Montgomery's Inn, among other Toronto museums, are slated for closure...

Hume: City museum closures loom

November 12, 2011

In a city consumed by the cost of things, it’s easy to lose sight of the value of things.

Torontonians will be reminded of the difference later this month when Mayor Rob Ford unveils the city budget.

Among the measures included will be the closure of four of the city’s 10 museums. Sources tell the Star that those chosen to be shut are the Market Gallery, Gibson House, Montgomery’s Inn and Zion Schoolhouse.

The justification will be the nearly $1 million in savings, a tiny fraction of a city budget that in 2010 stood at $9.2 billion.

For thousands of residents who visit and use these facilities, the impact will be more about the quality of their lives than the depth of their pockets.

The 10 museums operated by the City of Toronto Culture Division cost taxpayers about $5.3 million yearly. The institutions themselves raise $1.3 million through rentals, admissions and gift shop sales.

Annual attendance is about 250,000.

Except for the Market Gallery, located downtown in the St. Lawrence Market, the venues slated for closure are in the former North York and Etobicoke.

Montgomery’s Inn has been a landmark in Etobicoke since the 1840s, when the current building was constructed. It is one of the former borough’s few surviving links to its past.

Zion Schoolhouse, which was built just two years after Confederation, remained in service until 1955. The modest but elegant structure on Finch St. E. was built by families in what was then the farming community of L’Amoreaux.

Gibson House, an impressive 1850s Georgian mansion west of Yonge St., north of Park Home Ave., is also in the former North York.

Though shuttering these attractions is unlikely to stir up the same sort of outrage as did Ford’s threats to close Toronto public libraries, it will inflict further damage on a sector already under pressure.

“Heritage is not gravy,” insists Councillor Joe Mihevc (Ward 21). “These museums are local community hubs. . . the unsung gems of our city. They offer vigorous programs for school kids. But this administration has made it clear it wants some very, very deep cuts to arts and heritage.”

As Mihevc also points out, the city has no plans yet about what to do with these historic buildings once they’re closed. Unless they are to be abandoned and left to fall apart, they will have to be sold to the private sector or maintained by the city, which costs money.

“I think the city will try to sell them,” says Mihevc. “But no one wants to see these iconic buildings turned into bars or restaurants. That would be disastrous.”

In the case of the Market Gallery, founded in 1979 as “the official exhibition space and storage of the city’s permanent art collection,” closure would mean significantly reduced public access to Toronto’s material history.

However, unless Ford is prepared to put city-owned artworks on the block, killing the gallery won’t leave the city with any saleable assets.

Culture has never figured prominently in official Toronto; the major arts institutions in this city depend on federal and provincial funding as well as private philanthropy and the box-office. Even the city’s museums receive $430,000 from Queen’s Park every year.

Perhaps the most serious long-term threat of closing these civic institutions is that Torontonians will lose faith in the city’s cultural sector, and stop contributing the cash and artifacts on which museums depend.

“It will breach the integrity of the city museums system,” Mihevc charges, “leading to a lack of trust among potential donors, funders and partners across the 10 sites.”

- Toronto Star, November 12, 2011