Photo: Construction progresses on Transformation AGO .
Recent focus group research is showing that AGO visitors and family envision a transformed Gallery that draws people in, engages them with strong content and is accessible to a diverse community. That’s good news, because their ambitions are reflected in the AGO’s strategic plan.
According to Rick Wolfe of PostStone Corporation, who conducted the research last summer with the AGO’s marketing department as part of our 2008 brand development, he’s never seen stakeholder expectations so closely aligned with an institution’s strategic plan. "The AGO you plan to create," he says, "is the AGO people across the community say they want."
I think we
Great art is something that grabs you by the throat and pushes you against the wall.
I have a good job … but the work is just crap. At the end of the day I say: isn’t there more to life? The gallery represents something better. It
It should be diverse. – To be able to cater to many walks of life. Get the perspective of mankind. The evolution of man.
To inspire everyone here: think of the gallery as an exemplar of Canadian art abroad – a kind of jewel. Take those kinds of risks on younger artists.
What’s needed? a little bit of balls. Risk taking. Contextualize with what is going on today.
I like shows with new ideas. When you get close up, it can dazzle you. New, different, cutting edge. Something that can make me come out and go to the gallery.
My burning wish is for the AGO to have free admission when the new building opens.
In the UK, public museums and galleries have universal free admission. It’s so wonderful. You can run into the Tate Modern whenever you feel like it and check out your favourite thing. You can arrange to meet a friend by the Egyptian mummies at the British Museum just because you can. Way more people go to the museums there, and people of all classes and backgrounds go.
It is such a pain paying $20 or thereabouts. Lots of people can’t pay it, or simply don’t want to, including myself and I am an art enthusiast. You can’t help feeling obliged to spend 3 hours in there and let’s admit it, that can be a tedious excursion.
I would be so proud of our city if we could do something that civilized and awesome.
The UK found the money by exempting the museums from sales tax paid on aquisitions — the rest comes from money generated by the lottery.
A visit to the AGO feels like a visit to family I don’t know personally but feel connected to in the marrow of my bones. Shows like Luis Jacob’s Habitat, Michael Awad’s Present Tense and the Wallworks series, especially Denyse Thomasos’ work make me feel like I’ve spent Christmas with my dream relatives – vital, thoughtful, innovative, funny… and part of my blood.
And with the older works, the “Favourites” and the Lismer shows, the way they have been chosen and mounted also connects me with what is vital in people and lets me feel those deep ties. What sparks our imagination. How our creative fires have been stoked through Lismer’s legacy of art education. It doesn’t take a lot of context to illuminate art when the context is so well chosen. As with my favourite exhibit so far at the AGO – the Turner, Whistler, Monet show.
Thanks AGO people. Happy holidays!
I wish the new building was better looking, and had more unity in the design. The lobby design is also very uninspiring, with its low ceiling.