This week, the Globe and Mail ran a fabulous two page spread about the growing engagement by the Royal Ontario Museum with the climate crisis. This new initiative has been triggered by the generosity of Allan Shiff, with whom I have had the pleasure of working for the last year. Now, finally, after much effort, the search for the new curator is underway.
Equally important, existing curatorial staff at the ROM are getting energized about using their collections to tell climate stories. The Globe article tells brief climate stories that feature 14 different artefacts from the full range of ROM collections, both human history and natural history: varve clay, red knot (bird), art made of trash, religious paintings.
Sascha Priewe, Associate Vice President of Strategic Initiatives & Partnerships, has been tasked with getting climate-related programming underway even before the new curator arrives. It’s not a moment too soon.