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Community Museums Policy for Ontario (1981)

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction
Issues
Ministry Mandate
Policy Statements

  1. Importance of the Community museum
  2. Preservation of the Material Culture of the Province
  3. Leadership, Financial and Technical assistance
  4. Primacy of Local Support
  5. Emphasis on Upgrading
  6. Components of Excellence
    1. A Statement of Purpose
    2. Physical Plant
    3. Governing Authority
    4. Collections
    5. Trained Staff
    6. Programming
    7. Community support

Program Components

  1. Operating funding
  2. Capital Funding
  3. Program Funding
  4. Advisory Services
  5. Preparation and Updating of Guidelines
  6. Provincial Organizations
  7. Royal Ontario Museum
  8. Liaison with other Provincially-Sponsored Museums
  9. Liaison with the National Museums of Canada

Program Review

INTRODUCTION

Museums are repositories of our collective memory, preserving and presenting the rich and varied material culture of the past for our education and enjoyment. The Ontario government has long recognized the importance of museums to the cultural life of communities and has supported their growth across the province. In 1953 the first grants, totalling $3,000, were made to five local museums. From this grew a system of financial support encompassing grants for the establishment and development of museums and operating grants based on income as an incentive to promote activity and generate revenue. The program to stimulate the development of local museums has been a success. In 1979 $1.7 million was granted by the Ministry of Culture and Recreation to over two hundred museums. Also, by that time a museum advisory service of 7 people was providing technical advice to museums and participating in programs of public education and training for museum workers. In addition an annual grant has been made to provincial heritage organizations to support their efforts in training and public education. Finally, the Ministry of Culture and Recreation, through such programs as Wintario, has responded to requests for assistance for individual projects undertaken by museums and heritage organizations.

ISSUES

The burgeoning interest in museums in the 1960's and 70's brought with it a growing awareness of new problems and challenges. As the number of museums has increased so has a concern about the deterioration of the objects held by these institutions. The realization has grown that the proper care and presentation of these fragile, non-renewable collections require special facilities and staff with specialized training. The development of a diversity of museum-related institutions such as cultural centres, community centres, nature centres, visitor attractions and exhibit centres has created confusion as to what a museum is, or should be, and has often added to the pressure on the museum support program for funding and advisory services.

Today, there are a number of programs which can assist the local museum. The work of the provincial heritage organizations has already been mentioned. The National Museum Policy, announced in 1972, introduced a number of new elements to an already growing and changing museum community. These included the designation of Associate Museums, the establishment of Exhibition Centres, a museum assistance program,, and the establishment of the Canadian Conservation Institute. In December 1976, the Royal Ontario Museum was designated an Associate Museum under this program and began to receive-funding for part of its extension activities from this federal source.

Today, all of the programs which assist the local museum, have a common challenge as they strive to maintain services of high quality in the current climate of fiscal constraint.

Recognizing the changes that had taken place and looking ahead to the 1980's the Ministry of Culture and Recreation undertook a public review of its museum support program in 1980 holding over 40 public meetings across the province. The review also involved consultations with the Ontario Museum Association and the Ontario Historical Society, which had been active in bringing museum concerns before the Ministry. A major recommendation resulting from the review was that the government move towards a more equalized system of operational grants, based on expenditures. The Ministry has studied the results of the public review carefully in defining its community museums policy for the coming years in order to ensure that the resources available to it are organized in the best way possible to respond to the needs of the museums of the province in these challenging times.

In the past, the province has often been the only financial supporter of a museum. In the future the Ministry wants to ensure that the responsibility for a museum is a shared responsibility with the community.

In addition, the Ministry's emphasis in the past was on the growth and development of the museum community. This policy will focus on the need to address the issue of the quality of a community museum.

MINISTRY MANDATE

The mandate for provincial government assistance for community museums flows from two pieces of legislation which provide broad direction for the program. In 1975 the Act establishing the Ministry of Culture and Recreation was passed by the Legislature. This Act encourages responsible citizenship through the process of cultural and recreational development, including these key elements:

  • preserving and maintaining the cultural heritage;
  • recognizing diverse traditions and backgrounds;
  • promoting access to the cultural heritage and new forms of cultural expression;
  • actively involving citizens;
  • promoting community excellence.

