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WAG-Qaumajuq features an impressive collection of over 27,000 artworks spanning centuries, cultures, and media, including the largest public collection of contemporary Inuit art in the world. Each piece has its own story to tell. Sharing these stories with the world is at the core of WAG-Qaumajuq. This is an engaging, accessible space where visitors can experience art and learning in new ways.

WAG-QAUMAJUQ STRATEGIC PLAN 2023-2028 

OUR PURPOSE: We use ART for change 

WHO are we? 

  • We are disruptors 
  • We are collaborators
  • We are creators

WHY are we here? 

  • To forge new paths 
  • To make a difference
  • To be of service

WHAT are we doing? 

  • Interrogating the museum 
  • Relinquishing control
  • Integrating equity

HOW are we doing it? 

  • EQUITY 
  • CARE
  • TRUST
  • RESPONSIBILITY

OUR COMMITMENTS

EQUITY

Centre EQUITY in everything we do beginning with:

  • Policies and Procedures
  • Recruitment and Retention
  • Training and Development
  • Collections and Exhibitions
  • Studio Programs

CARE

Take CARE of art and people who encounter it especially:

  • Staff, Volunteers, Visitors, Artists
  • Indigenous Nations
  • Racialized communities
  • Land, water, and air
  • Collections and Infrastructure

TRUST

Earn the TRUST of the community through:

  • Relationships
  • Safety
  • Transparency
  • Knowledge and Information

RESPONSIBILITY

Take RESPONSIBILITY with our work and resources by:

  • Accountability
  • Calls to Action and Justice
  • Advocacy
  • Agile
  • Financial Resources

Our History

1912

WAG opens to the public in the Industrial Bureau Exposition Building at the corner of Main and Water St.

1933

WAG moves to Winnipeg’s newly constructed Civic Auditorium on Memorial Blvd.

1948

Women’s Auxiliary forms, later becoming the Associates of the WAG.

1953

Dr. Ferdinand Eckhardt is recruited from Vienna, Austria to become Director and goes on to oversee the creation of a new building for the WAG.

1956

The Gallery purchases its first Inuit artwork with funds raised by the Associates of the WAG.

1967

Gustavo da Roza wins international juried competition for new WAG building with modernist design.

1970

The purchase of a collection of 4,000 pieces of Inuit art for the Winnipeg Art Gallery is approved by the provincial government, collected over several decades by Jerry F. Twomey.

1971

The new WAG building is officially opened by H.R.H Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon.

1972

WAG organizes the Treaty Numbers 23, 287, 1171 exhibition. This is the first time a public art gallery in Canada displays contemporary First Nations art.

2008

WAG announces the appointment of Dr. Stephen Borys as the Gallery’s new Director and prepares the Gallery for its centennial year in 2012.

2012

Award-winning American architect Michael Maltzan wins international juried competition to design the WAG Inuit Art Centre.

2013

WAG culminates its centennial year with 100 Masters: Only in Canada, the most successful exhibition in the Gallery’s history. 100 Masters features 100 works of art from 30 North American museums, alongside pieces from the WAG collection.

2017

The Gallery establishes an Indigenous Advisory Circle with representatives from the four regions of Inuit Nunangat, plus urban Inuit, circumpolar Inuit, First Nations, and Métis communities.

2021

The opening of Qaumajuq, the new Inuit art centre, connecting to the current building on all floors to showcase the world’s largest public collection of contemporary Inuit art.

Plan Your Visit
WAG-Qaumajuq recognizes that land acknowledgements are part of an ongoing dialogue with Indigenous Nations, and we are grateful to live and work on these lands and waters. Institutionally, WAG-Qaumajuq is committed to acknowledging our colonial history and we are actively working to interrogate the Gallery’s colonial ways of being.

WAG-Qaumajuq is LEED certified.

WAG - Winnipeg Art Gallery Outline
Winnipeg Art Gallery—Qaumajuq
300 Memorial Blvd
Winnipeg, MB
204.786.6641 // Gallery
204.789.1769 // Shop
Email Us
Wed-Sun // 11am–5pm
Closed Mondays & Tuesdays