Hello everyone,

Last Saturday, when the AGO – and many cultural institutions across Toronto- offered free attendance in celebration of the King’s coronation, more than 13,000 people visited the Gallery. That’s a lot more than recent Saturday attendance, which is typically around 2,600. In other words, it was a very full house! In addition, 545 visitors became Paid Annual Passholders. A big thank you to all of the front-of-house, PSD, facilities, curatorial and programming staff who welcomed our public and engaged in activities throughout the day. During peak times the line stretched all the way to OCAD U. Here is a quick video showing the lineup.  

We also had a full house in Baillie Court on Wednesday afternoon where I facilitated a panel discussion on the topic of the Dani Reiss Modern & Contemporary Gallery. The panel included our lead donor Dani along with the architect team Annabelle Selldorf, Don Schmitt and Brian Porter. It is clear that the architects are working together very well and are all tremendously excited about how the building is shaping. Dani is incredibly grateful to be involved in the project – and that is a vote of confidence in all of you and the work you’re doing. Thank you especially to the Development team for arranging the special lunch for Dani (who brought his mother, an artist) and the panel discussion. There will be a similar public talk later this month where everyone is welcome: https://ago.ca/events/brian-porter-and-donald-schmitt-conversation.

Take care,

Stephan