taal
Senior Member
At least it's good it's not a Toronto only thing i.e. this is not NYC isn't a quite true seeing how they're in a similar boat
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At least it's good it's not a Toronto only thing i.e. this is not NYC isn't a quite true seeing how they're in a similar boat
catcher_of_cats
Active Member
108 workers face layoff at AGO
Recently redesigned gallery experiences drop in attendance, corporate bookings
JAMES BRADSHAW
March 13, 2009
Facing a huge revenue shortfall, and with too few people passing through its doors, the Art Gallery of Ontario is considering laying off 61 permanent and 47 contract employees next month.
The gallery, which only recently unveiled its new redesign, will hold talks on the proposal with the workers' union, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union Local 535.
"We've put forward to them a proposition that begins a dialogue. I don't know where it's going to end up," CEO Matthew Teitelbaum said yesterday. "We will, one way or another, have to do what every institution has to do in times of challenge, which is do more with less. But I'm not yet sure what that looks like."
He said the AGO couldn't have imagined it would launch its redesigned building into such stormy economic waters, and that that every assumption needs rethinking.
Less than three weeks before the end of its fiscal year, AGO revenues are 20 per cent below projections, according to Susan Bloch-Nevitt, the gallery's executive director of public affairs. Some 343,000 people have visited the redesigned Frank Gehry building since it opened in mid-November, roughly 16 per cent shy of the 400,000 visitors gallery officials had expected to see by March 31.
Mr. Teitelbaum said the biggest hits have been in attendance and corporate bookings of event spaces, but Ms. Bloch-Nevitt pointed out that the drop in visitors has also meant membership sales have stumbled, and fewer dollars are flowing to the restaurant and gift shop. Mr. Teitelbaum also said the gallery miscalculated its return per transaction at the shop, exacerbating the shortfall.
"If we operated at this level in the coming year, if we didn't make adjustments, we could fall short by as much as $10-million," Ms. Bloch-Nevitt said.
At a meeting last week, gallery officers gave executives from the union, which represents 405 full- and part-time AGO employees, the names of 108 people who might have to be let go, in large part, it said, due to the flagging economy. Ms. Bloch-Nevitt said the 47 working on contracts that expire at the end of March were hired for the Transformation AGO project and would not have been kept on even in better times, a claim the union disputes.
Mr. Teitelbaum said gallery officials will take several weeks to consult the union and try to bring the number of casualties down. A decision on layoffs must be made before the 2009-2010 budget is tabled for board approval in mid-April.
In a statement released Monday, the union suggested the gallery had "stonewalled" requests for details about why the layoffs are necessary. Steward Paula Whitford said the union wants to know when the layoffs would take effect, why the listed positions are considered expendable and what budget targets the AGO hopes to meet for next year.
"If we had access to some of those metrics, then maybe we'd be able to provide staffing alternatives that would help with their budget," Ms. Whitford said. "But we're continually met with 'no' or 'we don't know the answer.' "
Mr. Teitelbaum disagreed, saying the gallery had been "pretty forthcoming" and that there is no impediment to both sides having ideas. Measures that could be on the table to save jobs include job sharing and unpaid days off, but Ms. Bloch-Nevitt said some layoffs likely are inevitable.
Another union official, speaking on condition of anonymity, disputed the AGO's claim that all 47 contract employees were hired for the $300-million Transformation AGO project, saying many of the contracts are in departments that appear to have no connection to the project. Mr. Teitelbaum countered that, based on 18 months of consultations conducted with other museums in Canada, the United States and Europe, the gallery determined that contract workers were also needed in areas that would manage the surge in attendance after the reopening.
"I regret that that is their feeling," he said.
The layoff proposal
The AGO's proposal would lay off 61 permanent staff members, 28 of whom work full time and 33 part time. A further 47 employees whose contracts expire at the end of March will not be rehired, possibly leaving a total of 108 people out of work.
All affected workers are members of OPSEU Local 535, which represents 178 full-time and 227 part-time staff at the gallery.
The figures do not include non-unionized managers, some of whom, an AGO official said, could also face layoffs. Security staff represented by a Canadian Auto Workers unit are facing reduced hours.
Recently redesigned gallery experiences drop in attendance, corporate bookings
JAMES BRADSHAW
March 13, 2009
Facing a huge revenue shortfall, and with too few people passing through its doors, the Art Gallery of Ontario is considering laying off 61 permanent and 47 contract employees next month.
The gallery, which only recently unveiled its new redesign, will hold talks on the proposal with the workers' union, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union Local 535.
