Annual Report
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MACKENZIE ART GALLERY ANNUAL REPORT 2017/18 01 3 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE 4 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND CEO’S MESSAGE 5 YEAR IN REVIEW 7 EXHIBITIONS 21 COMMUNITY OUTREACH, EDUCATION & PUBLIC PROGRAMS 27 NEW PROGRAM SPACE AND CAFÉ 29 COMMUNITY SUPPORT 31 DONORS & SPONSORS 35 PERMANENT COLLECTION ACQUISITIONS 45 MEMBERS & VOLUNTEERS CORE FUNDING PROVIDED BY: William Kurelek (Canadian, 1927–1977), No Grass Grows on the Beaten Path, 1975, mixed media on masonite, 101.6 x 71.1 cm., Collection of the MacKenzie Art Gallery, 01 gift of Av Isaacs and Donnalu Wigmore. Photo: Don Hall. 02 Message from the President The exhibition Re: Celebrating the Body investigated cultural Message from the Executive Director and CEO stereotypes of the body with a special focus on questions of In my first year as President of the ability. Individuals who experience abilities-based challenges The MacKenzie Art Gallery is working A recently released survey of Canadian audiences indicated MacKenzie Art Gallery’s Board of developed and led the public on tours of Re: Celebrating the towards a new vision of what an art that the top three reasons we participate in culture are: Trustees, I am pleased to share the Body, transforming expectations of an exhibition tour. (See museum of the 21st century can be. I community, connection and discovery.1 These three reasons achievements of the past year. In page 11 for details.) have written and spoken in the past align with culture’s greatest potential impact. They also align 2017/18, the MacKenzie embodied its about museums and galleries being with the MacKenzie’s Strategic Plan (2018-23) developed vision to become an immersive centre The MacKenzie continues to fulfill our mandate to build our uniquely positioned at this moment in during the period of this report, and adopted by the Board for art focusing on visitors and artists, permanent collection. This included collecting Saskatchewan Western societies. We have seen the of Trustees at the first meeting of 2018-19. The three core Indigenous culture and diversity and Prairie artwork and being a world leader in the proliferation of digital technologies in objectives outlined in the plan are: while remaining grounded in history, recognition and presentation of Indigenous artworks. To this almost every aspect of our lives. While education, and sustainability. end, over 200 Indigenous works were promised to the Gallery people adapt to new ways of gathering 1. Create Outstanding Visitor and Participant Experiences Over 84,000 visitors experienced this past year and the MacKenzie continues to place emphasis and sharing information and ideas, 2. Strengthen Organizational Resilience the MacKenzie’s public programs and on the addition of new works to its permanent collection as we have also seen a simultaneous 3. Foster our Core Identity exhibitions on topics ranging from we move into a new year. revitalization and interest in analogue national commemoration, public art, technologies and hand-crafted art and objects. This includes I believe you will see these directions reflected in the program inter-cultural relations, reconciliation, and much more. This Thank you to the many individuals and businesses who a range of popular examples — from vinyl records, to knitting, outlined in this report. report includes details on the many ways that the MacKenzie sustain the MacKenzie through donations and participation to locally crafted beer. Even as we are catapulted into an has been playful, creative and experimental in fostering in fundraising events. Together, we raised over $120,000 in increasingly digital — and image-based — world, we hold close We continue to get closer to realizing our potential transformative experiences. support of the Gallery through fundraising events such as Bazaart, Holiday Bazaart, and the MacKenzie Gala. We also those things that seem to involve “real” people, or suggest through the objectives outlined above. We have begun the construction of a new area for meeting and public programs As a playful examination of national identity, the MacKenzie extend deep gratitude to our members, donors, and corporate some form of authenticity. at the gallery. Adjoining it will be a café and bar, centred on enjoyed Jacqueline Hoàng Nguyen’s Space Fiction & the sponsors for their ongoing support. an art installation, the details of which will be announced Archives, which detailed the small town of St. Albert’s We have also seen the rise of so-called “fake news.” Perhaps in the near future. We are entering the new year by gaining construction of a spaceship landing pad as a welcome to It is people who animate the Gallery as a vital community this is another indicator of why people are hungry for momentum through planned artwork commissions, exhibitions extraterrestrials against the backdrop of Canada’s 1967 hub where encounters with art enrich the lives of countless information, and seek it in a broad variety of forms and media. and programs, facility and technological enhancements