The National Arts Centre (NAC) mourns the passing of Yulanda Faris, a champion for the arts in Vancouver for more than 40 years, a member of the NAC’s Board of Trustees, and recipient of the 2010 Governor General’s Award for Voluntarism in the Performing Arts.

Mrs. Faris represented British Columbia on the NAC’s Board of Trustees and was a passionate advocate of artists not only in her region but across the country.

“Yulanda believed in artists and supported their development across many different art forms including opera, dance, the visual arts, and literature,” said Peter Herrndorf, President and CEO of the National Arts Centre. “She and her husband Moh took great care to champion young people through arts education and professional training opportunities. Yulanda’s warm and generous spirit lifted all of our work on the NAC’s Board of Trustees. We extend our condolences to her family. We will miss her very much.”

Yulanda Faris discovered her passion for the arts as a young girl in Jamaica. Her love of the arts and of family were beautifully captured by the National Film Board of Canada’s short biographical film presented in 2010 at the National Arts Centre as part of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards Gala, when Yulanda and her husband Mohammed Faris received the Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Voluntarism in the Performing Arts. 

You can view the film here: https://www.nfb.ca/film/when_you_give_of_yourself  

Yulanda Faris also received the City of Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Award for the Arts (2008) and the Minerva Foundation for BC Women in Music Award (2007).

Yulanda Faris and her husband, a professional engineer and real estate developer, have served on numerous community boards. Together, they were instrumental in establishing the Scotiabank Dance Centre, a stunning $11 million facility that provides Vancouver’s diverse dance community with a home of its own. Opened in 2001, the centre includes the 150 seat Faris Family Studio.