Connecting with Community: Part One

People are busy. Money is tight. The first story in our two-part series looks at how galleries attract diverse audiences.

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Saskatoon’s Mendel Art Gallery was one of the most successful art galleries in Western Canada before it closed in 2015 to make way for the larger Remai Modern. At the Mendel, admission was free, attendance was high and shows were popular. What was the secret?

“Although it had the highest per capita attendance in the country, that is not what made it successful,” says one of the Mendel’s former directors, Terry Graff.

“I believe its success was due to the strong emotional connection it had with the community it served, with generations of families who had grown up with it and felt it belonged to them.”

There’s no magic formula for achieving the Mendel phenomenon, says Graff, who has led galleries in four provinces.

“But the quality of the program and permanent collection, the welcoming atmosphere, the professional staff, the active engagement with the community, the level of respect and appreciation for its remarkable origins, the support it gave to working artists, and the modest scale of the operation were certainly all important factors.”

Across the country, art galleries are seeking stronger emotional connections with increasingly diverse communities to remain relevant in a changing world. Achieving this is not always easy.

Institutions have various nuts-and-bolts tools. Adjusting admission and membership fees to build a dedicated clientele, is one. Keeping the doors open beyond the usual bankers’ hours and delving into social media are others.

So too is reaching out to youth, the elderly and ethnic minorities that may have gotten short shrift in the past. Some galleries are mounting more exhibitions and other programming about hot-button issues like the climate crisis and Indigenous rights.

At one time, a public institution’s main goal was to attract large crowds and stay in the black financially. But today other criteria are increasingly linked to the concept of success. They include things like impact, engagement and relevance, all of which are difficult to define and quantify.

The Canada Council for the Arts, a major source of funds for galleries, uses a peer jury system that scores grant applicants. A full 70 per cent of the mark covers criteria such as the gallery’s drive for artistic excellence and the organization’s financial health. The remaining 30 per cent is based on things like “impact” and “deepening relationships with a broad and diverse public.”

This means a commitment to reflect diverse communities through artistic programming, organizational make-up and audience development. Thus, the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina is regarded favourably by the council for acknowledging the city’s large Indigenous community by organizing Indigenous exhibitions and hiring Indigenous curators.

Tom Shapiro, of the Chicago-based firm Cultural Strategy Partners, advises galleries and museums on how they can boost their performance. He judges success using similar criteria as the Canada Council.

He says funding agencies, donors and boards of directors have traditionally judged organizations the way they would assess a business – by examining financial records. But new approaches are needed to assess their wider impact. One possibility he suggests is membership renewals, presumably an indicator of satisfaction.

Senator Patricia Bovey, a former director of the Winnipeg Art Gallery, says galleries “are very good at numbers.” But numbers do not mean a gallery is successful. “We’ve got to find other measurements,” she says.

For galleries, one of the biggest challenges is figuring out how to reach specific audiences.

Caroline Riedel, the curator of collections at the University of Victoria’s Legacy Art Galleries, uses relevance as a key metric, saying she tries to stage exhibitions that resonate with the public.

She points to the 2017 exhibition There is Truth Here: Creativity and Resilience in Children’s Art from Indian Residential and Day Schools. The show, now touring to the Museum of Vancouver, struck a chord with visitors.

“There were people who would come and want to give you a hug or cry,” says Riedel. “It was powerful for them.”

The Legacy is going through a process of “Indigenization and decolonization.” That includes consulting Indigenous people when planning an Indigenous show so it’s more relevant to that community.

Some experts believe cultural institutions must respond more to the issues of the day. While many contemporary art galleries have always done that, even institutions dealing with historical art must work on reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, says Bovey.

Just this week, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts announced a new "art and togetherness committee" that includes seven intercultural experts who will help the gallery become "a universally accessible gathering place for dialogue and cultural exchange." Goals include promoting projects that foster diversity and inclusion and building partnerships with other organizations on intercultural issues.

"We believe that museums are a tool for cultural diplomacy, a place for dialogue among cultures," says Nathalie Blondil, the museum's director general and chief curator. "Learning to live together harmoniously can only be achieved through cultural exchanges. People are too quick to build walls instead of bridges."

Vanda Vitali, executive director of the Canadian Museums Association and a veteran administrator at cultural organizations in New Zealand, the United States and elsewhere, says galleries are facing challenges on many fronts these days.

“We live in a time where things change quickly and so the museums and galleries need to respond quickly to the circumstances,” she says.

Galleries must give their communities “a place to debate, a place to hear, a place to heal,” she says. Ultimately, institutional success “depends on how close they are to their stakeholders.”

That sounds much like Graff describing how the Mendel’s success came from its “emotional connection” with Saskatoon residents. Will the Remai also develop a strong emotional connection with the people of Saskatoon? Will it overcome the Mendel nostalgia affecting so many? That, undoubtedly, will be among its greatest challenges. ■

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