It's possible to attract bigger and younger audiences without lowering standards

Source: Montreal Gazette

If you want to know what's happening to institutions all over Montreal, consider the CV of the person who became the new boss of the McCord Museum this week.

It used to be that the head of any museum had to know a lot about museum work. The McCord's past CEO,Victoria Dickenson, was typical: She had a master's in museum work. She also had a PhD in Canadian history - handy since the McCord is all about Canadian history. But Suzanne Sauvage, who replaced her Monday, has a career in marketing. She's from Cossette - the giant ad agency that flogs Coke, Nike, and Big Macs.

The private museum is working on a strategic plan that won't be done until late this year. But its startling appointment says all you need to know about the direction it will take.

The McCord's change underscores a trend among many of Montreal's leading cultural and media institutions. New generations' changing tastes and a weakened economy have made these pillars financially fragile, and they're struggling to reinvent themselves.

The question is, will their efforts compromise the high standards that earned them their original respect? Will they sacrifice their souls in their quest for popularity?

Such questions are the subtext of much of the public uproar over CBC's non-renewal of radio host's Nancy Wood's contract on grounds she had not boosted audience ratings. Many listeners say she ably maintained the public broadcaster's tradition of serving the community with well-informed, upmarket radio. They worry that CBC aims to compromise that service ethos in trying to improve ratings - as some listeners complain it is already doing with its music on Radio Two.

Many people are also asking that question of journalism as a whole. Declining circulation is causing newspapers in Montreal and across North America to shrink conventional news-gathering operations and to invest in online features. The idea is that viewers' hits will attract ads. The more hits, the more ads.

In a column in The Globe & Mail this week, Roy MacGregor observes, "When newspapers start confusing hits with circulation, there is an undeniable danger to journalism." That's because it will always be easier to get hits by providing strident commentary and fodder on celebrities than by offering measured opinion and impartial reporting on public affairs.

Another institution that has had a rocky transition is the public school system. For all its virtues, computer-reliant education is weakening students' research skills, unassisted calculating know-how, and simple penmanship.

Yet some institutions are reinventing themselves smoothly. Many libraries began attracting more people a decade or two ago by lending movies, presenting speakers, and becoming lively social centres.

Many other cultural institutions have also started to meet the challenges of changing tastes.

Take the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. It was on the ropes when conductor Charles Dutoit left in a huff in 2002. But the Kent Nagano era has pitched the MSO toward a new market - playing at a Canadiens game, for example, and commissioning an orchestral work based on the trek of Terry Fox. Yet never has the MSO abandoned its core "serious" market.

Or take the Opéra de Montréal. It faced financial ruin in 2005 and had to chop half its staff. But it has roared back with an ad campaign that makes opera look cool, with métro appearances, and with a majority of singers who are Canadian. Audiences now include lots of young people. Says marketing director Pierre Vachon, "We've absorbed the deficit and are reaching cruising speed."

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is also using imagination to reach new markets. It has already featured shows on Yves St. Laurent (fashion as art), cars, Tintin, e-art and John & Yoko. In April it'll launch a show on Miles Davis ("Music is a painting you can hear"). Attendance is up by 84 per cent since 1993. Notes director Nathalie Bondil, "We're in a healthy financial situation."

Let's not forget theatre. The two big players on the anglo scene, the Centaur and the refurbished Segal Centre, are both thriving.

"There's a real renaissance," says Gazette theatre critic Pat Donnelly. "Standards are higher than 15 years ago." Gimmicks like nudity are passé. Production standards are way up.

It's too early to know whether the McCord's reinvention will be successful. But there's no reason for pessimism at this point. The lesson from libraries, the orchestra, the opera, the MFA, and the theatre is that you can go in adventurous new directions so long as you don't sacrifice your high standards. Look up to your audience. Dumbing down is just dumb.

© Montreal Gazette