Hello Volunteers – you’ll note that I’ve truncated Stephan’s messages this week, as much of the content has been directed towards efforts and plans to keep staff employed during this challenging time. (I’m sure you’ve read that museums across the county and internationally have had to furlough and lay off their employees). I’m happy to report that AGO staff are still working and we hope to keep working until the Museum reopens. – Holly

Hello Everyone,

I know that everyone has been anxiously awaiting for news on the AGO Plan for labour retention.

I am pleased to say that discussions with staff, including those represented by UNIFOR and OPSEU, have been positive. Union leadership has signaled their agreement to participate.

I am very proud and happy that the all of us understand the potential for the plan to help to keep jobs during the emergency period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Special thanks go to UNIFOR leadership (Kirk Kroher, Greg Sherman), Aaron Knight at OPSEU, Mike Mahoney, Alain Graham, and Erin Prendergast. This team was able to bring the deals home.

Hello all! Last week, Stephan announced the launch of AGO from Home – a re-tooling of the website to more online content. Make sure to check it out, (for a taste of home). This made me nostalgic! And who can resist Gershon Iskowitz (perennial AGO favourite!) Doesn’t this beautiful photograph make you want to find out more? Enjoy! – Holly

This post will be familiar to our information guides, who receive these updates directly to their inbox. But there’s some real goodness in here, (and some great links!) so they’ve graciously shared with the entire volunteer community – read on! – Holly

Hi everybody!

The AGO has recently launched AGO From Home, a platform where the gallery will share stories, videos and DIY art projects so everyone can enjoy art from anywhere – make sure to check this out!

I (Nicole) am writing you from my sunny apartment near High Park. Christine and Trish are working from their own respective homes on the east side of the city and Jonathan all the way in Barrie! We thought we would share a recent picture of Jonathan’s incredible view from his backyard ravine complete with a mama fox and her kits (not yet pictured…). Enjoy.

Be Well and Take Care!

What we are loving in the collection

Today we hear from Jonathan as he discusses his favourite piece from the Thomson Collection, Lawren Harris’ Figure with Rays of Light (Arctic GroupIII): 

Much like me, this amazing work of art spent many years unseen in a Scarborough basement. One day, while I was strolling the gallery to get to know the space better, I rounded a corner and was struck by this.  Now I don’t have a background in Art History; my background is in religious studies and theatre, so I must draw on my mystical/magical worldview to inform me.  The first thing I ever saw in this was an illuminated dove, (which in religious parlance represents the holy spirit), and it was a comforting sign for me, as I was in need of reassurance on that day.  When “The Idea of the North: The Paintings of Lawren Harris” opened I saw that this was probably an abstraction of Harris’ earlier “North Shore, Lake Superior” (1926), which would make the “Figure” an old stump.  Some might see it differently after that, but not me, it is still just as moving and comforting as the first day.  How about you?  Does this speak to you in any way?

Want to learn more about Lawren Harris’ Toronto and the neighbourhood that inspired several of his works? Click on this link for an architectural tour of the Ward with former Canadian Curator of Canadian Art, Andrew Hunter

Collection Focus: The David Milne Collection

Have you ever wondered about the private life of an artist? Explore the paintings of Canadian artist David Milne through a rich selection of his letters, diaries, photographs and personal items. Through videos, follow his career as a painter and woodsman across Ontario. Click here to look through the online collection.

David Milne’s artistic language is bold, innovative and unique in the development of modern art in Canada, as revealed through the AGO’s rich and extensive Milne archive and art collection. 

Click here for an interesting short video with AGO’s conservation team as they discovered what was underneath David Milne’s Attic.

Armchair Traveller – Let’s go to The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles 

Finding yourself at home with a little bit of time on your hands?! Let’s “take a trip” to sunny Los Angeles’ J. Paul Getty Museum! With the help of Google, you can discover some of this museum’s many delights right from the comfort of your living room!  Click here for an adventure!

You will find wonderful works by Vincent van Gogh (like the above Irises), Paul Gaugin and Peter Paul Rubens.

The Getty has recently been in the news for it’s innovative way of keeping visitors engaged while the gallery is closed. They are challenging their audience to re-create and share pictures of works inspired by their collection. You will find these results both comical and accurate! Click here for the article and examples of this fun project.

Be well and stay healthy.

Jonathan, Christine and Nicole

Hello Volunteers, Though this update is more centered around employment, I’m continuing to post these messages from Stephan, to keep us all in the loop – Holly

Hello Everyone,

Again, I apologize for yet another late Friday evening e-mail. This has been another brutal week but I want to assure you we are working as hard as we can to secure clarity for our team. Please read this entire e-mail. 

First, please take care of yourself. This is real, this is hard and yes – this too will pass. We need to take care of one another. The reality is that until there is a vaccine we will be living in the age of COVID-19.

