[BCMA] Fwd: Comments for Listserv re National Gallery of Canada

[Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.]

  -------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Comments for Listserv
Date: 	Thu, 2 Jun 2011 15:52:30 -0700


It is unfortunate that the National Gallery of Canada chose to cut 
several key curatorial positions this week. It was only in January of 
this year that we learned the Gallery had purchased a vase for five 
times the estimated price at an auction in New York.The Ptarmigan vase 
was purchased for more than $650,000 through special federal funding.At 
the time of that purchase, Gallery Director, Marc Meyer commented, “We 
were attracted to this extraordinary vase because it tells the story of 
how Canadian and American cultures are closely connected.”

The announcement did not come from the Gallery Director, Marc Meyer as 
he was in Venice.This questions the obvious – is he travelling at the 
National Gallery’s expense or just conveniently avoiding the press? The 
Gallery announced that the staff layoffs were made in an effort to save 
$400,000 in salaries.

Tough decisions have recently been made throughout the Arts and Cultural 
community in both Canada and the United States.In January of 2009, I was 
attending a museum conference in New York when Brandeis University 
located in suburban Boston announced it was forced to sell off its 
entire 6,000-piece art collection and close its Rose Art Museum gallery 
to raise money for university operations. The Rose Museum housed an 
impressive Modern Art collection which included works by Andy Warhol, 
Roy Lichtenstein and Max Ernst.A ripple of fear was immediately felt 
through museum and gallery staff throughout North America and the world.

There was such public outrage that the university had to look for 
alternatives to such a drastic move. In the summer of 2010, the 
university announced that the collection of the Rose Art Museum was 
going to lease it works through a partnership with the auction house, 
Sotheby’s but selling the works was not off the table.

Controversial programs have been introduced by several American 
institutions to raise revenue through their collections. Most museums 
and galleries across this country have faced declining revenues and the 
need to cut costs, but the action taken by the National Gallery to 
dismiss curatorial staff by these numbers, seems outrageous.

Actions such as those of Brandeis and the National Gallery put all of 
our future relationships with donors and supporters in question.

Who could forget the comments that Mr. Harper made about the arts in 
2008? Our federal government has been given the green flag through its 
recent election win to continue its war against the arts. Who can forget 
the words of Prime Minister Stephen Harper when he claimed the Canadian 
arts and cultural community was not supported by Canadians and that 
ordinary people don’t care about arts funding.This comment was made 
after his 2008 government announced a $45 million cut in arts and 
culture funding.He said that the average Canadian has no sympathy for 
“rich” artists who gather at galas to whine about their grants. The 
federal government seems to be making it abundantly clear that they have 
no plans to increase arts funding and instead, will begin major layoffs 
at our most visible federal fine arts facility.I fear that this major 
layoff may be the first indication of cuts in arts funding that may lie 
ahead.

Money has recently been poured into two mega museums – an immigration 
museum in Halifax and the Museum of Human Rights in Winnipeg while 
cutbacks have been made at our national gallery.The arts and cultural 
employees of Canada should express their displeasure of the cutbacks to 
ensure funding will be available for their programs in the future.

Laura Moodie

Former Curator, Simon Fraser University Art Gallery

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.vvv.com/pipermail/bcma/attachments/20110603/94b2caf5/attachment.htm