A new project at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria promises to see the face of the institution better reflect the diversity of its art collection.
The Diversity Volunteer Training Project — Growing Opportunities for Diversity in Age and Ethnicity — is a project the art gallery plans to implement in 2015.
The goal of the program, funded in part by the Victoria Foundation, is to provide training in diversity sensitivity to gallery staff and volunteers, raising cultural and age awareness.
The gallery already boasts a diverse range of art, with the most comprehensive collection of Japanese art in Canada.
The gallery’s permanent collection, the largest public collection of art in British Columbia, with more than 18,000 works, also includes Canadian, international and contemporary art, with a particular commitment to British Columbia artists.
“Our exhibits already reflect diversity,” said Michelle Jacques, chief curator at the art gallery, of the 15 exhibitions the gallery stages a year. “For example, current exhibits include works by two aboriginal, Chinese and Caribbean artists of colour.”
But while key findings of a research commissioned by the art gallery in 2014 indicated that existing volunteers are strongly committed, it suggested that the gallery should encourage more diversity in age and ethnicity, both in its volunteer base and in how programs are offered.
“The research told us that the people who are the face of the institution should reflect the art,” she said.
Visitors to the gallery interact with the more than 300 volunteers who work in various positions, such as gift-shop assistants, docents, special-event hosts and other departments.
Jacques, who was acting curator of Canadian art at the Art Gallery of Ontario before she assumed the chief curator position at the art gallery two years ago, said the program will also introduce a new system that will accommodate the needs of volunteers.
The research had also criticized the current method of managing volunteers as “antiquated and non-responsive.”
“We will be introducing changes to engage with our volunteers in an interactive way, introducing technology that allows them set their own schedules and connect with each other,” Jacques said. “By opening up the system, we hope the program will be more welcoming and engage new people [to volunteer].”
The program’s impact on the institution will be lasting.
“The art gallery is currently undergoing a renewal that is set for completion in the fall of 2017,” Jacques said. “The changes we implement today will define what we will look like when we open our doors at the end of our revitalization.”