and Centennial and changes to immigration regulations. visitors. I extend a personal thank you to staff and volunteers As well-established keepers of our culture through a collection organizational development. (See page 13 for details.) for their passionate and dedicated activation of the Gallery as of works — and all the ideas they contain — art museums an exciting space for new experiences. are poised to assert a more crucial role in society. Through The MacKenzie was a creative hub in 2017/18. The BMO art galleries visitors come into contact with vital objects, The MacKenzie is full of potential in the coming year with Learning Centre bustled with parents and children creating While it is satisfying to reflect on treasured experiences information and experiences. To build upon the material further exciting announcements and developments. Don’t art together on Family Sundays. Gallery visitors of all ages over the past year, it is thrilling to look forward to new content of our collection, the MacKenzie is re-articulating miss a thing by purchasing or renewing your membership discovered major exhibitions during Thursday Lates. The developments on the horizon, including the transformation of itself as a place where people and ideas meet, and where today. We look forward to sharing with you and hearing REALI (Recreation, Life Skills, Story Telling and Art Activity) the Gallery’s public spaces. knowledge is created. The MacKenzie is becoming a place of from you! program, in partnership with the Regina Immigrant Women Welcome area improvements are underway, including more interactive, experiential and immersive experiences. It Centre, served immigrant and refugee women and their the development of public gathering spaces, a café, and is becoming a place where one can not only see, but also feel, children on Saturdays. integrated artworks. At this critical juncture for construction taste, listen, and interact with the world through art. Even as we expand our reach through virtual and online experiences, Youth from several Regina schools took experimental projects and public monuments in the province, the MacKenzie has launched a public artwork that honours the we are becoming more than ever a place for tangible approaches to learning, story-telling and creation through experiences for all our senses. the Enbridge Young Artists Program. Workshops included treaty legacy of our area and brands the MacKenzie as a Anthony Kiendl translating an ancient tale of How the Loon Got its Walk from beacon of inclusive, challenging and beautiful experiences. Executive Director and CEO oral traditions into video games and machinima, led by artist Skawenatti Fragnito and her AbTec team. (See page 23 & 24 for details.) Johanna Salloum President, MacKenzie Art Gallery Board of Trustees 03 1. Culture Track Canada at http://www.businessandarts.org/culturetrack/assets/reports/CT%20Canada%20Summary.pdf 04 YEAR IN REVIEW 2017/18 Attendance Community and Public Tours and In-House 68,323 Programs Out-of-House 16,142 Tours and Programs 342 Total 84,465 Attendance 10,239 Attendance Highlights Exhibition Openings Special Events 7,354 Number of Openings 8 Facility Rentals 9,204 Attendance 1,557 School and Youth Project Development Highlights Tours 238 Cash and in-kind contributions Attendance 4,625 from organizations $1,583,025 Cash and in-kind contributions Enbridge Young Artists Project from individuals $518,090 Tours 22 Net result of three fundraising events $122,684 Workshops and Programs 186 Gallery Shop net proceeds $35,363 Attendance 3,543 Total $2,254,162 Provincial Touring Artists and Exhibition Membership Program Program Membership proceeds (minus donation portion) $18,687 Tours 216 Active Gallery Memberships 562 Communities Visited 25 Attendance 6,395 Volunteers Volunteers 111 REALI Program (Recreation, life skills, Hours donated by Volunteers 3,142 storytelling and art activities) Workshops 49 Attendance 925 05 Ruth Cuthand (Canadian, born 1954), Cardston, Alberta 1959–1967 #5, 2005, acrylic on canvas, 182.9 x 121.9 cm., Collection of the MacKenzie Art Gallery, gift of the artist. Photo: courtesy of 05 Remai Modern. 06 EXHIBITIONS Alex Janvier May 20 to September 10, 2017 As the first stop on the exhibition’s national Audiences were given the opportunity to tour, the MacKenzie was honoured to host immerse themselves in Janvier’s work Alex Janvier, a major retrospective of one through a variety of public programs. To of Canada’s foremost Indigenous artists. coincide with the exhibition, the MacKenzie Organized by the National Gallery of Canada, hosted two extraordinary conversations. The the exhibition highlighted Janvier’s unique first was a discussion with MacKenzie Curator approach to representing a Dene geocultural Michelle LaVallee and Greg Hill, Audain Senior landscape through a highly personalized Curator of Indigenous Art for the National abstracted modernist aesthetic and offered Gallery of Canada, which focused on Janvier’s Regina audiences a rare opportunity to achievements and his role within Indigenous engage with more than 100 works spanning and Canadian art history.