Gardiner Museum

Strategic Plan 2018 – 2020

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Shaping the Earth Together Evolving the Gardiner Museum to be imperative for its community, as well as a compelling arts destination

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Evolution The Gardiner Museum must evolve to be an active force in the community. This is a shift from being what it is – a ceramics museum – to being known for what the institution makes happen, for how it works with its community to shape the world. Museums were typically passive, they displayed collections and people came to them. Now the public, including public sector funders and sponsors, expect a museum to reach out to the whole community, support creativity, and pro-actively make collections, and every aspect of their operations, relevant in a contem-porary context.

Becoming more relevant and contemporaryThe real experience of the Gardiner. The most obvious assessment of relevancy is the experience of a visit to the Museum. The Gardiner Museum should improve its onsite experience with a focus on making collections more engaging and relevant.

Visitors prefer contemporary work, perhaps because they can relate it more easily to their lives or current cultural references. Therefore, the challenge is the display of historical content. Not including what might be exhibited in the Gardiner’s temporary exhibition hall, the visitor experience is approximately 85% historical content. And other than the renovated European Porcelain Gallery, the Gardiner’s galleries are out of date and not at a level commensurate with the quality of the objects they house. Making the onsite experience more vital is essential. New communication technology, better display techniques, and the introduction of narrative can have a role in this, as can programs (lectures, events, etc.) to enliven the historical materials and to put them in a contemporary context, especially for a younger audience. The Gardiner is doing an excellent job of creating programs that connect the museum to today’s concerns. The historical collections are the Museum’s foundation and must be clearly linked to everything else we do, most especially contemporary programs.

We can be world leaders in education with clay and ceramics. This is an essential aspect of the Museum’s brand and is a prime way that we can respond to the world around us in a unique manner and be connected to health, wellness, and mindfulness, for example.

Being relevant isn’t only about making a museum interesting for younger people. Boomers live in the world now and want to be connected to content relevant to today; being relevant isn’t just a focus on Millennials.

The Gardiner’s audience. A second aspect of relevancy for the Gardiner is its audience. While the Museum is a speciality Museum and will always have a relatively smaller audience pool to draw from than an art or natural history museum, for instance, being relevant still means having an audience that reflects the entire community. The Gardiner continues to increase its penetration of an urban, culturally well-informed constituency, but it must reach out to other communities, and a good place to start is with those where there is a natural affinity with clay and ceramics. Diversity is important in every aspect of the museum, and this starts with programs that attract a wide spectrum of visitors. From here, membership, support and board members can be cultivated. Diversity also means age, and reaching younger people is essential to build the next generation of support.

Executive Summary

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An arts champion. A third and essential component of being relevant and contemporary is the role the Gardiner Museum can play as a leader in the arts community. Where can we lead? As evidenced by the considerable success of the Kent Monkman and Janet Macpherson exhibitions, the SMASH art party, and the second summer of the Community Arts Space, the Gardiner can play a crucial role in the creative world to encourage new work. The Museum can have a unique, high-profile role when we connect contemporary art to clay and ceramics, support emerging artists, and represent Canadian creativity internationally. Narrowing a focus to Canada, while not precluding important opportunities such as showing Yoko Ono or Ai Weiwei, will evidence a purpose that will help galvanize support from both the public and private sectors.

Scholarship. A corollary to this role in the arts community, is the Gardiner’s reputation in the academic world and with other decorative arts museums and with collectors. Strengthening the Museum’s position in these areas requires investment in scholarship, both in the Museum’s curators and in their research, and also in the intellectual content the Museum creates, publishes or disseminates online.

A shift to todayBeing a Museum that is relevant, that is part of cultural discussion in a community, doesn’t mean diminishing the focus on clay or ceramics, but it can mean conceptualizing them in a multi-media context, and making program connections that relate to audiences the Museum may not be used to welcoming. Being contemporary doesn’t mean ignoring historical collections but ensuring that they are presented, on site and through programming, in a way that makes them compelling, not merely worthy, and makes them part of the spectrum that is supporting young artists and commissioning the new and provocative.

