Tim Johnson is the artistic director of The Great Niagara Escarpment: Indigenous Cultural Map and an active member in his home community of Six Nations of the Grand River. An influential museum leader, he has developed exhibitions, prepared catalogues and led major projects that analyse and explain Indigenous heritage to Indigenous Peoples and the broader public.
The Great Niagara Escarpment: Indigenous Cultural Map is a multimedia online resource that brings together photography and video with contextual information that identifies important Indigenous historic, cultural, and natural world locations along more than 750 kilometres from Niagara Falls to the western region of Manitoulin Island.
Johnson recently helped lead the development of three public memorials of national significance that honour Indigenous and African Canadian contributions to the development of Canada. He also led the curation of a fourth public artwork, a contemporary art installation on the Carlisle Street side of the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre in the City of St. Catharines.
He previously served as associate director for museum programs at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian, where he managed the museum’s largest organisational group structured across two fully programmed facilities in Washington and New York.
Johnson has worked on heritage projects of lasting significance in the community centred around history and culture, the visual and performing arts, education, and environmental sustainability. He also collaborates with the boards of organisations like the Niagara Parks Commission, The Shaw Theatre Festival, The Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum, and the BIPOC Fellowship Foundation.
One nominator said: “At this critical moment in the history of Canada’s relationship with Indigenous people and people of colour, it is so important to recognize the lifetime contributions of Tim Johnson, a museum and cultural professional who has marked the path to understanding and appreciation of the leadership role of indigenous people in art, history, science, community building, and civilization.”