MacKenzie Art Gallery and Sask. Science Centre not ready to reopen yet

Art and science enthusiasts in Regina will have to wait a bit longer to return to a popular art gallery and a science facility in the city.

The MacKenzie Art Gallery has announced it will be reopening shortly after the August long weekend. It closed in mid-March due to the threat of COVID-19.

However, the Saskatchewan Science Centre said it does not have a reopening date to announce at this time.

As part of Phase 4.2 of the Re-Open Saskatchewan plan, museums and galleries could begin the process of reopening as of Monday, along with movie theatres, live theatres and libraries.

MacKenzie Hamon, the communications co-ordinator for the MacKenzie Art Gallery, said the delayed reopening will allow the gallery to make some changes to its facility and protocol to allow for social distancing.

“We want to make sure we’re following the number of people we’re allowed in the doors at a time,” Hamon said, referring to public health guidelines that are in place.

“We’re looking at a few different options in terms of purchasing tickets in advance and time ticketing, and we’re revamping our exhibition spaces on the second floor of the gallery just to ensure that we can provide social distancing between the artworks that are on display and between the galleries.”

Hamon said the measures will prevent crowding as people visit the second floor of the gallery.

“Even just taking tickets from the public and interacting with them, all of that will have to change as well,” she said.

Additional cleaning and sanitizing measures will also be introduced for the benefit of the gallery’s visitors as well as its artwork.

“We want to make sure we’ve got everything in place that we have to do in terms of safety measures and cleaning procedures,” Hamon said.

The gallery is also working with an adjusted exhibition schedule due to COVID-19. Hamon said the MacKenzie often works with other galleries across the country to bring exhibitions to Regina.

“A lot of those schedules have been changed because of COVID across the country, so we had to look at what exhibitions we could host when we reopened and when we would be able to have them,” Hamon said.

Hamon said the gallery’s reopening is something for which staff members are excited.

“I think everyone is looking forward to it and getting back to what we do, which is introducing the public and the city to visual art and our community programs, which have been continuing to run online since we’ve been closed,” Hamon said.

“It’ll be different but I think everyone’s looking forward to doing what we do best.”