BC museums
Kelowna: Dragoons need muralist
It’s an extraordinary challenge but one the Okanagan Military Museum, the British Columbia Dragoons and the Whizbang Veterans Association believe someone in this community can meet. By the end of next month, members of the three organizations are hoping to have at least a handful of Okanagan artists interested in painting a mural on the [...]
Duncan: Chinatown heritage photos to grace downtown alleyway
Duncan’s Chinatown comes back to life in photos to decorate a Station Street alley by summer’s end. The joint project by the Duncan Business Improvement Association and the Cowichan Valley Museum will hang some two–dozen pictures of downtown’s Chinatown. It leveled in the late ‘60s to make way for the round building, the courthouse and [...]
Chemainus museum plans revealed at Canada Day events
The Chemainus Valley Historical Society plans to unveil a surprise to locals and tourists alike on Canada Day. Plans for a new museum are going to be announced. “What’s happening is that we’re outgrowing this museum and about a year ago we decided we were going to go for an expansion,” said Norma Greer, the [...]
Britannia Beach: Teck donates $1M to BC Museum of Mining
The B.C. Museum of Mining in Britannia Beach is built on what was once the largest copper mine in the British Commonwealth – but it struck gold this week. Teck Resources Limited, Canada’s largest mining company, has donated $1 million to the Museum for its three-phase redevelopment, the Britannia Project, which aims to transform the [...]
Victoria: Museum brings its insides out: Be a scientist for a day at the new Behind the Scenes exhibit
As workers and curators clamber around to transform the 10,000-square-foot space that makes up the Royal B.C. Museum’s latest exhibition, Kelly Sendall, the museum’s manager of natural history, crouches beside a frighteningly realistic mounted grizzly bear. “What a fine-looking specimen,” jokes head designer Ken Johnson as he hurries past to a nearby display. As its [...]
Grand Opening of Dinosaur Gallery in Tumbler Ridge
A crowd of over hundred and fifty dignitaries and residents cheered as the new Dinosaur Discovery Gallery was formally opened on Saturday May 15th. With Lisa Buckley as Master of Ceremonies, the Mayor of Tumbler Ridge, Larry White, delivered the first speech in which he reflected on the purpose of museums and the positive attributes [...]
Ross Beaty, Lukas Lundin give B.C. Museum of Mining $3.72 million
The BC Museum of Mining at Britannia Beach has received a total of $3.72 million from industry leaders Ross Beaty and Lukas Lundin. This includes personal donations from Beaty of $2 million and Lundin of $1 million and a corporate donation of $722,000 from Red Back Mining, where Lukas serves as chairman. The gift will support a [...]
Britannia Beach: B.C. Museum of Mining goes digital
Architects, designers and planners have been busy transforming the British Columbia Museum of Mining’s physical digs at Britannia Beach, and now the national historic site is jumping headfirst into the digital age. They’ve taken historical film footage from the ’20s and ’30s, which offers a unique glimpse back in time to life at Britannia Beach [...]
Terrace: New curator loves his work: Turning a passion for history into a career makes the best job
Heritage Park Museum’s new curator comes with a range of experience and plenty of new ideas. Andrew Minigan has already spent time planning for the museum even before this season’s opening and is looking at new exhibits, new ways of getting students and volunteers more involved and improvements to the site. “One passion is history [...]
Scientists, artists restore giant blue whale skeleton: UBC museum to display suspended 26-m specimen
Sculptors, technicians, students and scientists are working overtime in Victoria to repair and reassemble 500 broken bones that made up one of the largest creatures on earth — a blue whale. It’s been a yearlong project to restore the skeleton of the massive beast that washed up on Prince Edward Island in 1987. The skeleton, [...]
Royal B.C. Museum faces $491,000 deficit: Poor response to British exhibit adds to impact of government cuts and economic downturn
The Royal B.C. Museum will end one of its worst financial years this month, after slumping attendance, government cuts and lacklustre response to an expensive British exhibit pushed the organization into a rare deficit. CEO Pauline Rafferty said the museum, which has chronicled B.C.’s history for 124 years, must now work its way out of [...]
Prospective tenants wait in the wings for VAG space: Museum and UBC both want the historic site, but the city says it’s too early to talk about what will happen
The Vancouver Museum wants the space for its urban exhibits and the University of B.C. wants to fill it with students and lectures. They are just two of the prospective hopefuls for the heritage stone building housing the Vancouver Art Gallery when — and if — it vacates its current site. VAG officials said Wednesday [...]
Langley Township: Museum closure could harm tourism
Langley Township council is considering a two-day closure of the museum to shave $31,000 off the budget. In an attempt to reduce the 2010 budget, the Township of Langley is considering closing the Langley Centennial Museum (LCM) for Sundays and Mondays during the fall, winter and spring. The Langley Heritage Society has sent a letter [...]
Chilliwack: Finding new streams
Facing cuts to a key source of funding, the Chilliwack Museum is looking for new revenue streams to make up the difference. The museum received notice last year that its funding through the B.C. Arts Council would be slashed. The museum received $27,000 in 2009 from the council, but was told that number would be [...]
Victoria: Royal BC Museum hosts discussion forum on Coast Salish art
With only one month left to see S’abadeb – The Gifts: Pacific Coast Salish Art and Artists, the Royal BC Museum (RBCM) and members of the Coast Salish community present a public discussion on artistic traditions. On Feb. 11, Thursday Night at the Museum Café: New Perspectives on Coast Salish Art brings together forum panellists [...]
