2007-11-10|Nine cities to bid for portrait gallery
To the editor
Instead of permanently locating a portrait gallery in one of the 9 cities, what about establishing "mini-Canadian museums" in those cities? They would hold rotating exhibitions of not only portraits but also the holdings of other museums that are presently concentrated in Ottawa-Gatineau. All of those museums have large collections of undisplayed objects in storage.
Imagine a Portrait Gallery in Halifax, a mini-Museum of Nature in Quebec City, a mini-Museum of Contemporary Photography in Montreal, a mini-Museum of Civilisation in Winnipeg, a mini-Museum of War in Edmonton, a mini-Museum of Science & Technology in Calgary, a mini-Agriculture Museum in Vancouver, etc. The mini-museums would rotate among these cities every year.
The exhibition spaces would be some space owned by private companies. The residents of these cities would benefit from exposure to Canadian treasures on a rotating basis, not restricted to just portraits in one city. A model is Shawinigan Space, which has hosted many travelling exhibitions of all kinds over many years.
