Ukrainian Community Supports ROM Gallery

By Olena Wawryshyn

TORONTO–The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), in 2006, is opening 10 new and renovated galleries. Among them is the Digital Gallery, which is being funded by donations from the Ukrainian-Canadian community.

Fundraising for the main-floor Digital Gallery, located in the ROM’s Learning Centre, got underway last fall at a reception attended by community members.

The fundraising committee, chaired by Roman Dubczak and Donna Ihnatowycz, is aiming to raise $1 million, half of which has already been pledged by Toronto philanthropists Ian Ihnatowycz and Dr. Marta Witer.

About $100,000 more has been canvassed from the Ukrainian-Canadian community by the committee says Jim Temerty, the Chairman of the Board of Governors at the ROM. The Government of Ontario’s Ministry of Culture Capital Rehabilitation Fund will also be pitching in.

The renovation of the Digital Gallery is part of the ROM’s large-scale Renaissance project, which will significantly update the face of the museum that is located in downtown Toronto.  One of the major changes will be a new addition, the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, designed by internationally renowned architect Daniel Libeskind. The new structure will add 173,950 square feet and move the main entrance from Queen’s Park to Bloor Street in the fall/winter of 2006.

In addition, as part of the first phase of the Renaissance project, many existing galleries, including the Digital Gallery, are being  renovated.

The financial support of the Ukrainian-Canadian community and the major donors will be recognized just outside the Digital Gallery as well as inside the room itself says Temerty.

“We have seen other communities in the city, most notably the Chinese community, organize themselves, and they have raised multi-millions of dollars toward the Chinese galleries in the ROM, and I feel that for the Ukrainian community to participate would be a signal that the Ukrainian community is stepping outside the boundaries of its own community and contributing to the culture life of the whole city,” says Temerty.

The Digital Gallery, which features interactive learning modules dealing with the natural world and human cultures, is a notable initiative, says Temerty, because it will contain a module on Canadian history.  Through interactive screens, visitors to the gallery will learn about the experiences of immigrants to Canada.

“It was Dr. Marta Witer’s idea and in that module we will have a special note made of the contributions that Ukrainian immigration has made to the Canadian scene, and that will be one of the significant communities identified as having played a role in the development of Canada,” says Temerty.

The Digital Gallery is currently open for school groups, and the new Canada module will open in the fall/winter of 2006.

The Digital Gallery hosted over 8,500 students and 8,000 members of the general public from March 2004 to autumn of 2005. The Learning Centre is visited by 170,000 students on school field trips, and an additional 150,000 or so young people visit annually with their parents, says Temerty, “so there is a tremendous opportunity to broaden awareness of what Ukrainian immigration has done for Canada.”

Says Temerty: “It would be wonderful to see the Ukrainian-Canadian community in Toronto step up and say: ‘we recognize how valuable this institution is to the cultural life of the city and we want to participate.’”