AGO reaches $254 million fundraising goal
Milestone allows gallery to increase fundraising efforts
The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), which is currently in the midst of a significant expansion project, has reached its $254 million fundraising goal five months ahead of schedule.
The success of the Transformation AGO Campaign has given the gallery's board of trustees the confidence to increase the scope, budget and fundraising goal of its expansion project to $276 million.
"People are giving generously because they understand the promise of the AGO to come and they want to be a part of it now," said Campaign Chairman Michael Koerne, in a release.
The revised campaign will now include several new features such as the creation of the Milne Study Centre, which will enhance the work of artist David Milne; the construction of a glass-fronted gallery for 500 Inuit sculptures in a vault-like setting; additional seating throughout the gallery spaces; the location of the AGO members' lounge to the first floor of The Grange; as well as an increase in accessibility and visitor comfort with website enhancements, digital electronic signage, e-ticket sales and automated ticket kiosks.
The increased budget will also allow for upgrades to art display cases, an enhanced inventory control system for the retail shop and the completion of the complex timber system on the north fa�§ade of the building.
"We want to ensure that (architect) Frank Gehry's vision for the AGO is fully realized. This is our opportunity to get it right, from the building finishes to the installations of art work," said Matthew Teitelbaum, the AGO's director and CEO, in a release.
The gallery's $254 million goal was achieved with donations - both large and small - from the private and corporate sectors as well as the provincial and federal governments.
During the last year, Linda Frum and Howard Sokolowski, Richard Rooney and Laura Dinner, Honey and Barry Sherman, Allan Slaight and Emmanuelle Gattuso and Irving and Sylvia Ungerman all donated $1 million or more to the AGO.
The late Kenneth Thomson, a Canadian businessman, art collector and renowned philanthropist, was also instrumental in getting the ball rolling on the gallery's expansion plans.
The AGO's new Frank Gehry-designed building is set to open to the public on November 14. The gallery, which is the permanent home of more than 68,000 works of art, is currently closed to the public during construction.
