ROM at a Crossroads as Josh Basseches Steps Away After a Decade
As Josh Basseches prepares to leave his role as director and CEO of the Royal Ontario Museum at the end of December, the conversation around the ROM feels like it’s standing at a crossroads. Fittingly, Basseches’s final media interview circles back to one of the museum’s most reliable crowd-pleasers: dinosaurs. After a brief closure in November, the dinosaur gallery has been reopened just in time for the holidays, now brighter, larger, and filled with more specimens. It’s a visible reminder of how much effort has gone into making the ROM feel more open and welcoming to the public.
That transformation is part of the broader OpenROM project, a $130-million renovation focused on the Bloor Street entrance. When complete, the ground floor will be entirely reimagined, with performance spaces, a café, and free public access to the First Nations, China, and Korea galleries. Access and affordability have been emphasized as core goals, with the idea that visitors should feel comfortable saying, “This is my place.”
Also Read:- Remembering Ed Wallace, the Voice Who Drove Car Reviews Into North Texas Homes
- A Patriotic Times Square Ball Drop to Launch America’s 250th Birthday Celebrations
Basseches’s decade at the ROM has largely been defined by repair and recovery. He inherited the aftermath of the controversial $240-million Crystal expansion from 2007 and spent years correcting its most obvious flaws. Then came the pandemic, which hit museums especially hard. Although the ROM has stabilized some of its finances, serious questions remain. The museum still carries debt from the Crystal project and faces a large accumulated operating deficit, even after posting a modest surplus in the most recent fiscal year.
COVID-19 changed visitor habits in ways that haven’t fully reversed. Attendance across North America remains below pre-pandemic levels, and the ROM is no exception, even though it remains Canada’s most visited museum with about 1.1 million visitors in 2024–25. Nearly half of its $86-million budget comes from the Ontario government, but the rest must be generated through ticket sales, donations, and exhibitions. Fully free admission, by the museum’s own estimate, would require tens of millions of dollars each year.
In response to these pressures, more commercial touring exhibitions have been relied upon, sometimes at the expense of deeper, more challenging programming. At the same time, the ROM continues to wrestle with issues of representation, colonial history, and inclusion. Gallery closures, updates, and future plans reflect how sensitive and complex this work has become, especially when interpreting Canadian history and Indigenous perspectives.
As Basseches exits, interim co-directors will keep the institution running while a new leader is sought. The ROM’s marketing speaks confidently about immortality and endurance. Whether that promise can truly be fulfilled will depend on what direction the next director chooses, and how boldly the museum can balance financial survival with cultural responsibility in the years ahead.
Read More:
0 Comments