Reach Gallery Museum
The Reach Gallery Museum is located on Veterans Way just east of City Hall at the Abbotsford municipal complex. This museum, which opened in 2008, is housed in a 20,000-square-foot LEED-certified building.
Visitors of the museum can browse permanent and rotating exhibits on its 6,100-square feet gallery. The museum’s displays feature not only local and regional themes but also content national in nature.
The Reach is an award-winning museum. Voices of the Valley, its permanent exhibit received in 2016 a Governor General’s History Award for Excellence in Community Programming.
Through this exhibit, museum visitors can learn about the events and personalities that shaped the region since its early settlement. The exhibit tell the region’s story via historical artifacts, archival materials, and photos. These are presented through the perspective of the characters who have shaped the region’s historical events. Touchscreen tablets throughout the exhibit help visitor understanding of the displays.
Through these interactive devices, you can better appreciate the multiple viewpoints of the Voices of the Valley presents. In the display about draining the Sumas Lake, for example, you’ll see how the region’s settlers benefitted from it agriculturally. On the same breadth, you can examine how the draining of the lake proved disastrous to the region’s natives.
Visitors of the Reach also have the opportunity to view in the museum’s gallery the artworks of budding talents of the Fraser Valley. The museum runs a program called Emerge enabling aspiring art professionals and artists from 16 to 30 years old.
Through this program, the museum not only provides a venue for the exhibits of these emerging talents. It also initiates ways for them develop their talents by learning from established artists.
In this connection, the Reach Gallery Museum offers a Community Art Space program open to artists and community groups. Successful program applicants can display their artworks for two months in the museum’s studio space. They also get marketing sponsorship during their exhibit.
The museum’s art initiatives plus its permanent exhibits ensure a year-round program schedule for the Reach. As a result, the Reach has become a cultural hub of the Fraser Valley.
Next in this series you can learn about Fishtrap Creek Park.