12:30pm | Curators in Conversation

Curators in Conversation offers audiences an insight into the processes of notable curators working today. In this talk, longtime colleagues and friends, Kitty Scott and Connie Butler discuss upcoming projects, including Butler’s move from her curatorial role at the Hammer Museum to NYC’s MoMA PS1 as director.  
Kitty Scott is this year's FOCUS Exhibition curator. An independent curator celebrated for her influential contributions to contemporary art exhibitions and scholarship, Scott worked with Geoffrey Farmer in the Canadian Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017, and co-curated "Beautiful world, where are you?", the 10th edition of the Liverpool Biennial, 2018. 
For 10 years, Connie Butler was the Chief Curator of the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. This fall, she takes on the role of Director of New York’s MoMA PS1. Butler curated WACK!: Art and the Feminist Revolution (2007), a landmark exhibition that showcased feminist art and activism from 1965 through 1980. 

2:30pm | Indigenous Artists on the World Stage  

The global impact of Indigenous Art is certainly nothing new, yet works by First Nations, Inuit and Métis artists are being exhibited and sold internationally with increasing interest from collectors and institutions alike. We’ll welcome artists Meryl McMaster, Renee Condo and  Caroline Monnet to engage in discussion around how global recognition within the art community can serve or challenge Indigenous artists working today. Moderated by Rhéanne Chartrand.

12:30pm | Centering the Margins 

We often think of the art world as being centered in major cities across the globe. But increasingly art institutions, exhibition spaces and creative organizations are taking root and thriving outside of city centers.  This talk features a discussion with Larry Ossei-Mensah Co-Founder and Curator, ARTNOIR, Miguel A. Lopez, Co-Curator, Toronto Biennial (former co-director of TEOR/ética, Costa Rica), Michelle Jacques, Curator, Remai Modern and moderated by Sarah Milroy, Director and Chief Curator, McMichael, explores the idiosyncrasies, opportunities and challenges of cultural production in these unique environments.

2:00pm | Collecting the Art of Our Time

Join the RBC Curatorial Department for a discussion with Jean-François Bélisle, Director of the National Gallery of Canada, Emelie Chhangur, Director and Curator of the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, and Stephan Jost, Michael and Sonja Koerner Director, and CEO of the Art Gallery of Ontario, on the art market in Canada, the role of institutions and the importance of collecting the art of our time.  e.