Trends. Perspectives. Sector Pulse.
Quick Glance
A pulse on arts, culture, and community — headlines shaping the sector
Here we pull together articles that caught our attention. These pieces shed light on where the arts, culture, and nonprofit landscape is evolving — from governance shifts to provocative new exhibitions to how institutions navigate equity, climate, and civic trust.
Not exhaustive, not annotated — just stories we think are worth a quick glance.
Broadway Social: when public art gets it right
Great civic sculpture does something to us. It might delight or irritate, intrigue or confuse. It can make us stop, look up, move closer. Sometimes we wonder who approved it, who paid for it, or what on Earth it is supposed to be. We photograph it, argue about it, give directions by it. Eventually, the best becomes part of a city’s mental map.
Walking past history — and understated renewal
Several times each week I walk, cycle, or drive along Taché Avenue in St. Boniface. It is one of Winnipeg’s most remarkable streets. Within a few hundred metres stand St. Boniface Cathedral, the cemetery where Louis Riel is buried, the archbishop’s residence, St. Boniface Hospital, La Vérendrye Park, and the Musée de Saint-Boniface.
Reading the city in its buildings
Cities reveal what they value. Their buildings are the evidence. Long after today’s debates have ended, buildings remain. They record what a community believed was worth building, what it considered beautiful, what it chose to preserve — and, perhaps most revealingly, what it allowed to disappear. Architecture is history written in brick, stone, concrete, glass, steel and wood.
Looking with Ted Barker
I had planned to attend the opening of Ted Barker’s exhibition at 226 Gallery last Friday evening, but another commitment intervened. By the time I arrived the following afternoon, three of the works I most wanted to see had already sold. Disappointing for me, encouraging for the exhibition.
Why do we consult?
Over the past several months, I have found myself using two phrases with increasing frequency: community consultation and stakeholder engagement.
Preserving experience by sharing it
Last fall, while walking through downtown Los Angeles, I found myself standing beneath Alexander Calder’s Four Arches, the monumental red steel sculpture that rises dramatically among the city’s office towers.
The quiet power — and necessity — of Oseredok
At a moment when Ukraine sits at the centre of global political attention, one of North America’s most important Ukrainian cultural institutions continues to operate quietly in Winnipeg’s Exchange District.
What Tannis Richardson taught me about museums
Tannis Richardson believed museums should never intimidate people. That sounds obvious. It is not.
The beautiful promise of the Paantages project
Last Saturday evening at Philips Square, I was reminded how profoundly the space in which we experience music shapes what we hear.
Let sleeping dogs lie — lessons from dogs and museums
On the front page of Monday’s Free Press was a story titled Canine comfort, describing accredited facility dogs at Manitoba Law Courts helping victims navigate the justice system...
Why do museums still collect?
Today is my birthday, and instead of counting candles, I’m thinking about the future — and about something that has shaped my career and still defines great museums: the power of the permanent collection...
A sanctuary for the city — and its future
On Saturday mornings during my Grade 12 year, I would head downtown to the Eaton’s department store on Portage Avenue. I was part of the Eaton’s Junior Executive program, which brought together students from high schools across Winnipeg to host...
Why strategic thinking still matters
We live in a moment when long-range planning can feel almost naïve. Economic uncertainty, political volatility, shifting demographics, technological acceleration — the variables seem endless.
The quiet, sustaining architecture of volunteer leadership
When news broke that William (Bill) Loewen had passed away, Winnipeg lost more than a successful business leader and philanthropist.
A curator’s dilemma: art, power, and the limits of neutrality
In recent weeks, a major Canadian art museum found itself at the centre of international attention — not over an exhibition on the wall, but over whether a recently produced artwork should enter its collection at all.
The power of one, real object in a virtual age
We live in an age of perfect images. With a few swipes of a phone, we can zoom into almost any masterpiece ever made, stream music on demand, and tour museums virtually from our living rooms.
"The idea of the museum, revisited"
Today, as I’ve done for the past 12 years, I’ll begin my graduate seminar course The Idea of the Museum at the University of Winnipeg. It’s not a course about how to hang paintings or write gallery didactics, though those practical skills inevitably surface.
