Closing: Yhe Canadian Museum of Contemporay Phototography

[Daniel Grenier]

Another Fine Art Photography institution takes a beating!

The Conservative Government of Canada unceremoniously announced this week that the CMCP will be permanently closing its doors and be "dismantled". The CMCP had a gorgeous home downtown Ottawa. This museum opened in 1992 and was temporarily closed due to some water leak several months back only to be dumped into oblivion by a government that has little but contempt to the arts in general.

[Toyon]

The collection will be moved the National Gallery of Canada. Though Canadian banking regulations have allowed Canada to weather the financial crisis with a strong banking system, the same parsimonious attitude has extinguished an excellent small museum. Couple that to the oil and extraction industry "western" dominated government's suspicion of the arts and artists and the result is a contraction of cultural development. Its still well worth visiting Ottawa's incredible museums of anthropology, fine arts and history though. Also, Canada's ubiquitous Tim Horton's coffee shops makes great and inexpensive coffee.

[darr]

Sorry to hear this.

[DJGainer]

That's a shame. Did the government solicit any commentary from the public before closing the museum?

Maybe if there is enough backlash from the community it could be reopened if not now then at a later date.

[Daniel Grenier]

That's a shame. Did the government solicit any commentary from the public before closing the museum?

Maybe if there is enough backlash from the community it could be reopened if not now then at a later date.

None was solicited and none is welcome, no doubt (this is a very conservative government) and given the state of global economy, I doubt any significant uprising from the arts community would do anything.

It should also be noted that strangely enough, this museum was created by the Conservatives (Miinister Masse under the Mulroney govt... the somewhat left-leaning Conservatives at the time). Now, this big C conservative govt is canning this museum, Not only that, but they are actually taking over the space themselves as the close-by government offices are undergoing repairs !!!

This very same outfit also canned the National Portrait Gallery which they had promised to support. Unless it smells like crude oil, they're not really interested, one could argue.

[jeroldharter]

That's one problem with the arts community in general - dependency on government handouts. Don't know Canada's constitution, but hard to imagine its founders had in mind that a reasonable purpose of taxation was to display photographs. If there is enough outcry in Canada, why not open a private museum?

[redrockcoulee]

That's one problem with the arts community in general - dependency on government handouts. Don't know Canada's constitution, but hard to imagine its founders had in mind that a reasonable purpose of taxation was to display photographs. If there is enough outcry in Canada, why not open a private museum?

Our constitution was re-written in 1982 so most of the founders are still with us and the Constitution Act was written long after the establishment of many of the galleries. It is a tradition for governments at all levels in this country to fund public institutions such as galleries, museums, libraries, hockey or curling rinks etc.

I hope this is not construed as a political statement but there is more than one way to construct a society. Private museums are a rarity and for an example one of the largest I had seen was the Reynolds Museum in Westaskiwin but when it became to big for the Reynolds family to operate the PC government bought it and it became another provincial museum. I think it is the largest collection of farm equipment but this is getting off track.

The portrait gallery that was proposed had many cities bidding on it and I think that Calgary was one of those cities. Hope that it is true that the photographs are going to an existing gallery.

[jeroldharter]

Our constitution was re-written in 1982 so most of the founders are still with us and the Constitution Act was written long after the establishment of many of the galleries. It is a tradition for governments at all levels in this country to fund public institutions such as galleries, museums, libraries, hockey or curling rinks etc.

I hope this is not construed as a political statement but there is more than one way to construct a society. Private museums are a rarity and for an example one of the largest I had seen was the Reynolds Museum in Westaskiwin but when it became to big for the Reynolds family to operate the PC government bought it and it became another provincial museum. I think it is the largest collection of farm equipment but this is getting off track.

The portrait gallery that was proposed had many cities bidding on it and I think that Calgary was one of those cities. Hope that it is true that the photographs are going to an existing gallery.

Of course, it is your country.

I don't believe that tradition is a sound philosophy for government. I imagine that Canada would collapse in flames of hell if not for government funded curling rinks. We certainly have our problems down here. But what would constitute pork-barrel funding in Canada? Perhaps your government could start buying our mohair?

[Bruce Watson]

Another Fine Art Photography institution takes a beating!

The Conservative Government of Canada unceremoniously announced this week that the CMCP will be permanently closing its doors and be "dismantled". The CMCP had a gorgeous home downtown Ottawa. This museum opened in 1992 and was temporarily closed due to some water leak several months back only to be dumped into oblivion by a government that has little but contempt to the arts in general.

Merde!

[Clarence Rhymer]

Et tabarnac !, if that is not considered a religious comment.