A Brief History of Gallery 44:

Gallery 44 was founded in 1979 by a group of artists who joined together to form a darkroom and studio collective. This collective became the basis for Gallery 44's ongoing philosophy of making facilities affordable for artists and of creating a supportive artistic community with common goals. In 1980, the collective began mounting exhibitions and in 1981, offering photography workshops. Gallery 44 moved from its original location on Niagara Street to Bathurst Street in 1986, where it expanded the production and exhibition facilities to serve a growing demand. Because of a severe lack of photographic education in Elementary and Secondary schools, Gallery 44 began its Education in the Schools program in 1987.

In 1995, Gallery 44 moved to its present location at 401 Richmond St. W. to improve the Centre's exhibition and production facilities and to expand our audience reach by being more centrally located. This move was an important new direction for Gallery 44, as 401 Richmond houses a thriving community of artist-run centres, arts based organizations, and artists’ studios. The 401 community has fostered exchanges in resources and in audience/event participation which provides significant exposure to new audiences. The fact that our membership has increased more than 300% since our move to 401 Richmond is a clear indication of Gallery 44's increased visibility and vitality in the community. We currently have 156 members and 65 supporting patrons. Since Gallery 44 was founded, we have witnessed a growing demand for exhibition opportunities for photo-based art, as evidenced by the hundreds of submissions we receive each year. In addition, Gallery 44 serves an important role in providing artists with affordable darkroom facilities, the only non-commercial one of its kind in Toronto. We also continue to have an enormous demand for our education programs motivating us to expand this community service to an even greater degree.

Structure:

Gallery 44 is a non-profit artist-run centre and a registered
charity that has remained committed to the principals of artist-initiated, artist-controlled, and artist-run centres. Gallery 44 is operated by a core group of Full (voting) Members who sit on a series of committees (Exhibition, Education, Resource Centre, Fundraising, Facilities, etc.) which determine every aspect of our programming. The nine-member Board of Directors is elected from the voting membership at the Annual General Meeting. Each serves a three-year term with three members stepping down every year.