Hello Everyone,

• Georgiana Uhlyarik provided this audio file on how to pronounce the artists’ names and the title of the Tunirrusiangit exhibition. I found it useful and thought others would appreciate listening to it. Practice!

• We have amazing Facility Services staff at the AGO. Not only do they help with set-up and take-down of internal and external events nearly every day, they keep Kusama and all other gallery spaces looking sharp and welcoming. In addition, they facilitate multiple staff office moves. Thank you to Warren Wilson and Michelle Noel and the Facilities staff for the great care you take of our building, and in making all of us look good. Last week I spoke to one of the members of this team and she had walked more than 30,000 steps in the AGO that day!
• Last weekend I sent a communication about the Instagram post from Massive Illusion. It brings up many key and complex issues that we will need to unpack and engage with. Fortunately, the Town Hall meeting on May 15 has been structured to have a conversation about inclusion and diversity. Dr. Johnnetta Cole, a widely respected leader in this topic, will be joining me on stage in a conversation to answer questions. Dr. Cole was the director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African Art and former president of Spelman College, one of the premier institutions of higher education in the US based in Atlanta. All staff will have an opportunity to submit questions ahead of time.

Special note:

I wanted to share a couple of thoughts about the images from Massive Illusion – for me, they have certainly caused some soul searching and deepened my resolve.

The party happened last Thursday evening and I left on the early side as I had a 5:00 am flight to Philadelphia for a quick work-related day trip last Friday. I left the party pleased with the event – after all it was sold out, guests were having a grand time, and the hard work of many had come together.

It was on Saturday morning that I was first alerted that there was a problem. I saw just one image and knew it was actually a crisis. Not just a PR crisis but something much deeper. The image was a person dressed in what seemed to be a parody of traditional East Asian head attire at the party. It just read racist and seemed to be designed for entertainment. My gut reaction was we needed to react fast – the image spoke for itself and it was offensive. Lisa Clements saw the image and drafted a strong apology that was released on social media – no halfway semi-apology, just a clear message that a major screw-up had happened. Many in the public had seen the image on social media already but many, many more had not. We felt strongly that regardless of what we learned on Monday, we could not defend the image and we owed an apology. Racist images do hurt and I’m sorry this came out of the AGO.

Of course, I had the same questions many of you had. I had a briefing before the event and had seen selected images of the work by all of the artists, and nothing I saw suggested something like this was planned. I wondered, how could something like this be approved? Indeed it was not approved (the artist seems to have added the hats as a late addition largely for aesthetic reasons – not aware how they would radically shift the meaning – the artist had no intention of sending a racist message).

While there are a ton of theoretical questions, I am much more interested in what can we learn. What kind of culture are we working to develop not just here at work but in our city, in Canada and ultimately the world (yes, I am passionately idealistic)? How do we foster greater cross-cultural awareness? How do we help create space for conversations?

One of the most depressing parts of this was reading comments on social media… I can only describe much of it as the conversational equivalent of fighting with sledge hammers. How do we facilitate conversations that allow for mutual understanding, and how do we use our collective expertise and extraordinary art to move this conversation forward?

I am darn proud of the work you all are doing and thank you. This past year we have had the most inclusive exhibition schedule ever and the public has responded by visiting the AGO in record numbers. My resolve is to continue to lead with our mission and lead with an inclusive program.

Let’s keep the conversations going. May we all learn from one another – learning is one of the great blessings of life.

Stephan