If you want to get a sense of how things can radically shift within the body of an organization, you need only look at how folks react to Jillian Christmas, the VAG’s first poet-in-residence.

During the afternoon I spent with her in the gallery, the sheer number of people who stopped for a quick chat was both funny and incredibly sweet. These interactions were ordinary exchanges about unlocking doors, accessing different rooms, normal chit-chat. But it was the tone that was most striking: the immediate joy and ease that Christmas creates, even in the smallest interactions, was palpable.

In an announcement on Jan. 4, Vancouver Art Gallery CEO and executive director Anthony Kiendl summed up the poet-in-residence’s role this way: “Art through the lens of poetry will inspire vibrant conversations and engagement, adding a new layer of depth and understanding to our exhibits and enhancing our shared understanding of what an art gallery can be.”

That all sounds perfectly pleasant in theory, but in practice, the work is relational, reciprocal and grounded in Christmas’s efforts at making positive change in the culture of a civic institution. From security guards to curators, Christmas talks to everyone in her efforts to create a place where every person affiliated with the gallery feels not only welcome but an integral part of the organization.

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