Montreal, September 6, 2011 – This fall, the entire Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is reinventing itself with the inauguration of its new Pavilion of Quebec and Canadian Art and concert hall and a complete reinstallation of its collections in all the pavilions, each of which will henceforth be devoted to one of the major spheres of our holdings. Today, to emphasize even more strongly that education is one of the Museum’s highest priorities, Director and Chief Curator Nathalie Bondil, addressing a gathering of children, families and leaders of the business and education sectors, announced the start of construction work to expand the educational premises. These spaces in the heart of the Museum will now be called the StudiO Arts & Education Michel de la Chenelière.
This expansion project has been made possible through a generous donation from Museum patron Michel de la Chenelière, founder of the eponymous educational publishing company, who has been involved in the field of education for many years. This act speaks volumes about his desire to provide tens of thousands of young people with greater access to culture. It came about as a result of his meeting with Nathalie Bondil to discuss the expansion project for the Museum’s educational areas. Also present were the Museum’s Chairman of the Board, Brian M. Levitt, Isabelle Marcoux, chairman of the new education committee, and Museum staff. Until now, owing to a lack of resources and space, the Museum has had to turn away 15,000 young people each year. Michel de la Chenelière immediately decided to help the Museum by giving it new funding in order to increase its ability to welcome school groups, families and clients of community organizations.Michel de la Chenelière, who worked for many years in educational publishing, is delighted to be able to contribute to the expansion and renovation of the Museum’s educational spaces and the enrichment of its programming. “At school, I never had the opportunity to receive an art education. Unfortunately, things haven’t changed much in today’s school system, so the Museum’s educational programming is absolutely vital. I hope to learn more about the approaches and strategies developed by its educators. I think my experience could help the Museum share its experience with teachers by producing educational material based on its encyclopedic collection. My association with the Museum seems quite natural. I also hope to encourage others to support education at the Museum, because the need is so great.”
In the new StudiO Arts & Education Michel de la Chenelière, the Education and Community Programmes Department (which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year) hopes to double the number of schoolchildren welcomed to the Museum each year (currently 45,000) in better equipped new spaces. It will also increase the range of activities offered to families in more suitable, accessible and visible studios. Ideally sited at the corner of Crescent and Sherbrooke Streets at street level and Level S1, the new StudiO will be located in the premises formerly occupied by an optician, providing two well
placed entrances as well as a door opening directly on to the Lobby of the Jean‐Noël Desmarais Pavilion. The new StudiO’s plate‐glass windows will make the area open and inviting, encouraging passers‐by to come in to learn and create and tempting families and young people to take advantage of resources that will also help to make a real difference for our whole community. The creation of new studios will make it possible to bring in more school groups. Almost 50% of additional space will be available for students, children and their families. Over 415 square metres will be added to the 930 square metres currently used for educational purposes. These new educational spaces will be unveiled in the fall of 2012.Each year, the Museum welcomes 600,000 visitors. Of these, over 110,000 people (school groups, families, adults and community groups) take part in its educational and cultural activities (most of them offered free of charge) and develop an informed awareness of various art forms. The Museum hopes to welcome more than 200,000 people a year to its educational activities over the next five years.
“Michel de la Chenelière wants to ‘get education out of the basement’ of the MMFA. With his remarkable gift, the Museum will soon have new strategically located spaces and above all a new friend who is as generous as he is informed,” said Nathalie Bondil, the Museum’s Director, for whom facilitating young people’s access to the Museum and to art is a vital mission and an investment in the future. “This enlarged space, outfitted with all the latest tools, will change the look of the Museum for a long time to come… for future generations.”
