A place for AGO volunteers to share, learn, and connect
Hello Volunteers,
The team at Living Luxe Design Show have once again generously offered complimentary daytime tickets for AGO volunteers to attend the show at Toronto Congress Centre from April 17-19! If interested, please email AGO’s Kelly Dundas at [email protected] and let her know how many tickets you require. Kelly will provide you with PDF tickets, direct to your email.
Hello everyone,
It is one of my favourite weeks of the year. The museum is full of visitors of all ages enjoying current exhibitions and art-making activities side-by-side. The energy in the galleries during March Break is special.
I had lunch from the new menu in the refreshed Members’ Lounge and the food was excellent. The floors are also new, and the walls are beautifully painted. This refresh was done in anticipation of the renovation to shopAGO this summer, which will result in the closure of AGO Bistro for several months.
The fiscal year-end is March 31. Thank you to everyone for helping us land a balanced budget. It is not easy to balance a complex budget during very uncertain times, but together we did it!
Lastly, the next time you see Wendy Hebditch, Curatorial Coordinator, European Art and Prints & Drawings, please wish her a happy 40th work anniversary! Wendy is a deeply dependable colleague with a wealth of institutional knowledge.
Take care,
Stephan
It’s Official – save the date for the Volunteer Annual Party!
Please join me, Director & CEO, Stephan Jost, Volunteer President Barbara Glaser, your fellow volunteers, staff supports and special guests as we come together to recognize and celebrate your volunteer service.
Details to come!
Holly (-volunteer resources)
Dear Volunteers,
An organization’s culture is strengthened when staff and volunteers embody shared values in their everyday work and volunteering. These ideas shape the habits, behaviours, and language that influence how individuals engage with one another.
Led by Laura Quinn, Director of Communications, this presentation will introduce the AGO’s four core values: Respect, Openness, Collaboration, and Accountability. Together, we will explore what these principles mean and how they inform our culture. Understanding this framework will support volunteers in navigating a visitor-focused museum environment while fostering collaboration and lifelong learning skills.
The session will conclude with a group workshop activity where volunteers will reflect on these themes, build trust with their colleagues, and consider how they may guide their interactions with visitors.
Please join us for this volunteer-wide presentation and workshop. You only need to sign up for one of the following two dates (content is the same in both presentations) –
NEXT STEPS: Please RSVP, so that we can ensure we have enough materials for everyone! Register, HERE: https://forms.gle/LtEEfT3YyWkfC5TR7
Hello Everyone,
Change is constant at the AGO as everywhere. Again, I want to thank Julian for 8 amazing years as Deputy Director & Chief Curator. I think it is important – especially when things move quickly – to slow down and take pride in our accomplishments.
Last Saturday, we hosted the public opening of Edna Taçon: Verve and Decorum and an extraordinary talk. The museum was very busy. On Wednesday, admission was free to the public and, again, the museum was very busy. Total attendance was 5,652! The busiest Wednesday night since August 2025. The line for Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room extended to the scissor stairs… Thank you to each of you for your contributions to these and many other recent accomplishments.
I also want to acknowledge that global change is impacting many in a big way right now. I am thinking of those AGO staff and volunteers who have family in the Middle East. This is a very difficult time and I hope that you are taking care of yourselves and each other the best you can.
Sincerely,
Stephan
In the information era, the concept of the multi-hyphenate creative is commonplace. For a variety of reasons, many young artists often shift laterally between mediums and career focuses. In the early 20th century, this was a far more radical notion – one of the many reasons why the life and work of Canadian artist Edna Taçon (1905–1980) is remarkable. Concert violinist, non-objective painter, collage artist, shop window designer and muralist, Taçon was a trailblazer of abstract art in Canada.
Opening Saturday February 28, the focused solo exhibition Edna Taçon: Verve and Decorum shines a light on the late artist’s colourful legacy. AGO visitors are invited to attend the opening celebration, which begins at 2 pm (details, HERE) – galleries 140/141 (where we most recently hosted the beautiful Naoko Matsubara show)
Curated by Renée van der Avoird, the AGO’s Associate Curator of Canadian Art, the exhibition features more than 25 oil paintings, watercolours, and paper collages from the 1940s. Often considered too bold and forward-thinking for the Canadian artistic palette of the time, Taçon’s body of work is defined by abstract shapes, flowing lines, and effervescent colour. She was a student of the non-objective art movement, taking her creative cues from musicality and inner consciousness rather than external environments. Additionally, the exhibition includes sketches, correspondence and photographs from Taçon’s personal archive that help contextualize the works on view and provide visitors with further insight into her life.
Launching alongside the exhibition is a 128-page catalogue titled Edna Taçon, co-published by the AGO and Goose Lane Editions. Featuring texts and interviews by van der Avoird and the artist’s grandson, sculptor Carl Taçon, the catalogue is available at Shop AGO.
Take a closer look at the three major sections of Edna Taçon: Verve and Decorum, by clicking THIS LINK to continue to the full story in this week’s Foyer (AGO online magazine).
P.S. if you’re volunteering this Friday night – Friday February 27 – our Public Programs and Learning team is hosting collage workshops inspired by Tacon in Walker Court – free, drop-in, from 6:00 – 9:00pm.
Hello Volunteers! Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm is here! If you’ve been in the Gallery this week, you’ve noted that staff and volunteers have been warmly received in the show, and included in Members’ early access. Additionally, if you would enjoy an exclusive viewing opportunity, feel free to drop-in on Monday February 23, from 2:00pm – 4:00pm. As the AGO is closed on Mondays, this a nice opportunity to see the show privately, with only AGO staff and volunteers in attendance. At this viewing, our Communications team will also be taking some promotional shots for publicity purposes, so please read on; important details shared below …. Holly
All AGO staff and volunteers are invited to a private viewing of Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm on Monday, February 23, from 2 pm to 4 pm on Level 5. This is a staff/volunteer viewing – guests are not allowed to attend.
