Jeoff Chipman, Chair of the Capital & Endowment Campaign (far left) and Claudette Leclerc (far right)
with project funders (l to r): Rick Frost, CEO, The Winnipeg Foundation; The Honourable Rochelle Squires, Minister of Sport, Culture and Heritage; Brigitte Gibson, Regional Director General – Prairies & Northern Region, Department Canadian Heritage.
Winnipeg, MB (March 24, 2017): After $5.8 million investment, the newly expanded and remodelled Alloway Hall opened its doors for the first time on Thursday, March 23, 2017. Completed on time and on budget, the Museum welcomed 400 funders, project partners, sponsors, donors and friends to celebrate the opening of the 9,750-square-foot exhibit space.
Elders Clarence & Barb Nepinak offered a blessing upon the opening of the hall. Greetings were brought by project funders: The Honourable Rochelle Squires, Minister of Sport, Culture and Heritage; Brigitte Gibson, Regional Director General – Prairies and Northern Region, Department of Canadian Heritage; and Rick Frost, CEO, The Winnipeg Foundation. Terrific entertainment was provided by Gerry McIvor on guitar, Oliver Boulette on fiddle, with jiggers Troy Garnham, and Eric Nash; throat singers, Nikki Komaksiutiksak, and two of her daughters Chasity & Caramello Swan; and singer and hand drummer, CJ Beardy. Gerald Kuehl the artist who created the drawings featured in the Portraits of the North exhibit currently on display in Alloway Hall was also on hand to talk about his work and celebrate the opening of this new space.
Guests to the opening were impressed with Alloway Hall state-of-the-art lighting technology and the new 13-foot-high windows that offer stunning panoramic views of Steinkopf Gardens and the modernist architecture of Manitoba Centennial Centre.
With an aim to bringing the “world to Winnipeg” the Manitoba Museum can now use the increased dimensions of Alloway Hall to feature bigger and better exhibits. The Hall’s first blockbuster is no exception – World’s Giant Dinosaurs invites visitors to “Think Big!” This 8,000 square foot exhibit will not only fill the floor space but also the vast interior with one 24-foot-high and 66-foot-long skeletal dinosaur reconstruction and many more gigantic skeletons and robotics (running May 19 to September 4.)
“It is a credit to our project partners that we were able to complete the project on time and on budget,” said Claudette Leclerc, Executive Director and CEO of the Manitoba Museum. “The Museum thanks Curtis Jones from Accommodation Services Division, Dan Bockstael from Bockstael Construction, Michael Banman from Stantec, and Robert Olson from Manitoba Centennial Centre Corporation.
“While we are excited to complete the Alloway Hall Expansion and Renewal Project, the Manitoba Museum is already far into our second step of Capital Renewal,” said Jeoff Chipman, Chair of the Capital & Endowment Campaign. “The community has shown tremendous excitement for the Manitoba 150 Legacy Project that will see 42% of the Museum’s galleries renewed over the next three years as part of the Bringing Our Stories Forward Capital & Endowment Campaign.”
Special thanks to the funding bodies of the Alloway Hall Expansion & Renewal Project: Canada Cultural Spaces Fund, the Province of Manitoba and The Winnipeg Foundation.
