All employees and volunteers are invited to a preview of the Diane Arbus: Photographs, 1956 – 1971 and Illusions: The Art of Magic exhibitions before they open to members and the public.
The preview will take place on Tuesday, February 18 between 12:30 and 2:30 pm. As this preview takes place while the Gallery is open to the public, please be sure to bring your I.D. Badge to present at the entrance.
We look forward to seeing you there!
If you have any questions about the viewing, please contact Trish Popkin, Manager, Visitor Welcome, or call the AGO Contact Centre at 416-979-6648.
Can’t make the preview – good news! The exhibitions open to the public just 4 days later – staff/volunteers can walk in anytime and enjoy (just be sure to wear your badge).
In this occasional series, Shelagh Barrington, Friday Evening Lead Gallery Guide, asks fellow AGO volunteers what they do when they’re not at the gallery. This week: Gabriella Goutam, Lead Information Guide Friday evenings (and 2015 Margaret Machell grant winner !)
What does AGO Volunteer, Gabriella Goutam do when she is not at the AGO? Gabriella is the Coordinator of Partner Engagement for Habitat for Humanity Canada. Habitat for Humanity Canada is a non-profit organization begun in 1985. To date, it has provided 3,200 families with safe decent and affordable housing in 10 provinces and 3 territories.
Gabriella works with Habitat for Humanity’s national corporate partners to coordinate safe and fulfilling on-site volunteer build experiences for their staff across the country. Working alongside local Habitat organizations, this can mean arranging lunches, transportation, proper documentation as well as the hard hats and the work boots, all coordinated from her desk at the national headquarters here in Toronto. Occasionally Gabriella will travel to other cities across Canada to visit these local Habitat organizations to experience how they work to provide the best experience to their corporate partners, volunteers, and most importantly, the families they serve.
I asked Gabriella if she had seen changes in the organization. She mentioned changing economics have also meant changes for Habitat for Humanity Canada. In the past, building single family homes for a deserving family is what the organization was known to produce. These days, however, with escalating land prices and the call for increased density to provide and support families, many of the current Habitat projects are building multifamily homes. The goal is to provide more homes without compromising the fabric of the community in which these homes are built.
So why did Gabriella choose a job in the volunteer sector? She gives substantial credit to her positive volunteer experience here at the AGO and the support she received through the Margaret Machell Study Grant to complete her certificate in Volunteer Management Leadership at Humber College in 2015. She has been with habitat for Humanity for three years and is currently continuing to enjoy her role as Lead Information Guide on Friday evenings.
How did the Margaret Machell Grant help? The Volunteer Management Leadership Program at Humber College is considered the longest running program of its kind in Canada. Over the course of three units, students learn how to develop and maintain a successful volunteer team. This includes best practices and strategies in recruitment, screening, evaluation, and engagement. Furthermore, because these courses are taught online using a forum-style platform, students are able to directly collaborate with their peers from across the country. Through this program, Gabriella has been able to not only kickstart her career, but has also been able to apply these essential skills as a lead volunteer at the AGO.
How can we support Habitat for Humanity besides being directly involved on an actual building site to erect a home or donating money? Gabriella mentioned the ReStore, where used building materials are donated for resale and the funds support Habitat for Humanity. Recycle to build houses!
— Shelagh Barrington
For more information on Habitat for Humanity and ReStore go to https://habitat.ca
Do you or a volunteer you know have an interesting occupation or sideline? Let us know and we can feature your story!Contact Shelagh at [email protected].
This
week was extremely busy. Since the AAMD meeting where I spoke about the AGO’s
Annual Pass, I have been contacted by multiple museums wanting to learn more
about our initiative. On Tuesday I was in Houston at the Museum of Fine Arts to
speak to their leadership team, and on Wednesday I spoke with the director of
the High Museum in Atlanta on the phone. I know the Annual Pass is an evolving
experiment but many museums are watching your good work to increase access to
our museum.
The
AGO is celebrating Black Creatives at upcoming Family Sundays: Feb. 9, 16, 23.
Thank you to Dr. Audrey Hudson for leading this programming, which includes
spoken word, music, poetry, reading and art making: https://ago.ca/events/family-sundays-celebration-black-creatives
With
Bell Let’s Talk Day occurring last week, this is a good reminder to pay
attention to our own mental health, and to be supportive of one another. Mental
health issues are something that impact many of us. The AGO’s Employee
Assistance Program can be a resource.
I have
had a few peeks at the Illusions and Arbus
installations and things are looking good.
The Adidas Group invites employees, volunteers, interns and friends and family of the AGO to take advantage of an exclusive offer for 50% off the regular retail price of Adidas and Reebok products.
When? February 1 to 29, 2020
Hours of operation: Mon-Fri 10am-8pm | Sat 10am-6pm | Sun 11am-5pm.
Where? Adidas & Reebok Woodbridge, 8100 Highway 27, Woodbridge ON
How? Please bring a Valid Photo ID and 1) your AGO volunteer badge
Visit the store as many times as you’d like this month to take advantage.
Some of you may recall the children’s book by Richard Scarry entitled What do People Do All Day? It gave a cross-section of the many and varied daily occupations in a small town. In this new occasional series, Shelagh Barrington, Friday Evening Lead Gallery Guide, asks fellow AGO volunteers what they do when they’re not at the gallery. First up: Peter Feldman, AGO Friday Evening Gallery Guide
Peter, what occupies your time when you are not at the AGO?
