The Columbia Valley Arts Council has been championing the arts in the valley for more than four decades.  Their focus is on providing a strong support to the area artists and artisans while cultivating in the public an awareness of the wealth of talented artists with whom the valley is blessed and the many forms of art they create.

The arts council began with the efforts of a group of local artists plus representatives of the Windermere Valley Historical Society, a choir and supporters of the Kootenay Chamber Orchestra. They came together in order to co-ordinate all the artistic activities in the area between Canal Flats and Spillimacheen.

The council was formally registered in 1978 and has been growing and evolving ever since, bringing the public and the artists in all media together in mutual appreciation of the many forms in which creativity presents itself.

Today, the Columbia Valley Arts Council makes its home in the 100+ year-old Pynelogs Cultural Centre on the shores of Lake Windermere in Invermere. It brings to the Columbia Valley community, festivals, concerts, the Cinefest independent film series, art tours and workshops annually. It also showcases the paintings, drawings, photography, pottery and more, of valley artists in more than 15 art exhibitions in the Pynelogs Art Gallery each year.