Arts Umbrella has just announced the new name of its theatre and music department, to be opened along with its new Granville Island facility in late 2020.

The Robert M. Ledingham School of Theatre & Music comes as a result of architect and heritage planner Robert Lemon making a $2-million contribution to the Arts Umbrella Building Campaign in the name of his late partner (who went by the name Bob). Ledingham, a renowned Vancouver interior designer, died in 2013.

To celebrate Ledingham's lifelong appreciation of theatre and passion for education, the facility will provide young people with training opportunities in everything from stage, set, and costume design to acting, cinematography, and writing. It is to be led by artistic director Paul Moniz de Sá.

“Arts Umbrella has been serving young people through arts education for 40 years,” said Arts Umbrella president and CEO Paul Larocque in the press announcement today. “We are thrilled to expand our Theatre & Music department when we open the doors to our new building on Granville Island in 2020. To do so in Bob Ledingham’s name is such an honour, and we cannot wait to introduce more young people to the joy of theatre.”

"The studios, workshop, and performance spaces in this new building represent the next chapter of enriching our programs for young people interested in theatre, film, and music," said Moniz de Sá in the same announcement.

Ledingham grew up in Saskatoon and went to the University of Manitoba’s School of Interior Design in the 1960s. 

He moved to Vancouver in 1968, later opening a modern furniture store in Gastown called Labyrinth. Later he started his interior design firm, Ledingham Design Consultants, and went on to design projects here and in the U.S., including rooms for such hotels as the Pan Pacific in Vancouver and Whistler, and sleek West Coast homes.

“Bob has always been invested in education, the arts, and live performance,” said Lemon in today's announcement. “When I heard about the Arts Umbrella building project, I knew this was a unique opportunity to create a legacy in Bob’s name and provide young people with access to the programs and performances that he so loved.”

Arts Umbrella's new 50,000-square-foot building is located directly across from Arts Umbrella’s smaller main facility on Granville Island, at 1400 Johnston Street. Housed in a former Emily Carr University of Art and Design building, it boasts six dance studios;  four theatre and music studios; 10 art and design studios; a 145-seat professional theatre; a public exhibition gallery; and new workshop spaces. The renovation to the four-floor building is being designed Henriquez Partners Architects, based on the early-1990s design by Patkau Architects.

The site’s capacity for in-house and public performances will mark big growth for the theatre program. Workers are putting in a box office at the entrance to the building, and the theatre will provide for year-round programming—also as a venue for dance.

Arts Umbrella hopes to begin programming there in late 2020.