Join Stephan Jost, the AGO’s Michael and Sonja Koerner Director, and CEO and Gaëtane Verna, the Director of The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery for a conversation on the role of museums in this moment.

Gaëtane Verna has been the Director of The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery since 2012. Previously, she was Executive Director and Chief Curator of the Musée d’art de Joliette (2006–12). From 1998 to 2006, she was the curator of the Foreman Art Gallery at Bishop’s University, Sherbrooke, while also teaching in the Art History department of both Bishop’s University and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Gaëtane Verna holds an International Diploma in Heritage Administration and Conservation from the Institut National du Patrimoine in Paris, France, and received a DEA and a Master’s degree in Art History from the Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne. Verna has years of experience in arts administration, curating, publishing catalogues and organizing and presenting exhibitions by emerging, mid-career and established Canadian and international artists, including: Terry Adkins, John Akomfrah, Vasco Araújo, Fiona Banner, Ydessa Hendeles, Alfredo Jaar, Luis Jacob, Kimsooja, Yam Lau, Oswaldo Maciá, Javier Tellez, Denyse Thomasos, Bill Viola, YOUNG HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES and Franz Erhard Walther, to name just a few. She is the President of the Board of Directors of the Toronto Arts Council. In 2017 she was appointed Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters) by the Cultural Service of the Embassy of France in Canada to spotlight and recognize her significant contribution to furthering the arts in France and throughout the world.

Stephan Jost became the director of the Art Gallery of Ontario in 2016. Following his appointment, Stephan demonstrated immediate leadership by thoughtfully exploring the AGO’s visitorship, collection and key strengths in order to strategically focus on three mission-aligned areas: art, access and learning. He has overseen the revitalization of several key areas in the Gallery, helped clarify new audience target segments; and launched Look:Forward, a major reinstallation of the AGO’s remarkable Collection.