1995 – The Shadbolt Centre opened in 1995 and received a Canadian Wood Council Award of Merit for its creative design using wood and stone.
1995 – The very first event was a show at the gallery, “In Celebration — Artists and Community”. This was in the fall of 1995, and the artists represented in the show were people who had been instructors or staff at the Burnaby Arts Centre. Gary Ouimet, Anne Quigley, Philip Aird, Joe Haag, Sheila Cano, and many others had work in the show. Many of these people continue to work and support the Shadbolt Centre.
1996 – Inaugural Seasonal Celebration event held at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts.
1997 – BC Summer Games Directors choose Shadbolt Centre for the Arts as focal point for the Summer Games Athletes. Burnaby Discovery Day Festival was held as an integral component of the 1997 Burnaby Summer Games Village. Over 15,000 attendees were on site over a two-day period. A Grand Finale seven minute fireworks extravaganza was orchestrated on Deer Lake with the VSO’s final piece, the 1812 Overture. The Summer Games Village event also included a parade, many musical performances on a main stage, and an artisan’s bazaar.
1999 – Opening of expanded ceramic facilities, including an addition to the existing kiln shed, fully equipped additional wheel and sculpture studios, and a new gas car kiln and raku kiln.
2000 – Weekend-long Cultural Services Millennium celebrations including two new Cultural Services community festivals in addition to the VSO and Discovery Day; the inaugural year of the Burnaby Blues & Roots Festival (Deer Lake Blues Festival in its inaugural year), and the Night of Lights Lantern Festival. Visitors and participants included residents from our sister cities in Gatineau, PQ, Mesa, Arizona and Kushiro, Japan.
Ceramics Department presents International Ceramics Symposium featuring prominent world renowned national, regional, and international ceramic artists.
Community Clay Project – Burnaby artist Keith Rice Jones co-ordinated 500 participants from local schools, facilities, and community groups and individual artists, to create 204 images depicting Burnaby’s Past, Present and Future on to 3, 14-foot high clay poles (located on the West Entrance of the Shadbolt Centre).
2001 – Designed specifically for the Deer Lake site, Japanese kiln builder Masakazu Kusakabe builds a two-chamber, Bourry Box Wood/Soda kiln, naming it "Ombu“, meaning "piggy-back” (because the soda chamber in the back draws heat from the wood firing chamber in the front of the kiln).
1st Bi-Annual “Bowl Throwing Competition” featured 15 renowned BC Potters, throwing a total of 700 bowls in 1 hour and 20 minutes, in support of the Empty Bowls Fundraising event, also held at the Shadbolt Centre. This event raises money to help alleviate child hunger in Burnaby.
2002 – Ceramic Department presents 2nd International Ceramics Symposium, featuring prominent world renowned national, regional, and international ceramic artists.
Floor Mural Project: In partnership with the newly renovated Lougheed Town Centre, Shadbolt staff worked with 6 ceramic artists to create a 24-foot diameter, circular mosaic floor medallion. The theme of “Celebrating the Arts in our Community” it featured images of theatre, dance, visual arts, music, and the Shadbolt Centre, with each section separated by trees.
2003 – The Empty Bowls Competition is a unique fundraiser; funds raised helped alleviate child hunger in our community.
2004 – 3rd Annual International Ceramics Symposium, featuring prominent world renowned national, regional, and international ceramic artists. The reconstruction of a concert bowl in Deer Lake Park begins.
2005 – Partnership with House of Blues Concerts featuring major sold out shows in Deer Lake Park including Black Eyed Peas, Jack Johnson, and Michael Buble. The Neville Brothers headline the 6th Annual Blues & Roots Festival.
The Empty Bowls Competition is a unique fundraiser; funds raised helped alleviate child hunger in our community.
“It’s a wonderful place to sit and relax. It’s very comfortable. We always say, if you have to wait somewhere, this is the place to be.”
- Anne Brody, dance parent