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Background

Building on SuccessThe Gardiner Museum is building on the momentum created primarily by the previous strategic plan’s focus on increasing awareness of the Museum to targeted constituencies that have the potential to engage with it. This has been accomplished through greater brand clarity, enhanced marketing, and collaborative, provocative programs.

The next three years need to support the leap forward begun in 2017, and facilitated by a staff reorganization, including adding three new positions during 2016 (programs manager, chief operating officer, and chief development officer), upgrading the institution’s financial expertise, and establishing revenue targets that support expanded operations. Growth is also supported by an evolving board that is increasingly diverse, connected to varied communities, and philanthropic.

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Three-year financial planThis strategic plan assumes that the financial objectives of the leap forward are viable, and hence these financial goals are implicit in this strategic plan. (Please note the attached three-year financial plan.) Growth in expenditures during the period of this strategic plan primarily relate to increased staff compensation, curatorial support and increased marketing. Increased revenues are assumed through augmented fundraising, including expanding membership. The approaches for achieving increased revenue are not detailed in this strategy but will be part of a separate presentation, and reviewed annually as the Board approves the Museum’s budgets. Of central importance will be a new development strategy.

Note: Appendix 1

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The Strategy…

From: An important specialty museum that the community is becoming more aware of as a destination offering varied experiences relating to ceramics

To: A museum rooted in its community, with international significance, helping artists take risks and diverse audiences be inspired through clay

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Why the Gardiner is Relevant Now

Build on these strengths• Clay connects us to our humanness; it’s something real in an increasingly virtual world. Clay education is part of a growing interest in mindfulness and wellness; it offers an authentic experience. (An example is the Citizens of Craft campaign, connecting craft with the authentic and the unique, rather than the unsophisticated and amateur.)

• The onsite experience of the Museum can better use technology, but its intimate scale also allows for more human connection and direct engagement with objects—more real and authentic experiences.

• Clay can connect communities, and many communities can find expression through clay and ceramics. For example, those who attend clay classes are diverse.

• Clay and ceramics can be a dominant theme of exhibitions and programs, but can also be the connector of many artistic disciplines and prompt many discussions not directly related to craft or art.

• Clay is an exciting medium for artists, and many more now incorporate it into their practice.

• Relating to the sense of shaping and making the world with clay, the Gardiner can use soft power to bring attention to topics connected to its exhibitions and collections that are important

to various communities. The Gardiner is well positioned to be a forum for public conversation when these discussions have a link to exhibitions and collections.

• The Gardiner can have a significant, positive impact on artists, particularly who are emerging and Canadian. The Museum can be unique in this role by supporting artists in Canada, as well as promoting Canadian artists’ work internationally. The Gardiner can be a launch pad.

• The Gardiner can contribute to scholarship through research and publications (in print and online), and will collaborate with the world’s most important museums when possible.

• A wide public engages naturally with contemporary expressions of clay and this should inform all exhibition and program choices. The Gardiner is also valued as a steward of historical collections but primarily when it makes these collections relevant or contributes to a scholarly discussion of them.

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Shifting Brand Attributes

From: Vital and Audacious

To: Inclusive and Trailblazing

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Compelling Institutional Belief – What’s the Big Idea?The insight is clay is something most people can care about, it’s real, and it’s almost universally cultural intrinsic. It’s a popular interlocutor between a museum and most communities. The Gardiner Museum needs to exploit the humanity that clay embodies as a unique opportunity to connect with everyone.

