SAAG director talks about building relationships in Art NOW session

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on March 9, 2023.

Herald photo by Alejandra Pulido-Guzman Su Ying Strang, executive director of the Southern Alberta Art Gallery, speaks during the Art NOW series at the University of Lethbridge recital hall.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

Southern Alberta Art Gallery executive director, Su Ying Strang spoke to students, faculty and members of the public about her past experience during the Art NOW speakers series at the University of Lethbridge this week.

During an interview with the Herald after her talk, Strang said she was invited to speak about anything she wanted to, and since she has only been in Lethbridge for about a year, she felt it was really important to give those in attendance a bit of context and understanding of where she is coming from.

“As someone who has taken on a leadership role in one of the big institutions in Lethbridge and in a space that’s a really important hub for the arts communities and otherwise, I wanted to be able to share a little bit about where I come from, my background in the arts, my process and priorities and values working in the arts,” said Strang.

She said for her, accessibility and welcoming spaces for audiences are key to being able to respond and connect to the immediate context and environment that we’re in.

 “This art gallery has almost five decades of incredible history of really rigorous and artistically excellent work. We’ve had some really impressive staff who have brought some really wonderful artists and many of them are speaking out in this program,” said Strang.

 She said the fact that there is such longstanding partnership between the gallery and the university is why she took the opportunity to introduce herself.

 “In my talk I spoke a little bit about how relationship building takes time, and so this first year I’ve really been focused on listening and learning and trying to understand what the history of this place is, who has been involved with this organization, not only with the organization but with all of the different intersecting communities and organizations we work with,” said Strang.

 She said she did not want to talk about where the gallery was going to do in the future and their big plans and goals for the organization, without having first been able to introduce herself.

 Strang said that from her experience at The New Gallery in Calgary, she carries with her some guiding principles but when it comes to strategies and programs, all of those pieces are very context- based and responsive to the place in which the SAAG is located.

 “I wouldn’t say that I would bring exactly what the work we were doing at the new gallery here, but I would bring some of the guiding principles of being a good neighbour, being connected to the communities you’re a part of and I do think I would take this piece of focusing on what does accessibility and relevance look like to those communities,” said Strang.

 She said she will also continue their longstanding goals and work in building up on all the good things that have already happened, and in terms of new things, she said she wants to see more diverse audiences than SAAG had before.

 “I want to see that grow as the make-up of the population changes here in Lethbridge. I want to see that reflected in our programming as well, so those are priorities for me and I want to see barriers to access mitigated. I want to see the organization be able to be a welcoming space for all and a safe space for all,” said Strang.

She said she also wants the input of the community in what else can be done, and how the gallery can be improved in ways that would benefit the community as a whole.

“I would say is that my door is always open. I would love for community members to feel free to reach out to me, send me an e-mail, pick up a phone and call,” said Strang.

“As much as I like to stand up and talk about what I’ve done before, I’d much rather meet people and have a conversation about how this institution can be relevant and meaningful to them. That relationship building happens one-on-one,” said Strang.

Follow @APulidoHerald on Twitter