Duane Hicks
Several local residents are hoping to strike up a group to help raise funds as well as find ways to expand museum programming further into the community.
Called “Friends of the Fort Frances Museum,” the new group would take a page from the very successful “Friends of the Library” here and support the local museum in various ways, explained Debbie Ballard, who is trying to get the ball rolling along with Judy Kielczewski, museum curator Sherry George, and a couple of others.
Ballard said the subject came up that money is tight for the town at a meeting of the Fort Frances Museum and Cultural Centre Advisory Committee last week—and it’s not likely there will be extra funds for museum in the near future.
“One of the things that the library does successfully is they have a group that supports a lot of their “wish list’ things—the Friends of the Library,” she noted.
“If a ‘Friends of the Museum’ could be formed, then that would allow the museum to offer some more programs, do more outreach, give them a little more flexibility.”
George agreed having such a group would be very beneficial for the museum.
“I’ve think we’ve got a gorgeous facility,” she remarked. “We’ve moved the heritage sites and we’ve got all those things in place.
“And now it’s time to actually bring people into the museum, make it part of the community more, and get more involvement.
“We’re trying to get a genealogy group going,” added George. “I am hoping to see the start-up of a historical society again.
“We also have special interest groups like the ‘Hallett,’ the bush pilots, commercial fishermen—we trying to see if we can groups like that together,” she continued.
“We’re hoping that kind of a group would make our museum more viable, a bigger part of the cultural aspect of this community,” echoed Ballard.
“We could have more programs, we could make the museum more relevant to people,” she stressed.
Student help aside, running the museum is a one-person operation on a day-to-day basis. As such, George said having a “Friends of the Museum” group would mean having a volunteer base, who, in turn, could help with anything from scanning photographs to coming up with ideas for kids’ activities, or helping with fundraising for purchases of certain items (like a camera for an area of the museum set aside as a mini-studio).
But members also would be encouraged to contribute their knowledge of local history, added George.
For instance, she’s just received a large batch of photos from the old Straw Lake gold mine.
“They’re pretty interesting pictures . . . but it would be nice if people could come in and identify some of this stuff we get,” she remarked.
“I am sure there’s people that worked up there.
“So we really need people that are interested in preserving old history and a little more involvement in the community,” George explained. “We’re going to try to match people’s interests to what they’re volunteering for.
“If they’re interested in photography, there’s things we can get them to do. If they’re interested in looking through old newspapers, we could get them to do that kind of thing.”
“Anybody who has any interest in history, genealogy, or things specific to this area—fur-trapping, planes, or the ‘Hallett’—I encourage them to phone the museum, e-mail the museum, give us your name,” said Ballard.
“We are looking for people to do research, looking for people to do some volunteer work.
“People who have a passion or an interest in any particular area make excellent story-tellers. . . . A big part of any museum’s success is the volunteers who throw their own passion into something,” she stressed.
Whether or not a “Friends of the Museum” takes off will be depend on community response. But if it gets going, Ballard said some tentative fundraising ideas include a “tag day” as well as a raffle for a chance to win work by local artists.
Ballard was confident that being a “Friend of the Museum” would not involve a significant time commitment, and probably only would have meetings occasionally.
Meanwhile, George said there are plans afoot to have an open house at the museum at the end of March, at which time the public can view the new “Threadworks” exhibit there as well as see artwork created by children during the March Break workshops next week.
The open house also would be a good time for people interested in the “Friends of the Museum” concept to drop by.
“We’ve got to get people in here,” George reiterated. “So often we set up an exhibit and people trickle in, but there’s a lot of people who haven’t seen the new museum.
“It’s a shame. People will come in and say, ‘I know you guys refurbished.’
“But I mean, that was how many years ago?”
More information on the open house will be forthcoming.
In the meantime, those interested in being a “Friend of the Museum,” or talking more about the concept, can contact George at 274-7891 or via e-mail at sgeorge@fort-frances.com
