'It is our job to stay connected with the community': gallery executive director

Like many organizations in the community, The Art Gallery of Algoma (AGA) has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Financially, the organization is funded through a combination of sources, including income from AGA activities and government grants. Depending on the year, the gallery could be responsible for raising 30 up to 60 per cent of its total operating costs. That additional income is generated through AGA memberships, art classes, workshops, events, and from sales at the gallery shop. In short, it requires people being able to attend the gallery.  

Jasmina Jovanovic, executive director at Art Gallery of Algoma, has taken time during this pandemic to rethink the galleries role in the community and how it engages community members.  

“We have no reference point to go back to, to help understand how to handle a situation like this,” she says. “It is unprecedented for sure. There is no history to go back to. There is no reference. We are literally taking one day at a time.”

Although the doors of the gallery are closed, Jovanovic has been exceptionally busy working on connecting the gallery with the community in different ways.

“Within days of the declaration of the pandemic, it became very busy. With all the changes and everything that is happening, I have been asking myself, ‘Where do we fit? What can we do?’ It’s a lot of learning which is probably good. We know we have to expand our horizons.”

The AGA is the biggest visual arts organization in Algoma.

“It is our job to stay connected with the community one way or another. So we had to invest in reconnecting. It is very important that we provide an outlet for people so they can focus on something else other the pandemic. Even in ‘normal’ times, art has positive effects on people’s well-being and health. Not just mental health, but health in general. There are studies that show that if there is art in our hospitals, people recover faster. It has a positive effect. So during this time, I feel that it is our job, regardless of whether or not we spend some money doing it, we have to help people cope and have to provide people something else to focus on.”

The AGA is offering a virtual exhibition and interactive community project for individuals or the whole families called Art is All Around Us. This exhibition takes a selection of art from the AGA’s permanent collection and asks the community to respond to one or more paintings in their own way.

“Some of the electronic exhibits we have online for Art is All Around Us have not been exhibited for many, many years. It consists of paintings that represent different styles, time periods, artists, and they vary thematically.”

The concept of the project is for communities members to create artwork, use found objects from their home, yard, shed, garage such as paper, fabric, yarn, containers, boxes, cardboard, wire, branches, and react to one of the paintings in the exhibit and submit it online.

“The idea is that people shouldn’t have to go and purchase anything,” says Jovanovic. “It’s just responding with what you have and creating. It could be adventurous, fun and whimsical. It could be serious. It could be any kind of art. Children and the whole family can do this as well. It doesn’t have to be just one person. It could be the whole family creating one thing. There are a lot of creative people in the community. Anybody can participate. You don’t have to be an artist. If artists want to submit something as well. I would be thrilled.”

Community submissions, with the gallery piece that they are responding to identified, will be added to the virtual exhibition daily between now and April 30. Once entries close, the entire exhibit will be promoted to the community. Then anyone can vote, from anywhere in the world, for their favourites. The AGA will announce the winning creation on its web page and social media platforms. The winner will get a family membership for one year to the AGA.

“Once that project is complete, we will have to think about the next project,” she says. “We will likely have to go virtual again.”

This need for a community-based gallery to engage community members virtually is something Jovanovic has been thinking about a lot. 

“This is where we really need to focus, on digital content … This is a small gallery and the big organizations in big cities have IT people on staff, so they can assign this work to them. We don’t and we have to hire a consultant to do anything virtually, which makes it hard to do.”

Jovanovic is actively looking into funding to help expand AGA’s digital content and long-term virtual activities. In the meantime, the gallery is working towards creating more digital content with the resources it has available.

“We [currently] have another consultant working on expanding our collection online… but that is not finished yet. We will eventually have close to four thousand images there. For the future, we hope to develop some projects that will involve a bigger virtual presence. Possibly some sort of virtual learning game where there are questions that people have to match to artists and artwork.”

As for the federal government’s recent announcement regarding further arts funding last week, Jovanovic is waiting for all the details to become available.

“There is subsidy that we do qualify for according to the announcement that would be 75 per cent wage subsidy. They have not put the actual application out yet, so we will see how we can work that one out. We are a charitable organization, and not-for-profit, so we qualify. That would be helpful. But we still have other expenses besides wages. Even though we are not making money, we still have expenses like our utilities and building maintenance. There are things you can stop, and there are things you can’t stop.”

Despite all the challenges, Jovanovic is happy for the gallery to be able to offer the community what it can to help people get through this pandemic creatively.  

“I am fortunate that I have been keeping my spirits up. I am sure there are people out there that are finding this difficult and I feel bad for them,” says Jovanovic. “What we are doing is a small piece, not to be compared to the work of frontline essential workers, but we are hopeful what we are doing might help some people. Especially creative people who need to have something to do. We will keep providing different projects and content so that people don’t feel as isolated.”

To see the AGA’s online exhibit and find out more about the Art is All Around Us activity, visit the AGA’s website. Photos of your creations for the event can be submitted to: [email protected]