How do people learn – and unlearn – in museums? In this tour, MOA Curator of Indigenous Programming Damara Jacobs-Petersen and MOA Education Coordinator Amina Chergui will illustrate the educational power of artworks and belongings held in museums.

This event will begin with an introduction in the Community Lounge, followed by a tour of selected works in MOA’s Multiversity Galleries. Visitors will engage hands-on with the teaching collection belongings in MOA’s Learning Lab and participate in a reflective art-making activity.

Tours are 90 minutes long.

Due to the behind-the-scenes nature of these tours, registration/tickets are required in advance (ticket links below). Tickets will not be available at the door. Latecomers cannot be accommodated.

SOLD OUT: Thursday, October 12 at 11 am
SOLD OUT: Thursday, October 12 at 7 pm
SOLD OUT: Friday, October 13 at 4:30 pm

Please note: MOA does not offer refunds or run wait lists for events. If you are still looking for a ticket or are unable to attend the event please visit our Facebook event page to see if someone is offering their tickets, or would like to purchase your ticket directly from you.

MOA Unmasked: Behind-the-Scenes Tours are offered three times a month: select Thursdays at 11 am + 7 pm and  select Fridays at 4:30 pm. See the full monthly tour schedule.

How can museum objects and belongings be brought to life? In this tour, MOA Curator Karen Duffek and MOA Library + Archives Assistant Emily Teh will lead you on a closer look at Indigenous beadwork and robes in the collection to explore how object lives and stories extend beyond the walls of the museum.

Join us behind the scenes to see rarely exhibited Plains beadwork regalia and hear from Emily (Lakȟóta, Métis) about the living history of these belongings and the resiliency they represent. Learn about MOA’s commitment to supporting access and return as Karen focuses on Northwest Coast First Nations sewn and woven regalia—robes of power that continue to be activated by the families and artists connected to them.

Tours are 90 minutes long.

Due to the behind-the-scenes nature of these tours, registration/tickets are required in advance (ticket links below). Tickets will not be available at the door. Latecomers cannot be accommodated.
SOLD OUT: Thursday, September 14 at 11 am
SOLD OUT: Thursday, September 14 at 7 pm
SOLD OUT: Friday, September 15 at 4:30 pm

Please note: All September tour dates are now SOLD OUT. We do not offer refunds or run wait lists. You can check our Facebook event page to see if someone is unable to attend and looking to sell their tickets.

For all ticket inquiries or issues please contact MOA’s ticketing service, Chan Centre Ticket Office, directly at 604.822.2697 or tickets@tickets.ubc.ca.

MOA Unmasked: Behind-the-Scenes Tours are offered three times a month: select Thursdays at 11 am + 7 pm and  select Fridays at 4:30 pm. See the full monthly tour schedule.

How are exhibitions created? In this tour MOA Designer Skooker Broome and Director Susan Rowley will look at the translation of ideas into what you see when you visit an exhibition at MOA, focusing on the design and curatorial processes.

They will take you behind the scenes to see how MOA is creating its upcoming exhibitions, including the maquette for Mobilized: New Cultural Expressions (opening Spring 2024) and our mock-up space for the new Pacific Northwest Galleries. Participants will have a chance to visit the exhibition, In a Different Light: Reflecting on Northwest Coast Art and see how specific design elements were implemented to create an affective space for the exhibition’s storyline.

Tours are 90 minutes long.

Due to the behind-the-scenes nature of these tours, registration/tickets are required in advance (ticket links below). Tickets will not be available at the door. Latecomers cannot be accommodated.

SOLD OUT: Thursday, August 10, 7 pm

SOLD OUT: Saturday, August 12, 11 am

MOA Unmasked: Behind-the-Scenes Tours are offered twice a month: select Thursday at 7 pm and  select Saturday at 11 am. See the full monthly tour schedule.

To accommodate MOA’s temporary closure for seismic upgrades, this year’s NYP program will held throughout the city and beyond, creating new opportunities for the youth participants to make connections and learn in different environments with MOA community partners, such as the Museum of Vancouver.

This year’s cohort of Native Youth Program will be offering daily guided tours at the Museum of Vancouver, of their exhibition That Which Sustains Us, from July 18 to 21. The exhibition explores the convergence of different knowledge traditions in the Vancouver area through an examination of people’s interactions with forests and their natural environment.

The Native Youth Program (NYP) is a summer program for urban Indigenous youth, ages 15 to 18, currently enrolled in secondary school. Each year, this summer job opportunity is a full training and work experience that offers up to eight Indigenous high school students a chance to explore their identity through art and culture and to learn about MOA, UBC, and its programs.

Location

Museum of Vancouver
1100 Chestnut Street, Vanier Park, Vancouver
Directions

Schedule

Tuesday, July 18: 11 am + 2 pm
Wednesday, July 19: 11 am + 2 pm
Thursday, July 20: 11 am + 2 pm
Friday, July 21: 11 am + 2 pm

Visit the Museum of Vancouver website for information on hours and admission.

Due to the enthusiastic response from this sold-out tour, which was originally held in March, we will once again be offering it in July.

With our ongoing seismic upgrade construction, the July tours will focus on the importance of earthquake mitigation and preserving cultural heritage. These tours will offer a unique opportunity to learn why seismic upgrades are underway at MOA, and the roles of art and memory in the aftermath of disasters, the theme of MOA’s 2021 exhibition, A Future for Memory: Art and Life after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

There will be presentations by MOA Curator Fuyubi Nakamura and MOA Conservator Mauray Toutloff followed by a demonstration in the conservation lab and tours through the galleries and storage areas showcasing emergency planning.

Tours are 90 minutes long.

