Museums, galleries opt for cautious approach
Calgary’s biggest institutions taking time to make proper decisions
Officials from the city’s biggest galleries and museums say they have not set a firm date on when activities might resume at their facilities and had no plans to reopen as part of Thursday’s first stage of its economic relaunch.
On April 30, Premier Jason Kenney floated the idea that some retail stores, restaurants, barbershops and salons, museums, art galleries and daycares could reopen in some capacity by Thursday. On Wednesday, the government reduced the list in Calgary to museums, retail and daycares. For some of the city’s biggest cultural facilities — including the Glenbow Museum, Telus Spark, the National Music Centre and Contemporary Calgary — it does not matter. Officials say these facilities are not anywhere near ready to open to the public.
“It came, certainly, as very welcome news that art galleries and museums were included in the first stage of the reopening plan,” said David Leinster, chief executive of Contemporary Calgary. “That was very appreciated. I think that it’s a little fast for what we could do to be ready in that period of time. We wanted to connect with our members and stakeholders and see what was on their minds and things they would like to see in the gallery experience that would make them feel safe and secure in revisiting a cultural facility like Contemporary Calgary.”
Leinster said the organization will be staying up-to-date with the progress of COVID -19 and the restrictions in place. He doesn’t expect Contemporary Calgary to open in any capacity before July at the earliest. Leinster said the gallery will be reaching out to its members and stakeholders to survey them about their expectations in terms of safety.
Leinster and representatives from other Alberta museums and galleries participated in a town hall meeting in early May with government officials and ministers to discuss guidelines for reopening.
“What was very clear from that call was that the government isn’t in the business of running all of these varied businesses across the province and we really have the responsibility and accountability to think about how to best run our facilities and how to keep them safe,” Leinster says.
He says they are looking to other galleries around the world that have either reopened or are set to reopen for some guidance. Facilities the size of Contemporary Calgary, which is in the old Centennial Planetarium, also need to be mindful of the cost of reopening, particularly if there are limits on attendance and new requirements for safety.
“It’s quite a lot to take on for an unknown amount of visitation that might be coming for a limited gallery experience,” Leinster says. “I think most organizations, at least the major organizations in the city that I’ve communicated with, are all planning a more practical approach and thinking of opening in a restricted capacity to start out and see how the community responds.”
Contemporary Calgary launched its first major exhibits in January and is in the midst of a $117-million, multi-phase renovation. New exhibits that were set to open May 21, including one by Yoko Ono, have been pushed to the fall.
Telus Spark also has no firm date on when it will reopen. In a statement on its website, CEO Mary Anne Moser wrote that the science centre was “monitoring regular updates about COVID-19 and following guidelines from the Alberta Health Services and the World Health Organization.”
In its newsletter sent out to subscribers, Glenbow Museums CEO Nicholas R. Bell confirmed the museum would not reopen in May and would “continue to monitor the always-evolving situation to understand when the time will be right to reconnect with you in person.”
Andrew Mosker, president and CEO of the National Music Centre, said he was taken off-guard by the government’s announcement that the reopening of museums would be in the first stage of Alberta’s gradual reopening. The National Music Centre has no firm date for when it may open its doors, although it will not be in May. Bigger facilities need to ensure safety but also figure out if the cost of reopening to small groups of people is worth it, he said. Still, he believes that opening cultural centres to limited numbers of people will likely be part of the new reality for most organizations moving forward in the near future.
“Whether it’s May 14 or June, July or August 14 down the road, all of us are likely going to have to open that way with physical distancing,” he said. “The numbers may be bigger than 15, they may not. But I think all of us are going to have to go through the preparedness of doing that to help all of our galleries dip our toe in the water in operating our facilities this way.
“We’re all going to have to deal with a scaled-down operation when we eventually reopen to the public.”