Hello to all,

Introducing a new initiative in Toronto examining cultural pluralism in
musuems and art galleries!  An important topic relevant to us all as we
rethink our organizations and their publics.

We are currently building an annotated bibliography for a joint project
initiated by the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) and the Ontario Council of
Agencies Servicing Immigrants (OCASI).  Coordinated by Douglas Worts of
the AGO, Dr. Lynne Teather of the Museum Studies Program at the University
of Toronto, and Greg Baeker of the Cooperative Program in Arts Management
at the University of Toronto at Scarborough, the objective of the
bibliography is to "map" the literature for museums interested in
re-examining their organizations from a pluralistic/multicultural
perspective that may or may not address systemic change for institutions.

The overall aims of the partnership include:
1. Highlighting the contributions of Canadians from immigrant and
ethno-racial communities.
2. Establishing the AGO as a relevant and meaningful cultural organization
for diverse communities; and
3. Developing a model of equal participation by immigrant and ethno-racial
communities that can be applied with other Canadian cultural institutions.

We are looking for examples of international initiatives that offer
evidence of similar activities.  If your organization has already done
research in this area, we would greatly appreciate suggestions or
resources that evolved from your experience.

If you have no publications or references to contribute, an informal
response/discussion eitehr on the list or directed to our e-mail addresses
about the nature of your experiences would also benefit our research.

Thank you,

Kelly Wilhelm
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Sara Faulkner-Fayle
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