Activated in the following ways, this concept can inspire the Museum to be an essential community resource:

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1. Enhancing the Onsite Visitor ExperienceFrom: A museum with a beautiful building, offering an intimate and right-sized experience, with a good collection, and pleasant shop and dining experiences

To: A uniquely memorable destination, in all respects, with the experience of the historical collections as new and vibrant as that of the contemporary

Why visit the Museum? The total experience of a museum is more than the interaction of the visitors with the permanent collections and temporary exhibitions. A visit encompasses the Gardiner Museum’s website, plaza, plaza garden, shop, bistro, and public areas including stairwell, halls and whether there is adequate seating in galleries. All components, along with pleasant and helpful staff encounters on site, combine to answer the question, “Would I recommend a visit?”

That said, at the core of the visit, are the collections. Just because objects are worthy or important doesn’t necessarily make them of interest to the public; it’s also how they’re presented, the stories a museum tells about them, and the emotional engagement they spark. Especially with historical materials, a visitor asks, “Why should I care about this?” Education, entertainment, surprise, and beauty are all things the display of collections must offer the public to make it relevant for them.

1.1 Review the exterior entry experience. When the front steps are renovated, there is an opportunity to improve the entry experience, including giving better access for people with disabilities. Should seating or landscape be added to make the space friendlier? The animation of the space, especially in the summer, can be improved, and new hospitality agreements can support this, as can Community Arts Space initiatives that use this area. The plaza offers significant visibility and there may be further marketing/communication opportunities to be realized here. This is an R&R funded initiative.

1.2 In the context of a curatorial plan, reconsider the first floor galleries. Make content relevant in contemporary context. The current contemporary gallery will be used as a temporary, 12 – 18 month exhibition space beginning in 2018, but this isn’t necessarily a permanent arrangement. Upgrades to the Ancient America gallery in 2017 will be modest. Reconsideration can include the arrangement of galleries, artifacts displayed, collection narratives, display techniques, graphics, etc. If substantive changes are recommended, then funding will need to be determined – likely a fundraising or grant will be required.

Deliverable: A detailed curatorial plan, gallery development plan and capital fundraising plan to realize the strategy

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1.3 In the context of a curatorial plan, reconsider the second floor galleries, other than the European Porcelain Galleries. Is the historical content engaging the public? If substantive changes are recommended, then funding will need to be determined – likely a fundraising or grant required.

Deliverable: A detailed curatorial plan, gallery development plan and capital fundraising plan to realize the strategy

1.4 Consider using the stairwell window for display/storage. A preliminary design for costing is underway. This project will need to be evaluated in many respects including the cost of renting equivalent off-site storage and its viability as a sponsored, named space.

Deliverable: A budget and funding plan

1.5 The meditative moment. Many people come to a museum for a tranquil escape, a calm break in a day filled with technology and rush. The total experience of the Museum should be considered and enhanced to better offer this experience for those that seek it. The museum as refuge works for all age groups, including the thousands of students that surround the Gardiner.

Deliverable: A budget and funding plan

1.6 Onsite family activity. Create more activities for families, particularly ones that relate to clay education but focus them on Sundays or holidays/special events as trying to integrate them in exhibitions and programs hasn’t been successful.

1.7 Increase accessibility relating to all disabilities, including mobility, sight and hearing issues. Given the intimate, personal nature of the Museum, some of this accommodation could be through personalized, pre-arranged tours and not necessarily facilitated with technology.

Deliverable: Ensure all projects are noted in the three-year accessibility enhancement program

1.8 Activate the lobby clay studio. Continue activation of the studio as it has a positive impact on the visitor experience. An artist in residence program can be part of this.

Deliverable: Consider a new clay program and establish an artist in residence program

1.9 Integrate hospitality into more programs. Lectures that involve food and wine are a natural fit with a ceramics museum. Themed events with food are a good way to reach out to varied communities.

1.10 Bistro. A new hospitality agreement should consider the Bistro as a destination, not an on site service provided visitors, and be a major generator of Museum traffic and notice.

Deliverable: Consider new clay program and establish an artist in residence program

1.11 Gardiner Lobby Information. Develop a plan for more electronic information about the Museum founders, and the architectural and curatorial evolution of the museum to enhance the entry experience.

