ANNUAL REPORT 2013 THE MUSEUM 2013 Samantha Roberts volunteers her time in our library archives. Happy visitors tour the exhibition L.O. Today during the opening reception. 2013 was a year of transition and new growth for London, our tour guides, board and committee Museum London. As we entered 2013, we were members, Museum Underground volunteers, and guided by our new Strategic Plan, which had the many others—who have done exceptional work to succinct focus of attracting “Feet, Friends, and support the Museum this past year and over the Funds” and achieving the goals of creating many years of the Museum's history. opportunities for dialogue—about art and history, about our community, and indeed, about our 2013 also saw us transition our membership organization through a wide variety of program into a “supporters” program that has experiences and opportunities for engagement. enabled the Museum to engage and connect with a much larger segment of our community. All We also embarked on a new model of volunteerism Londoners are now able to enjoy the benefits of that provided new and diverse opportunities for a participating in and supporting the Museum. The wide variety of people interested in supporting art continued commitment of our supporters has and heritage in the community. The reason for our enabled us to maintain Museum London as an renewed approach is the changing face of important cultural institution with a national volunteerism: today young people volunteer to reputation for excellence. support their professional and educational goals, new Canadians volunteer as a way to connect with The City of London chose to create a separate their new home and with potential employers, and board to manage Eldon House beginning January seniors offer up their years of experience and 1, 2013. Museum London has been very proud to be education for the betterment of the community. stewards in the development of Eldon House as a To build on its traditional support and expand its museum over the years, and so we were delighted volunteer program, the Museum also created a that it has evolved to the point that it now Volunteer Committee of the Board and hired a warrants its own board. The last few years of Community Engagement Coordinator to recruit, activities at the House had been phenomenal: train, and support the Museum’s growing and Museum London was able to create a full-time increasingly diverse base of volunteers. position to manage the day-to-day operations of the House. And notably, our staff and volunteers, We sincerely thank all our active and committed along with our community partners, did amazing volunteers—the Volunteer Committee to Museum job of programming the 175th Anniversary of the 2 Annual Report 2013 Crowds gathered for the grand opening of our Visible Storage gallery After exploring the galleries, visitors can now shop in Muse, which and new online resource, visiblestorage.ca. officially opened its doors in November, 2013. House and 50th Anniversary of its gift to the City. to grow and we celebrated our eleventh The House has never been more vibrant and is very anniversary partnership with the Black History well-positioned to take the next steps in its Month Resource Committee, amongst many evolution. collaborations. At the core of what we do are our exhibition and Our permanent collection took a place of pride in education programs. Again this year we provided our activities in 2013. Beyond being featured in a our community with outstanding offerings variety of our temporary exhibitions, we created a including major retrospective exhibitions of artists new Visible Storage Gallery where our community Bernice Vincent, Collette Urban, and Kim will now have access, both physically and virtually, Ondaatje. We also featured seven emerging and to many of the treasures we hold in the public mid-career London artists in L.O. Today as well as trust. We also saw changes to our physical spaces celebrating the major gift of artifacts we received in 2013 as we developed amenities to serve our from Labatt Brewery with the exhibition London’s public. Our new Shop and Art Rental facility, Hometown Brewery: The Labatt Story. And this is Muse, opened in November and construction on just a sampling of the exhibitions on view in 2013. our new Café continued through year’s end. These exhibitions were complemented by an And while these are the projects that our public impressive program schedule that included artist would have seen in 2013, work was also underway talks and lectures, films exploring the themes behind the scenes on initiatives for the future. highlighted in the exhibitions, as well as stand- Most notably was the work done to investigate alone projects on topics of interest to the establishing a Creative Learning Centre for the community. With