A mention in the New York Times travel section will hopefully bring more out-of-province visitors to Saskatoon’s future Remai Modern Art Gallery, according to its executive director and CEO.
On Wednesday, the newspaper published an article online that mentioned the museum as an art destination to visit in 2017. The same article also mentioned the upcoming Louvre Abu Dhabi and Musée Yves Saint Laurent in Paris as other destinations of note opening this year.
“It gives us huge credibility,” Gregory Burke, Remai Modern executive director and CEO, said Thursday.
“Now we can go out to all sorts of other media and say, well we’re covered in the New York Times.”
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The gallery’s mention in the publication is two years in the making, according to Tourism Saskatoon media director Aviva Kohen. She said her team has been touting the gallery to travel media outlets “and then keeping in touch with them, so that they know about when we’re getting close to opening.”
“I think there’s just all sorts of things that are going to come out of this.”
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Kohen said increased traffic to the museum will also benefit businesses in and around the area, in neighbourhoods like Riversdale and Broadway.
However, it’s not known when that spin-off will exactly happen. The roughly $85-million museum was supposed to be complete in 2016; however work continues. Burke said an exact opening date has not yet been chosen, but insisted that the museum will welcome visitors this year.
“We’ve made a promise that we’ll open in 2017 and broadcast it around the world,” Burke said.
“I certainly intend to keep that promise.”
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