The Cannery’s Youth Leadership Team Visits VAG

Here is the final entry in the blog series by our Society’s Youth Leadership Volunteers.  Thank you Hania and Jason, for your contributions to the Cannery’s marketing activities. Enjoy Hania’s description of the Youth Leaders’ final field trip, to the Vancouver Art Gallery. 

The Cannery’s Youth Leadership Team’s visited the Vancouver Art Gallery on a crisp Sunday afternoon, marking their last field trip as a group. Our past explorations included Steveston’s multiple heritage sites, and an educational history walk through Chinatown. This visit to the Vancouver Art Gallery was the most ‘traditional’ field trip the members went on. Only half of the volunteers were able to make it this time, but it was still very exciting.

On the way there, the students discussed questions to seek answers for while viewing the exhibits, such as: what is it about, and who is its audience?  After a quick stop at the cafe for a delicious lunch, they were now fully prepared to explore the museum!

The three exhibits were very different, with the current featured art history exhibit being the most ‘expected’ typical art gallery experience, the second – a contemporary exhibit – was extremely interactive, and the third – a photography exhibit- being very progressive. After the team viewed the three main exhibits together, they branched out to explore on their own.

After the visit, the group gathered to discuss more about the components of a museum, like why having a cafe might add to the experience, and what thoughts might be going on behind the scenes. Over the course of these three very different field trips, the youth volunteers learned what pushes the boundaries of what might be considered a ‘stereotypical’ museum.

Thank you Hania for all of your blog contributions this past year. We hope that all of you will be able to apply your newfound knowledge and experiences into your future studies and careers. We wish you all the best and hope to see you again soon at the Cannery! We thank the Richmond Community Foundation for their generous grant which allowed us to offer this program.