In the Spotlight
Canadian Canoe Museum Opening Delayed Until May 2024
Canadian Museum of History Acquires Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame Collection
Red Deer Museum + Art Gallery Receives Social Responsibility Award
Residential School Memorial Carving Arrives in Quebec After Multi-Stop Journey
West Baffin Cooperative Celebrating 65th Anniversary in 2024
Vancouver Art Gallery begins new build with a Ground Awakening Ceremony
New Executive Directors appointed for the Ontario Museums Association and National Trust for Canada
Canadian Canoe Museum Opening Delayed Until May 2024
Front view of the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre. Photo – Government of Yukon.
The Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough, Ontario announced in September that its new facility's opening date has been delayed. The museum was originally slated to open in the fall of 2023, but construction-related issues — including supply chain disruptions, material and labour availability, and scheduling — have added months to the development of the new space. The previous site closed, which used to be an Outboard Marine Corporation factory, closed in September of 2022. Despite the change in launch dates, the museum has already moved more than 100 canoes and kayaks to the new facility, and work continued on moving the remaining 500 collection's remaining paddlecraft. Once open, the new museum will offer 90-minute canoe tours, rentals, courses and camps for adults and children, a workshop, in addition to exhibition space. A grand opening is scheduled for May 11, 2024.
Canadian Museum of History Acquires Canada's Sports Hall of Fame Collection
In October, the Canadian Museum of History received the entirety of the collection of Calgary's Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, consisting of 100,000 objects and 60,000 archival records. The Hall of Fame closed its doors to the public in April 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. While digital offerings and educational programming were still possible, the sudden impossibility of in-person visits, as well as fundraising events and their fall induction gala, led the hall of fame's leadership to make the necessary decision to close. The spring fundraiser and fall gala alone would have generated $450,000 of revenue, so their cancellation was very sorely felt. Canada's Sports Hall of Fame had previously been located several Toronto locations before moving to Calgary in 2011 after a six-year period without a physical presence. The $30 million cost of building the Calgary location was shouldered by federal, provincial, and municipal governments, with each pitching in $15 million, $10 million, and $5 million, respectively. While admission fees represented a small portion of the Hall's revenue, it received an estimated 40,000 visitors in 2019. Canada's 2021 Federal Budget accorded $5 million dollars to the Canadian Museum of History so that it could acquire, safeguard, and preserve the collection.
Red Deer Museum + Art Gallery Receives Social Responsibility Award
Patrick Mitsuing, Marrisa Mitsuing, and museum staff Kim Verrier and Taylor Solberg receiving the Robert R. Janes Award for Social Responsibility at the Alberta Museums Association Award Ceremony (September 22, 2023) that took place at the Gasoline Alley Museum in Heritage Park Historical Village (Calgary, AB). Photo – Kim Verrier.
In September, the Alberta Museums Association awarded the Red Deer Museum + Art Gallery with the Robert R. Janes Award for Social Responsibility at a gala at Calgary's Gasoline Alley Museum. The award was given in recognition of its attention to social responsibility in its exhibitions, accessible programming, and providing what Chandra Kastern, MAG director of operations, called "an open, safe, inclusive, creative, and fun gathering place, reflective of the diversity within [its] community." Established in 2017, The Robert R. Janes Award aims to promote and recognize "the work of museums that are solving community issues and promoting health and well-being." In a release, AMA Executive Director/CEO Jennifer Forsyth stated “The Red Deer Museum + Art Gallery has built strong reciprocal relationships through years of deep and sustained intentional engagement. Demonstrating a commitment to holding space for underrepresented communities and their stories, the museum amplifies the diversity of central Alberta.”
Residential School Memorial Carving Arrives in Quebec After Multi-Stop Journey
A monument in memory of children who were taken from their families and placed in Canada's residential school system completed its journey from Vancouver Island to Gatineau, Quebec, in mid-October. The black 18-foot (5.5-metre) monument, weighing nearly 7,000 pounds (3175 kilograms), was carved by Kwakwaka’wakw artist Stanley C. Hunt and shows 130 faces across its surface, with each portrait outlined in orange lines. A carved raven sits atop the pole, cradling a seed in its beak, to “help call our children’s spirits home,” said Hunt in a statement. Completed in June, the carving made several stops along the way, including a month-long stay at Regina's RCMP Heritage Centre, where it was visible to mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30. During its stay in Regina, approximately 4,000 people visited the monument, including residential school survivors, 60s Scoop survivors, and Indigenous elders. Transportation and logistics were assisted by the Canadian Coast Guard and the RCMP. The monument is expected to be on display at the Canadian Museum of History starting in early 2024.
West Baffin Cooperative Celebrating 65th Anniversary in 2024
Vintage shot of the art studio at the West Baffin Cooperative. Photo – West Baffin Archives.
