Museum charting new course for future

The new plan for the Greater Vernon Museum is to open it up for more public use with a new schedule.

Executive Director Steve Fleck told Vernon Matters that will include evening openings for the first time, which he hopes will bring more people in.

“I really believe the outcome for us will be a museum which I think the community will be proud of, and the community will also find a greater degree to be directly involved in. Presently the museum is only open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday. With our idea to be more engaged with the community, we’ve decided to open on Tuesday and Thursday nights which will allow for more evening groups, and perhaps books clubs, historical clubs and other things related to our mandate that will encourage people to come into the museum not just for a tour,” Fleck said.

Fleck expects to have all their staff positions filled by Oct. 15 including a curator. The job posting has attracted applicants from across Canada, he said.

“We have, along with candidates from our current employees who have applied for these positions, people from all across Canada, who have international experience. We’re very positive about the candidates we have, especially in the area of curation which is the one area where right now the museum doesn’t currently employ a curator who has the knowledge to help shape these changes, these different displays and the directions of our programs.”

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Fleck said the exact number of employees that will be hired is up in the air as some current staff are not fully qualified for some of the full time positions they’ve created.

“We’ve mashed-up a little bit of things because we’re going to need to be a multi-disciplinary team,” he said.

For example, he says they’re looking for someone to manage the artifacts who will also be actively involved in programming and education.

The museum had 37 people attend an open house last week to provide input on future direction.

Fleck said they will use the feedback in grant applications to the B.C. Arts Council (one of their major funders) and to the Regional District of North Okanagan which is their primary operating funding source.

“We were looking for input on any other kinds of events or activities they would like to see us organize. People were also giving us input on the current displays and exhibitions. We were asking for feedback about a possible children’s museum area and some plans for a multi-use area for temporary displays and other community events related to history and our mandate,” Fleck said.

Fleck said they got received some good direction from people.

“It was not really anything we were particularly surprised about, so that’s nice to know the direction we’re heading is consistent with the public’s interest,” he said.

The open house involved seven different stations inside the museum with each one focused on different parts of the organization.

Vernon Mayor Victor Cumming and RDNO chair Kevin Acton were on hand for the open house.