The Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery (MJMAG) has an annual reach of 32,000 visitors, with 10,000 people taking part in programming every year.
Jennifer McRorie, curator and director at the Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery, recently shared those statistics when talking about what the gallery has been up to.
McRorie added that they engage 4000 students annually at the MJMAG, with some examples of this engagement in 2024 including:
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Local artist Dave Pelletier giving students a tour, with them making works responding to his exhibition
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Lakota curator Claire Thompson providing school tours of the exhibition Wakšúpi featuring Lakota beaded works, with students making beaded designs
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Offering art classes to neurodiverse students in Prairie South and Holy Trinity School Divisions
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Offering Treaty 4 Walks to PSSD and HTCSD students to engage them in Indigenous history
She said that they offer programming for those ages 3 and up, with some programs offered including:
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Phone-in classes for seniors in partnership with Seniors’ Centre Without Walls
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In-person senior classes in partnership with Providence Place
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CREATEability classes in partnership with Moose Jaw Families for Change and Inclusion Saskatchewan, for those who are neurodiverse or have special needs
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Summer Art Camps in partnership with the Moose Jaw Multicultural Council, Yara Centre, and local daycares, with grants from the Moffat Family Fund and City of Moose Jaw Community Grant helping to subsidize costs
During this year’s Park Art on Canada Day, McRorie said they saw more than 4000 people. “In 2024, we featured 77 vendor booths of work and products of local and provincial artists and artisans, and we’re happy to report that we’re back up to the numbers we were at pre-pandemic.”
Hands-on activities and face-painting inside the building during Park Art saw 285 participants.
McRorie spoke about the items that the MJMAG saw come through their doors in 2023 alone. “We had 346 artifacts donated, and 133 artworks collected, being valued at over $805,000.”
She said that they loaned out five Indigenous artworks in 2024 to Regina, Calgary, and Vancouver.
“In 2023, we organized a national tour of the work of renowned Saskatchewan Indigenous artist Edward Poitras, which went to three locations, and in 2025, our exhibition Leesa Streifler: The Performance of Being, which is currently on display in the gallery, will tour nationally to four venues in Calgary, Swift Current, Winnipeg, and Brandon.”
For 2025, the MJMAG is requesting an increase of $6763 on their 2024 request from the City of Moose Jaw.
McRorie added that increasing operational costs are leading them to cut programming. “Normally, we would have enough funds to present 5 or 6 exhibitions in the Norma Lang Gallery, along with new exhibit updates in the museum.”
“In 2025, we barely have the funds to program three exhibitions, which makes it challenging to fill in an exhibit space of 4500 square feet.”
In the near future, the gallery is looking to contact an Indigenous curator in residence, with McRorie adding that they have the grants to support the initiative.
“As well, we’re pursuing a vault storage reorganization to have the capacity to continue collecting artworks and artifacts, because we’re at capacity.”
The Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery is open to the public Tuesday through Friday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., on Saturdays from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., and Sundays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.