By now, you’ve all saved-the-date for our special 125th Birthday Town Hall

• Monday, June 23
• 10:00am – 11:30am
• Baillie Court (third floor event space)

As part of this occasion, we’re shining the spotlight on some of the many artworks you know and love from the AGO Collection, using some of those featured on the AGO 125 Iconic Works list as our pool of options. 

Here’s how you can participate in the Staff & Volunteers Art Picks:

• Click here to cast your votes anonymously by Wednesday, June 18. There are five voting categories. Staff and volunteers are encouraged to cast their vote in each category. 
• If the artwork you’d like to highlight from the AGO Collection isn’t listed, write it in as an “other” option.
• The artworks that receive the most votes in each category will be revealed at our June Town Hall! 
• We also invite you to share why you voted for each artwork. (Answers to this question may be shared anonymously as part of Town Hall festivities)

Our goal is not to select “the best” artworks but to celebrate the ones that tell our stories. Here are the categories: 

• The work staff and volunteers spend the most time with 
• The work staff and volunteers would like to bring home
• The work staff and volunteers would always have on view 
• The work that connects staff and volunteers to nature
• The most iconic AGO artwork, as voted on by staff and volunteers 

Cast your votes using this form by Wednesday, June 18.

Questions about the Town Hall or the Staff & Volunteer Art Picks?

Please reach out to the Internal Communications team at [email protected]

The Gallery’s hours around the upcoming July 1 statutory holiday look a little different this year. Read below for more details on the statutory holiday and which days the Gallery will be open:

Statutory Holiday 

• Monday, June 30, 2025, is a normal workday. The Gallery will be closed to the public as usual.  
• Tuesday, July 1, 2025, is a statutory holiday for full-time and part-time staff. The Gallery will be open to the public from 10:30 am to 4 pm, and some staff (such as the Visitor Experience team) may be scheduled to work to support these operations. 

Gallery Hours  

• Monday, June 30, 2025 – The Gallery will be closed to the public as usual.  
• Tuesday, July 1, 2025 – The Gallery will be open to the public from 10:30 am to 4 pm.  

In addition, in celebration of Ontario’s first-ever Group of Seven Day on Monday, July 7, 2025, the Gallery will be open to the public from 10:30 am to 4 pm.  

Hello Everyone,

This past Wednesday, we had over 5,000 visitors, with lines back to Queen Street West. The galleries were alive with people engaging with the art, lining up (again!) to experience Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room, and enjoying the breath-taking soundscapes performed by Maria Chavez in Walker Court as part of the Luminato Festival. And not forgetting visitors enjoying the sold-out Speakeasy in the Grange Library! Thank you all.

We regularly measure our brand health to understand how audiences feel about the AGO and we are currently at an all-time high in terms of public awareness, familiarity, and favorability of who we are and what we do. It is great to see this translate into visitors in the gallery. It is important to remind ourselves that we are serving our public and they recognize the work we are doing. Again, thank you all.

Also, on the topic of recognition, our Art Rate Monitor activation was recognized at the Marketing Awards this week – earning gold in design, silver in digital, and merit in advertising (experiential/special events/stunts). Many of you, from staff to volunteers, contributed to the success of the Art Rate Monitor. Congratulations! I look forward to version 2 of the activation returning to the gallery in July in celebration of our 125th anniversary.

Take care,

Stephan

Hello Volunteers, I’m happy to share this invite with you! – please see details below and make sure you RSVP your attendance (this helps ensure we have set-up and refreshments, for all! HERE: https://forms.gle/9RNTfsHrvALqvGvK7 – Holly

Please join us for our June 2025 Town Hall celebrating the Gallery’s 125th Birthday on:

• Monday, June 23,
• from 10 am to 11:30am
• Baillie Court (third floor event space)

All staff and volunteers are invited to attend! Following speeches from 10:00am – 11:00am, we’ll all share in birthday cupcakes, coffee and tea.

Want to be a part of history? After things wrap up in Baillie Court at 11:30am, we invite all staff and volunteers to join us for a group photograph in Walker Court, at 11:45am.

See you there!

Again, please help us prepare for all of our guests, by RSVPing your attendance, HERE: https://forms.gle/9RNTfsHrvALqvGvK7

Hello Volunteers,

Our in house I.T. team has been working hard, since the Fall cyberattack, to restore AGO systems and data, while strengthening security. The link below leads to a folder called Launch Videos that includes both the recent

1) AGO Values: Working Together Town Hall, and

2) the Joyce Wieland: Heart-On exhibition launch video

• Please click on this link to be taken to the site to view https://artcloud.ago.ca/index.php/s/NbcZp4dKqgfg8H2
• Important: You will be asked to enter this Password: AGOLaunchVid$

Please click on each individual folder to view content.

A gentle reminder: these videos are internal (not edited or polished) and are intended for staff and volunteer viewing only. Not all content is volunteer-specific, but provides a unique glimpse into the work of staff across the building, including behind-the-scenes details we know volunteers will find interesting and informative. Our hope in sharing, is that you will feel prepared, engaged, excited for what’s to come, and valued for your contributions.

