Myseum is a relatively new museum, created to fill a gap in the city’s cultural offerings.

Torontonians have long discussed the need for a city museum that would tell the story of Toronto, and several previous attempts to build one were unsuccessful. In 2014, local philanthropist Diane Blake decided to take on this challenge as a way of giving back to the city. She convened a workshop in June 2014 that brought together a cross-section of people involved in local heritage and culture to envision a museum that would illuminate Toronto’s history, honour its diversity, and help shape the city’s future by stimulating discussion on urban issues. Myseum of Toronto was incorporated later that year by Blake and her husband, Stephen J. R. Smith. Instead of a brick-and-mortar location with galleries and artefacts, Myseum started out as a museum-without-walls, engaging Torontonians online and at pop-up events, exhibits, talks, workshops, and tours throughout the Greater Toronto Area, with an emphasis on the “My” in Myseum.

Myseum appointed Karen Carter as its founding Executive Director. Carter, former Executive Director of Heritage Toronto, is a transformational leader with a passionate, entrepreneurial spirit. She worked with community groups, cultural organizations and artists from the Toronto area and beyond to develop a vision for Myseum as a museological experience like no other. Myseum officially launched to the public in May 2015. Over the next three years, Carter and the founding Board embarked on the extraordinary work of building strong relationships with communities and residents across the city, inviting them to participate in shaping the conversation around stories that have and haven’t been told, and taking an active part in piecing together our collective record.

In 2018, Myseum shifted into the next stage of development, with the intention to scale its operations and build its profile as an organization that actively contributes to a strong and diverse city. As Myseum began preliminary planning for a physical space of its own, Jeremy Diamond was appointed as CEO. A public historian for more than 20 years, Diamond held senior leadership roles at several Canadian history organizations including the Vimy Foundation, where he led multi-million-dollar initiatives such as building the Vimy Visitor Education Centre.

In Fall 2021, Heidi Reitmaier joined Myseum as its third Executive Director after leadership roles at the Art Gallery of Ontario and Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto. With Reitmaier’s arrival, this comprehensive plan, and our new temporary public space on the ground floor of the 401 Richmond cultural building, Myseum is positioned to further expand its capacity and secure a site for a permanent space.

Myseum has built a base of over 27,000 social media followers, with an email subscriber list of 8,500. We receive 15,000 monthly page views and have welcomed more than 11,000 attendees to our live programming. To date, Myseum has partnered with over 480 individuals and organizations to create meaningful programming. Myseum received the Peggy Kurtin Memorial Award for Excellence in Heritage in 2017 and two Ontario Museum Association Awards of Excellence, the first in 2016 (a Community Engagement Award for staff member Britt Welter-Nolan for the Intersections festival) and the second in 2020 (a Special Projects Honourable Mention for Wigwam Chi-Chemung). In 2022, Myseum was awarded the Heritage Toronto Award for Public History for Derailed: The History of Black Porters of Canada. In 2023, we opened our most succesful exhibition about children’s tv in Toronto and are set to be a major site for Nuit Blanche and featured at the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair.

Myseum is a not-for-profit corporation under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act, and a charity under the Income Tax Act (Canada).