the assistance of a grant from Museum. Early in the year we commissioned Lord the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund we Cultural Resources to do a feasibility study for the presented a year-long Domestic Arrivals film Centre and in the second half of the year we festival featuring more than 60 Canadian films. talked to the community about how a Learning Centre might serve the people of London and the We continued our successful partnerships with the region. What we heard was very encouraging and London Society of Architects lecture series, is a solid foundation for us as we move forward in continued our involvement with Nuit Blanche, and 2014 with this idea. with the Museum Underground we launched Third Thursdays. Our Youth Council initiative continued 2013 Annual Report 3 Drawing in the Galleries instructor Jared Peters gives a quick lesson in A school group gathers around an iPad to learn more about the perspective to participants. exhibition London Works: Labouring in the Forest City. While the Museum is fortunate to receive The contributions made by our staff members on significant funding annually from the City of a daily basis must also be recognized. They often London, the Canada Council for the Arts, the go above and beyond the call of duty simply Ontario Arts Council and the Ontario Ministry of because they are passionate about what they do, Tourism, Culture and Sport, our ability to provide and they are excited to share their work with our engaging experiences is bolstered by the financial community. We have benefitted tremendously support we receive from the community. Thanks from their energy and ideas, and we look forward go to Art of Eating Chairperson Diane Thrasher to their continued efforts to expand the reach and and her committee; along with members of our profile of the Museum. Board, the Museum London Foundation Board, and everyone who attended the event; together 2013 has been a challenging and rewarding year. we raised $54,000 to support programs for We thank you for your ongoing interest in and children, youth and families. support for Museum London, and we happily anticipate our continued, shared engagement in Museum London also values the generosity of 2014. donors who responded very positively throughout the year. These individuals and organizations make it possible for us to preserve and tell the story of London and Londoners through art, artifacts, and innovative programming. Patrick Mahon Chair, Board of Directors Brian Meehan Executive Director 4 Annual Report 2013 BOARD & COMMITTEES The Museum Underground Committee takes time out for a photo in Allison Cameron and a student from Western University, perform on Studio Kuefner’s photo booth after another successful Devil’s Night event. Cameron and artist Colette Urban’s Incomparable Compatibles at the exhibition opening for Colette Urban: Incognito. BOARD OF DIRECTORS MUSEUM LONDON MATERIAL CULTURE MARKETING AND Patrick Mahon, Chair FOUNDATION BOARD COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT Stefan Andrejicka OF DIRECTORS COMMITTEE COMMITTEE Adam Caplan Paul van der Werf, Jan Devereux Titus Ferguson, Chair Ian T. Dantzer Chair Derek Dier Stephanie Ciccarelli Titus Ferguson Peter Becher Laurence Grant Jennie Kraehling German Gutierrez Bernie Bierbaum Shelley McKellar Patrick Mahon Dale Henderson Chris Chircoski Andrea McNaughton Marnie McGarry Gloria Hinton Catherine Finlayson Allan Ralph Aly Lalani Mary Flannigan Hockin Marvin Simner STANDING Greg Ludlow Ron Holliday Jonathan Vance VOLUNTEER Douglas Marshman Damir Matic COMMITTEE Marnie McGarry Rob O'Dowda PROPERTY AND Adam Caplan, Chair Helen Pearce Pam Waeland FINANCE COMMITTEE Jenna Faye-Powell Julie Rogers-Glabush Paul Way Douglas Marshman, Annette Lindsay McMichael Ruth Chair Denise Love Diane Thrasher VISUAL ART Gloria Hinton Patrick Mahon Paul van der Werf COMMITTEE Aly Lalani McMichael Ruth Stefan Andrejicka Graham Porter Sharon Saunders Holly Curtis Adam Weir Diane Thrasher Barry Fair Bill Campbell Ron Holliday MUSEUM Greg Ludlow POLICY COMMITTEE UNDERGROUND Allison Matic Ian Dantzer, Chair Adam Caplan Sharon Saunders Adam Caplan Jo Jennings Tom Corbett Andrea Martens Rachel Ferguson McMichael Ruth Greg Ludlow Savanah Sewell 2013 Annual Report 5 VOLUNTEERS Give your talent and invest your time. We thank our volunteers for the tremendous work that they do throughout all facets of the Museum. Our volunteers inspire and educate, reach out to our community, and raise money and awareness to support our operations and exhibitions. They offer our organization their skills, their commitment, and their caring. They create a positive impact for visitors to the Museum and within the local arts and culture community. Museum London is proud to recognize all of our volunteers