Conversation: Institutional Perspectives on Whiteness in Cultural Spaces

John G. Hampton (they/them) is a curator, artist, administrator, and the current Executive Director and CEO of the MacKenzie Art Gallery. They hold a Masters of Visual Studies in Curatorial Studies from the University of Toronto, and a BA in Visual Arts from the University of Regina. John is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, the United States, and Canada, and grew up in Regina. They have previously held positions as Executive Director of the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba, Artistic Director of Trinity Square Video, Curator-in-Residence at the Art Museum at the University of Toronto, and Curator at Neutral Ground Artist-Run Centre.

Barbara Fischer is the Executive Director/Chief Curator of the Art Museum at the University of Toronto (comprised of the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery and the University of Toronto Art Centre) as well as Associate Professor, Teaching Stream in the Master of Visual Studies program in Curatorial Studies at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto. Fischer previously held curatorial positions at Open Space Gallery (Victoria), the Walter Phillips Gallery (The Banff Centre, Alberta), the Art Gallery of Ontario, The Power Plant, and the Blackwood Gallery (University of Toronto art Mississauga). She has curated award-winning exhibitions in the area of contemporary art and its histories at a national and international level. She received the Hnatyshyn Award for Curatorial Excellence in Contemporary Art in 2008 and the Presidents Impact Award in 2022.

Anthony Kiendl is the CEO & Director of the Vancouver Art Gallery. He is an award-winning curator, writer, arts administrator and educator, and a community builder with over 25 years of experience in the arts. Prior to the Vancouver Art Gallery, Anthony was the Executive Director & CEO of the Mackenzie Gallery in Regina, Saskatchewan; the Executive & Artistic Director of Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art in Winnipeg, Manitoba; and the Director of Visual Arts, Walter Phillips Gallery, and the Banff International Curatorial Institute at the Banff Centre, Alberta.

Kiendl has worked internationally. In 2011, he was appointed curator of Contour: Biennale of the Moving Image in Mechelen, Belgium. In 2007, he was Leverhulme Visiting Research Fellow at Middlesex University, London, UK.

He has been an invited guest mentor or advisor on leadership in the arts by the Museum Leadership Institute (formerly the Getty) and Business / Arts (Canada).