Hello volunteers! Our weekend Gallery Guide, Aisling Joe, also works at the legislature (what a great job!). Aisling has passed along some information about an upcoming wine & cheese-paired tour in Parliament, read on below! This post is also shared on the AGO Volunteers Facebook Group. Volunteer President Barbara Glaser will be going, so you will know (another) friendly face, if you’d like to join also – details below – Holly

Delight your senses as you sip Ontario wine, savour local cheeses, and discover the art and architectural history of Ontario’s parliament during an evening guided tour.

Tour Highlights:

• Thursday, June 20 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
• Discover the beautiful paintings and architectural features throughout the building
• See the Legislative Library
• Enjoy a glass of local Ontario wine and cheeses
• $20 per person
• Must be 19+ to attend
• FULL POST AND DETAILS, HERE: Find your tour or webinar | Legislative Assembly of Ontario (ola.org)

Important: you must email [email protected] to reserve your spot (please don’t contact Holly). Payment will be collected upon registration. 

Thank you to Aisling for sharing such a unique opportunity with AGO volunteers!

Hello everyone,

This week was particularly buzzy in the galleries as we welcomed many school groups at the end of the school year, as well as lots of visitors who came to see Miles Greenberg’s performance on Wednesday. Soon we will have AGO summer campers onsite, which is exciting.

In the last few weeks, we have received messages of concern about the state of Grange Park from both community members and staff who are not feeling safe. We are attempting to work with the City about this, because the city is responsible for the management and security of Grange Park. The park is unique in that while the green space is the AGO’s property, it is operated by the City of Toronto.

Take care,

Stephan

Hello volunteers,

As you may be aware, the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is currently in labour negotiations and workers could strike as early as 12:01 a.m. on Friday, June 7, 2024. 

As a TTC strike will impact all of us who use the transit system and will result in an increase in traffic.

I know as volunteers you feel a great sense of responsibility, and we are grateful for your steady commitment. We appreciate everyone who is able to make it to the Gallery for their regularly scheduled shift (the Gallery will remain open). But if your travel is impacted, and find it too challenging to commute, please don’t worry about coming in. We will adjust.

It’s always a good idea to let your staff coordinators know of your absence, so if you are not able to come in, please get in contact with your staff support. Hopefully a strike will be avoided, but if not, please know we will all get through it together (I think I’ve shared this sentiment a lot lately!) and we’ll look forward to seeing you at the Gallery, soon enough.

Thank you for your understanding as we all prepare for what could be a challenging time to get around the City! Please visit the TTC website for the most recent and up-to-date information about labour negotiations – Holly, volunteer resources

Hello everyone,

I am very much looking forward to next week’s performance by Miles Greenberg It will unfold over several hours on Wednesday June 5, (12-9pm) and if you are here on Wednesday, I encourage you to take a few moments to head to Walker Court and take it in. The Globe & Mail featured a lead story on the performance yesterday and there is a buzz in the community. It should be very special.

ANNOUNCING ROS LAWLER, CHIEF BUSINESS AND BRAND OFFICER:

I am pleased to announce that Ros Lawler will be joining the AGO on Monday, June 3 as Chief Brand & Business Officer. This is a new role that will oversee Communications, F&B, Marketing, Membership & Database Marketing, Retail, and Visitor Experience teams. Ros and her team will ensure that our brand and visitor experience is consistent throughout the museum and will work to maximize revenues across all revenue streams.

Ros joins us from the National Portrait Gallery in London, England, where she was Chief Operating Officer. She is well positioned for her work at the AGO – she has been a champion of audience development, commercial and digital strategy, and complex project delivery for organizations across the globe as they have adapted to seismic industry shifts and changing consumer behaviour. Ros is a museum person – she was previously Digital Director at Tate Britain and believes firmly that the arts and creative industries bring huge value to communities and individuals.  

Ros will be a massive asset to a strong team, building on our work to date and leading us on our path ahead. I’d like to thank teams for achieving many successes and goals while working through this period of transition, and special thanks to Herman Lo for stepping up to LT during this time.

Take care,

Stephan

Volunteers, I’m thrilled to share this post from Barbara Glaser, your Volunteer President. Read on to find out which project the volunteers voted to support with this year’s funds – Holly

Dear fellow Volunteers,

Every year I look forward to the Volunteer Endowment Trust (VET) process and the collaboration with fellow Volunteers, leadership and what the Development team will propose for us. This year was no exception, as the team always give us such vast and unique choices which we are most grateful for and this collaboration on the important VET process. This is a wonderful opportunity for us all as volunteers to contribute as to where the VET funds will be distributed to and vote in a democratic process, each vote truly counts and matters. This year we also introduced a zoom presentation with Erin Thadani (Associate Director, Philanthropy and Planned Giving) that gave us further insights into the proposal and information on the history of the Volunteer Endowment Trust.

