Woodstock Art Gallery unveils new strategic plan – Woodstock Sentinel Review

Article content

MARIA TOEWS

Sentinel-Review

Article content

Starting with a focus on diversity and inclusion, the Woodstock Art Gallery has implemented a new five-year strategic plan, providing focus and direction for its longer term goals.

“There’s only so much space, time, money and resources … so what this strategic plan does is it lays this kind of groundwork – a roadmap, so to speak, as we move forward,” said Mary Reid, the director and curator for the Woodstock Art Gallery.

There are five key pillars to this plan: equity, diversity and inclusion, capacity and use of the building, digital changes and upgrades, public engagement and financial goals.

As a first step, the gallery’s board has prioritized its initial pillar of equity, diversity and inclusion.

“That’s our number-one top priority for the next five years. What that means is that we will be looking at embedding that priority in everything that we do,” Reid said.

This stage of the plan began in December when the board reaffirmed its commitment through a mission statement.

“That was the first move forward,” Reid said.

The curator said this commitment will impact how the gallery recruits board members, volunteers and attracts new participants. It will also impact the gallery’s art collections and educational programs, which will highlight educational opportunities and artwork by women, Indigenous peoples and people of colour.

Reid said the gallery already started taking this step during the past year as approximately 50 per cent of the work that came into their collection in 2021 was either about women, Canadian First Nations or people of colour.

Article content

“I’m very proud of us because we’ve been thinking about this for a year,” she said.

Then strategic plan also has a focus on expanding the gallery’s building capacity through renovating its underutilized fourth floor.

Currently, that floor is only used as storage space, but the gallery has requested a grant that, if successful, will allow a revamp to make it an active, usable public area.

“Ideally, I’d really like to have that as a flexible space,” Reid said.

The floor would then be used for additional programming, artist studios, partnering with local organizations and possibly using the space as a theatre to have film screenings.

“There really is lots of opportunity to make that space vibrant and usable,” said Reid.

As for the plan’s third pillar, the gallery will be providing a further digital component to its tours and exhibits via a new app planned for a March 2022 launch.

People will be able to check out an iPad when they enter the gallery and, when they come to a stop on the virtual component of the tour, there will be various activities, such as a video of the artist explaining the work or a piece of music inspired by the art.

“(We are) not only trying to leverage this shift into the virtual world but also trying to deeply embed that into our in-person experience as well,” Reid said.

In addition to this app-guided tour of the art gallery, patrons will still be able to enjoy a virtual tour from home.

“It may not be as exciting as having the actual art in front of you, but it’s definitely trying to marry that experience both in person and virtual,” she said.

Article content

To make this app easy to use and understand, the gallery is currently working with some of its senior patrons, who are helping with the set up of the digital tour.

“We wanted to bring people in that perhaps were more novice users with the technology to be able to guide us on how to make this accessible and usable at home,” Reid said.

While many of the pillars of the plan focus on the creative or inclusive, a large – and necessary – component of the strategic plan deals in more immediate needs – long-term funding support.

“Financial support is always a struggle,” Reid said.

One approach being considered is approaching Oxford County council. Currently, the county supports the gallery through project-based funds, but the board hopes to convince officials of the important of consistent long-term support.

“With COVID, our means to generate self-generated revenue either through classes or fundraising events has effectively dried up so, if (people) are looking to make a contribution, every little dollar counts at this point in time,” Reid added.

As part of the reopening, Reid stressed the gallery will be following all COVID-19 protocols, requiring patrons to be masked and observe appropriate physical distancing.

“The first thing that the community can do is, when we open our doors, to please come back and visit us again,” Reid said.