Hello Everyone,
- At the managers’ meeting on Tuesday, Rocco provided a summary of our year-end fiscal position and the 2019/20 budget. We had a very solid year thanks to everyone’s collaborative efforts, and next year’s budget is ready to be presented to the Finance Committee of the board next week.
- I have enjoyed touring the AGO’s trustees around on Wednesday evenings during the last several months. Lately, Caroline Shields has accompanied us through the Impressionist exhibition. Our trustees are always curious to learn about the art on view, and are energized by the “buzz” of Wednesday evening crowds. The tours are capped by dinner at AGO Bistro.
- In the federal budget announced last week, there was a legislative amendment regarding CCPERB – the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board – which was good news for us. Basically, a restrictive interpretation of “national importance” that was applied in a court decision last year is being eliminated. Tax incentives will continue to be available for donations of cultural property of outstanding significance. This means the AGO will be the beneficiary of many more significant gifts of works of art than under the previous restrictive definition.
- I took a quick family vacation last week to the island of Vieques, which is off the coast of Puerto Rico. Believe it or not, it was the first time I have ever been to the Caribbean. The history of the area is very interesting, complex and dynamic with many, many cultures layered on top of one another. As we all know, Toronto is home to many Caribbean people but we seldom exhibit or collect art from this area of the world. About a year ago, Julie Crooks and Sophie Hackett became aware of a significant collection of 3,500 photographs from the Caribbean between 1840-1940 that had been assembled by a collector in New York. I am proud to say the AGO was able to acquire the entire collection with the support primarily coming from Canadians of Caribbean descent. Julie and Sophie will share more about this purchase in the near future. The AGO now has the largest collection of Caribbean photography in the world.
P.S. This information is not yet public. So share only internally!
Enjoy the weekend,
Stephan