By Lethbridge Herald on August 6, 2026.

Herald photo by Patrick Wachter

The team around the art gallery projects gets together for a group photo with construction hats on Wednesday

By Patrick Wachter

Lethbridge Herald

The Southern Alberta Art Gallery Maansiksikaitsitapiitsinikssin (SAAG) will undergo a major $7.714-million modernization and expansion project, the City of Lethbridge announced Wednesday.

The initiative is part of the city’s 2022 to 2031 Capital Improvement Program. It is supported primarily through federal and provincial grants, leaving local taxpayers to fund slightly more than six per cent of the total budget.

The revitalization project includes a new park-side entrance and patio connecting the gallery directly to Galt Gardens, an upgraded Lower Gallery meeting Class A standards, a mixed-use workshop, and an outdoor space called The Listening Garden. The project also introduces a third-party operated café and catering kitchen to help support the long-term sustainability of the gallery.

“We are excited to expand and revitalize the Gallery in a way that reflects our communities’ evolving needs,” says Su Ying Strang, Executive Director of SAAG. “This project creates a variety of new spaces to host our expanding and increasingly diverse audiences. Our vision is to create a welcoming hub centred in great art and wonderful hospitality. This project will help us grow our audiences, supporting our belief that art is for everyone.” 

Speaking to reporters, Mayor Blaine Hyggen praised the gallery for securing external funding to reduce the cost to municipal taxpayers.

“It is so often that when groups come looking for funding, we try to ask if there are other ways they can find matching funds and try to leverage some of those dollars,” Hyggen said. “The gallery has done exactly that. We could not be happier that we have a small part of the investment.”

Hyggen noted the importance of balancing investments between athletic and cultural infrastructure within the city, stating that there is no reason Lethbridge cannot support both to benefit the entire community.

Addressing public safety and downtown revitalization, Hyggen said adding vibrant community hubs helps displace concerns regarding safety in the downtown core, particularly around Galt Gardens.

“The more things you have like what the gallery is doing, the park, and the kids’ play center, this is what is going to change that whole idea of being an unsafe Galt Gardens,” Hyggen said. “Revitalization has done tremendous work bringing people back to the downtown core, which is the heart of our city.”

The project budget relies on $5.545 million from the Municipal Sustainability Initiative, $1 million from the Community Facility Enhancement Program, $500,000 from the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund, and additional support from the Travel Alberta Tourism Investment Program.

While the main building undergoes construction, gallery operations will continue across three temporary satellite spaces in Lethbridge: SAAG Acadia at 616 3 Avenue South, SAAG Express at 1409 Mayor Magrath Drive South, and SAAG x Excite at 101 Exhibition Way South.

The renovated gallery facility is scheduled to reopen to the public in the spring of 2028.

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