Risk Assessment:Enhancing the visitor experience requires careful analysis particularly in regards to capital expenditures. That said, the permanent collections need a plan for enhancement if they are to be of interest; the Museum cannot rely on temporary exhibitions to drive visitation.

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2. Innovating With Clay Education From: A provider of high-quality clay education for adults and children, and a good school destination combining in gallery instruction with hands-on clay studios

To: A recognized education innovator providing unique programs, often with collaborators, where clay supports health and mindfulness, master classes by artists in residence and visiting artists, corporate programs, and classes that engage diverse communities

Observation: There are many institutions providing clay education, in many ways it’s commodified and difficult to use as a branding component, or to premium to increase revenue. The Gardiner has to separate what it does with clay for educational purposes from that is offered elsewhere. The Gardiner can use its unique clay education to forge bonds with communities and to be perceived as an innovator.

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2.1 Create new clay classes that connect to mindfulness, wellness and otherwise stress the need for people to connect to the simple, authentic human activities that help them be “human” and that build an empathetic society. Publicize clay classes as a key element in Gardiner brand building.

2.2 Extend clay classes to diverse communities, collaborate with communities to create classes that reflect their cultures.

2.3 Create new initiatives for business that can have a social component e.g., corporate team building.

2.4 Create new initiatives for children or rebrand existing ones that are hospitality based e.g. birthday parties.

2.5 Create classes that use spaces such as the Gardiner plaza to increase capacity.

2.6 Use clay education as the central element in building a family audience.

Risk Assessment: Schools still require curriculum-based education, at a reasonable cost, and the Gardiner still should provide this. As well, total capacity is reached quite quickly given the limited scale of the Gardiner facil-ities so revenue generation should be balanced with the importance of the Museum’s mandate/brand of affordable and widely accessible clay education.  

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3. Pro-actively Connect with CommunitiesFrom: A museum with loyal supporters who love ceramics

To: A museum where many communities can feel at home, and can also collaborate to create programs imperative for them

Observation: Many communities can collaborate with the Gardiner but don’t necessarily know about the Museum, or its opportunities, and hence the Museum must be pro-active in reaching out to these communities. The Gardiner should collaborate with communities to create tailored programs rather than assume it has the expertise, beyond technical, to structure appropriate programs. This outreach in the context of maintaining current/traditional stakeholder relationships will involve the identification of a community partner in each priority community to be the key collaborator.

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3.0 For growth, focus on specific communities – ceramic cultures, First People’s, people with disabilities, therapeutic, and academic.

3.0.1 Ceramic cultures. Begin with the Chinese community, identify collaborators, and develop an engagement program. This strategy could involve upgrading the Chinese Gallery and current Chinese content lectures.

3.0.2 First People’s. Expand on current relationships and evaluate trial clay classes related to this community now underway. Continue to work with First People’s artists.

3.0.3 People with Disabilities. Continue to work with consultant Christine Karza to create a strategy for better supporting this community’s visitor experience, as well as collaborating with varied organizations to bring new audiences from this community to the Gardiner.

3.0.4 Therapeutic. Continue to expand the range of clay education to address therapeutic needs, as well as health and wellness. Arts and health is a growing field of study, and presents a significant opportunity. (Note 2.0)

3.0.5 Academic. Continue to strengthen relationships with Victoria College, including more formal connections between Gardiner curators and Victoria College academic programs, and outreach to Victoria College students (potentially as a model for further outreach to the University of Toronto.) Use the artist in residence program to connect to art students at Sheridan, OCAD and other institutions with ceramic programs.

3.1 Community Arts Space. Continue with the Community Arts Space program that makes the main exhibition hall available to community-based arts groups during the summer. Fundraising needs to be expanded to increase funding to groups so that productions/exhibitions can be produced at an optimum level.