Thank you to all and especially to the Volunteers for your vote and say on this very important piece in Volunteer history for 2024-25. I’m happy to announce after a very tight race the winning vote goes to the upcoming exhibition “Joyce Wieland: Heart On”. The exhibit will be opening at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) on January 27th-May11, 2025 at the AGO on June 21-October 13 2025 (Co-produced by the Art Gallery of Ontario in partnership with the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts). The exhibition is curated by Georgiana Uhlyarik and Anne Grace, Modern Art Curator MMFA. As we approach our 80th year of the AGO Volunteer program, I feel this is a fitting tribute.

This will be the first major Canadian exhibition of Wieland”s work in 35 years and will offer a comprehensive review of Weiland’s career, the accompanying catalogue will present fresh scholarship focusing on the themes Wieland developed in her artistic practice, which are increasingly pertinent to audiences today. It is because of your vote Volunteers on the VET support that the funds will be distributed to and further expand on the exhibition of Wieland’s work and career. Can’t wait to see the vast array of works and how our curators will compose the exhibit. Looking forward and jointly for us Volunteers to partake in the tours, programming in connection.

Barbara Glaser

AGO Volunteer President

Happy to pass along this good news from the AGO Group Sales/ Visitor Experience team. It is FREE for AGO staff and volunteers to visit The Art of Banksy exhibition. It is now part of the Ontario Attractions reciprocal program.

Staff and volunteers can get tickets depending on capacity per time slot:

As always, if you have questions about this offer (or others) make sure to reach out to the contact provided – the AGO doesn’t organize these offers, we are just reciprocal partners along with other organizations who choose to participate.

An updated Ontario Attractions Reciprocal Agreement – allowing complimentary and discounted admissions for staff and volunteers at reciprocal partners across the GTA and Ontario – has just been published. We are sharing a copy in this week’s email to volunteers (it is too big to post here) – and printed copies will be available next week in the volunteer lounge – check the bulletin board. Happy exploring!

We are very happy to have Alexa Greist, Curator and R. Fraser Elliott Chair, Prints & Drawings, walk us through Making Her Mark: A History of Women Artists in Europe, 1400 – 1800.

• Wednesday June 12
• 5:30pm – 6:30pm
• Meet in Gallery

Alexa will be joining us in thanks for the volunteers’ financial support of the exhibition (through the 2023 Volunteer Endowment Trust). We hope to see you there! There is no need to register, just drop in! This tour is for volunteers only, no outside guests, please. We will likely be a big group, and we will adjust our style accordingly. We look forward to seeing you there!

More about Alexa: Prior to joining the AGO in 2016, Alexa Greist held curatorial positions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Yale University Art Gallery. She holds a Ph.D from the University of Pennsylvania focused on Italian printed drawing books, and a Master’s degree, also from the University of Pennsylvania, with a M.A. thesis on the early drawings of Joseph Stella. Greist’s area of specialty is Italian Renaissance and Baroque prints and drawings.

Hello everyone,

Many of you have observed activity on the east side of the AGO. The Dani Reiss Modern & Contemporary Gallery has achieved City approvals and contracts have been confirmed with EllisDon, the construction company responsible for building the expansion. I took a photo earlier this week – you can see they are starting to remove the concrete cladding.

Take care,

Stephan

P.S. I tested positive for COVID last week and was majorly slammed for several days over the long weekend. A note of caution to everyone that COVID is still out there – please get tested if you’re not feeling great and stay home if you are unwell. Health first.

Hello Volunteers,

Please see this invitation from Audrey Hudson, Chief, Education, Programming and Diversity. Volunteers are invited to participate in a survey to help define AGO values.  I think it’s great volunteers have been asked to provide input, and hope some of you will participate in the survey, linked below (Below is a long post from Audrey, that explains how the Gallery got to this point – the survey is linked near the bottom of her email).  Cheers, – Holly

Hello Everyone,

Over the past four months we have been undergoing work with a Joint Working Committee (JWC) made up of Board members and Management from different areas across the AGO. The committee was struck with the purpose of bringing clarity to governance, policies, and values alignment in a way that generates engagement and intentionality. I am co-leading this initiative with Board of Trustees member, Liza Mauer.

