The Lac-Brome Museum is officially a recipient of a $472, 320 grant from the Ministry of Culture and Communications.
The financial assistance is granted under the "Operating Assistance for Museum Institutions (PAFIM)" program and it will be dispersed over a three year period.
The Missisquoi Museum, located in Stanbridge East, is also benefitting from the PAFIM program with a grant totalling $138, 980.
The Brome County Historical Society (BCHS), whom owns and maintains the different heritage buildings that make up the Lac-Brome Museum, has been preserving the history of what was formally known as Brome County since 1897.
According to the Lac-Brome Museum's website, the mission of the museum and the BCHS is to "acquire, preserve, research, exhibit, interpret, and publish items of historical interest encompassing all of the historic Brome County and its sites" for educational purposes.
Denis Piquette, newly appointed executive director of the Lac-Brome Museum, said that the financial assistance will go towards specific projects, like the upcoming temporary exhibit on the British Home Children, and the general yearly operating budget of the museum.
“This is not a brand new grant, it has been available for museums in Quebec for a number of years. However, in our case, we had to wait until last spring, the spring of 2022, to apply because only museums that are accredited in the province of Quebec were allowed to apply for this grant,” explained Piquette. “We received our accreditation in 2019.”
The Lac-Brome Museum had to wait until the next funding cycle to apply, but it officially received word just before the Christmas holidays that its grant application was accepted.
The goal of the grant is to provide operating income for museums "to really enable museums to upgrade and update, almost like a quality improvement type of grant," said Piquette.
“You can tackle different areas of your museum and kick it up a notch. In our case, when we made the application, there were a number of projects that were earmarked for this,” he added. “This included everything from the possibility of hiring staff, to increasing our digital capabilities in the museum to provide more and more exhibits via virtual means. I guess one good example will be when we open a new exhibit, we can use funds for that.”
The next exhibit on the roster for the Lac-Brome Museum is one dedicated to the British Home Children.
“That was included as one of the projects for the grant. So, it’s quite elaborate. The submission was extensive and we identified, I believe, the total is almost 20 different projects and activities that we will be working on over the next three years with this grant,” mentioned Piquette.
Piquette noted that some of these projects may be “less visible to visitors.”
“For example, we need to get more storage. We need to find more storage space and prepare storage space for artifacts. This can even include fixing up a storage area, putting in speciality shelves, humidity and temperature controls,” he said. “These aren’t exactly the most visible improvements, but again it’s all a part of our mandate to preserve, to promote, our history.”
Facing the Covid-19 pandemic for almost three years, Piquette told CIDI that cultural institutions have been affected by revenue cutbacks and declining attendance.
“If you look at any activity or venue that promotes cultural activities, if you actually charged, and tried to charge, the amount that it really costs, it may be prohibitive for visitors. (…) If you try to charge the full amount, it’s really difficult to attract a wide audience,” he explained. “I think these kind of grants enable us, between public funding and private funding, to be able to provide the best experience possible. Without this funding, we’d have to make some tough decisions.”
Despite the financial aide from the government, Piquette emphasized that the Lac-Brome Museum still needs the support of its members and of its community.
“When somebody sees an announcement like this they’ll say ‘well, okay, they got their money now so I don’t have to worry about donating anymore.’ That’s not very true at all. We still rely, and need, ongoing donations from all individuals,” he said. “Although this may seem like a large amount, it’s divided over three years. If I look at our annual budget per year, it’s an important part of it, but it’s by no means a huge percentage of our necessary revenues per year.”
The Lac-Brome Museum is officially opening up the doors to all of its heritage buildings on May 20.
For more information on the Lac-Brome Museum and/or upcoming exhibits and events, visit its website.
CIDI reached out to the Missisquoi Museum for comment, but we did not hear back before press time. We are following-up with the museum.
According to its website, the mission of the Missisquoi Historical Society “is dedicated to the acquisition, conservation, presentation, interpretation, education, and dissemination of the history and heritage of Missisquoi County.”
Listen to the full interview below: