Of What Use is a National Gallery in Canada?

Date: Sep­tem­ber 23, 2010
Time: 4:30 pm — 6 pm
Loca­tion: Uni­ver­sity of Ottawa, Des­marais Build­ing, 12th floor, Room 130

Estab­lished in 1880, the National Gallery of Canada (NGC) has cemented itself as one of the country’s pre­mier art gal­leries. Located in Ottawa, it is among the old­est of Canada’s national cul­tural insti­tu­tions, and houses a com­pre­hen­sive col­lec­tion of both his­tor­i­cal and con­tem­po­rary Cana­dian art. Today, the NGC seeks to make art acces­si­ble to all cor­ners of the county and fur­ther edu­cate the pub­lic on the visual arts. How­ever, in the con­text of today’s soci­ety and tech­nol­ogy, what role does the Gallery play? Marc Mayer, the direc­tor and CEO of the NGC will answer this ques­tion as he leads a dis­cus­sion out­lin­ing the rel­e­vance of the Gallery and his vision for it as it con­tin­ues to grow and develop. He will also touch on other mat­ters such as ongo­ing and long-term projects at the NGC, the impor­tance of con­tem­po­rary art at the Gallery, the finan­cial chal­lenges it has faced and the con­cept of decentralization.

Speaker: Marc Mayer, direc­tor and CEO, National Gallery of Canada

Marc Mayer is the direc­tor and CEO of the National Gallery of Canada. Pre­vi­ously, he served as direc­tor of the Musée d’art con­tem­po­rain de Mon­tréal (2005) and the Power Plant Con­tem­po­rary Art Gallery in Toronto (1998), as well as deputy direc­tor of the Brook­lyn Museum in New York (2001) and cura­tor of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buf­falo (1994). Before embark­ing on his museum career, he was the head of visual arts for the Cana­dian Cul­tural Cen­ter in Paris, France, and acted as the Paris cor­re­spon­dent for Rizzoli’s The Jour­nal of Art. Mayer holds an hon­ours BA in Art His­tory from McGill Uni­ver­sity. He is involved with sev­eral pro­fes­sional orga­ni­za­tions and is cur­rently chair of the pub­lic affairs com­mit­tee for the Asso­ci­a­tion of Art Museum Directors.