The Ontario Heritage Act, passed in the Legislature in March 1975, states that the Minister of Culture and Recreation "may determine policies, priorities and programs for the conservation, protection and preservation of the heritage of Ontario", and provides the authority for the issuance of operating grants to community museums.

POLICY STATEMENTS

The following statements will provide the direction and guidelines for the activities of the community museums support program:

  1. The province recognizes the importance of the community museum which has two key elements. Through the preservation and presentation of its collections it serves a community of the province as an integral part of the cultural life of that community. Further, the essential nature of this role is expressed by a solid base of support for that institution from that community.

  2. The province has a fundamental commitment to the preservation and presentation of the material culture of Ontario, through the community museums of the province.

  3. The Ministry will provide leadership and financial and technical assistance to community museums.

  4. Provincial assistance cannot be the main support for a community museum but rather will augment the solid base of support provided by the local community.

  5. The main thrust of the provincial program of assistance will be to improve the quality of existing museums and to ensure that new museums strive for excellence in their planning and development.

  6. The province will promote excellence in every aspect of the museum's operation. A successful community museum that will fulfill its role of serving the community, and in turn, be supported by its community, will have a statement of purpose clearly delineating the rationale for its existence, a written collection policy, an adequate physical plant to serve its needs, an appropriate governing authority, a collection of historical artifacts, a trained staff, and a program plan that will bring the museum to the community, and community support of the museum.

    These requirements can be more clearly described as follows:

    1. Statement of Purpose: The community museum must be designed to fill a community need, whether it be a geographical community or a community of interest. A written statement of purpose must clearly define its goals and objectives, and outline the rationale for its existence.

    2. Physical Plant: A community museum is an institution that is established for the purpose of acquiring, conserving, studying, interpreting, assembling and exhibiting to the community for its instruction and enjoyment a collection of artifacts of historical significance, and the physical plant must accommodate all of these requirements.

      The museum must occupy a definable site, that is used exclusively for the operation of the museum, and apportions its physical space to serve public functions and support functions on an equal basis in order to carry out the role of a museum effectively.

      The museum environment must be developed to address the particular conservation needs of the collection, and a security system must be designed and implemented to meet the individual needs of the institution.

    3. Governing Authority: The governing authority for the community museum must be one of the following:

      • a non-profit corporation;
      • the council of a municipality;
      • a public library board operating under the Public Libraries Act;
      • an Indian Band Council;
      • a Conservation authority.

      The governing authority must appoint a Board or Committee that assumes responsibility for the continuing operation of the museum, and appoints a director or curator to ensure continuity and care of the collection, and service to the community. The governing authority must accept the responsibility for the initiation and execution of policy, the establishment and execution of annual budgets, and an accounting system used exclusively for the museum, within the framework of the parent organization.

    4. Collections: The community museum must own a collection of three-dimensional artifacts, which are recognized as being of historical significance either locally or to the province as a whole, and supported by a collections management policy. This policy should delineate the subject area, acquisition, loan and dispersal of the collection.

      In addition, there should be a conservation policy, projected for at least five years, that covers the needs of the collection.

    5. Trained Staff: A community museum must be recognized as a specific type of institution where the collection, preservation, exhibition and interpretation of three-dimensional artifacts is carried out. It must be recognized by the governing authority and by the broader community that to fulfill these requirements the staff, paid or unpaid, require specialized skill and knowledge because of the fragile nature of the collections.

      Museum personnel in community museums must be encouraged to continue to improve their training to successfully fulfill these specialized requirements.

      A staff training and development policy, for both paid and unpaid staff, should be reviewed on a yearly basis to ensure that museum personnel have an opportunity to attend training sessions on current museum practices.

    6. Programming: The museum's programs must reflect the type of collections that it holds in trust, and the program plan must describe how it will serve the public on a regular basis.

    7. Community Support: The community must be encouraged to support and participate in museum programs. Members of the community with particular skills, or interests should be encouraged to support the museum in a volunteer capacity, and training programs to utilize their contributions should be organized.

      The governing authority for the museum must develop financial support for the museum at the local level, recognizing that Provincial support will be based on a percentage of the actual expenditures for the previous year, and that this support will not be more than 50% and may be less, depending on the size of the institution and the number of museums receiving operating assistance.

