The Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association is going to give an award to Vancouver Art Gallery director Kathleen S. Bartels--both for the crowds she's drawn to the 'hood, as well as for her push to place its new building there.

She's been selected for the group's appreciation award for outstanding indviduual, recognizing her contribution to the city's core.

The award will be presented as part of the association’s annual general meeting on Thursday (June 180 at the Vancouver Convention Centre, where it will celebrate its 25th anniversary.

As Director of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Kathleen Bartels has led the 84-year old institution through a period of unprecedented growth since joining in 2001. Her artistic direction has resulted in a transformation of the Gallery’s programming, melding a dynamic mix of contemporary and historical exhibitions that bring the best of the art world to Vancouver, and the best of Vancouver to the world.

“Under Ms. Bartel’s leadership, the Vancouver Art Gallery has experienced significant growth in its membership, art collection, and institutional endowment,” Peter Raptis, chair of the DVBIA, said in the press announcement today. “The exhibitions organized by the Gallery attract hundreds of thousands of people to downtown each and every year. We all fondly remember the line-ups of people during landmark exhibitions such as Leonardo da Vinci: The Mechanics of Man (2010), Douglas Coupland: everywhere is anywhere is anything is everything (2014) and the more recent Cézanne and the Modern: Masterpieces of European Art from the Pearlman Collection (2015). Most impressive is Ms. Bartels' tenacity and the work she has done to date to provide a much needed new home for the Gallery. We share her passion to provide people opportunities to experience art. We believe this experience needs to be downtown and we thank Ms. Bartels for championing this project in the heart of the city.”

“I look forward to working together with this community in realizing our vision for a new, purpose-built Vancouver Art Gallery that will enhance this city’s cultural landscape and reputation as a vibrant, creative and desirable place to live, work and visit," Bartels said in the statement.