There are a lot of things that need to be done and there are steps to be followed along the way. I would not want a national gallery that comes down from Ottawa and goes into various parts of the country simply putting up artwork and saying, “This is what you need to look at.” What I want to build is a national gallery that is in touch with the local communities and local artists throughout the country to better understand what different cities and different provinces are interested in, need and require and how we can build something together.
What I have been doing since I started is that I've gone to British Columbia twice already and different parts of the country, and I have trips to all parts of the country scheduled for the next couple of months to meet the artists, to meet the stakeholders and to understand what the reality on the ground is in order to be able to include that reality into the future of the National Gallery.
The first step is to listen and to understand the diversity of the country, the geographical diversity, and to build a better plan. As I said earlier, there are wonderful examples in the past of touring exhibitions, of satellite spaces and of joint productions—and all of these things are on the table—but I want to decide with our local stakeholders across the country and local artists what the next best step is.