Meeting Community Needs
The Manitoba Museum makes a significant contribution to the richness of our community and to the quality of life in our city, province, and country. The Museum’s relationship with this community is strong and meaningful. The facility is a widely used community resource that promotes awareness of Manitoba’s history, cultural diversity, and the incredible potential of science and technology. Community involvement, response and partnership are considered essential ingredients in the development of public and school programs, activities and events, exhibitions, research projects, and planetarium show productions.
Although the Museum has always been aware of the need to be fully immersed in our community and provides a wide array of services, we know that there is much more we can -and should- do to not only seek advice and provide services, but also to host community exhibitions and collaborate with community organizations to showcase their work, heritage and future. That is why our business plan focuses on expanding an enhancing our community involvement.
Community participation is evident in all we do…
- Over 400,000 on site visitors experienced the Museum, Science Gallery and Planetarium through special programs and exhibitions, activities, and outreach initiatives.
- Museum staff, along with a committed corps of volunteers, educated and engaged over 80,000 student visits and teachers from over 300 different schools.
- Over 10,000 individuals count themselves as Museum members.
- Museum volunteers include over 200 individuals who contribute in excess of 16,000 hours in 20 different Museum areas.
- Each year, the Museum provides complimentary access to over 20,000 individuals and groups who might otherwise not be able to access the Museum.
- The Museum is also working with ethnocultural communities as they celebrate important milestones and record their journey to Manitoba.
- Numerous communities, including Indigenous and newcomer groups, engage with curators and facilitators in the development of exhibitions and public programs.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
The Manitoba Museum is one of Canada’s busiest and best-attended heritage and education centres. Such consistent year-round activity creates major economic benefits for the community. The Museum generates $21.1 million in economic activity annually in Manitoba, sustains 333 jobs and contributes $6 million in taxes to three levels of government. Using their ‘Tourism Economic Assessment Model’ (TEAM), Tourism Winnipeg determined that the Museum’s economic impact will reach $37.3 million with the completion of the building renewal program. This translates into 670 jobs and $10.4 million in taxes, making it one of the most important cultural industries in the country!
EDUCATIONAL
The Museum is a cornerstone of Manitoba’s education system. The Museum welcomes over 80,000 student visits engaging young people in a wide range of unique learning programs. Focusing on experiences that cannot be reproduced in the classroom, Museum Education Programs explore history, social studies, science and astronomy in an environment like no other. Our programs provide opportunities for students to polish soapstone, discover the universe at the Planetarium, set sail aboard the Nonsuch, experiment in the Science Gallery, learn about mammals, relive Manitoba’s pioneer days, and so much more.
PRESERVING OUR PAST
The maintenance and conservation of the Manitoba Museum’s vast collections is important for the future of Manitoba. These 2.8 million treasures represent our history, both natural and human, enabling us to continue to learn about our past. This helps us understand ourselves in the present, and provides guidance for the future. The Manitoba Museum carefully and dutifully maintains and preserves these collections, ensuring that the many artifacts and specimens, as well as the understanding and insight they provide, are preserved for future generations.
ENVIRONMENTAL
Environmental preservation and education factor significantly in Museum research. Museum publications are critical to our understanding of the natural world. This focus stems from the birth of the Museum in the 1960s in a climate of growing concern for the environment articulated in the original proposal for a museum submitted to the provincial government in 1964.
“Manitoba needs a modern museum of man and nature… a living history of man and his environment, tracing the evolution of Manitoba’s resources, industry and culture, past and present, and pointing the way, through research to the future.”
The wisdom and foresight of such a statement are apparent in the appreciation and support demonstrated by the community for the environmental work of this institution and for the tremendous impact that it has on the quality of education and economic health of our province.
