Themuseum

[Spokes]

Do other similar museums need this kind of support or is this poorly run?

[panamaniac]

If I'm not mistaken, themuseum receives a lower level of public funding than many comparable institutions.

[ac3r]

Correct, they don't receive a whole lot. Though, there aren't many other cultural institutions here that do. Unless things have changed, both KWAG and Idea Exchange both receive various forms of funding. Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery receives none at all and they mostly keep themselves afloat, though just barely. Smaller, local galleries/spaces receive very very little if anything.

[Coke6pk]

I just recently learned that despite it's name, it is not (under Provincial funding rules) an actual museum. The public funding comes from the Region, and the cities of Waterloo, Kitchener and Cambridge. The CoK owns all property and provides maintenance and costs associated with the building in addition to the agreed upon funding.

Coke

[tomh009]

I just recently learned that despite it's name, it is not (under Provincial funding rules) an actual museum.  The public funding comes from the Region, and the cities of Waterloo, Kitchener and Cambridge.  The CoK owns all property and provides maintenance and costs associated with the building in addition to the agreed upon funding.

So, what is the difference between themuseum and an "actual museum"?

[Brenden]

The City of Kitchener hired a consultant to look at TheMusuem finances and expansion plan in early 2020. From The Record article.

• TheMuseum's only plan for its long-term sustainability was to ask municipalities for an extra $400,000 a year in operating funds.
  
• Its claim that it is underfunded by municipal funders "is not supported by research" of comparative organizations.
  

TheMuseum raises the point that the size of their space at 30k sq ft is just not larger enough to be self-sufficient, and they are planning to add 50k sq ft. That is likely the case, the space was started with the best of intentions, but without a solid business plan, and they have been playing catchup ever since. TheMuseum has done a good job of adapting to COVID, one example is their partnership with Bingemans for the upcoming Dino Drive Through. 

I hope they can figure out a model to be sustainable.

[Coke6pk]

I just recently learned that despite it's name, it is not (under Provincial funding rules) an actual museum.  The public funding comes from the Region, and the cities of Waterloo, Kitchener and Cambridge.  The CoK owns all property and provides maintenance and costs associated with the building in addition to the agreed upon funding.

So, what is the difference between themuseum and an "actual museum"?

From my understanding it is the legal definition used by the province/feds for museum funding.  I'm not sure where they lack in that definition, but they do not receive provincial or federal arts/culture grants that are available to a defined museum.

Coke

[jeffster]

Correct, they don't receive a whole lot. Though, there aren't many other cultural institutions here that do. Unless things have changed, both KWAG and Idea Exchange both receive various forms of funding. Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery receives none at all and they mostly keep themselves afloat, though just barely. Smaller, local galleries/spaces receive very very little if anything.

Are you sure about the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery? I know the region doesn't support them, but they do get support from the city of Waterloo, Ontario Art Council and Canadian Council for the Arts.

[KevinL]

I'm imagining a museum proper would have things like a research collection of artifacts, etc. TheMuseum is more of an exhibition centre by that definition.

[tomh009]

So, what is the difference between themuseum and an "actual museum"?

From my understanding it is the legal definition used by the province/feds for museum funding.  I'm not sure where they lack in that definition, but they do not receive provincial or federal arts/culture grants that are available to a defined museum.

They surely would not qualify as a "community museum" (Doon probably would) but I don't know whether larger museums (such as, say, ROM) are funded under a standard program or through specific grants.

[nms]

As the kids would say, there's a law for that. Specifically, the Museums Act (though this act in particular covers only Canada's big federal museums, but you get the picture)

"museum means a corporation established by Part I; (musée)"

"museum material means objects and documentary material, regardless of medium or form, of a type normally kept by a museum for reference or exhibition purposes. (matériel de musée)"


The closest federal museum that matched the original intent of "the Museum" would likely be the National Museum of Science and Technology, to whit: "The purpose of the National Museum of Science and Technology is to foster scientific and technological literacy throughout Canada by establishing, maintaining and developing a collection of scientific and technological objects, with special but not exclusive reference to Canada, and by demonstrating the products and processes of science and technology and their economic, social and cultural relationships with society."

I think the biggest piece that defines a museum is the curation of a collection over time for a specific purpose with staff who can manage the collection (eg collecting one of everything made in Waterloo Region as they do in Doon). After the abortive first attempt at a museum (as the Waterloo Regional Children's Museum), they repurposed themselves into more of a revolving gallery space with flexible programming. I'm not sure what kind of permanent collection, if any, they might have on site.

To go further, there is the Canadian Museums Association, established in 1947, that can provide more information.

[jamincan]

There are a lot of small regional museums that focus on the history of one particular area, but it seems that there is a gap in there not really being a museum that covers the early settlement history of Ontario very well. You get fragments here and there, but as I've read more, there is an awful lot that could be covered that seems to be missing.

[ac3r]

Correct, they don't receive a whole lot. Though, there aren't many other cultural institutions here that do. Unless things have changed, both KWAG and Idea Exchange both receive various forms of funding. Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery receives none at all and they mostly keep themselves afloat, though just barely. Smaller, local galleries/spaces receive very very little if anything.

Are you sure about the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery? I know the region doesn't support them, but they do get support from the city of Waterloo, Ontario Art Council and Canadian Council for the Arts.

Looks like you're correct. The City of Waterloo contributes (as well as other organizations), but the region doesn't. I just remember working for them a few years ago and they were often complaining about lack of greater funding.

[nms]

There are a lot of small regional museums that focus on the history of one particular area, but it seems that there is a gap in there not really being a museum that covers the early settlement history of Ontario very well. You get fragments here and there, but as I've read more, there is an awful lot that could be covered that seems to be missing.

I can imagine that it could be difficult to try and have one museum to tell the complete settlement history of Ontario, particularly since there was a such a diversity of ways that the province was settled: Explorers and Traders encountering Indigenous Peoples; Resource Extraction (Mining and Forestry); Farm Settlement; Industrial Expansion & Contraction. Along the Great Lakes, this history is likely to focus more on the era around the War of 1812 (I'm thinking of Fort York (1812) in Toronto and Fort Henry (1832-29) in Kingston among others).  A place like Upper Canada Village chose to focus on English Canada in 1866 while locally Doon is set in 1914 and Schneider House is 1856. Saint Marie Among the Hurons is set around 1649.  The Royal Ontario Museum has 168,000 objects catalogued as "Archeology of the Americas" of which a subset includes a significant collection of Indigenous artifacts.

Geography also plays a part in telling the story.  For instance, the United Kingdom is 0.23 times the size of Ontario and yet it would be difficult to have one Museum in the UK attempt to focus on the entire country for one period of time without the significant support of the national government.