National Gallery of Canada Transformation 'Poorly Managed' Says International Museums Group
National Gallery of Canada (courtesy NGC)
The National Gallery of Canada has "poorly managed" a decolonization process linked to the forced dismissals of four senior managers, an influential international museums organization said Wednesday.
"The radicality of this process puts it at the brink of where it is not about daily matters anymore, but about the mission of the museum and therewith political responsibility," said a statement issued by the museum watch committee of the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art.
"The situation also seems to be that of a transformation process that has been poorly managed," it said. "The recently dismissed four senior staff members have profiles that make them potentially important allies of such a process."
The transformation, started under former director Sasha Suda, has been continued by the gallery's interim director, Angela Cassie, something flagged by the watch committee, composed of the directors of major institutions around the world.
"Such processes, however urgent, need time and a correct phasing," says the committee. "It is problematic that interim periods in-between directors were used by the board to dismiss senior staff members."
One of the gallery's four dismissed managers, Kitty Scott, chief curator and deputy director, serves on the board of the international committee.
Like many others the organization reached out to for information, Scott declined comment.
"Kitty Scott informed us that she prefers to strictly not communicate about this, not even informally, and we obviously respect her position," it said.
Another key manager was Greg Hill, the gallery's veteran Indigenous curator, who took to Instagram, saying he was being fired because "I don't agree with and am deeply disturbed by the colonial and anti-Indigenous ways the Department of Indigenous Ways and Decolonization is being run."
The report, which draws heavily from media reports, including those by Galleries West, as well as previous formal statements from the gallery, noted the importance not just of transformation but also balance, suggesting it would be "good practice" to empower the incoming director, yet to be appointed, to either agree to staff departures or to "forge an alliance" with them.
"Governance is not only about transformation but also about the continuity of expertise and institutional memory," it said. "That balance is one of the challenges that a board shares with the director it nominates."
The committee also observed that the gallery's strategic plan, developed under Suda's leadership, sounds "quite generic" and that its aspirations, "while lofty may have a disruptive effect that causes dysfunctionality."
"The ‘sense of belonging and trust among all gallery employees, volunteers and partners’ and the ‘collaborative, adaptive, and human-centred teamwork’ the plan mentions have hit a bumpy road," it said.
The report also noted "substantial" vacancies in the gallery's team of 15 to 18 curators, including the position of deputy director and chief curator; senior curator of contemporary art; associate curator of contemporary art, associate curator of photographs; curatorial assistant, photographs; senior curator of European and American art; and curatorial assistant, Canadian art.
The National Gallery has not responded to a request for comment on the statement.
The International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art is an affiliated organization of the International Council of Museums, a non-governmental body that has formal relations with UNESCO.
