Art Galleries often have Artists-in-Residence who inhabit the building and spend their time making art. Here on Art Matters we’re trying something new: a Blogger-in-Residence. There is simply so much going on around here as Transformation AGO nears completion that we want somebody to cover the events and details around the opening of the New AGO. The opening is a big deal to us, of course, but it’s also important to the city that surrounds the building. We’re glad we’ve got the Art Matters blog to explore the transformation from inside and out. The best part about running a blog like this is we can explore all this from a whole bunch of angles — inside and outside the building — and invite you, our readers, to join in the discussion.

The Art Matters Blogger-in-Residence over the next few weeks will be Shawn Micallef. He’ll be poking around the nooks and crannies of the building and talking to visitors and staff starting today. Shawn has written about cities, art, culture, architecture for various newspapers, magazines and books. He is Associate Editor of Spacing Magazine, a print and web publication that covers Toronto’s urban landscape from a public space angle. Shawn is also co-founder of [murmur], the location-based mobile phone documentary project that records personal stories and memories and then lets people hear those stories where they take place using their cellular telephone. Shawn also teaches interactive design next door at the Ontario College of Art and Design and is a regular commentator on civic events and life in print, television and radio and has lectured on urban culture throughout North American and Europe.

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• Do the arts matter? – KFAI Radio in Minneapolis MN