We have met four times since January with three more meetings to take us to the end of June in this initial phase. Having managers in this group was purposeful given the amount of added work we anticipated, and always acknowledged that there would be larger engagement opportunities for all staff and volunteers to come.

   

We recognize the need to align our organizational values before undertaking any other work, as values are fundamental, and this process can support our organizational healing as we move forward from a difficult time.

As a first step in our values development process, we participated in a group workshop facilitated by Professor Paul Ingram from Columbia University, who has extensive experience in values development. To expand our worldviews, later this month, the JWC is also meeting with Elder Duke Redbird, who will share an Indigenous perspective on value systems and beliefs.  

The immediate next step is to give all employees and volunteers the opportunity to participate in the values discussion. We invite you to take part in a two-step process with a survey and focus groups.

   

This is a significant initiative, and therefore our goal is to take the time required. Doing this work charts a positive path forward and I trust that we will all bring goodness to this initiative.    

Please complete the confidential survey developed by Professor Paul Ingram to help us understand the individual values of AGO employees and volunteers. Your input is crucial in shaping our organizational values.   

The survey should take about 5-7 minutes to complete, and your responses are anonymous.  The survey link will be available until Tuesday, May 28. I encourage you to participate.  

TAKE THE SURVEY, NOW : Survey Link:  https://columbia.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8BOv12Qfpd0M3rw

Personally, I am excited about this opportunity, and I invite you to participate. Feel free to reach out to me with any questions.

Take care, 

Audrey 

Audrey Hudson

Richard & Elizabeth Currie, Chief Education, Programming & Diversity

[email protected]

M 416.560.2562

T 416.979.6660 x6835

Hello everyone, this week we’re grateful to share this beautiful post from Michael Younder. Michael is part of a dynamic duo – he (and his mother, Susan) volunteer together at the AGO, both as Gallery Guides. With Susan’s recent retirement, we share this note from Michael. With thanks, – Holly

Hi everyone, 

Some of you may have heard that my Mother, Susan Younder, decided last month to bring to an end, her over 30-year career as a volunteer guide at the AGO. Both the gallery and myself, are richer for it.

My mother’s passion for the arts began well before volunteering at the AGO. My earliest memories were her support, with the late Susan Rubes, of the Young People’s Theatre and its opening on Front Street East in Toronto for its 1977-78 season. This involved fund raising, hosting cast parties (where we got bedtime stories by Susan’s husband Jan) and of course, attending lots of plays. She also was on the board of Prologue Performing Arts during the same time – an organization whose mission still, is to bring the arts to children. Here again, she brought me along to performances in various high school gyms across the city. In high school myself, entering grade 9, I ran out of options for electives so mom managed to convince the school to let me take the grade 10 theatre arts class. I had no idea what to expect or what I was going to do. She assured me that I’d be just fine. This scenario would repeat itself as you will soon see.

The AGO was a fixture in this upbringing – well before either us volunteered. For me, it started with her taking us to see the first King Tut show in 1979. In 1982, it was Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party, where I recall asking “What kinds of plants are on the plates” to which my mother deadpanned “They’re not plants, they’re vaginas”. Right, got it. Then she started volunteering and I recall her sharing the buzz that was the Barnes exhibit, boasting that the cash register in the gift shop was so full she couldn’t close the door properly (and even getting my skeptical late Father to attend, where he said “I don’t know who this Barnes guy was, but he was a hell of an artist…”). Bowie and Ai Weiwei were two other favourites. In the middle was Transformation AGO, where she got to meet Frank Gehry. Each big exhibit involved the same pregame: the buying of the catalogue and several other books, meticulous research and planning, and expert but approachable delivery of content through her dots and tours, to literally thousands of visitors. The Province of Ontario recognized this veritas too, and bestowed a volunteer award on her. 

It was one of those exhibits, a photography collection by Canadian Scott McFarland that mom took me through in 2014 (in which, we had an animated discussion on whether or not photography is art – I convinced her it was) that she convinced me to join the AGO as a volunteer guide. I had no idea what to expect or what I was going to do. She assured me that I’d be just fine. And I was. And so was my mother, as the building, the collection and the approach to engaging our visitors, have all evolved over her tenure. 

As I come into the AGO each Wednesday night, I continue to stand on her shoulders and now will attempt to fill her impossible shoes. 

Michael Younder

—

An addition from Holly – some of you will recall a wonderful article in AGOinsider focusing on Michael and his Mum – linked, HERE.