Detail of McIntosh Vault

External Collection Review – McIntosh Gallery, Western University

Application Deadline: June 17, 2026, 11:59pm ET

Purpose and Scope:

McIntosh Gallery is requesting proposals from qualified, experienced curators, academics, consultants, and arts professionals for the research and writing of an External Collection Review and Report focused on the McIntosh Gallery Collection.

The External Collection Review will complement the ongoing Internal Collection Review by adding additional layers of expertise, perspectives, and research to support the creation of an updated Collection Policy and a new Collection Development Plan. These documents will inform collecting priorities over the next five (5) years and beyond at McIntosh Gallery.

The intention of the review and the resulting Collection Development Plan is to reframe McIntosh Gallery’s approach to collecting. To position the collection, as Jennifer Durrant has articulated, “as the beating heart of museums, with acquisition and disposal as the act of breathing; inhaling life through new acquisitions and breathing out those aspects that are no longer needed, and which will cause harm if they are allowed to remain” (Durrant 2025, 5). From this view, accession and deaccession are equally critical to maintaining sustainable collections. While the gallery as an institution persists through time, the collection is always changing – has always been changing in response to shifting institutional mandates and the changing needs of the communities that it serves. Efforts to preserve every object indefinitely out of fear of what might be lost through deaccession prioritizes the loss of what cannot be acquired due to institutional capacity limitations. Given finite institutional resources, deaccession is required to build a collection that remains relevant, responsive, and sustainable.

The result of the external review will be a comprehensive report on the collection. It will include, but may not be limited to:

• Collection Review approach and methodology
• Challenges experienced during the Collection Review and how they were navigated
• Key Findings:
  ◦  Overarching relevance of the collection
  ◦  Areas of strength
  ◦  Areas of weakness
  ◦  Recommendations and priorities for areas of future development
  ◦  Recommendations and priorities for deaccession or refinement pending further research and significance assessment.

Project Background:

McIntosh Gallery collects contemporary and historical Canadian art connected to Southwestern Ontario that advances Western University’s academics, research, and student experience. The Gallery also collects art by Canadian artists that provides context for the collection’s regional holdings.

Beginning with the inaugural collection donated by Wilhelmina McIntosh in 1940, the McIntosh Gallery Collection has grown to more than 4,350 objects. Between 1990 and 2018, 73% of the collection was acquired. Following this period of significant growth, collecting activity slowed around 2019. This moment highlighted known issues of representation and diversity in the collection, as well as the physical challenges of building a collection in a static, overfull collection vault with public access limitations. McIntosh Gallery also has a long history of deaccessioning to refine the collection and support its continued growth, with significant examples in 1980, 2002, and 2021. A total of 365 artworks, or about 7.7% of the collection, have been deaccessioned throughout the gallery’s history.

Many overlapping realities have required McIntosh Gallery to reflect on its history of collecting and develop a plan for the collection’s future that accounts for continued growth, increased representation, and greater public accessibility to support research, teaching, and interdisciplinary knowledge creation across the University. McIntosh Gallery’s physical storage capacity will be increased as part of the construction of a new gallery, anticipated for 2029. While this new space will support the growth of and access to the collection, a Collection Development Plan is equally critical to the ongoing sustainability of the collection and its capacity to develop in alignment with the communities the gallery serves and developing regional art practices.

Available Resources and Opportunities:

The selected consultant or consulting group will have access to the following resources and opportunities to conduct the work:

• Online Collection Database (PastPerfect) and Excel exports (available remotely – full access to PastPerfect is available on-site)
• PastPerfect search reporting statistics (available remotely)
• Available photographic documentation of the collection (available remotely)
• Hard-copy collection files and exhibition files/catalogues (available on-site or scanned by request for remote access)
• Current collection policy and a summary of anticipated future directions (available remotely)
• Materials related to McIntosh Gallery’s current and historical operations, including McIntosh Gallery’s 2025 Strategic Plan, catalogues, essays, and other internal materials (available remotely and in hard copy)
• Staff support to navigate resources and provide additional context (available remotely)
• Opportunities to view artworks on campus or in the vault (available on-site)
• Other resources as requested.

Timeline:

• Anticipated start date: July 20, 2026
• Anticipated end date: April 2027 (with flexibility in cases where timeline impacts project feasibility).

Budget:

The maximum budget for this project should not exceed $20,000 CDN, excluding HST.

How to Apply:

Submissions must be received by email in a single PDF document by June 17, 2026, at 11:59pm.

Submit via email with the subject line “McIntosh Gallery External Collection Review” to: Rachel Deiterding, Curator (Collections & Special Projects), rdeiterd@uwo.ca.

See the complete RFP for additional details regarding: Proposal Guidelines, Submission Details, Selection Criteria, Applicant Qualifications and other project details.

Application Deadline: June 17, 2026, 11:59pm ET

For additional information or questions, please contact:
Rachel Deiterding, Curator (Collections & Special Projects)
rdeiterd@uwo.ca

McIntosh Gallery
1151 Richmond Street
London, ON N6A 3K7
mcintoshgallery.ca
mcintoshgallery@uwo.ca
(519) 661-3181

Facebook @mcintoshgallery
Instagram @mcintoshgallery

Accessibility:
We regret that McIntosh Gallery is not wheelchair accessible.