Toronto has a new city museum, or should we say “Myseum”

The path to a genuine, city-focused museum for Toronto has been a difficult one, littered with hopeful editorials and wild schemes. The big problem is that nobody can afford to build the thing, but today a group of would-be museum administrators announced their proposed solution: just go ahead and start the museum with no building at all. Myseum of Toronto launched itself with a press conference this morning. Its organizers are billing it as a sort of mobile museum that will exist online and, starting in June, at pop-up events around the city. In late June, for example, the organizers say the Myseum will roam the city, collecting stories and artifacts from Torontonians.

The non-profit’s board includes former mayor David Crombie, a well-known heritage buff. The executive director is Karen Carter, the former head of Heritage Toronto, and the project’s lead sponsor is Diane Blake, who—with her husband, the financier Stephen Smith—has quietly been pumping money and energy into the effort to bring about an actual, physical city museum for Toronto.