13 October 2017
Kingston, Ontario

The Annual Conference of the Ontario Museum Association provided the venue for a session on Ontario museums and cultural diplomacy. The session, organized by Sascha Priewe (Royal Ontario Museum) and chaired by Lynda Jessup (Queen’s University), started from the premise that museums have developed into actors on the international stage in their own right, be it through exhibitions, loans, staff exchanges and training, research projects or even through outposts and franchises in parts of the world that are aggressively developing their cultural sectors. Harnessing this international moment has been a priority for many museums and for various reasons, and museums and other cultural institutions in Ontario have long been active in international work.

Providing insights into some of the practices that are currently pursued by museums and other cultural organizations in Ontario, the session supplied the vantage points through institutional as well as the professional practices of the participants. Sascha Priewe discussed the benefits of working internationally, while Alexandra Suda (Curator, European Art & R. Fraser Elliott Chair, Print & Drawing Council, Art Gallery of Ontario) talked about the creation of an international research and exhibitions consortium in relation to the recent Small Wonders exhibition. The perspective of an official, government-funded cultural centre as partner organization was provided by Jutta Brendemühl, Program Curator of the Goethe-Institut Toronto. Laura McLeod (Director, Cultural Engagement, at Harbourfront Centre, Toronto) discussed, as flip side of the coin of cultural diplomacy, and thereby providing the domestic dimension of international cultural relations, organizational engagements with diaspora communities.