Due to the behind-the-scenes nature of these tours, registration/tickets are required in advance (ticket links below). Tickets will not be available at the door. Latecomers cannot be accommodated.

SOLD OUT: Thursday, July 13, 7 pm

SOLD OUT: Saturday, July 15, 11 am

MOA Unmasked: Behind-the-Scenes Tours are offered twice a month: select Thursday at 7 pm and  select Saturday at 11 am. See the full monthly tour schedule.

Venture behind-the-scenes at the Museum in this special tour that will focus on selected stories that MOA is privileged to share about its Collections Access Program.

The Calls to Action issued by Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission have challenged museums to address the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) directive that Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage. Learn how the First Nations regalia housed at MOA continues to express family-owned rights, how community members are choosing to activate their ancestral belongings at the site of the museum and outside its walls, and how museum practices are changing as a result.

Tours are 90 minutes long.

Due to the behind-the-scenes nature of these tours, capacity is very limited and registration/tickets are required in advance. Tickets will not be available at the door. Latecomers cannot be accommodated.

SOLD OUT: Thursday, June 8, 7 pm

SOLD OUT: Saturday, June 10, 11 am

MOA Unmasked Tours are offered twice a month: Thursday tours at 7 pm and Saturday tours at 11 am. See the rest of the tour schedule.

In this tour, learn how collaborations with Indigenous communities of British Columbia are central to MOA’s ways of working. The curators will discuss MOA’s ongoing relations and engagement with First Nations communities, artists and rights-holders to develop co-curated exhibitions, school teaching kits, knowledge exchanges, and to bring belongings home for ceremony.

They will explore past collaborations such as the MOA exhibition Shake Up: Preserving What Is Value that lead to a Kwakwaka’wakw Ninini (Earthquake) mask being danced for the first time in 60 years at a potlatch in Alert Bay. Other collaborations include the award-winning school teaching kits “xʷməθkʷəy̓əm: qʷi:l̕qʷəl̕ ʔə kʷθə snəw̓eyəɬ ct Musqueam: giving information about our teachings,” and “My Ancestors Are Still Dancing” with Tsimshian weaver William White.

Tours are 90 minutes long.

Due to the behind-the-scenes nature of these tours, capacity is very limited and registration/tickets are required in advance. Tickets will not be available at the door. Latecomers cannot be accommodated.

SOLD OUT: Thursday, May 11, 7 pm

SOLD OUT: Saturday, May 13, 11 am

MOA Unmasked Tours are offered twice a month: Thursday tours at 7 pm and Saturday tours at 11 am. See the rest of the tour schedule.

Museum collections are embedded in colonial histories. A concrete example of this is the ongoing demand for repatriation to the Kingdom of Benin (Nigeria) of religious, artistic and mundane artefacts looted by British mercenaries in 1897, and sold to museums all over the world. In this behind the scene tour we will focus on MOA’s actions and scientific investigations regarding the collection from Benin, and explore the recognition of history wrongs as a tool for decolonizing the collections and move towards building an ethics of truth telling and reconciliation in museum practice.

Tours are 90 minutes long.

Due to the behind-the-scenes nature of these tours, capacity is very limited and registration/tickets are required in advance. Tickets will not be available at the door. Latecomers cannot be accommodated.

Thursday, April 13 – SOLD OUT

Saturday, April 15 – SOLD OUT

MOA Unmasked Tours are offered twice a month: Thursday tours at 7 pm and Saturday tours at 11 am. See the rest of the tour schedule.

March 11 marks the 12th anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake, the theme of MOA’s 2021 exhibition, A Future for Memory, and with the ongoing seismic construction at MOA, these tours will focus on the importance of earthquake mitigation and preserving cultural heritage. The tours will offer a unique opportunity to learn why seismic upgrades are underway at MOA, and the role of art in the aftermath of disasters.

There will be presentations by MOA Curator Fuyubi Nakamura and MOA Conservator Mauray Toutloff followed by a demonstration in the conservation lab and tours through the galleries.

Tours are 90 minutes long.

Due to the behind-the-scenes nature of these tours, registration/tickets are required in advance (ticket links below). Tickets will not be available at the door. Latecomers cannot be accommodated.

Thursday, March 9, 7 pm

Saturday, March 11, 11 am

MOA Unmasked: Behind-the-Scenes Tours are offered twice a month: select Thursday at 7 pm and  select Saturday at 11 am. See the full monthly tour schedule.

Participants will receive comic book pages that they can mend with tissue paper and non-toxic methyl cellulose paste, or practice dry cleaning like MOA Conservators. We will also look at ideas for the preservation of your comic book collection at home. Afterwards enjoy a self-guided tour of works within the Multiversity Galleries that relate to the day’s conservation theme.

Mark your calendars for the last Sunday of each month for MOA’s family program series—Culture Club at MOA— which focuses on active, participatory learning about diverse cultural perspectives and ways of knowing. This monthly family program features an experiential learning opportunity with storytelling, arts-based activities, and self-guided tours specially designed for young visitors.

Limited supplies; first come, first served.

Bio

Mauray Katherine Toutloff is an objects conservator at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC. She has a M.A.C. from Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada and a B.Sc. from the University of Regina in Saskatchewan. She has studied art at the First Nations University of Canada also in Saskatchewan. Mauray is focused on collaborative research for preventative and treatment-oriented conservation strategies. She lectures on conservation for the Department of Anthropology and teaches the laboratory component of the department’s conservation courses. Mauray is also a long-time comic book collector and has a passion for their colourful visual storytelling. She has been running the Kids Conservation Lab program at MOA since 2015, and enjoys providing hands on learning activities for families.

Culture Club is made possible by the generous support of UBC Campus + Community Planning.