Is everything going smoothly at the National Gallery of Canada? The Ottawa institution, whose chief executive resigned last summer, fired four senior executives last week. Departures which are added to dozens of others experienced in the last three years.
The National Gallery of Canada (NGC) notably thanked two of its longtime leaders: Director of Curatorial and Technical Research, Stephen Gritt, and Curator of Indigenous Art, Greg A. Hill.
On social networks, the latter also protested that the management abolish his position, decrying “the colonial and anti-indigenous way in which the Indigenous Ways and Decolonization Department is run”. “Two days before my dismissal, we hired two people, and despite that, the department was still short of employees. Now, [avec mon départ]it’s worse,” added in an interview with To have to one who worked for the museum for 22 years.
In the past few days, the NGC has also shown the door to Denise Siele, recently appointed Senior Communications Manager, and Kitty Scott, Deputy Director and Chief Curator. Mme Scott, who was the first woman to hold the prestigious position, was appointed by former chief executive Sasha Suda.
Even before the events of the last few days, Sasha Suda’s reign at the NGC had been marked by a succession of dismissals, resignations and early retirements. Of the eight senior executives who were in office when he was appointed in 2019, only one was still at this table last year. Moreover, there are countless departures among the staff.
Unanswered questions
Mme Suda in turn left the NGC in the summer, even before the end of his mandate, to go to direct the Philadelphia Museum of Art, in the United States.
Sources that gravitate around the museum environment confided to the To have to on condition of anonymity that they were concerned about this wave of departures within the federal institution. According to them, the quality of exhibitions is already suffering. “There are questions about governance. Canadians have the right to know what is going on, it is still the most important museum institution in the country, ”we emphasize.
The museum’s acting executive director, Angela Cassie, declined our interview request. We refuse to expand on the last four dismissals to date “in order to respect the privacy of those affected”. “The announced reorganization is consistent with the Museum’s new strategic plan,” the institution said by email.
The name of the person who will succeed Sasha Suda should be known within eight months. This appointment must be approved by the federal government.
As reported The duty last month, some began to dream of the candidacy of Nathalie Bondil, former director of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, who however closed the door to this possibility. In response, the NGC Board of Directors subsequently sent a letter to employees to clarify that the process was “open and public” and that no candidate was a favorite.
The office of federal Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez avoided commenting directly on the situation. However, he indicated that the call for candidates for the general director of the NGC had just been officially launched.