The start of the week was bad. We realized that a July 1 reopening is too optimistic. Mid-September is becoming a real possibility for a full reopening. The costs of having a closed museum are mounting rapidly. There is real pressure to dramatically reduce our payroll, and we are working around the clock to try and determine the best possible scenario for the AGO, and for our team. This has meant modeling multiple scenarios.

In the meantime, all full-time employees continue to be paid.

Looking forward, we have been actively pursuing the new federal wage subsidy program and are hopeful that the AGO may be able to benefit from the program. We have also opened discussions with some of our key donors around the possibility of them coming to the table. And, we recognize that part of the new approach would likely entail a reduced salary for reduced hours for all employees.

Leadership Team is bringing all of our creativity to the table as we look to develop the best solution possible, under the circumstances. While I can’t commit to specifics at this time, please believe me that we are hard at work on saving jobs and will communicate more as soon as more details are known.

One thing is clear – it will take all of us working together to pull through this.

It will be clear by Wednesday.

Hold tight,

Stephan

Hello Volunteers!

Earlier this week I shared a link over on the AGO volunteers Facebook page, about Getting Through a Pandemic With Old-Fashioned Crafts. The article (a good read!) is a testament to the calming effects of handwork. In the spirit of buoying our mental health, I thought I’d share a new (old) practice I’ve picked up with my daughter, Annie (age 6!) Behold, strawberries:

This is an example of one of my recent potato prints. Yes! Printed with potatoes (and my daughter’s acrylic paints). I’ve been following Molly Mahon, a wonderful woodblock printmaker from England, who has been kindly sharing potato-printing lessons through her Instagram stories (search: mollymahonblockprinting on Instagram) to join in. Perhaps you, like me, will enjoy the process of making a print. I find the repetitive act of printing is so calming, almost meditative, and has been a focused and soothing way for Annie and I to start our days.

There are a lot of wonderful online tutorials popping up from talented artisans and craftspeople across the globe. I’ll post more as I come across.

Until then, I’m yours in craft.

Be well, – Holly

A surprising pleasure from an unexpected source. dia art foundation has been commissioning web based work for 25 years?! it’s great, surprising and really different format from both ephemeral and material arts. I’m so into it. Anyways, sending alternative to memes and tiktok (at least for a second). Hope you’re well.

https://diaart.org/program/artistswebprojects

Hello Everyone,

First, please take care of yourselves. Again, follow public health advice. In the coming 14 days we will see how COVID-19 is growing and if we have been able to flatten the curve. Our ability to collectively work together to flatten the curve is most important both to saving lives and saving our economy. 

A closed museum is tough. I deeply miss our public. I miss you – our staff and volunteers.

Of course, all of us know that being closed is hitting our bottom line hard. We are taking all sorts of steps to reduce costs, ranging from not washing windows to saving on our utility bills.

We all hear and read the news and know the employment situation is changing and not for the better.

Figuring out how we move forward is not simple as there are multiple paths. Last Friday, I sent a note out about Declared Emergency Leave for part-time employees. It is a provincial program that was announced earlier in the week that allows for organizations to place people on leave while paying benefits and preserving each person’s position. Yesterday, the Prime Minister announced a wage sharing program. At first glance, it would seem to allow organizations to receive 75% of a staff member’s salary paid for by the government if certain criteria are met up to the first $58,700 of salary. Yesterday and today, we have been attempting to get a hold of the details (the devil really is in the details) from the government but they are literally being written today. So we must wait till tomorrow for clarity.

These financial pressures will impact all of us. Leadership Team is truly attempting to understand the options and make the best choices possible. I am keenly aware that none of the options are good but surely some are better in the long run for all of us. 

As I mentioned in my last email, the Picasso exhibition will not happen this summer and we are working to reschedule it. The current plan is to keep Illusions and Arbus up for the summer and add the Haegue Yang exhibition. We hope to have I Am Here go ahead in the fall with Studio 54 opening in mid-December (I for one might be ready for some disco music sometime in the future). Again, all of this is subject to change. 

I know we are living in a period of great uncertainty. We all are feeling it. I am perhaps over sharing but I did want to update everyone. I promise to update you again as soon as I am able.

It is a period where we need to activate our networks to make sure we are simply in touch with another. Please reach out to your favourite person from work or someone you know who is alone. It is most important to me know how you are doing. Feel free to reach out to your LT member, manager, Union representative or zip me an email. 

Stephan

Good morning everyone,

Happy Monday! (as happy as can be) So many of you have been sharing interesting links with me during this extended time at home. I know you miss our community as much as I do, and though we can’t meet up in person, we can connect on Facebook via a new group, AGO volunteers

We’ve created this group for current AGO volunteers to share art links and support, a friendly hello and conversation, while we’re all self-quarantining during CO-VID 19. Here’s to keeping connected!

Note: official Gallery correspondence will not be posted here. This is a social-sharing group, created for AGO volunteers by Holly Procktor, Coordinator, Volunteers. Thank you to our Volunteer Council for the idea, and to Maya Kotlarenko, Volunteer President, and Melissa Smith & Nicole Ascroft, volunteer cooridnators for helping to test-run.