As the Gallery is closed on Monday, you will need to use your badge at the main Dundas Street entrance to gain entry into the building. Many staff and volunteers miss this card reader swipe station, which is located at the accessible entrance (look for the light blue detailing on the banister, by the wheelchair symbol). Please see photo, here:
An Important Note on Installation Photography :
We hope you enjoy this special viewing among staff & volunteer colleagues!
Hello Volunteers- please enjoy this interview submitted by Gallery Guide Shelagh Barrington. Shelagh and Robert will be participating in this year’s National Docent Symposium. Read on! – Holly
Welcome Robert and thank you for sharing time so that AGO volunteers, and our NDS members get to know a little more about you and your goals for our breakout session at the upcoming National Docent Symposium (Detroit, November 2026).
As Chief, Education and Public Programming at the AGO you have been with us sine 2024. Prior to that you have also worked with other large institutions like the Toronto District School Board and York University. Looking back how do you define those roles?
Robert: At York University, I guided teacher candidates to intentionally incorporate inclusion, equity, and diversity through Differentiated Instruction Strategies; adapting to students’ unique learning needs, readiness, and interests so that all could succeed.
My role in education leadership at the Urban Indigenous Education Centre at the Toronto District School Board was working with teachers on best practices through Indigenous education. This practise centered on creation stories of the First Nations, Metis and Inuit people and provided perspective, through historical and contemporary examples, on the reality of the Indigenous peoples on Turtle Island.
Was there any difference in adjusting to a leading role at a large art museum, the AGO?
Yes, as always it takes time to get to know a new work culture, the people and processes and how through my role, I can best support the AGO mission of Art, Audience and Learning.
If you only had one word to describe how you see your present position what would it be?
Facilitator: As the current philosophy behind how to present art including Indigenous art has moved from instructor to collaborator, both staff and volunteers need to adapt new ways of speaking about art.
I see myself working with staff and volunteers as a kind of role model introducing change to our collective perspective; from posing questions about art to inviting our guests into a thoughtful conversation that asks them to have a relationship with the art.
Part of co-learning is around understanding that we all have preconceived ideas, and biases that come from our lived experiences in a “colonial” society.
How do you help us (Gallery Guides) recognize/identify our own biases?
In my role at the AGO I use collaboration; to invite both staff and volunteers to share personal stories and encourage them to reflect and see different perspectives. To think about how we might reconsider seeing the world from different experiences, other than our own.
As Chief of Education and Programming at the AGO, you oversee both staff and volunteer Gallery Guides who interact with the public. Many individuals, particularly volunteers, possess experience interacting with the public and have developed their own perspectives regarding public preferences. Do you get push back on your approach?
Yes, there are different ideas around how to engage our visitors.
Is it more about “delivery methodology” or about content?
Sometimes it is about the content; shaking up what we think we know as new knowledge emerges. But it is also about methodology. Our older more content driven touring practices are shifting from expertise in content, to engaging with the visitors through questions and conversations, making them feel like they belong at the AGO.
We at the AGO have been fortunate to be chosen as one of the breakout sessions at NDS in Nov 2026 hosted by the Detroit Institute of Art. Canada is often seen, whether justified or not, as a pioneer in engaging with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples to learn about their heritage and showcase their cultural objects. Do you have personal goals or hope for our session at NDS?
Yes
Support: Gallery Guides in enhancing meaningful and respectful interactions with our visitors regarding indigenous cultures and artworks. Consider applying these concepts to any new culture encountered at your institution.
Recognize: that to engage our visitors we don’t have to be experts.
Understand: the relevance of land acknowledgements specific to their location.
Thank you, Robert. I am looking forward to working with you at NDS 2026 in Detroit.
Interview with Shelagh Barrington, Gallery Guide and Advisor, National Docent Symposium Council. Want to know more about the NDS or Council? Please reach out to Shelagh directly at [email protected]
Please join us for an this exhibition tour organized exclusively for all AGO volunteers, with AGO’s own Jim Shedden, Curator, Special Projects & Director of Publishing. Jim organized the exhibition for its stop here in Toronto:
WEDNESDAY MARCH 25, 6:00pm – 7:00pm
All Volunteers Welcome / no rsvp required
Meet in-gallery (5th floor)
Jim has a special eye and encyclopedic knowledge for all things film & music. His past exhibitions, all visual dazzlers, include: I AM HERE: Home Movies and Everyday Masterpieces (2022) and Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters (2017). His love for ephemera has a special place in this exhibition.
Join you volunteer colleagues from different placements, days and shifts, to enjoy this special exhibition, together, as we hear some behind-the-scenes stories of the show’s installation here in Toronto!
Hello Everyone,
Valentine’s Day and Family Day are coming up and while many are ready for a long weekend, many others are ready to welcome thousands of visitors to the AGO over 3 busy days. Thank you to our colleagues – staff and volunteer – who will be here to help make the long weekend special for especially couples and families.
Next week, the highly anticipated Paul McCartney Photographs 1963–64: Eyes of the Storm opens exclusively to Members (February 18-26) and then to Members and Annual Passholders (February 27-March 22) before opening to the public (March 24). I look forward to seeing our audience’s reaction to the show and its Toronto content – I for one had no idea that a life-size sculpture made of butter was created as part of Beatlemania here in Toronto!
Take care,
Stephan
