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The Thunder Bay Art Gallery received two six-figure donations to its community capital campaign on Thursday as the new waterfront gallery is still eyeing a 2026 opening.
The Port Arthur Rotary Club and Fort William Rotary Club each donated $100,000 to the project that is expected to cost more than $55 million.
Fort William Rotary Club president Glenn Craig said the club made a commitment of donating $100,000 to the new art gallery, which has now been fulfilled.
“We like to support all aspects of the community — health, social services, food insecurity,” Craig said. “The arts are also a big part of it.”
The Port Arthur Rotary Club chose the gallery to donate to as its centennial project, and past president, Shelley Crawford, said they were able to raise the $100,000 over the last four years.
The waterfront gallery project fit many criteria the club looks for when selecting projects to support, including education, diversity and inclusion, and children.
Economic development is another area of focus.
“No question in this case, with this beautiful iconic site, this beautiful award-wining architecture, this is going to be a mecca for tourists and for visitors locally and regionally,” Crawford said.
Thunder Bay Art Gallery executive director Matthew Hills spoke of the value of the partnership the gallery has with the two service clubs.
“They committed to this level of support early on and that kind of commitment led us to build momentum to realizing the gallery,” Hills said. “We hope it’s the beginning of an ongoing partnership in support of realizing the gallery vision.”
Hills said construction on the gallery continues to progress, as well as its capital fundraising campaign.
The new gallery is still expected to open in 2026. However, Hills cautioned with major capital projects like the art gallery, anything can come up and timelines can change.
The total cost of the waterfront gallery is estimated to be about $55 million, and $47.5 million has been secured from various levels of government towards construction and the overall project cost.
The gallery started the second phase of its community capital campaign last fall. That campaign has a $5-million goal.
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