Two local businesses are teaming up to support one of their neighbours.
Piva Modern Italian and El Santo restaurants have joined forces to donate $15,000 to the New Media Gallery in Anvil Centre.
“Piva recognizes that New Media Gallery is one of a kind in the Lower Mainland,” said Christopher McFadden, Piva’s managing director. “We are lucky to have it in our community.”
New Media Gallery directors Sarah Joyce and Gordon Duggan were presented with the cheque by McFadden and Alejandro Diaz, managing director of El Santo.They were supported by Chef Subraaz Abdullah, a partner in Piva.
“I am happy to support New Media Gallery as it gives New West a unique identity and sense of pride,” Diaz said in a press release.“Art brings community members together to solve problems and build relationships; it makes us think more deeply.”
New Media Gallery, one of the most visited galleries in the Lower Mainland, features works by artists from around the world in free, ground-breaking exhibitions.
“A sincere thank you to these two extraordinary restaurants for reaching out to support a unique civic art gallery,” Duggan said. “Your generous donation will strengthen the gallery and significantly affect the continued development of our Learning Lab with enhanced arts and technology programming.”
The gallery provides children and adults with a chance to develop imaginative and critical thinking in the Learning Lab, a place where arts and technology thrive.
“We’re grateful that these two distinguished restaurants in New Westminster have come together to recognize the important contributions New Media Gallery has made in advancing world-class culture in the city,” Mayor Jonathan Cote said in a press release. “I’m excited to see how this investment will benefit New Media Gallery as it continues to pave the way with innovative arts and technology exhibitions and community programming.”
Diaz, a New West resident, was pleased that El Santo could partner with Piva to provide funds for the New Media Gallery.
“The community gives to you, you give back,” he told the Record.
A father of three, Diaz is impressed with the hands-on approach Duggan and Joyce have taken with the gallery.
“There is always something different,” he said. “You sometimes go to some galleries and it’s scary for kids, but they really make it friendly. Which other gallery would you have the people in charge of that going to every exhibit and telling you everything about every exhibition? Every time you go, they go to every space and they tell you everything about the exhibits.”
