Themuseum

[panamaniac]

Can we hope that it will be in the new space at the corner of King & Queen?

Not a chance.  I don’t think they’ve even got plans yet, let alone a way to pay for the expansion.  This exhibit might offer a good opportunity to get things rolling.

[Spokes]

Wow amazing!

[tomh009]

Can we hope that it will be in the new space at the corner of King & Queen?

Not a chance.  I don’t think they’ve even got plans yet, let alone a way to pay for the expansion.  This exhibit might offer a good opportunity to get things rolling.

With BMO moving out next month, do you think we should expect the space to be vacant for a few years?

[panamaniac]

Not a chance.  I don’t think they’ve even got plans yet, let alone a way to pay for the expansion.  This exhibit might offer a good opportunity to get things rolling.

With BMO moving out next month, do you think we should expect the space to be vacant for a few years?

I wouldn't be surprised, although THEMUSEUM has been pretty creative in the past - maybe they can use it for event space or rent it out?  I confess I've never been inside that BMO, so I don't know what it's like.  Has the sale of the property to THEMUSEUM even been completed?

[tomh009]

Even if the sale isn't completed, BMO could rent it out to THEMUSEUM in the interim.

[panamaniac]

The Province is giving THEMUSEUM $150,000 in support of next year's "Rolling Stones Unzipped" exhibition.

[tomh009]

Was anyone else unaware that the city has purchased the BMO building and is committed to holding it for up to 10 years to enable THEMUSEUM to raise the funds needed for construction?

[Brenden]

Was anyone else unaware that the city has purchased the BMO building and is committed to holding it for up to 10 years to enable THEMUSEUM to raise the funds needed for construction?

Ya, City purchased the space in early 2020, (which might feel like an eternity ago). Interestingly a few months after the City purchased the property they released a report (Page 13), that calls the long term sustainability of TheMusuem into question. The Record had a good summary of the report.

TheMusuem is already getting a lot of support from all levels of government. In 2020 before the Pandemic, they received $705,000 in operating funding, $125,000 of in-kind rent for the building from the city of Kitchener, $150,000 from City of Kitchener, $45,000 from City of Waterloo and $385,000 from the Region of Waterloo. They had a funding shortfall of around $400,000, and a reserve of $2m with $1m restricted by the donor of how it can be used.

In 2018 TheMusuem brought in $2.5m in revenue, with nearly $900k (35%) of that coming from ticket sales and rentals, but the rest coming from different levels of government. TheMusuem has requested at 58% increases to their operating grant in order to continue operating as they are. In the report, TheMuseum says that the only way they can survive is to expand the size of their facility in order to increase revenues. However the findings of the report state that TheMusuem has had ongoing deficits since 2009, they have close double the staff of most comparative organizations and should be able to operate within their existing budget.

The options that are presented in the report for the TheMusuem are:

• Continue as is, and begin incurring liability starting in Jan 2020
  
• Wind down operations, and maybe re-start and reorganize as something else
  
• Transition to a balanced and sustainable operating model
  

[panamaniac]

They will need a big ($10M +) benefactor if the expansion plan is to have any hope.

[ac3r]

I wish the government would give us more money for arts in general. The funding we get/use is abysmal compared to other cities around us.

[panamaniac]

I wish the government would give us more money for arts in general. The funding we get/use is abysmal compared to other cities around us.

I've long thought that K and W both underspend wrt arts/culture..  I'm not sure whether the Region is any better.  Have you seen any stats that compare us to other Cdn cities?

[taylortbb]

I wish the government would give us more money for arts in general. The funding we get/use is abysmal compared to other cities around us.

I've long thought that K and W both underspend wrt arts/culture..  I'm not sure whether the Region is any better.  Have you seen any stats that compare us to other Cdn cities?

I remember a regional report from several years ago said that our per-capita arts and culture funding was half that of Hamilton. Hamilton was the top per capita spender though, we were lower than average by 20-30%.

Hamilton's top spender status was $34/person/year, so it's really not a lot of money in the context of the local municipal budgets.

[ac3r]

Yeah Hamilton is one neighbour that is known to spend more, though indeed it isn't a vastly greater amount than we spend but it definitely makes a difference. We have never really been known as a major art city or anything, but we do have some great things going on here. CAFKA and the Fine Arts faculty at UW put on a lot of great work for example. I have quite a few friends who graduated from UW with a BFA or MFA and they say pretty much everyone leaves after they finish because the city just has nothing going for it in this area.

[tomh009]

Yeah Hamilton is one neighbour that is known to spend more, though indeed it isn't a vastly greater amount than we spend but it definitely makes a difference. We have never really been known as a major art city or anything, but we do have some great things going on here. CAFKA and the Fine Arts faculty at UW put on a lot of great work for example. I have quite a few friends who graduated from UW with a BFA or MFA and they say pretty much everyone leaves after they finish because the city just has nothing going for it in this area.

I think much depends on your criteria and your expectations. As a non-arts grad, I find that there are enough arts events here for us to be happy, supplemented by an occasional trip to Toronto for a concert. Although I would not complain about more arts here, really cities like Hamilton or London aren't that much different from us. The real deal is in the big cities, whether be it Toronto, Montreal or NYC, and we won't see that level of arts here for a long, long time, if ever.

[ac3r]

Yeah Hamilton is one neighbour that is known to spend more, though indeed it isn't a vastly greater amount than we spend but it definitely makes a difference. We have never really been known as a major art city or anything, but we do have some great things going on here. CAFKA and the Fine Arts faculty at UW put on a lot of great work for example. I have quite a few friends who graduated from UW with a BFA or MFA and they say pretty much everyone leaves after they finish because the city just has nothing going for it in this area.

I think much depends on your criteria and your expectations. As a non-arts grad, I find that there are enough arts events here for us to be happy, supplemented by an occasional trip to Toronto for a concert. Although I would not complain about more arts here, really cities like Hamilton or London aren't that much different from us. The real deal is in the big cities, whether be it Toronto, Montreal or NYC, and we won't see that level of arts here for a long, long time, if ever.

That's true. Most people have high expectations though (especially fresh grads and artists still early in their career) which is what pushes people away. It's the same with architects who graduate from UW for architecture...95% are gone once they graduate, which is a shame because the architecture faculty is actually amazing at that school and that talent could be put to good use in a city that is constantly changing. Likewise with art, it's easier to "make it" as an artist in a bigger city that has a larger artistic community and more opportunities (studio renting/ownership, exhibits, gallery representation, press coverage, networking) than it is here.

Of course some do stay. Pottery artists are particularly attracted to this region because of the Canadian Clay and Glass Art Gallery which is very prestigious in terms of their history, the permanent collection and the people you can meet who work with such materials. The community minded artists are also really interesting because they stick around and really try hard to improve the arts here and we've seen a lot of that lately, especially in terms of public art.

Ultimately it'll just take time. This city will continue to grow and grow and with that, we'll develop an even stronger arts culture.