The following is being distributed at the request of The Rooms Corporation:

The Rooms to Seek New Director for its Art Gallery Division
and Affirms Commitment to the Visual Arts

Dean Brinton, CEO, The Rooms Corporation, today advised that The Rooms will undertake a national search to identify potential candidates from the public art gallery and university gallery communities to lead the curatorial process for The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery Division. Mr. Brinton acknowledged the resignation of Ms. Sheila Perry, Director, The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery Division, and assures the public of the board’s and executive’s ongoing commitment to the art gallery and its staff during this time of transition. A public search will also be undertaken to fill the Manager and Curator of Contemporary Art positions.

“The Rooms is committed to the recruitment of a director with a strong fine arts background and to the curatorial independence of the gallery’s exhibition programming” added Mr. Brinton. “Every effort will be made to fill the positions of Director, Manager, and Curator of Contemporary Art by early 2014. In the meantime, the gallery’s exhibition plans over the next three years, as approved by the Canada Council as part of the 2013-16 multi-year operating grant of $95,000 per year, will not be changed. The structure of The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery Division, including the Elbow Room program for emerging artists, will also not be changed.”

The Rooms maintains seven full-time positions within the art gallery division. In addition to these positions, the gallery is supported by the equivalent of over 20 full-time staff within The Rooms from the areas of technical services; education and public programming; finance; marketing; building operations including cleaning and security; visitor services etc., all of whom have together created one of the leading public fine art galleries in Canada over the last eight years.

The gallery’s annual budget of $853,000 and its share of The Rooms building, technical support, marketing and education programming budgets is $1.5 million for a total budget of $2.362 million, or 33 per cent of the total operating budget of The Rooms.

Until permanent appointments can be made in the vacant positions, three experienced staff from the art gallery community have agreed to serve in recently vacated or similar roles. Wanda Mooney, a veteran administrator recently retired from the art gallery will be acting as the Administrative Director of The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery Division; Jamie Bennett, an experienced technical services and exhibitions technician as Production Manager; and Mireille Eagan, former Curator of Canadian Art as the Curator of Contemporary Art. The Rooms is very pleased that these experienced individuals are able to support the work of The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery Division over the coming months.

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Media contact:
Deanne Fisher
The Rooms
Director, Marketing & Development
709-757-8070, 709-631-0835
deannefisher@therooms.ca 

2013 07 23             3:55 p.m.