Join our Board
If you are interested in making a meaningful contribution to the arts and to your community, you may be the right fit for the RMG’s Board of Directors. As the governing body for the RMG, the Board of Directors sets policy, exercises oversight and provides strategic direction. Terms are voluntary positions for a period of three years with the option to renew for one additional term.
We encourage you to read our strategic plan for 2022-2024 Connected, Creative, Caring to ensure alignment with our vision, mission, and values before considering an application. It also provides the key priorities and goals we are working towards over the next three years.
Who We Are
Art cultivates connected and caring communities.
As an artist-centered and community-oriented public art gallery in Durham Region, we bring people from diverse backgrounds together to engage with art that inspires new perspectives, generates meaningful conversations, and creates a sense of belonging.
We build relationships with diverse artists and communities through art.
The RMG works in collaboration with artists, partners, and audiences to present dynamic and inspiring collections, exhibitions, and programs in an inclusive and equitable environment.
The Robert McLaughlin Gallery is in the treaty lands of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation. This land has been the traditional territory of the Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg since 1700; before that time, it was stewarded by various communities belonging to the Haudenosaunee and Wendat confederacies. It is covered under the Williams Treaties and the Dish with One Spoon Wampum.
This area continues to be home to many Indigenous people from across Mishiike Minisi. We recognize the sovereignty of all Indigenous nations and are grateful for the opportunity to learn, live, and work on this land.
We acknowledge that the RMG is in treaty land, and respect our collective responsibility to protect and nurture the land. We also recognize the continuing impacts of colonialism and our responsibilities to redress the ways this has helped shape our organization. We are committed to working to address structural inequities and to centering Indigenous voices in the gallery
What We Do
As the governing body for the RMG, the Board of Directors sets policy, exercises oversight and provides strategic direction. Terms are voluntary positions for a period of three years with the option to renew for one additional term. The RMG’s Board operates in an advisory capacity with a policy model.
Our strategic plan for 2022-2024 Connected, Creative, Caring was recently completed and has provided key priorities and goals for us to work towards over the next three years.
Your Commitment
Board meetings take place in-person at the RMG six times a year, plus additional time serving actively on one of our committees (Acquisitions & Collections, Finance & Investment, Governance & Nominations, or Fundraising) in virtual meetings. You can anticipate contributing approximately 4 – 6 hours per month, as well as strategic planning sessions and regular communications. You must be a member of the RMG or willing to join.
We ask that all Board members act as ambassadors and advocates for the gallery, including sharing information with your networks and attending events and programs when possible.
Who We Need
We are currently looking for members to join the Board who support and believe in our values, are part of Oshawa and Durham Region, and bring a diversity of experience, cultures and backgrounds.
We are particularly looking for people with experience in accounting, audit, finance, diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The RMG is actively seeking applications from qualified candidates who are representative of the diversity of our community, and have the skills and knowledge to productively engage with our communities. As part of the application process, we encourage applicants to complete the optional demographic survey and/or self-identify within your cover letter. We welcome those from racialized communities, women, Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, and persons across the spectrum of sexual orientation and gender identities. To foster inclusion, the RMG has a comprehensive Board orientation and mentorship structure for new Board members.
We are committed to recruiting based on merit and to removing barriers to participation. Should you require accommodation during the interview process, please let us know and we will work with you to meet your needs.
Founding, History + Collection
In the mid-1960s, Oshawa designer William Caldwell organized an exhibition of work by local artists at a small commercial space on Simcoe Street. After overwhelming community support, a number of visionaries—including Ewart McLaughlin and his wife Margaret (painter Alexandra Luke)—recognized that Oshawa needed a more permanent home for the arts. The McLaughlin’s provided financial support as well as a number of significant works from their private collection, and in 1967 The Robert McLaughlin Gallery was established as Oshawa’s public gallery for contemporary art.
Significant support was later provided by Isabel McLaughlin, an important modernist painter, and a founding member of the Canadian Group of Painters, as well as by artist Aleen Aked, who provided a generous endowment for education and outreach initiatives. This unique legacy of strong female patronage is foundational to the RMG, contributing to the ongoing support and acquisition of work by women artists.
Today, the RMG collection has grown to over 4,700 works, The Thomas Bouckley Collection, an art library, and archives. The collection includes nationally significant modern Canadian abstraction, the largest holding of works by Painters Eleven in the world, an expanding collection of contemporary art, and public art. Though this is the founding core of our collection, the RMG is also dedicated to collecting with intention in order to reflect the diverse voices and contemporary issues that make up the continuing story of Canadian art, including that of our local community.
Values
The RMG is guided by the following values:
- Culture of Care: We are committed to fostering a culture of care that places the health and wellbeing of our staff, artists, partners, and audiences above all else. Kindness and respect are central to all of our relationships.
- Artist-Centered and Creative: We are dedicated to supporting artists in their work and creating an environment for them to flourish. We provide opportunities for the community to imagine and create.
- Equity and Justice: We are dedicated to integrating anti-oppressive and anti-racist processes throughout all facets of the organization. This includes prioritizing work with staff and artists from institutionally excluded groups. We further understand our role in shaping Indigenous and Canadian art history. We are therefore committed to creating just, inclusive, and accurate stories of our past and present, and to providing a platform for diverse voices to engage with contemporary issues we face today and into the future.
- Relationship-based and Collaborative: We prioritize long-term and sustainable relationships with artists and community members. We bring together multiple perspectives and people and invite unique opportunities for collaborations.
- Accessible and Inclusive: We provide welcoming and accessible experiences to art for a diversity of people, both inside and outside of the gallery.
- Accountable and Open: We are both an accountable and transparent organization. We take responsibility for our actions, including our mistakes, and promote a safe and open gallery for all.
Recruitment Process
We welcome applications at any time. We share a call for applications early each calendar year. Our Governance + Nominations Committee leads the recruitment process, screens applicants, holds interviews in April, and makes its final selections in May for new Board members to join us at our June Annual General Meeting.
As part of the application process, we encourage applicants to complete the optional demographic survey and/or self-identify within your cover letter. We welcome those from racialized communities, women, Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, and persons across the spectrum of sexual orientation and gender identities.
We are committed to recruiting based on merit and to removing barriers to participation. Should you require accommodation during the interview process, please let us know and we will work with you to meet your needs.
To Apply
Applications are now closed until 2025.