Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #37, Joshua Basseches
Joshua Basseches
Director, ROM
37It’s Basseches’ job to re-establish the ROM as a leading cultural hub in Toronto. After accepting the top job at the end of 2015, he revived the Welcome Project, a radical makeover for the ROM, with a ground-floor café, repurposed lobby and re-opened east entrance. Basseches has suggested that he’ll de-emphasize traditional exhibitions and instead foster experiences that guests can curate themselves. The renovations will be pricy, but Basseches helped raise more than $600 million during a capital campaign at the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts, so he knows how to whip up support.
Up next:
He’s creating an outdoor performance space, commissioning public art installations and debuting two exhibits—Iris van Herpen: Transforming Fashion and Philip Beesley: Intimate Veils.