Did you know: we have over 600 staff at the AGO (full time, part time and occasional) and approximately 350 volunteers. The majority of us learn through these videos shared online, which help keep us all up to date (we do not have a physical space large enough to gather all together!) We will add to this resource as new videos become available over time. We hope you enjoy!

Holly (-volunteer resources)

This past weekend, AGO volunteers came together to attend a private celebration of life for AGO volunteer Karen Pai (1945 – 2025) who passed away on vacation in Phuket, Thailand, earlier this year.

Karen joined our volunteer program in 1991, with nearly 35 years of service as an AGO volunteer, first joining as a historical interpreter in the Grange, and later, as a Gallery Guide.

Karen’s family has asked that we share the link to this memorial website, where you can learn more about her amazing life, full of art, creativity and culture – great loves – and where volunteers are invited to share memories and condolences: https://www.mykeeper.com/KarenPai

Condolences have been shared on behalf of the Gallery and volunteer community, with Karen’s family.

So come, my friends, be not afraid. We are so lightly here. It is in love that we are made In love we disappear ~ Leonard Cohen

Hello everyone,

Last week I attended the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) Spring Summit in St. Louis, MO. Just over 200 museum directors from Mexico, Canada, and the US are members. In the US there are serious issues as the current administration has cut all three federal agencies that fund museums, including the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. There are several organizations – including AAMD – that are resisting these cuts and considering legal options. It is most important that the AGO work to support our American colleagues and create stronger relationships globally. 

This week The National Gallery in London celebrates its bicentenary and reopens its redesigned Sainsbury Wing – another project by Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery design architect Annabelle Selldorf. I made a quick trip to London to celebrate Annabelle’s success, but also to meet with other art museum directors. Canadian and European cultural ties are important as the US takes a step back from the global cultural stage. Soon I will travel to Asia to further develop ties on the other side of the Pacific. There is a real opportunity for Canadian cultural leadership globally.  

Hello Volunteers,

The Gallery is busily preparing to celebrate the AGO’s 125th birthday over the coming months, with much programming launching over the summer season. A reminder, we are all invited to attend the staff & volunteer celebration, on Monday June 23, at 10:00am, in Baillie Court (our third floor event space) with details and an RSVP (to help us plan for numbers), to follow. Save the Date!

Volunteers will also be interested in this visual timeline that shares important moments in AGO history through the years, just launched, HERE: (Scroll down the page to the “Discover 125 Years of History” feature, and click on the “Walk Down Memory Lane” banner to view).

1964: The Art Gallery of Toronto thrilled audiences with Canada’s first-ever retrospective of Pablo Picasso’s work. This month-long visual spectacle featured 270 artworks from around the world and was visited by a staggering 107, 214 visitors.

The Marketing team is looking for staff, volunteers and their family members or friends to volunteer for a retail photoshoot highlighting new AGO brand products available at Shop AGO. 

The photoshoot will take place on Monday, May 26, with exact timing to be confirmed. Each volunteer will receive a $40 gift card to Shop AGO for participating.

The Marketing team is specifically looking for:

• Models of all ages and genders, especially kids

Next Steps:

Please email your name, volunteer placement, and an up-to-date photograph (this photo will be used to help the team identify you / put a face to your name on shoot day!) to Amy Wu, Marketing Coordinator, at [email protected]

Please note: Signing up for the roster does not mean volunteers automatically agree to any photoshoot. The Marketing team will reach out to volunteers with specific details about any photoshoot, and they can decide if they want to participate. 

To be considered for our next immediate photoshoot, please submit your volunteer application by end-of-day, Friday May 23. If you are interested but can’t make timing due to the late call, please apply and we will consider you for future marketing initiatives. Photo shoots are ongoing.

Selected volunteers will be asked to complete a photo release form, which allows the Marketing team to use their photographs.

Questions? Please reach out to Kristine Irwin [email protected] or Amy Wu [email protected]

Hello Everyone,

This is a monumental week at the AGO. Yesterday, to kick off our 6 months of 125th anniversary celebrations, we hosted a big birthday party and gave a number of TV and radio interviews about who we are and our history. Our birthday party was a major effort as hundreds of people came to enjoy the celebration. The museum was full, and I loved the range of activities, including a great DJ, art making, special works on view from the archives, and even a harpist! I want to thank you for making the event special for everyone in attendance.

The Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery (DRMCG) project continues to progress. Also yesterday, Annabelle Selldorf of Selldorf Architects, design architect on the DRMCG project, came to Toronto and we visited a company in Mississauga to look at samples of the exterior cladding. The cladding will be made of terracotta (a fancy way of saying clay) and glazed the color of the sky on an overcast day (this is in contrast to the Gehry Blue Box which is the color of the sky on a clear day). Why are we using terracotta tiles. First, they are very strong – they are fired to about 1200 degrees Celsius and are great protection from the elements. Second, using tiles was suggested by the team at Two Row Architect – who with their Indigenous perspective were interested in bringing the earth/clay into the construction of the expansion. Aesthetically, it will blend with the sky and each tile has a slight curve that reflects light in a dynamic manner. The proportions and the slight curve of the tiles are inspired by the shells on a wampum belt. In my opinion, the result is highly functional and will create a thoughtful and fundamentally quiet building. I have attached a few photos. 

Take care,

Stephan