The AGO will be making changes to its hours of operation, effective November 2015.  The change will coincide with the public opening of our exhibition M.W. Turner: Painting Set Free.

These hours have been approved by both the Strategic Directions and the Finance committees of the Board of Trustees and were the result of the thorough and thoughtful work of the Hours of Operation Working Group, co-chaired by Herman Lo and Sean O’Neill, along with Vivian Chiu, Carlos Mera, Cindy O and Steve Rayment.

Our new hours will be as follows:

 

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Closed	10:30 – 5:00	10:30 – 9:00	10:30 – 5:00	10:30 – 9:00	10:30 – 5:30	10:30 – 5:30

 

Making the AGO more accessible to new audiences was identified as a major initiative for Grow our Audience in the 2015-2018 Strategic Plan. One way to increase accessibility is to update our hours of operation to better reflect when people would like to come to the Gallery. Leadership Team heard this from staff, volunteers and stakeholders during the strategic plan consultation process.

The research and analysis done by the Hours of Operation Working Group has indicated that these hours are the best fit for the AGO and for our visitors. Their research included:

• Environmental Scan– reviewing the hours of selected museums and galleries across North America and all Toronto cultural attractions
• Visitor Ticketing Data– reviewing the AGO attendance patterns since 2012
• Visitor and Market Research– conducting in-Gallery surveys, an email survey and focus groups
• Operational Impacts– exploring the effect of various scenarios on building operations and scheduling
• Financial Analysis– assessing the financial impact of various scenarios

The AGO will be opening at 10:30 am from Tuesday through Sunday.

An additional night will be added – Friday night – and the decision was made to close at 9pm on Wednesday and Friday. Wednesday nights will continue to be free to the public.

The closing time on Tuesday and Thursday will now be 5 pm, and Saturday and Sunday will remain the same, closing at 5:30 pm.

It’s important to note that the number of open hours per week with these new hours will remain the same (48 hours), making this recommendation financially neutral.

An implementation team, co-chaired by Herman Lo and Sean O’Neill, has been struck to develop an implementation strategy that will include working through operational questions, consulting with colleagues and creating a plan that will effectively operationalize and communicate the changes both internally and externally. The team’s Leadership Team sponsor is Judy Koke.

The new hours of operation will be announced publicly sometime this fall. Until then, our materials will continue to publicize our current hours of operation. Stay tuned for more information about a public launch. Please keep this information confidential until the news is made public.

In order to grow our audience, the AGO needed to respond to the changing competitive environment. Changing hours of operation is one way to increase our reach, but there is more to do. Leadership Team looks forward to working with you to continue to implement our Strategic Plan.