'A kinda shaky and tenuous situation': Art scene observer wonders about effect of Remai Modern turnover

From the outside looking in, the situation at Saskatoon's Remai Modern Art Museum looks "kinda shaky and tenuous," says an observer of the Canadian art scene.

Leah Sandals, news editor at Toronto's Canadian Art Magazine, says the departure of seven Remai board members — just weeks before the planned exit of CEO Gregory Burke — could raise concerns among the people who help keep the year-and-a-half-old museum afloat.

"I'd be concerned about what message it's sending to potential patrons and donors that so much change is happening at once," said Sandals. "This is an institution that's named for a single donor [Ellen Remai]."

On Monday, city councillors approved five new members and re-appointed four others to the museum's board of directors.

The fresh blood was needed after seven members either decamped or announced they were forced out — an atypical case of the ugly inner workings of a routine Saskatoon city appointment process coming out in the open.

"In this case, it's become a public issue," said Mayor Charlie Clark.

'Rare to see such turnover

While change at a gallery's board level can help prevent stasis, "it's rare to see turnover at the board to that extent right after, even if [people's] term limits are coming up," said Sandals.

The timing also stands out for another reason, Sandals said.

"The fact that some people are leaving around a year and a half, two years in, also just makes me wonder as an outsider: what does the revenue situation look like?"

Many new galleries face the challenge of meeting revenue forecasts beyond opening year, she added. 

Audited financials for 2018, the museum's first full calendar year, will be shared with the board next month, soon after Burke's planned last day on March 15.

The museum released some financial figures on its first-year anniversary last October, including strong membership and admission revenue figures.

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But other dollar figures such as fundraising, sponsorships and store sales were missing from that report.

Clark has said city council's focus "is and will continue to be on the organizational and financial strength of the Remai."

"We have a gallery that has got off on a very good start to put Saskatoon on the map in terms of the attention we're getting," he said after Monday's city council meeting. "There lots going for this art gallery."

Clark also addressed an accusation from departing board member and artist Alison Norlen that city councillors are trying to interfere with the museum's programming and acquisitions.

"That's not our job," Clark said. "I want to be clear that we're not interested in getting involved in decisions around programming or those things.

"Our job is to appoint the board."

New board member speaks

One of the five new board appointees, visual artist Grant McConnell, said he has no insight into the previous board's relationship with the city.

But McConnell knows what he wants to see at Remai in the future: more local and regional artists on the walls.

"There's some real successes with our new gallery in terms of the international and to some degree national" works on display, he said.

"I would like to see a gallery more rooted in also the part that the Mendel [Art Gallery] I think did quite well, which was the regional and the local," McConnell added.  

"We have school groups going through there. They should feel as though they have a part to play in this in seeing themselves reflected back in this great contemporary art gallery in this city."

One member who resigned "with regret" from the board, Veronica Gamracy, said the board's relationship with the city was "problematic."

McConnell said the job of the new  board "is to make that [relationship] workable. That means, if there are councillors on the board, that they would hear….the expertise that we bring to the table."

McConnell said other artists encouraged him to put his name forward.

"I thought, 'If I'm shooting off my mouth, I better let my name stand.' That's what I've done."