Furthering the cause of art and community: Agnes Reimagined in The Globe and Mail
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December 3, 2024
For over six decades, the Agnes Etherington Centre – Agnes Etherington’s house bequeathed to Queen’s University in 1954 as a public art gallery – has welcomed visitors and students in for education and recreation. A changemaker in Kingston’s arts and culture landscape, Agnes has been committed to “further[ing] the cause of art and community” since its founding.
Speaking with Tatum Dooley for a feature in The Globe and Mail, founding partner Bruce Kuwabara and Emelie Chhangur, director and curator of Agnes, shared the vision for reimagining the gallery for the 21st century: returning a house to a home.
“[Agnes Reimagined] is different… It’s not about how many square feet. It’s, ‘Where can I sit? Where can I talk?’ I’ve learned a lot doing it and think about it every day,” said Kuwabara.
“It’s not a container for old systems,” Chhangur added. “It’s a proposition for new practices. This building is a gift to the future.”
The guiding ethos of Agnes Reimagined is hospitality. The reimagination of the house includes a new three-floor addition to support a major increase in exhibition and alternative programming spaces.
There will be spaces for curatorial experimentation and public engagement, including art study spaces, a maker space, technical art history and art conservation labs, and the first-ever Indigenous self-determination spaces, which Indigenous community members, artists, and staff can use for cultural practices and traditions.
The historic house will be transformed into a community-facing cultural hub and live-in artist residency that will provide opportunities for extended stay by Indigenous community members visiting Agnes.
A two-year community engagement process modelled on Anishinaabe talking circles helped define the design and programming for Agnes Reimagined. Anishinaabe-kwe artist Georgina Riel, founder and CEO of RIEL Cultural Consulting and Indigenous consultant on the project, led the talking circles, which began in 2022.
The discussions included Indigenous, BIPOC and 2SLGBTQIA+ community members and shaped the project’s goals of decolonization and Indigenization. It also addressed specific user needs. For example, the new HVAC system will be equipped to handle Indigenous smudging ceremonies.
“Here we are in the wake of Truth and Reconciliation, the 94 Calls to Action, and I think nine or 10 of them have been acted upon,” Kuwabara said. “This project, in a way, is one of those calls related to culture and our institutions.”
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