"We've put forward to them a proposition that begins a dialogue. I don't know where it's going to end up," CEO Matthew Teitelbaum said yesterday. "We will, one way or another, have to do what every institution has to do in times of challenge, which is do more with less. But I'm not yet sure what that looks like."
He said the AGO couldn't have imagined it would launch its redesigned building into such stormy economic waters, and that that every assumption needs rethinking.
Less than three weeks before the end of its fiscal year, AGO revenues are 20 per cent below projections, according to Susan Bloch-Nevitt, the gallery's executive director of public affairs. Some 343,000 people have visited the redesigned Frank Gehry building since it opened in mid-November, roughly 16 per cent shy of the 400,000 visitors gallery officials had expected to see by March 31.
Mr. Teitelbaum said the biggest hits have been in attendance and corporate bookings of event spaces, but Ms. Bloch-Nevitt pointed out that the drop in visitors has also meant membership sales have stumbled, and fewer dollars are flowing to the restaurant and gift shop. Mr. Teitelbaum also said the gallery miscalculated its return per transaction at the shop, exacerbating the shortfall.
"If we operated at this level in the coming year, if we didn't make adjustments, we could fall short by as much as $10-million," Ms. Bloch-Nevitt said.
At a meeting last week, gallery officers gave executives from the union, which represents 405 full- and part-time AGO employees, the names of 108 people who might have to be let go, in large part, it said, due to the flagging economy. Ms. Bloch-Nevitt said the 47 working on contracts that expire at the end of March were hired for the Transformation AGO project and would not have been kept on even in better times, a claim the union disputes.
Mr. Teitelbaum said gallery officials will take several weeks to consult the union and try to bring the number of casualties down. A decision on layoffs must be made before the 2009-2010 budget is tabled for board approval in mid-April.
In a statement released Monday, the union suggested the gallery had "stonewalled" requests for details about why the layoffs are necessary. Steward Paula Whitford said the union wants to know when the layoffs would take effect, why the listed positions are considered expendable and what budget targets the AGO hopes to meet for next year.
"If we had access to some of those metrics, then maybe we'd be able to provide staffing alternatives that would help with their budget," Ms. Whitford said. "But we're continually met with 'no' or 'we don't know the answer.' "
Mr. Teitelbaum disagreed, saying the gallery had been "pretty forthcoming" and that there is no impediment to both sides having ideas. Measures that could be on the table to save jobs include job sharing and unpaid days off, but Ms. Bloch-Nevitt said some layoffs likely are inevitable.
Another union official, speaking on condition of anonymity, disputed the AGO's claim that all 47 contract employees were hired for the $300-million Transformation AGO project, saying many of the contracts are in departments that appear to have no connection to the project. Mr. Teitelbaum countered that, based on 18 months of consultations conducted with other museums in Canada, the United States and Europe, the gallery determined that contract workers were also needed in areas that would manage the surge in attendance after the reopening.
"I regret that that is their feeling," he said.
The layoff proposal
The AGO's proposal would lay off 61 permanent staff members, 28 of whom work full time and 33 part time. A further 47 employees whose contracts expire at the end of March will not be rehired, possibly leaving a total of 108 people out of work.
All affected workers are members of OPSEU Local 535, which represents 178 full-time and 227 part-time staff at the gallery.
The figures do not include non-unionized managers, some of whom, an AGO official said, could also face layoffs. Security staff represented by a Canadian Auto Workers unit are facing reduced hours.
urbandreamer
recession proof
^Sounds like the same bs that happens in Fortune 500 and auto plants is happening here: massive mistrust and lies told by management to its workers. Clearly, the AGO is just another bloated bureaucracy.
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
Adversity sometimes brings out the best in cultural institutions, making them even more of a common thread in peoples' lives.
Here's a link showing how the National Gallery in London continued to operate and build up their collection of contemporary art during WW2. Their "Picture of the Month" promotion attracted the public in droves:
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/about/history/war/default.htm
Here's a link showing how the National Gallery in London continued to operate and build up their collection of contemporary art during WW2. Their "Picture of the Month" promotion attracted the public in droves:
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/about/history/war/default.htm
Towered
Senior Member
Wow, all that hype about the massive renovation and expansion, and it's a flop in terms of patronage. Pretty sad. The $18 entry fee is pretty steep though.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
I tend to think of the attendance figures as a work of fiction that's meant for getting funding anyways - remember all this happened during the whole Starchitecture as tourist draw era - it's all about the business case. Now that the projects are completed, it's time to rethink/reassess what level of public funding is really appropriate for our cultural heritage. As an aside, I think the AGO had a history of labour troubles - it's nothing new.
AoD
AoD
SP!RE
°°°°°°
Meanwhile the supposedly hated and ugly Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, another piece in Toronto's cultural/arts building revolution from a few years ago, chugs along with sold out shows. Hehe. Yay for being resourceful in architecture.
