Weekly Message & Year End Highlights from Our Director & CEO, Stephan Jost

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Hello Everyone,

As you know, at the end of each week I send out a message to all staff. Doing this allows me to take a moment and reflect and communicate with everyone. Sometimes my message contains major news – sometimes it contains something more personal – but I do try to keep it real and sincere.

Reflecting on the past year, there were many real highs amidst some choppy moments. Here are some of my CURRENT highlights (in random order and certainly NOT an exhaustive list):

  1. The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century. Last week, I encouraged everyone to go up and see the exhibition – it is bold, fresh and a match for the people of Toronto. It got off to a fantastic start with Michie Mee performing in Walker Court. It was an incredibly popular event — with about 2,500 people in attendance and lineups for the exhibition throughout the night. Curatorially, it is very strong (thank you Julie Crooks and the entire team, including Project Manager, Melissa Ramage), with art by artists that range from the emerging to the well-known.
  2. Pacita Abad is such a beautiful exhibition. I love how it takes you on a journey from the overtly political, to wonderfully stylized graphic works, to immersive underwater art quilts. (Thank you Renée van der Avoird and the entire team, including Project Manager, Brittney Sproule).
  3. Light Years: The Phil Lind Gift. This is personal for me as I knew Phil quite well. He had a great eye and built his collection over decades with the intention of giving it to the AGO. Many of the works are by some of the best-known Canadian artists as well as international artists such as Ai Wei Wei. (Thank you Adam Welch and the entire team, including Project Manager, Katarina Veljovic).
  4. Sonia Boyce: Feeling Her Way. I saw this work a few years ago in Italy at the Venice Biennale and was pleased when it was proposed that it come to the AGO. I confess the first time I saw the work I was not immediately taken with it – but I went back again, gave it time and ended up really liking it. I love how the artist creates a world that is shiny and beautiful and blends in a complex sound scape (thank you Emilie Croning and the entire team, including Project Manager, Hillary Taylor).
  5. The Collection. Because these works are on view all the time, sometimes I take them a bit for granted, but they are truly amazing: the Tom Thomsons in the Thomson Canadian galleries, the ivories in Thomson European galleries, the Marchesa Casati by Augustus John, the Mark Rothko on the fourth floor… just to name a few.
  6. F&B. December 11th was the single highest day of sales in AGO Bistro history! We love breaking records!

All these exhibitions and offerings create a beautiful tapestry for our visitors to enjoy. Everyone plays a role in making sure that the AGO is an extraordinary museum for the public. We all have different roles, staff and volunteer, but we all contribute to fulfilling the AGO’s mission of serving our public.

As the year ends, I just want to say thank you.

Stephan

P.S. I encourage you to think about your personal highlights of the year!