This session is part of Learn Downtown, a City of Learners speaker series offering bite-size learning opportunities downtown. Complimentary lunch will be provided in support by The Downtown Vibrancy Strategy. It will take place in the Civic Employees room on the main floor of Stanley Milner Library.

In anticipation of the Art Gallery of Alberta's centennial celebrations in 2024, this talk will look at the significant contributions of women to the AGA's history. Over a 20-year period, the gallery's founding president and director Maud Bowman worked tirelessly to negotiate space for the city's first art museum, secure important loans and acquisitions, and launch a renowned education program. Following Bowman's departure, the Women's Society formed in 1944 and substantially grew the AGA's fundraising activities. In 1962, a fortuitous bequest from Mrs. A.E. Condell enabled the AGA to build its first dedicated space on Churchill Square, closing a decades-long chapter of occupancy in temporary and inadequate buildings. Other singular figures have made important contributions to the AGA's Board of Directors, including Bobby Dyde, and to the permanent collection, such as a bequest of artworks by American socialite Edith Cummings Munson, a premier amateur golfer and literary model for the character of Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby. Female influence and labour have been a driving force in the AGA's operations and activities for 100 years, a legacy that continues to this day.