3.2 Artists.

3.2.1 Continue to have an artist on the Gardiner Board.

3.2.2 Establish an artist in residence program for both emerging and established artists, particularly where artists have the opportunity to interact/teach students studying ceramics or in related fields. Create competitions and awards to support artists, and bring awareness to their work, and to clay. Focus exhibitions on the new, emerging and Canadian. (Note 1.4)

3.3 Board. Continue to build a diverse board, including representation from a younger cohort, artists, and other priority communities. Board members should be able to connect the Museum with a very broad community, as well as be able to initiate sponsorship and philanthropic activities. Reaching out to diverse communities, creating programs that attract new, varied communities will eventually realize new members and supporters from these communities, and from this pool the Museum can likely identify potential new board members.

Risk Assessment: There are space and staff capacity issues, and too many “one-off” programs would exhaust resources. Priorities as to which communities are best served by the Museum and the establishment of repeating programs would allow resources to be used most efficiently. 

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4. Championing the New, Emerging and Canadian From: A museum without a perceived mandate to encourage artists who work with clay, although gaining recognition for contemporary programs, and an onsite experience that focuses on the historical content To: A museum known internationally as a champion of the new, emerging, provocative and Canadian, and how it makes its historical collections relevant to a diverse public

Research/Observation: Research suggests the public is more easily engaged by contemporary art, and contemporary clay and ceramics, than by historical collections. The media typically report on contemporary work, or historical content presented in a radical manner and ignore most else. Public granting agencies, such as the Ontario Arts Council and Canada Council give funding preferences to initiatives related to contemporary themes or to the presenting historical material in relevant ways. The support of young artists and new ideas is ceasing to be an option if a museum wants public funding; private sector funding is following a similar pattern. To connect with the community, the Gardiner must make it clear what kind of resource it can be – and championing the new, emerging and Canadian vis-à-vis clay and ceramics is a role that the Museum can take it into the future.

That said, the historical, permanent collection will remain the majority of the onsite visitor experience and can’t be disconnected from a museum if it strives to have a role in the contemporary art world and society. Therefore, gallery revitalization and programs that connect collections to the current audiences is part of what it will mean for the Gardiner to champion the new and be a vital force in shaping the world today.

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4.1 Build recognition for the Museum’s support of contemporary. The Gardiner should become the most effective champion of the new, emerging and Canadian in clay and ceramics, and contemporary art that incorporates the medium, or ceramics in a decorative arts context. Being a champion means originating compelling shows of new work, commissioning artist interventions in the galleries, connecting with students, promoting new work through competitions, awards and social events. Be a launch pad for young artists, as well as featuring the recognized artists. A significant investment in acquisition of contemporary work (versus its display) needs to be carefully considered.*

4.1.1 Support contemporary initiatives with an enhanced web presence including the production of unique content for the Gardiner’s website. The website can be a resource for artists and the public, and can be the basis for the international dissemination of content.

4.2 Reconsider the first and second floor galleries. Note 1.2 & 1.3.

4.3 Create an artist in residence program that supports well-known artists and emerging artists to participate, and connect to students and the public. Note 1.8.

4.4 Develop strong curatorial relationships with the most important institutions worldwide and collaborate with them when possible.

4.5 Represent Canadian artists internationally online (as noted), in publications, and by originating travelling exhibitions – become the voice of Canadian clay and ceramic art worldwide.

4.6 Invest in Curatorial. Invest to ensure that Gardiner curators can represent the Museum at conferences and can participate in national and international forums. Invest in curatorial research, including print and online publications, and the creation of exhibitions, both travelling and smaller scale. i.e., lobby shows.

Risk Assessment: Being the champion of the new is not a contradiction with being a thoughtful steward of historical collections, or revitalizing those collections to make them relevant to the public. That said, the messaging also must be in tandem, and the link explicit, so that related audiences aren’t confused by the Gardiner’s brand.As well, making collections up to date, and supporting curatorial excellence, especially in an international pur-view are costly endeavours, and their incremental implementation will be mandatory.

