Chantal Pontbriand leaving as CEO of Toronto’s MOCA

Chantal Pontbriand, for more than 40 years an arts powerhouse here and abroad, is leaving on June 30 as the first-ever chief executive officer of Toronto's Museum of Contemporary Art, it was officially announced on Friday.

Her departure, reached by the apparent "mutual agreement" of the museum's board and Pontbriand, is occurring less than eight months after she assumed the position, to much fanfare, on Nov. 9, 2015.

No interim CEO was named by the museum board's chair, Julia Ouellette, nor is it entirely clear if one will be appointed in the future. "These things are under the consideration of the board," Ouellette said Friday. "But what I can tell you is we've put in a transition committee led by me, [board member and communications consultant] Helen Giffen and three other board members."

Oullette also is heading a search committee to find a permanent placement for Pontbriand. No deadline was announced as to when the new CEO would be in place. Ouellette said the museum board is "working in a swift and strategic way to bring forward a new CEO." Asked if a preferred candidate had been identified, she said: "That's a good question, but it's too soon to say."

Responding Friday evening by e-mail to a Globe and Mail request for comment, Ms Pontbriand said that while she felt "distressed as you can imagine. For this city, for this country," she would not be issuing a press release nor making any comment "at this time."

Last year, the museum announced that it would be moving into new, rented quarters in a renovated century-old former factory, known as the Tower Automotive Building, in Toronto's west end. Previously, the museum, then called the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, had occupied a former textile factory in the hip West Queen West area, but it was forced to vacate its premises after a 10-year stay when the site faced condominium redevelopment.

Pontbriand, who is 65 this year, was tasked with readying the new facility for occupancy and establishing an exhibition and programming ethos suitable for what she called "the new museum of the 21st century."

A strong, determined personality who previously helped found a dance festival and art magazine, both in Montreal, Pontbriand attacked the file with customary gusto. Within five months, she was presenting to the public an ambitious, multifaceted, multimillion-dollar vision known as the 20/20 Plan. It included a name change, to the Museum of Contemporary Art_Toronto_Canada, an opening date (May 2, 2017) and a doubling of the museum's previous footprint, to 5,200 square metres spread over five floors, on a lease of 40 years.

The lease, with Tower's owner/developer, Castlepoint Numa, for the building's first five floors remains intact as does the intent to open the site in 2017. Also unaffected is a plan to have the museum occupy an additional and new space later in the decade across from the decommissioned automotive building.

Ouellette hesitated to say whether the gallery's official opening would occur next May. She also didn't say if Pontbriand would still be curating the museum's proposed opening show, as had been announced in late March. Called Odyssey 2040, it was to feature international art drawn from the holdings of major Canadian collectors plus new art produced in collaboration with the museum and selected international creators. "Those kinds of things will come under the consideration of the new CEO," Ouellette said.

Also seeming up in the air is Pontbriand's involvement with Demo-graphics, a planned multidisciplinary biennale-style event to be inaugurated in the Greater Toronto Area next spring. Pontbriand was instrumental in shaping the vision of Demo-graphics and was described as its curator and adviser.

In a statement released on Friday, Demo-graphics founder-executive director said: "The project is neither tied to Ms. Pontbriand's position at [the Museum of Contemporary Art] nor directly impacted by her decision to resign from it. The delivery of such projects, however, depends upon many other factors including the cash commitments from both public and private sectors. Ms. Pontbriand has been a valuable part of the team thus far and we will certainly look forward to her continued support for the project if future commitments and circumstances allow."

Meanwhile, Ouellette said the Museum of Contemporary Art was taking the loss of its high-profile CEO in stride. "We really feel it is business as usual and we are moving forward with this project, which has tremendous community support. So we feel very positive about it."