Media Coverage

An eventful year for the Farmington Museum at Gateway Park came to an end with the launch of a months-long process to develop a new strategic plan for the facility. A public meeting was held Dec. 11 to solicit public input for the plan, with the global consulting practice Lord Cultural Resources having been hired by the city to facilitate the process. The plan is intended to guide the decision-making of museum officials over the next several years. A final version is expected to be delivered to the City Council for its consideration by May.

The push to add a National Portrait Gallery to the capital’s “constellation” of cultural institutions has reached its next stage with a feasibility report prepared by a citizen-led advisory board. The report includes the proposed gallery’s preliminary concept, with a more detailed operational and business plan to come once the first major hurdle is cleared: finding a site to house the precious portrait collection.

In 2018, the board joined forces with the venerable Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and the renowned Toronto-based museum-planning firm Lord Cultural Resources, which drafted the recent feasibility study.

In less than a year, Expo 2020 Dubai will open its doors to more than 25 million visitors from across the globe on 20 October, 2020, with 70% of the visitors expected to come from outside the UAE. The first World Expo to take place in the region, Expo 2020 Dubai, will be located on an area covering 4.38km2 near Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai South.

Other companies including Moriyama & Teshima Architects, Lord Cultural Resources, Hatch, Kubik, Thornton Tomasetti, NGX, and Cisco are also working on the pavilion that will be located within the Sustainability District.

AUBURN — Neighbors for 30 years, Auburn’s two historic automobile museums now are sharing their road ahead. The Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum and National Auto & Truck Museum both occupy buildings of the former Auburn Automobile Co. Now they are joining to create “The Auburn Automobile Experience,” encouraging visitors to explore both museums.

“We have two incredible resources right here, on the same property, that are part of the same National Historic Landmarks listing,” said Brandon Anderson, executive director of the ACDA Museum. Together, he said, the museums can tell “a very dynamic story that is history, engineering, innovation, design, technology, based around the automobile.”

To encourage cooperation, The James Foundation of Auburn gave the museums a grant to hire a consultant. A six-member committee, with three leaders from each museum, chose Lord Cultural Resources from five applicants. The study took place throughout 2019, conducting dozens of interviews with museum officials and community members.

The consultants’ report suggests ways both museums can grow and how they can work together for mutual benefit, Anderson said.

A public session to gather the community’s input on future development of the city of Farmington’s museums will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, December 11, at the Farmington Museum, 3041 E. Main St. The city would like to hear what programming, developments and exhibits the community would like to see through the museum system.

The public is invited to share their thoughts and ideas on what these facilities can offer to the community and visitors as they develop a new strategic plan with the contracted assistance of Lord Cultural Resources.

Construction work has begun on Expo 2020 Dubai’s “The Future In Mind”-themed Canada Pavilion, with ground having broken on the wooden structure at the World Expo site. Ontario-based construction heavyweight Ellisdon was picked to design, build, and operate the pavilion.

On November 26, the groundbreaking ceremony for the Canada Pavilion was held at the Expo 2020 grounds in Dubai. As the selected contractor to design, build, and maintain, EllisDon has mobilized on-site and is set to begin construction on the national pavilion. Other companies working associated with the pavilion include Moriyama & Teshima Architects, Lord Cultural Resources, Hatch, Kubik, Thornton Tomasetti, NGX, and Cisco.

The Conservative Party confirmed in its manifesto, published earlier this week, that it plans to move forward with the cultural Festival of Great Britain and Northern Ireland if it wins the UK general election on 12 December.

The 2022 festival will be backed by a £120m government investment, says a statement from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. But arts professionals have raised concerns about this proposed showcase of Great Britain’s talents, once dubbed “the festival of Brexit” by the Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Gail Dexter Lord, the co-president of the Lord Cultural Resources consultancy, says that the project raises a number of issues. “I’m astonished if this could all come together in two years. With the cutbacks museums have suffered in the last decade, how could they afford not to be involved?” It is not clear also if Scotland will be part of the UK in 2022, she adds, referring to a possible second independence referendum.

Moncton and Dieppe are examining the creation of a contemporary art museum that could focus on Acadian and Indigenous works. The cities, together with non-profit Atlantic(que) Image-Art Inc., or AIA, have been quietly studying the concept.

Joanne Duguay, Moncton's cultural development officer, says the study is 'favourable' toward creating a contemporary art museum with a possible focus on Acadian and Indigenous art. (Submitted/Joanne Duguay). She said Moncton's 2011 cultural plan had a museum as a priority item. A group was formed several years ago to pursue studying the idea. Dieppe council voted in January 2018 to lend financial support for a study of a contemporary art museum in southeastern New Brunswick.

A tender was issued in February this year for a multi-phase study. It sought a consultant to carry out a feasibility study to evaluate the potential for a museum in either Dieppe or Moncton.

Lord Cultural Resources Inc. of Toronto was selected. The firm describes itself as the world's largest firm offering planning services for museums, art galleries and other cultural institutions.

An exhibition in Toronto’s Gardiner Museum was created with the hope of bringing visitors face to face with the issue.

“Anybody can have access to it,” said Gail Dexter Lord, president and co-founder of Lord Cultural Resources, a Toronto-based museum and gallery consultancy. “That’s important.” Ms. Lord visited the Gardiner to see the work after its installation in late August. She was impressed with what she called the work’s “transformative, spiritual quality.” She said, “Every piece of it is reverential.”

"Digital Reach is cultural organizations working together to use technology to connect with more people" said Mr. Hughson (Executive Director of The National Ballet of Canada). "It expands upon the work we are doing with Canadian Opera Company and SIRT and the Digital Stage project. Through Digital Stage we are exploring the possibilities of new technology and with Digital Reach we are learning how to effectively implement and distribute it. These exciting new initiatives will help the National Ballet, and our peers, forge pathways towards a digital future, ensuring that we are effectively leveraging new technology to reach new audiences and to promote our art forms while creating sustainable practices that will change the way we do business."

Led by the National Ballet and generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts Digital Strategy Fund and the City of Toronto, Digital Reach is a collaborative project with three consulting partners: Nordicity, Lord Cultural Resources and OCAD University. There are 12 partner Toronto arts organizations: The National Ballet of Canada, Canadian Opera Company, Dance Umbrella of Ontario, Esprit Orchestra, Gardiner Museum, Luminato, Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Royal Ontario Museum, Tapestry Opera, TOLive, Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts and Toronto Caribbean Carnival.