The upcoming opening of the Winnipeg Art Gallery's Inuit Art Centre this fall will also see the inception of a new restaurant, which the WAG promises will itself be "art-infused."

Sparrow Hotels will operate the upcoming café, which has not yet been named. It will have indoor and outdoor seating spaces and will be licensed, in addition to featuring a full menu for catering, the WAG announced Tuesday.

Gallery director and CEO Stephen Borys said bridging the new food services with the city's cultural institutions is unavoidable. "For me, it's a basic need," he said.

"Food brings people together, art brings people together, and when you have both at a high level, high quality, in the same building, it's a very good dynamic."

Between the indoor space and the summer and fall patio, Borys said it will provide a year-round place for the community to gather.

"The consumption of art is physically, emotionally, intellectually exciting, sometimes demanding, invigorating, and it's wonderful when you can also have, in an art museum, a great place for food, for drink and for relaxation," Borys said.

The new food establishment will be on the main level of the Inuit Art Centre, which is currently under construction at the corner of St. Mary Avenue and Memorial Boulevard and is expected to house the largest public collection of contemporary Inuit art in the world.

Local business Sparrow Hotels is cooking up plans to bring a new café and catering services to the Winnipeg Art Gallery and its upcoming Inuit Art Centre. (Submitted by Winnipeg Art Gallery)

The previous restaurant on the existing WAG building's penthouse level was permanently shut down when construction of the new art centre began in May 2018. That dining area on the gallery's fourth floor is being transformed into digital media suites.

Winnipeg-based Sparrow Hotels — which is the business behind Inn at the Forks', Smith restaurant, Mere Hotel and the newly revamped Norwood Hotel — took over the gallery's food and catering services in November.

Sparrow Hotels was selected to manage the gallery's food services in a deal that is similar to the arrangement between Canadian Museum for Human Rights and its catering company, the WAG said.

The hotel's CEO said the plans are currently not thematically connected to the gallery and centre.

"Our concepts are just under construction," Ben Sparrow said. The first round of temporary menus that will be used for special events held at the gallery leading up to the grand opening of the café still need finishing touches, he said.

"This is a perfect opportunity, with the Inuit art gallery, for someone new to come in and bring some new life."

The new restaurant is set to open, along with the Inuit Art Centre, in late fall 2020.