The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts attracted criticism for the abrupt dismissal of its director Nathalie Bondil © Hui Gao
The public conflict between the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and its former director Nathalie Bondil has led the Canada Council for the Arts in Ottawa, the nations main grant-making body, to notify the institution that its current instability could put future funding at risk. “The very public nature of this crisis—in combination with issues pertaining to organisational health, leadership, governance and human resources management—has resulted in the museum being advised that it is being placed on concerned status”, the council says in a statement.
While this “does not necessarily lead to reduced core funding”, it means the agency will “follow its situation more closely under different reporting conditions”. The Montreal museum currently receives multi-year funding through the councils engage and sustain programme, including more than $720,000 in grants in 2018-19. Last week, Quebecs culture minister reminded the museum that the state is its “largest funder […] at the rate of Can$16m per year”, and announced the appointment of an independent company to “investigate the museums management and governance by the board”.
Nathalie Bondil © Marco Campanozzi
Meanwhile, the disagreement between the board and Bondil continued to play out in the Canadian media. In a statement published on Monday, the board maintained that Bondils dismissal was due to her “management style and the deterioration of the workplace climate”. It also announced that a search for a new director is underway. The museum added that it would cooperate with the provincial governments independent investigation, and will disclose a report outlining employees concerns “to the maximum extent legally permitted”.
Bondil says she was fired for refusing to say that the decision to promote Mary-Dailey Desmarais to a newly created position of director of the curatorial division was unanimous. “The board decidRead More – Source
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