Here’s how to join:

Please note: you need your own Facebook account to join

Once you’re logged into your account, in the search bar, search for AGO volunteers:

Click on the + (plus sign) to join the group. When you do that, you will see this screen:

Click on “Join Group”

Once you’ve done that, you will see this screen:

A “Membership Pending” notice means your access to the group is pending administrators’ approval. (We’re approving all members to the group, so that we can ensure this is a private group, just for AGO volunteers). Your membership will be approved within 24 hours and you can start posting and connecting with other AGO volunteers. Have fun!

Volunteers, it’s hard to know what to share of Gallery business in this time with you, but in the spirit of our community, I thought it best to share that Stephan made the difficult to place all part-time staff on Declared Emergency Leave (see below). Many volunteers work with part-time staff, so in that spirit, sharing Stephan’s full update, below: – Holly

Hello Everyone,

I apologize for sending this message late in the afternoon. I recognize that you are eager to receive an update from the AGO.

Things are changing so rapidly, it has been incredibly difficult to anticipate the impact that this crisis will have on so many things. COVID-19 is affecting every aspect of our lives and has been stressful for everyone.

Throughout this situation, we have worked to make the best decisions possible, with ever-changing information. These decisions have been extremely difficult, but were made with two goals in mind: first, to protect the health of our employees, volunteers and public; and second, to protect the financial health of the AGO so that when we do re-open, we will be in as strong an economic position as possible – including the preservation of as many jobs as possible.

We simply do not know at this time how long our federal, provincial and municipal officials will keep a state of emergency in effect, or how long physical distancing will be required. This means that we can’t be certain when the AGO will once again open to the public.

We anticipate restrictions will be in place for months, not weeks. After much deliberation and consultation, I believe that the best course of action at this time is to plan to re-open to the public on July 1. This could change – it could be sooner, it could be later.

With the AGO closed to the public, our ability to generate revenue has been dramatically impacted. Simply put, we very quickly have found ourselves in a deteriorating financial position.

Today, I have made the difficult decision to place all part-time employees on Declared Emergency Leave, effective Monday March 30. The Ontario government created this new program three days ago to protect employees’ jobs during the Leave and to allow them to apply for Employment Insurance Benefits without a waiting period.

After reviewing all options, including the federal government’s recent announcements to help employers and employees through this crisis, and having discussions with both UNIFOR and OPSEU, consulting legal counsel, I believe that this is the best course of action at this time.

We are enacting this Declared Emergency Leave now to make sure we can preserve and protect jobs in the longer term – so that when we re-open, as many jobs as possible will be available. We will need to have funds readily available to pay for labour.

Changes in circumstances must shift our actions or timeline, as required. In the coming days and weeks, we should know more about what lies ahead, including the impact of closure on our exhibition and program schedule. For example, this past week it became clear that Picasso will not open this summer. We are in a series of complex negotiations with multiple museums about all of the upcoming exhibitions. We will update everyone as this information becomes available.

The announcement today will be hard for many of our colleagues. I know that you will have many questions. Please reach out to your Leadership Team member at any time.

Sincerely,

Stephan

From self-quarantine, the AGO’s Director and CEO shares the art he lives with.

By AGO Director and CEO, Stephan Jost

I have been in self-quarantine since arriving from Sydney, Australia where I attended aabaakwad, an international gathering on Indigenous art. And like many of us who are able to do our part to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19, I have been working from home.

While being at home for more than a week now, it dawned on me that not going to an art museum for two weeks is something I have not done my entire adult life. At the moment, the only art I can see is the art I live with, which I’m sure is the same for many of you. So, to help get us through these unprecedented times, I hope to share on a regular basis images of art I live with at home via social media.

This landscape is by Ontario artist Peter Taylor. Pete is a childhood friend of my husband − they went to a camp called Kilcoo together. The landscape of Northern Ontario is deeply meaningful to both of them. This painting − which we have had for years − depicts the area around Creemore where Pete lives and paints.

Landscape painting can give one a powerful sense of place. Where one lives can change the meaning of the painting. I think about what this work meant to us when we lived in Honolulu versus what it means to us now that we live in Toronto. It makes me think of my parents who came to North America from Switzerland. My mother always had a small framed engraving of her hometown Davos.

Take a moment to think about which landscapes in your life are meaningful to you and why?

As we work toward reopening the Gallery to the public, I invite everyone to visit our website to enjoy our online collections and follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

I want to reiterate how very proud I am of our employees and volunteers for coming together to help mitigate the spread of the virus.

Be well and stay healthy. It is all of our responsibility to follow the advice of public health officials.

I look forward to seeing you at the Gallery again soon.

Looking for more art news from the AGO and beyond? Stay tuned to the AGOinsider.

Stephan