In a heartfelt presentation to council, Karen Byers asked the municipality to stop thinking of the Jasper-Yellowhead Museum and Archives as a liability and rather view it as an asset.
“Our museum is a gold mine,” said the museum manager, May 20. “To compare it to any other cultural facility in this town is to do it a disservice; nothing could replace what’s stored in our building. And it’s not just enough to carefully box away photos and artifacts—[we] need knowledgable people to interpret those things.”
After 10 years with the museum, Byers will soon leave her role as manager and move out of town.
On May 20, she was in front of council to present the museum’s three-year plan and to have an honest conversation about the organization’s future.
“I wish I could say I’ve left it in a better financial state than when I arrived, but the museum is struggling,” she said, noting that it’s forecasting a $43,500 shortfall in 2014.
To cover such a deficit, the organization’s tired volunteers will either have to increase their fundraising efforts or dip into Fred Kofin’s building fund.
“The museum won’t fall apart tomorrow, but we have a group of exhausted volunteers and staff, so I’m asking you to consider starting a process to make sure our institution not only survives but thrives,” pleaded Byers. “It needs your support.”
Currently, the municipality supports the museum with a contribution of about $46,000 a year. The organization also receives $15,000 from Parks Canada.
In 2014, it is projected that nearly $20,000 will be fundraised for the organization’s day-to-day operations, and that there will be an additional $20,000 in donations.
After seeing the numbers and having a week to think about Byers’ presentation, council met again May 27 for its committee-of-the-whole meeting.
There, Coun. Gilbert Wall said, “to be blunt, we need a completely different way of doing business for the museum.
“Part of the responsibility is ours, but most of the responsibility is the museum board’s.”
Wall suggested that to address the situation, council sit down with the board and come up with possible solutions. One of those could be further financial support from the municipality, but that would likely come with a change in the museum’s organizational structure.
“If the municipality takes on a bunch of costs, we would want some say in how the operation [is run],” said Wall. “The facts are in front of us in this report. It’s not tenable what they’re doing. It’s not tenable for their organization.”
Nicole Veerman
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