*assume the Gardiner Museum’s new chief curator will develop a comprehensive curatorial plan, implement a contemporary program focus that includes the upgrade of galleries, in addition to commissioning new work and corresponding programs.

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Critical elements for successFundraising. No growth is possible without additional revenue, and fundraising is the area where the greatest revenue increases are to be realized. The Gardiner’s traditional 12 Trees Fundraiser needs to be reconsidered as it is increasingly awkward for community outreach given the linkage to Christmas, and the oddity of trees at a ceramic museum, even if metaphorical.

Fundraising should include strategies for building the endowment that don’t cannibalize on donations to operations.

A new Development Strategy will be created and presented to the Board, and progress made to achieving its goals will be regularly reviewed.

Membership growth. Membership is a key area for revenue growth as the Gardiner has a relatively small membership to visitation ratio. Membership growth is counter to trends, especially with a younger demographic, who may attend multiple times a year but don’t want to become members. There must be highly visible reasons to join, particularly at the philanthropic levels.

Increasing earned revenue. Increased revenue assumptions cannot be detrimental to core museum operations. Earned revenue, particularly with a new hospitality agreement in place, will reach a limit beyond which it’s likely to interfere with the operations of the Museum as a museum.

Young patrons. While the Young Patron Circle has been established, further investment is required if it is to grow the next generation of Museum leaders. As well, the tone and manner of YPC events is an indication of how successful events can be produced in the future, and used as models for revitalized Gardiner activities.

Continued good PR and online presence. Additional resources for social media are essential as the transition from traditional communication and print continues.

Staff. While staff salaries have been considerably increased over the last three years, many areas are still below or just at average levels. To be an exemplary museum to retain the best staff, salary levels will need to be further increased, as will the availability of staff development. The Museum should also plan, as all smaller institutions do, for younger staff to move to new opportunities as the Gardiner cannot necessarily offer these.

Curatorial recognition/international presence/investment in curatorial. To have stature in the international museum community, a greater investment in curatorial research, travel and conference participation is required.

Board. A fully engaged board and good board succession planning is essential. Continued board building ensuring diversity, including youth and artist representation, and people with connections to varied communities, is necessary.

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A note about research. The strategic plan is supported by consultations by senior Gardiner Museum staff with current and potential program collaborators, artists, arts administrators, curators and academics, members, teachers, board members, donors, public funders and other stakeholders. Research provided by the University of Toronto’s Museum’s Studies program has also been reviewed.

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Appendix 1

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Gardiner Museum OperationsThree-Year Financial Plan

2017 % change 2018 % change 2019 % change Budget YOY Budget YOY Budget YOY

RevenuesOperating draw on Invested Funds + OAF* 907,000 4% 927,840 2% 950,097 2%Annual Campaign 846,483 4% 946,949 11% 1,144,222 17%Public Sector (Government) 468,057 -43% 676,485 31% 444,000 -52%Earned Revenue 627,411 4% 677,000 7% 725,000 7%Total Revenue 2,848,951 -4% 3,228,274 12% 3,263,319 1%

ExpensesCuratorial + Exhibitions + Programs 809,550 3% 925,923 13% 916,721 -1%Building Maintenance 786,940 4% 869,900 10% 893,922 3%Administration 704,875 4% 721,159 2% 737,032 2%Marketing 399,300 0% 438,975 9% 438,230 0%Development 266,520 10% 272,317 2% 277,414 2%Other 124,230 38% - - Total Expenses 3,091,416 5% 3,228,274 4% 3,263,319 1%

NET (242,465) (0) (0)

Deficit covered by Operating Capital 242,465 - -

Contingency 30,000 272,465

Operating Capital available 300,000 57,535 57,535

*Does not include draw for R&R as per previous reports to the BoardVariances in Public Sector Support and Marketing dependent on project grants

Summary