“Art is the only serious thing in the world.”
― Oscar Wilde
What we do
Arena Cultural Planning Group works with the staff and boards of cultural organizations to build sustainability, increase community impact, and effect institutional change. Operating throughout Canada, Arena facilitates institutional success in a challenging environment through organizational assessments, strategic and business planning, constituency research and engagement initiatives, collection audits, and large-scale event/exhibition development and delivery. The principals have personal histories that include ambitious art exhibition and project successes in Canada and internationally. In addition, they offer wide-ranging experience in capital project elaboration and management, and they have led several challenging institutional renewal initiatives. Jon Tupper and Gilles Hébert have each worked for decades as curators, arts administrators, cultural sector advocates, and art museum directors.
Arena also engages a variety of arts sector experts on projects where special expertise is required.
Through research, engagement, and reflection with stakeholders, Arena delivers:
Organizational assessments
Business and master plans
Audience and stakeholder research
Development and fundraising strategies
Collection audits
Arena excels at large scale event and exhibition development and delivery.
Services
Institutional Reviews
Organizational assessments include resources, objectives, engagement, support, and effectiveness. Tailored to the specifics of the organization, Arena provides several informed services and reports as well as providing actionable tools including:
Environmental scans where specific institutional characteristics inform online and in person input strategies for existing and potential museum participants
Program reviews in relation to institutional operations, resources, and mission
Identification of the perceived and actual limitations and constraints of the institution
Inventory of institutional strengths and resources that can provide for renewal, sustainability, stability, and growth
Strategies to grow visitorship, engagement, and support
Undertake and manage accessibility audits of your organization
Facility reviews in relation to operations, mandate, problem solving, existing resources, and fundraising capacity
Collection Stewardship
Collection review and assessment
Recommendations for best practices in deaccessioning
Developing Collection Plans in relation to existing and future holdings and within institutional objectives
Collections policy and procedure review
Constituency needs and representation in the collection
Business and Master Plans
Arena generates tailored business plans, master plans, reports, and strategies for:
Facilities expansion
Fundraising campaigns and development strategies
Case for support packages
Audience Research
Arena conducts research, produces reports, and provides guidance on the following:
Existing engagement with various attendant constituencies
Building accessibility to grow more diverse audiences
Institutional programs and audience impact
Focus groups and audience surveys in relation to programming
Program/project development and delivery management
Who we are
Jon Tupper and Gilles Hébert have each worked professionally as curators, arts administrators, and art museum directors. They offer wide-ranging experience in capital project design, delivery, and management and have led several challenging institutional renewal initiatives. Arena’s two founders have personal histories that include ambitious art exhibition and project successes in Canada and internationally. ARENA retains arts sector experts on projects where special expertise is required.
Gilles Hébert has been active in the visual arts for over 30 years. Working independently, he produced performance festivals, site-specific exhibitions, and national conferences before transitioning to project specific contracts with various institutions. In the early 1990s, Gilles was a contracted curatorial collaborator at the Centre Georges Pompidou. He later led the restoration of a shuttered 19th century Trappist Monastery and the formation of the St. Norbert Arts Centre. From there he relocated to Saskatoon for the position of Director at the Mendel Art Gallery. Gilles went on to become the Director of the Art Gallery of Windsor and the Director of the Art Gallery of Alberta before returning to Winnipeg as the Vice-President of Museum Practice at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Gilles is remarkable for his extensive background in building and renewing organizations, undertaking needs assessments, program reviews, capital campaigns, and capital project oversight. Gilles has also curated numerous exhibitions. In addition, like Jon, he’s maintained an active interest in arts advocacy and public policy for years. In 2010, he was one of two recipients of the University of Manitoba Celebrated Alumni award.
Jon Tupper has a depth of experience working with a broad range of visual arts institutions. Most recently, Jon was the Director at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria for over a decade. Prior to moving to Victoria he was the Director of the Confederation Center Art Gallery in Charlottetown. Jon has previously been the Director of the Walter Phillips Gallery and Associate Director of Creative Residencies in Media and Visual Arts at the Banff Centre for the Arts, the Associate Director, Curatorial Affairs at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, and the Director of the Plug In Gallery, also in Winnipeg.
Jon has organized numerous exhibitions in Canada and internationally, and in 1998 founded the Banff International Curatorial Institute. Tupper represented Canada as the Commissioner to the Sao Paulo Biennial and Co-Commissioner to the Venice Biennale. He has been the President of the Canadian Museums Association and on the executive of several other arts sector associations. Jon remains active in the museum community. He has been the recipient of several honours including the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal.
“Our approach is based on over 50 years of collective experience working in museums and art galleries. Unlike many cultural sector consultants, we tell clients what they need to hear which may not be what they would expect. Operating a museum in a climate of economic uncertainty is challenging and entering into large projects that are unsustainable has proved devastating to many institutions.”
Arena Populi
Arena Populi is an occasional exhibition space on the Arena website. It is an opportunity to exhibit artists we find interesting and it also serves as a reminder that art is at the core of what we do. Please enjoy!
Sheila Spence
Portraits of the West | 2011
All images shown are from a body of work shot in Alberta, southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Canada. The works span a decade, from 2009 to 2019, and are an exploration of contemporary western culture photographed on location.
Sheila Spence is an artist living and working in Winnipeg. For over 30 years, Spence has dedicated her craft to the exploration of portraiture, investigating issues around personal relationships, identity, and notions of community.
