Dear Volunteers,
Next week, April 14 – 20, Canada celebrates National Volunteer Week. Though the current Gallery closure means our formal celebrations will be delayed, we still want to thank you for so generously giving of your time, energy and skills to support our staff, visitors, membership and one another.
Your contributions are felt throughout the Gallery: by welcoming visitors through wayfinding; facilitating folks in deep chats and conversation about art; helping to organize & build our library holdings; and supporting our summer art camps and family programs.
We’re pleased to share a snapshot of some of the exceptional impact volunteers have had this year, here at the Gallery:
- AGO volunteers contributed over 35,000 hours of volunteer service this year
- Information Guides helped welcome over 790, 000 (!) visitors in 2023, and 38,650 visitors in March Break alone
- Print & Drawings volunteers welcomed over 1200 visitors to the popular Wednesday Open Door program, supporting the close-looking of artworks from the vaults, engaging with visitors in art, and leading meaningful conversations averaging over 110 visitor interactions each month
- Gallery Guides engaged visitors in the deep appreciation of art, through chats and conversations averaging over 1250 interactions each month
You are a committed, passionate and intelligent group, always willing to lend a hand, expertise and opinion. You are there for us, and each other. This week, we want to thank you particularly for your sensitivity to our current situation, and for your patience. Volunteer recognition and appreciation planning is underway, and we look forward to celebrating together, at the Gallery, when we can.
Most recently, we also want to recognize all the ways we have come together outside the gallery’s walls as a community: our recent outing to the Gardiner Museum to view the special exhibition, Magdalene Odundo: A Dialogue with Objects combined with a private docent-led tour followed by a social group lunch. We also visited volunteer Aliye Akbarzadeh’s artwork showing at Sahar K. Boluki Fine Art Gallery; and enjoyed this past weekend’s visit to the Artist Project to view Janne Reuss’ artwork. These are among a growing list of volunteer initiatives we have planned to support our learning and engagement to show how much we care for our community, and as a way to equally support you and give back.
We look forward to future outings and opportunities that build connection – across placements, and shifts, with each other, and the greater GTA volunteer community. We are working hard to strengthen the bonds that tie us together, even in challenging times.
With thanks for all of your incredible support, commitment and achievements this year.
Holly Procktor, Coordinator, Volunteers
Barbara Glaser, Volunteer President