"Why Handel’s Messiah still matters"
On a cold evening earlier this month, with winter firmly holding Winnipeg in its grip, 2,300 people gathered inside the Centennial Concert Hall for a sold-out performance of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah.
“Robert Archambeau and the value of artistic legacy”
When I last visited Robert Archambeau’s ceramics studio in Bissett — long after the kiln had cooled and after Robert himself had left us — I found myself standing in a place that felt both haunting and profoundly alive.
"A home that belongs to everyone"
In an age when public institutions are often questioned or taken for granted, there is something remarkable—almost countercultural—about stepping into a place whose purpose is to bring people together.
“Finding warmth amid the cold in Selkirk”
I’ve not always appreciated the power of a street festival — not until I discovered Holiday Alley in Selkirk. For years, a close friend would invite me out for the November four-day weekend of lights, art, food, and music, giving me plenty of notice so I could mark it on my calendar.
"The art of neighbourhood life"
Most mornings when I step outside my door at Philips Square, I look across the street and see something that makes me quietly grateful to live where I do.
"Why arts leadership matters more than ever"
When I began this column, Paul Samyn, this paper’s editor, suggested a few themes I might explore — one of them being the significant turnover among Winnipeg’s arts and culture leaders in the last year.
“Writing from a life in arts and ideas”
Every city needs spaces to talk about what matters most — not only politics or the economy, but the creative ideas, values, and forces that shape our lives.
“Discovering public art by chance”
A few weeks ago, on a bike ride through St. Boniface with my wife, we veered off the familiar path and stumbled upon something unexpected.
“Nuit Blanche: The power of connection in the city”
Last Saturday night, downtown Winnipeg came alive. Nuit Blanche returned, drawing an estimated 35,000 people and with them a surge of light, sound, and creativity.
"Winnipeg Free Press"
“From Public Money to Public Good: How Arts Funding Shapes Civic Life” An insightful local piece on why investment in arts infrastructure still matters — and what communities stand to gain.
Vatican unveils
The Vatican Museums on Thursday unveiled the last and most important of the restored Raphael Rooms, the spectacularly frescoed reception rooms of the Apostolic Palace that in some ways rival the Sistine Chapel as the peak of high Renaissance artistry.
As we ponder the Canadian identity, literature can be our road map
In recent months, with headlines focusing on borders and tariffs, Canadians have been discussing questions of identity and nationalism.
Memory through pictures
The AGO's new exhibit, Recuerdo, which means 'I remember', curates a selection of Latin American works ranging from photo journalism and street photography to modernist art photography
Canada Council Arts Community Pulse Survey
Based on input from 7,255 Canadian artists and organizations, this report confirms how vital public funding supports local economies, well‑being, cross‑cultural understanding, innovation, and resilience.
Vega Foundation & National Gallery of Canada: Video Art
This quietly powerful collaboration supports leading international video artists. It signals the growing recognition of moving-image as a vital medium in cultural institutions.
Sharing a Gaze Across Centuries
How even a centuries-old painting can spark personal connection and fresh perspective in today’s gallery context. A compelling case for why permanent collections matter.
The New Yorker
“Can Museums Be Truly Decolonized?” A sharp cultural essay probing the tensions between repatriation, institutional legacy, and what meaningful repair might look like.
Inuit Art Quarterly
“Curating Beyond the Frame: Inuit Artists and New Narratives” Features artists pushing boundaries of material and story, with thoughtful nods to the governance structures shaping contemporary Inuit art.
Art News
“Nonprofit Boards Grapple With Diversity Mandates Post-2020” How some arts institutions are embedding equity in leadership — and why others still struggle.
Art in America
“The Afterlife of Exhibitions: What Happens When the Spotlight Moves On?” A look at how traveling shows, community partnerships, and digital strategies are extending the life of blockbuster exhibitions.
Border Crossings
“Winnipeg at the Center: New Voices, New Institutions” Spotlight on local initiatives bridging community organizing, Indigenous knowledge, and contemporary art.