This year, the West Baffin Cooperative of Kinngait, Nunavut is celebrating its 65th anniversary with a full slate of exhibitions in Canada and abroad. Pauloosie Kowmageak, President of the West Baffin Cooperative, attributes this success to the strong community that has supported the Cooperative. “Our strength, resilience and ability to prosper is largely due to the support of the Kinngait community and the dedication of local artists.”
Founded in 1959 by the Inuit artist Kananginak Pootoogook and printmaker James Archibald Houston, the Cooperative stemmed from a printmaking studio intended as an alternative revenue generator during a decline in the fur trade in the region. Recently, it has taken renewed its model. “The Kinngait Studio facility was relaunched in 2018 as a state of the art venue, providing space and resources for our printmaking and drawing programs,” remarks Kowmageak. “Still community owned and Inuit-led, West Baffin Cooperative continues to provide a vital economy for the region and at the same time, robustly promoting exhibitions and sales of Inuit art from Kinngait all over the world.”
Kinngait Studios and West Baffin Cooperative Offices. Photo – West Baffin Archives.
The Cooperative’s annual print editions have been a mainstay of Canada's art landscape since the Cooperative's inception, and one of the prime movers in raising awareness of and interest in Inuit art nationally and internationally. Kowmageak attributes this to the mandate change by the Board of Directors in 2014. This new mandate stressed expanding opportunities for Cooperative staff domestically and internationally. “With that mandate, our staff have been able to motivate acquisitions of prints, drawing and sculpture by some of the most important private and public collections. We’ve also be able to find exhibition opportunities for our artists in place like New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Paris, London, Seoul, Warsaw, even twice at the Venice Biennale – and we’re certainly not done yet!”
Vancouver Art Gallery begins new build with a Ground Awakening Ceremony
The Vancouver Art Gallery held a special Ground Awakening Ceremony at the site for the new Vancouver Art Gallery at the Chan Centre for the Visual Arts. Pictured (left to right): Claire Chan, Chan Family Foundation; Mayor Ken Sim, City of Vancouver; Honourable Dr. Hedy Fry, Member of Parliament, Vancouver Centre - Government of Canada; Skwetsimeltxw, Willard “Buddy” Joseph, Vancouver Art Gallery Elderin- Residence, Erica Chan, Chan Family Foundation; David Calabrigo, Vancouver Art Gallery Association Board Chair; Premier David Eby, Government of British Columbia; Minister Lana Popham, Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport - Government of British Columbia; Anthony Kiendl, Vancouver Art Gallery CEO and Executive Director; Jan Wade, Artist; and Ian Wallace, Artist.s
In what is normally referred to as a groundbreaking ceremony, the Vancouver Art Gallery began much anticipated construction of their new building with a “ground awakening” ceremony. This ceremony marks the difference in approach that the Gallery is taking towards meaningful Indigenous self-determination as they build a new space. “By reimagining elements of the building with a group of artists—and keeping art and artists at the centre of everything we do—we start this process from a place of collaboration and community engagement” notes Anthony Kiendl, Executive Director and CEO of the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Rendering of the new Vancouver Art Gallery (Herzog & de Meuron, Perkins & Will, Vancouver Art Gallery).
The building’s exterior design embodies a Coast Salish worldview, inspired by traditional weaving practices and was informed through consultation with four local Indigenous artists representing the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations: Debra Sparrow, Skwetsimeltxw Willard “Buddy” Joseph, Hereditary Chief Chepximiya Siyam’ Janice George and Angela George. Kiendl elaborates that “the Gallery’s new building will provide an optimal platform to serve our audiences with newly commissioned works of art, exhibitions, programs and our celebrated permanent collection.”
The building is scheduled for completion in 2028. “Our goal is to redefine in a global context what an art museum can be in the 21st century” says Kiendl.
New Executive Directors appointed for the Ontario Museums Association and National Trust for Canada
Over the course of the Fall 2023, two heritage-based organizations have received new leadership.
Dr. Patricia Kell, who previously served as the Executive Director of Cultural Heritage at Parks Canada, will now lead the National Trust for Canada, a national charity dedicated to the conservation of Canada’s historic places. Dr. Kell also previously served in prestigious roles at the Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI) and the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN). She is replacing outgoing director, Natalie Bull.
The Ontario Museums Association also appointed a new Executive Director, Sandy Chan who comes from the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre in Toronto, where she served 14 years. She also has extensive experience overseas in Oceania and Asia and specializes in community development and team building. “Today, museums exist less as an independent entity, but more as a participant in an array of intersecting contexts. The Ontario Museum Association looks forward to working with the Canadian Museum Association and the wider community in navigating our roles in building a strong, thriving museum sector that enriches the lives of all Canadians,” states Chan.
Advertisement
