CAGE Symposium and Retreat, April 24-27, 2014

Hosted by the Kelowna Art Gallery and jointly located at The Cove Lakeside Resort, Kelowna, B.C.

The 2014 CAGE Symposium and Retreat offered an intensive professional development experience in an intimate and inspirational environment. Our members were provided with multiple opportunities to network and learn from national peers, as well as examine international perspectives on the changing role of art museum educators in the context of institutional change.

Keynote Presenter

David Anderson

David Anderson has been Director General of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum of Wales since 2010. Over the last three years, he has guided the organisation’s plans for development of the St Fagans Museum to become a National History Museum for Wales, and reorganised the institution to enable it to become better fitted to meet the needs of the people of Wales in the twenty first century.

Following a degree in Irish History, David Anderson began his career as a history teacher in 1977 in a state comprehensive school, before being attracted to museums by their potential as places for lifelong learning. He began his museum career in 1979 as Education Officer for five local authority museums at the Royal Pavilion, Art Gallery and Museums, Brighton. In 1985 he joined the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, where he developed the education service and created new children’s galleries and extensive learning programmes for the temporary exhibitions, The Spanish Armada and The Mutiny on the Bounty.

Moving to the V&A in 1990, he managed the development of the Sackler Centre for Arts Education, a major learning facility that is widely regarded as setting new standards for education in museums. He also played a leading role in the formation of the Exhibition Road Cultural Group, a consortium of 17 cultural and educational institutions and two local authorities. As Co-Director of the Group, he steered it to become a charitable company limited by guarantee at the heart of London’s first Cultural Quarter.

David Anderson has served on many Government working groups and professional committees. He is currently a board member of Creative and Cultural Skills, a member of the Advisory Committee of British Council Wales, and President of the United Kingdom Museums Association.

He has published extensively on museums, cultural policy and arts education, including the UK-wide Government report A Common Wealth: Museums in the Learning Age (DCMS,1997, revised 1999). He is also the author of the best-selling children’s books, ‘The Spanish Armada’ (1988) and the Mutiny on the Bounty (1989).

Highlights

Keynote address: “The Changing Public Role of Museum: Two Case Studies,” David Anderson.

Case Studies: “Tackling Difficult History in Exhibits and Programs,” Jacques Lavoie, Royal Ontario Museum. “Math + Art at the WAG: a curriculum-based, interdisciplinary exhibition curated for the learning needs of an emerging audience,” Rachel Baerg, Winnipeg Art Gallery. “The Art of Medicine: Arts-Based Training for McMaster University Medical Residents at the McMaster Museum of Art,” Nicole Knibb, McMaster Museum of Art. “Water: A Youth Symposium on Art and Ideas,” Susan Rome, Vancouver Art Gallery. “Two Rivers Gallery’s MakerLab 2RG,” Carolyn Holmes, Two Rivers Gallery.