The Gordon and Marion Smith Foundation for Young Artists was founded in 2002 to establish an endowment fund, the interest from which would fund ongoing visual arts enrichment opportunities for the children of British Columbia. The endowment is held and managed by the Vancouver Foundation. The Foundation’s role has evolved to include the presentation of a diverse and accessible range of visual arts programming and the curation of high profile exhibitions at the Gordon Smith Gallery of Canadian Art.

The Foundation is named after two champions of the arts and art education in Canada – Gordon A. Smith and his late wife, Marion.