I am part of a team that is planning and constructing visitor facilities for the new Rouge National Urban Park; including trails, visitor centres, interpretive planning and signage, day use areas, lookouts and camping facilities.
Where is this new park?
The park stretches from Lake Ontario at the mouth of the Rouge River (the border between Toronto and Pickering), approximately 35 km north across the 401 up into the Oak Ridges Moraine in Pickering and Uxbridge. In it you can find a rich assembly of natural, cultural and agricultural landscapes. It is home to an amazing biodiversity, some of the last remaining working farms in the Greater Toronto Area, Carolinian ecosystems, Toronto’s only campground, one of the region’s largest marshes, a beach at Lake Ontario, amazing hiking opportunities, and human history dating back over 10,000 years, including some of Canada’s oldest known Indigenous sites.
This a Federal and not a Provincial park?
Yes, it is Canada’s first National Urban Park, managed by Parks Canada, the same people who bring to you Banff National Park, the Rideau Canal, and Fort Henry National Historic Site. The park was created by an assembly of lands under federal, provincial and municipal jurisdiction, dating back to 1954 and the creation of the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority in the aftermath of Hurricane Hazel. As part of the federal Parks Canada system, the new park has the highest level of protection as it was officially created by an Act of (Canadian) Parliament and therefore is permanently protected against development under federal law.
Why are people living in the park?
There are many people living in Federal parks across Canada. Think of Banff and Jasper and other townsites. Part of the mandate of Rouge National Urban Park is a sustainable agriculture community. This is the main reason I came to work at this park. I grew up on a farm and feel the celebration of the importance of agriculture in Canada’s history needs to be commemorated and celebrated. And I don’t mean just farmers from Europe, but also the First Nations peoples who have been farming and living here for 10,000 years. In some ways this park is both urban, located on the edge of the Golden Horseshoe but also rural as farming will be encouraged to continue and become an integral part of the park. A vibrant agricultural community needs to have farmers living in it.
How did you get involved with Parks Canada?
Upon graduation in Art Conservation I did my internship with Parks Canada at the conservation lab in the then regional office in Cornwall.
How does historic site art conservation fit with Parks Canada?
Think of the federal, national historic sites like Fort George in Niagara on the Lake, Bethune House in Gravenhurst and even the Trent Severn historic waterway system still operating today under the administration of Parks Canada. Continuing conservation is required at all the historic location be they homes, forts, locks or monuments. Parks Canada manages over 180 national historic sites across Canada.
I am looking forward to exploring the park this summer!
Do you or a volunteer you know have an interesting occupation or sideline? Let us know and we can feature your story!Contact Shelagh at [email protected].
With news of the Wuhan Novel Coronavirus (“Coronavirus”) making headlines, employees, volunteers and visitors may be concerned about exposure.
Health officials for Toronto, Ontario and Canada have advised that the risk for contracting Coronavirus remains low, and additional safety protocols are not necessary.
At this time, it is business is as usual at the AGO. We will continue to monitor the situation and take the advice of health officials.
What can I do?
To help prevent exposure to a range of illnesses, follow common proper hygiene practices. This includes:
•Get a flu shot each year.
•Wash hands often with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
•Avoid touching eyes, nose, and mouth especially with unwashed hands.
•Avoid close contact with people who are ill.
•Stay home when ill.
•Cover coughs or sneezes with a tissue, then immediately throw the tissue in the garbage and wash hands.
•If there is no tissue, sneeze or cough into a sleeve or arm, not a hand.
•Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.
Hand sanitizer stations are located throughout the Gallery.
Public health officials do not recommend the use of masks, as it is not always an effective way to stop the spread of infections and in some cases may actually increase chances of contracting an illness by spreading germs from the hands to the face.
The AGO’s food and beverage outlets already adhere to the highest health and safety standards and will continue to be vigilant in its everyday practices.
Communication and collaboration between different levels of government and agencies is ongoing, and we will continue to provide updates as they become available.
A massive THANK YOU to Akilah Child (Manager, Communications) and the THIS IS THE FUTURE AGO WINTER PARTY Committee for putting together such a fun celebration:
AGO Social Committee: Akilah Child, Cassandra Engineer, MJ Cyr and Warren Wilson (our emcees – see pic), Kristine Irwin, Eliz Kaltakjian, Andrew Muldoon, & Holly Procktor
F&B team (especially those working the event)
Image Resources (for running the photo booth)
Facilities team
PSD
Design Team (posters/graphics)
Costume contest winner Evelina Petrauskas (see pic – way to go Evelina!)
Next week I will be away attending the annual Association of Art
Museum Directors meeting in Atlanta – listening for great ideas and sharing how
our new Access/Annual Pass initiative has shifted our audience dramatically.
Tomorrow is AGO All Hours – thank you to all PP&L staff and others who will be here welcoming and providing a great experience for our audience.
AGO All Hours returns this January, inviting visitors to enjoy a day of warmth, storytelling and comfort. Guest curated by OCADU, experience a cozy campsite in the heart of the museum, pop-up tours and performances by emerging Toronto artists.
Check out the highlights here and plan your day at the museum.
Thank you to all of the volunteers helping to support this day (and night!)
Thank you to everyone who attended the 2020 Employee & Volunteer Winter Party, we sincerely hope you enjoyed your night.
We want your feedback on the event, so please fill out this anonymous survey. Your responses are important as we use this information in the planning of future events.
Please complete and submit your survey response by Friday, Jan. 31.
