National gallery decolonizing collection after tumultuous year, leaders say

After a year of staff turmoil and public criticism including from its former Indigenous art curator National Gallery of Canada leaders say the art institution is making strides in decolonizing its collection and attracting first-time visitors.

Angela Cassie, the gallery's interim director and CEO, and Franoise Lyon, chair of the board of trustees, delivered that message at the art institution's annual public forum last week.

"Our new vision, to create dynamic experiences through the visual arts, not only meant adding new points of view to our collectionbut also embracing new ways of doing our work," Cassie told the audience at the April 5 forum.

The updatecameafter months of controversy that saw several high-ranking staff members released from key roles, while someformer staff publicly expressed concern about the direction of the organization.

Gallery leaders spoke about the institution's recent track record, saying the approach outlined in its five-year strategic planisstarting to yield positive results.

According to Cassie, the proportion of gallery visits by first-timers increased by 15 per cent from2021 to 2022.

Sofar in 2022-2023, the gallery is on pace to acquire 642 works of art through purchases and donations, Cassie said. In 2021-2022, it acquired 721 works of art through the same means.

The gallery also generated 1.6 million website visits in 2021-2022 and recruited over 60,000 participants to its online programs, according to Lyon, but those numbers were not compared to previous years.

Tumultuous year

Cassie took over as interim director and CEO of the gallery in July 2022, shortly after the previous director and CEO Sasha Suda departed to accept a new job at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The 42-year-old Sudahad been the youngest person named to the gallery's top job since the First World War andstayed in the position forjust over three years.

Less than six months after Suda's departure, the gallery let go of four senior staff members, including Greg Hill, its longtime Indigenous artcurator.

In a statement posted to social media after his dismissal, Hill said he was "deeply disturbed by the colonial and anti-Indigenous ways the department of Indigenous ways and decolonization is being run."

In a memo sent tostaff at the time, Cassie said the restructuring would"better align the gallery's leadership team with the organization's new strategic plans."

In November 2022, seven former gallerystaff members co-signed a letter to Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez expressing their concerns about the restructuring. The letter said a long string of dismissals had left key positions vacant and created uncertainty within the gallery, among other allegations.

Cassie defended the changes in a December 2022 interview with CBC, saying "transformation is necessary."

In her statements at the public forum Wednesday, she listed the creation of the department of Indigenous ways and decolonizationas key to helping the gallery grow and develop its collection of Indigenous art.

"We recognize that change is hard," Cassie said. "But by having constructive dialogue, together we can build a stronger sector and a stronger collection for future generations."