Starting in July 2024, the Gardiner Museum is embarking on our largest capital project in 20 years—a $15-million transformation that will create a visitor experience unique in the cultural sector.
The full-scale reimagining of our ground floor will include the construction of a new fully equipped makerspace, a Community Learning Centre, and an Indigenous gallery space.
Project Supporters
Transformational Gift
The Radlett Foundation, in honour of William B.G. Humphries
Leadership Gifts
The ground floor transformation prioritizes two distinct interpretations of access: the reduction of barriers to audiences’ ability to enjoy and participate in the Gardiner’s spaces and programs, and features that allow guests of varying physical abilities to benefit from everything the Museum has to offer.
Design plans for the renovation are guided by the goal of encouraging and establishing connectivity between people enjoying the Museum, between cultures through shared ceramic traditions, and between spaces and their functionality.
The ground floor transformation furthers the Museum’s vital work of decolonization through a centering of Indigeneity in the renewed permanent collection galleries.
An expanded and prominently positioned Makerspace will foreground hands-on making as central to our mission and set us apart from traditional museum settings. The Makerspace will highlight the accessibility of clay and activate the Museum as a site for creativity.
The new Community Learning Centre (CLC) will host nearly 200 school groups annually as well as public programs. A comfortable place for visitors to connect with one another and engage with educational resources, the CLC will also feature new display opportunities for the Gardiner’s renowned collections.
A vital gesture toward reconciliation, the transformation will include the establishment of a central Indigenous gallery space showcasing ceramic traditions of the Woodland and Great Lakes Region. The gallery will be designed by Chris Cornelius of studio:indigenous.
Indigenous Advisory Circle
Established in 2020, the Gardiner’s Indigenous Advisory Circle consults on numerous projects, including the design and development of the new Indigenous Gallery. The Gardiner Museum would like to acknowledge their invaluable contributions in guiding this project: Mary Anne Barkhouse, Kent Monkman, Andre Morriseau, Duke Redbird, and Tekaronhiáhkhwa / Santee Smith.
Get a virtual glimpse into the plans for our reimagined ground floor.
Courtesy of Montgomery Sisam Architects.
Entrance Hall Gallery
Gardiner Shop and Entrance Hall
Makerspace and Community Learning Centre
Makerspace
Community Learning Centre
Permanent Collection Galleries
Transforming the Gardiner’s Ground Floor is a once-in-a-generation opportunity that requires the support of a wide community. Every contribution brings us closer to realizing our mission of building community with clay.
Join us todayLand Acknowledgment
The Gardiner Museum is situated on the ancestral and traditional territories of many nations, including the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples, and is covered by Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. It is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples. As a museum that celebrates the material of the earth, the Gardiner Museum is committed to honouring Indigenous peoples’ cultural and spiritual connections to the land. Reconciliation is central to our work as a museum, and we strive to celebrate Indigenous knowledge and creativity through our collections, exhibitions, and programming.