PROGRAM COMPONENTS

The following are key elements in the implementation of the provincial support program for community museums:

  1. Operating Funding: The Ministry will support those community museums that attempt to fulfill their role of collecting the material culture of the Province and to preserve, restore, exhibit and interpret their collections to their communities with an annual operating grant that will be based on a percentage of the actual expenditures of the previous year.

    Art museums, exhibition centres, visitor attractions, nature centres, conservation centres, specialized museums as designated by the National Museums of Canada, and community centres as designated by the Community Centres Act, are not included in the community museum program, and are not eligible to apply for statutory annual operating grants from the Ministry under this program.

  2. Capital Funding: Financial support for planning studies for upgrading museum facilities or planning new facilities will continue to be available from other programs in the Ministry. In addition, financial support will also be available from the programs for upgrading of existing museum facilities, and for the restoration of structures of historical and/or architectural significance as museums.

    The financial support of the Province is based on the principle of shared funding to support community initiatives.

  3. Program Funding: Financial support for community projects will continue to be available on a shared basis with the local community. Some of the current categories available for assistance include:

    • heritage exhibits and events;
    • fiscal development and/or visitor attraction;
    • conservation and recording of collections;
    • acquisitions for collections;
    • training and development of museum personnel;
    • visiting heritage specialists;
    • books of regional interest.

  4. Advisory Services: The Ministry will continue to assist community museums with an advisory service, and will expand its services to museums to include:

    1. resource materials;
    2. a base for conservation supplies;
    3. assistance and information related to the care and conservation of collections;
    4. training seminars for Boards and Committees of Management;
    5. workshops for fiscal development;
    6. workshops for upgrading existing museums' physical plant;
    7. as a facilitator for artifacts in transit to museum collections;
    8. as a coordinator for gifts to the Crown, to be loaned to museums;
    9. as a coordinator for regional exhibits.

  5. Preparation and Updating of Guidelines: The establishment of a new community museum must use the guidelines published from time to time by the Ministry as a framework for the project. The guidelines provide information for the development of the site, the building(s), the environment, staff, the presentation of the collection, public programming and financial needs. The guidelines will be updated as required in cooperation with the museum community and those new community museums that address the guidelines and fulfill the requirements outlined in the Regulation governing Grants to Museums will become eligible to apply for the annual operating grant from the community museum program.

  6. Provincial Organizations: The Ministry recognizes the complementary roles that provincial museum associations play in the areas of public education and training for museum workers. The Ministry will continue to support their work in these two areas, with operating funding and technical assistance so that we may work in cooperation towards our common goals.

  7. Royal Ontario Museum: The Royal Ontario Museum is a national and international resource institution, in terms of both its professional staff and its collections. It has an ongoing extension program which includes travelling exhibits, artifact loans, speakers services, museumobiles, resource boxes for teachers and travelling cases for schools. As community museums move towards increasing excellence, the specialized facilities and specialized staff of the R.O.M. could be valuable resources and points of reference for these smaller institutions, While recognizing the R.O.M's primary responsibility to research, and to the care and presentation of its own collections, the Ministry will encourage R.O.M. to join with it in the pursuit of excellence for community museums by increasing the accessibility and availability of R.O.M. facilities and staff.

  8. Liaison with other provincially-Sponsored Museums: It is recognized by the museum community in Ontario that provincially-owned museums should be role models that give leadership and support to smaller institutions. This Ministry will encourage other Ministries to provide basic museum standards for their own institutions, and provide assistance and support to neighbouring community museums.

  9. Liaison with the National Museums of Canada: The Ministry recognized the valuable contribution that the Federal government through the National Museums policy, has made to the museum community in Ontario. In future, the Ministry will continue to work in close cooperation with the National Museums of Canada, particularly in the key area of conservation, in order that the programs of both levels of government are complementary, and to ensure that both ongoing, and new initiatives will support the upgrading of existing community museums to fulfill the expectations of their communities.

PROGRAM REVIEW

It is the Ministry's intentions that all aspects of the Community Museums Policy and Programs will be part of an ongoing dialogue between the Ministry and the museums of the province. In the future, meetings with all members of the museum community will be scheduled periodically to review the Community Museums Policy and Programs.