The place was Emily Carr's largest seating capacity the- atre—they were expecting a crowd. And so they should be, the speaker was none other than the increasingly famous Alf Bogusky. The title of his speech according to the press release was: “Up Against the Wall: The Public Hanging of Gallery Directors in Canada." 5 a Ss ar a + mS oo tyes ; j : * by Sharon Kahanoff Well, it was about time! Finally we were going to hear the ‘real’ story regarding the Bryan Adams controversy that was followed by Alf Bogusky's ‘totally unrelated decision’ to resign as gallery director of the Vancouver Art Gallery. | arrived half an hour early at 7:00 p.m., and the room was almost packed. By 7:30 even the aisles were occupied, and the sense of expectation was palpable. The introductions and thank-yous were made and then he began. "It has been suggested to me late in the day by my lawyer that | make a strong declaration. And | hope that it doesn’t mean that everyone gets up and leaves, because | will not be talking about anything to do with the VAG or my leaving of the VAG, and that's for sure." Wait a minute, what?! The declaration registered. | wasn't going to hear what | came to hear. All week | had been waiting to get the scoop. | looked around for an out, but | just felt | couldn't leave (everyone would see me, not to mention the fact that | had brought way too much stuff in with me to escape quietly). | whispered something nasty to the friend sitting beside me who had asked me to come that night. Then | stopped fixating, made peace with the fact that | was staying and started listening. | rejoined the speech as Bogusky was saying: “Everything is not well. The number of directors and curators who have left the field or the country in order to continue their work is escalating. And the number of high-profile board and staff conflicts that have surfaced lately is alarming." He spoke, or rather he read off a laptop for over an hour. It was a careful speech that had been edited and partly written by his lawyer. The dec- laration mentioned above was not the only legalese the audience was treated to. We were also read a paragraph long disclaimer: "My words today represent personal opinions and are the result of my own experience and my extrapolations from the experiences of other gallery professionals. | have made every effort to avoid the hearsay. In most instances, my col- leagues have asked that | not quote them in the anecdotes they have provided and likewise | can- The place was Emily Carr's largest seating capacity the- atre—they were expecting a crowd. And so they should be, the speaker was none other than the increasingly famous Alf Bogusky. The title of his speech according to the press release wa by Sharon Kahanoff “Up Against the Wall: The Public Hanging of Gallery Directors in Canada." Well, it was about time! Finally we were going to hear the ‘real’ story regarding the Bryan Adams controversy that was followed by Alf Bogusky’s "totally unrelated decision’ to resign as gallery director of the Vancouver Art Gallery. | arrived half an hour early at 7:00 p.m., and the room was almost packed. By 7:30 even the aisles were occupied, and the sense of expectation was palpable. The introductions and thank-yous were made and then he began. It has been suggested to me late in the day by my lawyer that | make a strong declaration. And hope that it doesn’t mean that everyone gets up and leaves, because | will not be talking about anything to do with the VAG or my leaving of the VAG, and that's for sure." Wait a minute, what?! The declaration registered. 1 wasn't going to hear what | came to hear. All week | had been waiting to get the scoop. | looked around for an out, but | just felt 1 couldn't leave (everyone would see me, not to mention the fact that | had brought way too much stuff in with me to escape quietly). 1 whispered something nasty to the friend sitting beside me who had asked me to come that night. Then | stopped fixating, made peace with the fact that | was staying and started listening. 1 rejoined the speech as Bogusky was saying: “Everything is not well. The number of directors and curators who have left the field or the country in order to continue their work is escalating. And the number of high-profile board and staff conflicts that have surfaced lately is alarming.” He spoke, or rather he read off a laptop for over an hour. It was a careful speech that had been edited and partly written by his lawyer. The dec- laration mentioned above was not the only legalese the audience was treated to. We were also read a paragraph long disclaimer: "My words today represent personal opinions and are the result of my own experience and my extrapolations from the experiences of other Ballery professionals. | have made every effort to avoid the hearsay. In most instances, my col- leagues have asked that | not quote them in the anecdotes they have provided and likewise | can-