Daina Augaitis

Daina Augaitis is Chief Curator Emerita at the Vancouver Art Gallery where she was the Chief Curator/Associate Director from 1996-2017 when she oversaw the exhibiting, collecting, publishing and interpreting activities of the museum that were produced collaboratively with a remarkable group of colleagues. In 2019-2020 she served as the institution’s Interim Director. Throughout, she held a strong belief in creating programs that positioned the local—including historical and contemporary Indigenous art—within an international context, particularly art from Asia. She was formerly Curator at Walter Phillips Gallery and Director of Visual Arts at the Banff Centre where she curated many exhibitions that extended beyond the limits of the gallery, commissioned artworks, and oversaw artist residencies. Prior to that, she held positions at Western Front (Vancouver), London Regional Art Gallery, Franklin Furnace (New York) and Convertible Showroom (Vancouver). Her exhibitions have toured nationally and internationally, and she has edited and contributed to numerous catalogues and anthologies. She has been recognized with a Governor General’s Outstanding Contribution Award in Visual and Media Art (2025), Alvin Balkind Curator’s Prize (2023), and Hnatyshyn Foundation Award for Curatorial Excellence in Contemporary Art (2014). She is grateful to live and work on the unceded lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.