
Masks are mandatory, like in all indoor spaces in Toronto, and the museum will operate at limited capacity. The first hour of each day will be reserved for seniors and those at greater health risk. There are also new hours of operation: 11 am-6 pm on Thursday to Saturday and 11 am-9 pm on Friday. Admission for adults is $10 and for seniors is $5.
MOCA MUSEUM FREE THURSDAY FREE
Tickets will be free to members and students under 18, but can be be reserved in advance for timed visits. Like the Art Gallery of Ontario, Aga Khan Museum, the Gardiner Museum and other galleries and museums that have reopened since Toronto entered stage two of Ontario’s reopening plan, the Sterling Road space now has a fresh set of social distancing rules and protocols. The gallery is planning a free “community opening” for four days from July 9-12 for the arts community, members, donors and frontline workers. The Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto (MOCA) is reopening to the public on July 16. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.Carlos Bunga's Occupy goes back on display at MOCA on July 16. Our search will seek to connect with a diverse candidate pool.”īiesenbach will assume his new post once the executive director is hired. “While we are open to all candidates,” Seferian said, “we are looking for someone who has understanding of and experience in the museum environment. The international search for an executive director will start “promptly,” Stifler said. With these pressing priorities in mind, we have concluded that the singular role of one director to oversee a museum of our size cannot best further our mission and serve our community and team.” We also feel the weight of limited governmental support for museums like MOCA, leading to a heavy reliance on private fundraising. “It is now more important than ever to examine and elevate the role of cultural institutions and to adapt in order to meet this moment and stay accountable to the needs of our community and our team,” the letter read “We recognize the need to prioritize an investment in our team. The COVID-19 crisis and the myriad social justice issues it illuminated as well as the urgent need for private funding at MOCA, played into the restructuring, the letter stated. The museum’s endowment remains at $150 million, the highest it's been, MOCA representative Sarah Stifler said. Revenue and membership at the museum have plummeted from fiscal year 2019 to 2020: Revenue has dropped 26%, membership 32%. The museum, which made general admission free as of January 2020, lost potential revenue on two special exhibitions for 2020, “Pipilotti Rist: Big Heartedness, Be My Neighbor,” which was postponed, and “Gerhard Richter: Painting After All” which was canceled. Most front-line part-time staffers were laid off, but some part-time and temporary staffers working in the exhibitions and audio visual departments returned to work in the fall. That included Biesenbach, who the museum said took the largest pay cut.Īs of September all furloughed full-time employees had returned to work.
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“Klaus has made incredible advances possible under his leadership, and this new structure allows us to invest even further in his exceptional artistic vision, his extraordinary fundraising results and his creative and dynamic development of new initiatives for the museum.”Īt the start of the pandemic in March, MOCA laid off 97 part-time employees 69 full-time MOCA staffers took full or partial furloughs or a significant salary reduction. “This is a natural progression of MOCA’s growth and successes, and we are excited by what the strong partnership between Klaus and the executive director will allow us to accomplish,” Seferian stated. MOCA Board Chair Maria Seferian wrote in an email that a two-pronged leadership structure “makes great sense for the strong future of the museum.”

The executive director, the letter read, will steer daily management and operations at the museum, including “establishing key strategic, institutional and capital priorities, long range planning as well as the implementation and advancement of critical initiatives of the museum, including IDEA and other staff-forward initiatives.”īiesenbach and the executive director both will fundraise, but the advancement department, which handles fundraising, will roll up to the executive director.
