Respect the space: children under 14 require supervision at Weyburn Art Gallery

A proactive reminder for patrons of the Weyburn Credit Union Spark Centre: children under the age of 14 must be accompanied by an adult when visiting the Weyburn Art Gallery.

City Curator Regan Lanning said the local students are well-versed in gallery rules.

"When I do tours with kids, the first thing I always do is go over those rules with them, but I'm not there all the time," she said. "As I tell kids and we do tours, it's not like this came from Walmart, where if it breaks, we can go replace it. Every piece in the gallery is one-of-a-kind, so if it breaks, it is gone forever, and we need to be respectful of that. No food or drink in the gallery, and no horseplay. We need to respect the space." 

"I do so much work with the schools, that I almost don't even think it's necessarily local children that don't know the rules, because a lot of them are in the gallery regularly with me, and I go over the rules every time they come."

"They know the rules. They tell me the rules. At this point, I say, 'hey, we're in the gallery. My name is Regan. What are the rules for being in the gallery?' and all the hands go up because they know the rules."

Lanning said that this gallery space is different from when the exhibitions were set up on the lower level of the Weyburn Public Library in the Allie Griffin Auditorium. 

"We're in a mixed-use space that is cultural and recreational, and there's just a lot of people in the Spark Centre in general that maybe aren't necessarily familiar. They're not avid art patrons. They're not usual gallery partakers. So we just want to remind them of what the rules are. There is signage on the door as well as the window."

She said she has witnessed kids playing tag and doing cartwheels in the gallery.

"That's just not what the gallery space is for. There are lots of recreational spaces at the Spark Centre for people to use. The art gallery is not a recreational space at all," she noted.

With very few instances like this, Lanning said the gallery is very well-respected. However, there are times where children who don't know the gallery norms will be visiting the Spark Centre.

"They don't know proper behaviours, and it's important for parents to be there to correct those behaviours."

Lanning added that the Weyburn Art Gallery is a space where the average show carries an insurance rider of $10,000, and if pieces are damaged, then insurance goes up and that affects the gallery's budget.

A great way to show your children how to respect the gallery space is to take them down to browse and vote in the James Weir Peoples' Choice Exhibition. There are only a few days left to get your votes in, as voting closes this Friday. Read more HERE.