*Note: I am not an AGO hater, I just had to point that out. I LOVE the AGO. It's the ROM that is wrong in every way.
*Note: I am not an AGO hater, I just had to point that out. I LOVE the AGO. It's the ROM that is wrong in every way.
syn
Senior Member
They serve completely different purposes so the comparison doesn't really work.
As long as the FSC continues to host good shows the people will come.
The AGO has always been a tougher sell.
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
There's actually quite a crossover with people who are bitten by the arts bug. You run into the same people at the ballet, in the AGO, the ROM, the Symphony and at the opera. It's a community of common interests.
Inevitably, imported Big Hair starchitecture will be reconsidered as the goose that was going to lay the golden egg of higher attendance figures that our local cultural institutions saw it as. There was certainly plenty of hype surrounding the fact that we'd finally snared Gehry and were getting a Libeskind. But we've absorbed their buildings into the mix, with Alsop's OCAD too, and I think they're all quite successful in their own ways.
The ROM Crystal strikes me as the purest of the new buildings. The structural skeleton translates directly to the outside form that we see from the street, and can be read in the versatile interior spaces. In that sense it's close to early Modernism. The AGO is more nuanced, with a large number of custom-designed galleries - something that might be limiting if they wanted to move their collections around. The Galleria Italia certainly doesn't reflect any larger interior structural system, but it's a great showoff space to be in. It lacks the panoramic views and sense of connection to the outside that makes Diamond's City Room so special, but it's one of our new great urban rooms.
Time will tell what effect the downturn will have on opera and ballet attendance. These are already rough time for opera companies in other parts of the world. But we've got a great building to house ours in. When the going gets tough the tough go to La Boheme.
Inevitably, imported Big Hair starchitecture will be reconsidered as the goose that was going to lay the golden egg of higher attendance figures that our local cultural institutions saw it as. There was certainly plenty of hype surrounding the fact that we'd finally snared Gehry and were getting a Libeskind. But we've absorbed their buildings into the mix, with Alsop's OCAD too, and I think they're all quite successful in their own ways.
The ROM Crystal strikes me as the purest of the new buildings. The structural skeleton translates directly to the outside form that we see from the street, and can be read in the versatile interior spaces. In that sense it's close to early Modernism. The AGO is more nuanced, with a large number of custom-designed galleries - something that might be limiting if they wanted to move their collections around. The Galleria Italia certainly doesn't reflect any larger interior structural system, but it's a great showoff space to be in. It lacks the panoramic views and sense of connection to the outside that makes Diamond's City Room so special, but it's one of our new great urban rooms.
Time will tell what effect the downturn will have on opera and ballet attendance. These are already rough time for opera companies in other parts of the world. But we've got a great building to house ours in. When the going gets tough the tough go to La Boheme.
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adma
Superstar
ProjectEnd
Superstar
/\ What happened with the sunshades?
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
Motorized - basically started failing soon after the Centre opened, resulting in a checkboard pattern of transparency (where it failed) and opaqueness at the Cityroom west facade.
AoD
AoD
Torontovibe
Senior Member
Are people surprised? I predicted this when I first saw the rendering.
The reason attendance did not spike, is that we didn't get the Gehry that most people wanted to see. (the grand spectacle) When you build modest and tasteful buildings, you please the more conservative among us but the average person on the street is not going to go out of their way and pay to see it. This building seems to be getting little buzz outside of Toronto. My artsy friends in Montreal haven't heard or read anything about it. This building is a nice "Toronto Gehry" but it's not the over-the-top Gehry people expect and that's why it won't get the huge crowds that were expected. People don't pay big bucks to see tasteful, restrained, ordinary, nice, respectful or conservative. (all of which I have seen used to describe this building)
The reason attendance did not spike, is that we didn't get the Gehry that most people wanted to see. (the grand spectacle) When you build modest and tasteful buildings, you please the more conservative among us but the average person on the street is not going to go out of their way and pay to see it. This building seems to be getting little buzz outside of Toronto. My artsy friends in Montreal haven't heard or read anything about it. This building is a nice "Toronto Gehry" but it's not the over-the-top Gehry people expect and that's why it won't get the huge crowds that were expected. People don't pay big bucks to see tasteful, restrained, ordinary, nice, respectful or conservative. (all of which I have seen used to describe this building)
simply Dan
Active Member
I find that very hard to believe. Do they live in a cave?
whatever
Senior Member
There was the whole structural collapse of the University facade thing. I'd call that a functional failure, but then that was resolved before the building opened so maybe it doesn't count