Hello Everyone,

The AGO has received a monumental $35-million lead gift from Dani Reiss that will launch our museum’s expansion project – the Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery. Today we are publicly announcing this exciting news.

If you’d like to see more detail about the project and view the design renderings, they are up on our website https://ago.ca/dani-reiss-modern-and-contemporary-gallery

Dani is the Chairman and CEO of Canada Goose and an art collector. This generous donation is among the largest gifts in the AGO’s history and the size and timing of this gift will help the AGO move forward this expansion with confidence.

In the past decade we’ve welcomed more than 20,000 artworks into the collection and now thanks to both Dani Reiss and the vision of our architect partners Diamond Schmitt, Selldorf Architects and Two Row Architect, we’re set to display them in a thoughtful, dynamic, and truly beautiful space. 40,000 new square feet of gallery space across five floors and more than 13 new galleries will increase the AGO’s total space available to display art by 30%. The design will be dynamic enough to display the works of today’s great modern and contemporary artists, and adaptable to the needs of future generations of artists working across all media.

This moment marks a major milestone for the project with the announcement of our lead donor. We are also submitting initial designs to the City of Toronto. Fundraising is continuing and the city consultation process will begin shortly.

I want to take this moment to thank everyone who has gotten us to moment, but particularly thank Rupert Duchesne, Board President and Co-Chair of the Board, and Jay Smith, Co-Chair and Campaign Chair. Board leadership is critical to the success of this project. I also have to thank Mike Mahoney and Jessica Bright, who are leading the project with the project team, and Kate Halpenny and Andrea Orr, who are leading our fundraising efforts. This expansion project will truly be a team effort and there will be much more to share in the coming weeks and months.

Sincerely,

Stephan