Thank you Ralph!
I was also crushed when I read the article in the Toronto Star on Saturday.
The Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections just finished an exhibit with
the Market Gallery which ran from June to October.  The staff at the gallery
were (and remain) professional, supportive and very knowledgeable.  I couldn't
have asked for a more supportive partnership and a better venue for promoting
the history of the Mariposa Folk Festival to the general public.

A venue like the Market Gallery is indispensable for local archival
institutions, especially archives that do not have extensive public hours, lack
exhibit space or are difficult to access by public transportation.  St. Lawrence
Market attracts summer camp groups, elementary class trips, seniors, tourists,
families and the Saturday-coffee-couple-at-the-market crowd.  This wide
spectrum of city residents (and visitors) can be very difficult (and
expensive!) to access through other venues.

I will be writing to city councillors about this issue and I would encourage
others to do the same.

best,
Anna St.Onge
Archivist, Digital Projects & Outreach
Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections
York University Libraries


Quoting "Ralph R. Coram" <[log in to unmask]>:

> As a professional archivist for nearly thirty years, I am dismayed and
> alarmed that City of Toronto staff has proposed the closure of the city's
> Market Galley as a cost cutting measure.
>
>
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1085836--hume-city-museum-closures-loom?bn=1#article
>
>
>
> Since its inauguration in 1979, the Market Gallery has become the premier
> Toronto venue for exhibiting original archival material and documentary and
> fine art from the City collections, and other lender repositories.  Although
> neither purely a "museum" nor a "gallery," it is an indispensable and much
> needed place for all archives to showcase their holdings.  This institution,
> with its well-curated and focused exhibits, is an accessible,
> centrally-located tourist attraction, and as such, a great vehicle for
> citizen engagement with the raw material of our history.
>
>
>
> As a former guest curator of a show at this archival exhibition space, I can
> assure you that the loss of the Market Gallery will be a major setback to
> collections promotion and outreach efforts, not just for city heritage, but
> for all archives around the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) which benefit from
> this exhibition space.  Its closing will have a negative ripple effect on
> city partnerships and projects with other archives, local curators, community
> groups, donors and other heritage organizations.
>
>
>
> Since analysts have shown the taxpayers of Toronto will save a paltry amount,
> but will be culturally much poorer as a result, closing the Market Gallery
> would be a self-defeating act of cultural vandalism.  I urge all GTA
> archivists and the executives of the ACA and the AAO to contact Toronto City
> Councillors to demand they reject closing the Market Gallery:
> http://app.toronto.ca/im/council/councillors.jsp
>
>
>
>
> Ralph R. Coram
> Toronto, Ontario