Accessible Arts Centre, will be located in Scouts Hall in northwest Calgary and will be “dedicated to supporting artists living with disabilities,” according to the Herald story.
The announcement included news of funding from Trico Communities, according to NaAC president and CEO Jung-Suk Ryu. “This investment gives our project a huge boost forward in building a state-of-the-art learning facility for Canadian artists living with disabilities,” Ryu told the Herald.
Canada’s oldest and largest disability arts organization, the NaAC was founded in 1975 as In-Definite Arts Society. It merged with Momo Movement and Artistic Expressions in 2020 to create NaAC. It provides artistic training, exhibition opportunities and more for artists living with developmental, physical and acquired disabilities and it supports more than 300 artists through online programs, workshops and more.
The NaAC currently has space in Calgary and at the Won Lee Community Arts Hub in Toronto. The new Calgary location will be located in the Scouts Hall. Built in 1967, it was vacated by the Scouts in 2021 and is now owned by the City of Calgary, which has committed a multimillion dollar investment in upgrades. When it opens, it will become “North America’s first accessible, disability-focused arts learning campus,” according to the NaAC website.
Sources: Calgary Herald, NaAC