Blog & News

On this tour from the Chinese Canadian Museum in Vancouver, curator Catherine Clement will walk you through her feature exhibition commemorating the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act. Learn more about the unique stories about various exhibition displays and the behind-the-scene work done by her team for this project.

Photo: Laura VanZant, Assistant Curator, and Cathy English, Curator, at the Revelstoke Business Excellence Awards. Cathy English won "Employee of the Year" and the Gift Shop was a runner-up in the Retail Excellence category.

Revelstoke Museum & Archives declared 2024 as their "Year of Getting Things Done." They recently posted all of their changes, projects, and achievements from the last year on their blog.

Check out what they have been up to here!

From The Sidney Museum:

"The Sidney Museum and Archives is delighted to announce the return of its annual LEGO® Brick Exhibition! Back for its 19th consecutive year, the exhibit will open to the public on December 20th and will run until March 30, 2025.

Hundreds of LEGO® creations will be displayed throughout the Museum, many of which play into this year’s subtheme, A Hidden World. Walk through the gallery to see hidden details and unique angles that highlight the attention-to-detail employed in the creation of LEGO® sets. Visitors can anticipate returning displays drawing from themes such as Architecture, Star Wars™, and Lord of the Rings™ alongside new featured sets like Notre-Dame de Paris, Jaws, plants and animals, and much more!

Also new to the exhibit is a “Community Creations” display, where visitors can enter to display their custom LEGO® creations for everyone to enjoy for one month of the exhibit. The Sidney Museum is still accepting submissions. To learn more and enter a creation visit sidneymuseum.ca/programs/lego-community-creations

Interpretation throughout the Museum will highlight the history of the hobby, how it gained its widespread popularity, and fascinating facts about specific sets on display. Popular activities such as our Museum-wide scavenger hunt and “Guess the Bricks contest” will also be returning. Whether reconnecting with an old hobby or continuing your LEGO® adventures, Sidney Museum’s exhibition is sure to delight and inspire visitors of all ages this winter!"

The Sidney Museum and Archives is located at 2423 Beacon Avenue, in the lower level of the Olde Post Office building. The Museum is open seven days a week from 10:00am - 4:00pm, except December 25-26 and January 1st. Entrance is by donation. Please visit the Museum’s website to get up-to-date details on upcoming exhibits and events.

This year, Heritage Week celebrates the many ways people have spent their leisure time throughout history, highlighting how these activities have shaped the cultural fabric of today.

From February 17 to 23, 2025, culture and heritage organizations across the province are invited to host an event in their community to celebrate Heritage Week. Attend an event, spread awareness about Heritage Week on social media using promotional tools & resources, and encourage municipalities to advocate for heritage by issuing a proclamation formalizing the week.

More information and details can be found on the Heritage BC website. 

Stunning wildlife photography, Indian chintz textiles, migration journeys of Chinese Canadians and the music of resistance and change are among new exhibits coming to the Royal British Columbia Museum in 2025.

Tracey Drake, chief executive of the Royal British Columbia Museum, says this year’s exhibits span space and time, from 13th century India to 18th century Hong Kong, and from the natural world to the supernatural realm of music superstars.

Read the full article here.

Sarah Joyce and Gordon Duggan have curated works by more than 200 artists from dozens of countries around the world during their decade at the helm of the New Media Gallery – but they are getting set to embark on a new adventure.

In May 2014, the City of New Westminster announced that Joyce and Duggan would be the new director/curator team at the gallery, which was set to focus on contemporary art that uses new media and technology, including video art, sound art, light art, robotic art, and web art. The pair are wrapping up their work at the gallery and getting set to embark on their next challenge.

Read the full article here.

The Museum of Vancouver is leading the charge toward sustainability in arts and culture by launching the SAGE Toolkit: an initiative focused on decarbonizing the sector through practical, circular solutions. SAGE (Sustainable Arts and Green Ecosystems) offers guidance for museums, galleries, and theatres to reduce waste and integrate environmentally-conscious practices into their operations.

Funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, the toolkit emphasizes circularity, which aims to minimize waste and maximize the reuse of materials in exhibitions and theatre sets. The resource is the culmination of nearly two years of collaboration among designers, curators, and sustainability experts under the leadership of the museum’s director of collections and exhibitions, Viviane Gosselin, and sustainability consultant Maureen Cureton.

Read more about the SAGE Toolkit and how to access it here. 

The latest exhibit at the Pop Cult Museum at PD's Hot Shop in Qualicum Beach follows skateboarding through the decades, from early homemade boards in the 1930s right to the present day.

Wheels of Freedom traces the evolution of skate culture, as well as the boards themselves — and how new technology influences the activity and vice versa.

Read the full article here.

A new collection of short videos has been released by the B.C. Labour Heritage Centre.

B.C. Labour Heritage Moments showcase key topics in over 100 years of B.C.’s labour history. The nine videos are 3-4 minutes each. Titles include Indigenous Longshoremen, Ginger Goodwin, Injunctions and Collective Bargaining Rights.

The Centre used clips from its own extensive oral history collection, as well as other archival sources to illustrate the videos.

Each video was researched and written by staff members Natasha Fairweather and Donna Sacuta. Fairweather also narrates each episode. Video and sound editing was provided by Rob Leichner of the Canadian Labour Congress.

The collection was released at the B.C. Federation of Labour Convention in November. The Centre encourages organizations to use the videos at their events, in education programs and on social media.

The Moments Collection can be viewed and downloaded on YouTube and on the Centre’s website.

In 2022, at the suggestion of the research project Agents mémoriels, un engagement citoyen d’hier à aujourd’hui, the Canadian Historical Association (CHA) and the Fédération Histoire Québec (FHQ) launched a call to national, provincial and territorial historical societies to initiate a conversation on common issues. The result was the Bridging the Gap initiative, which produced a report on the current state of historical societies in Canada.

The conversation broadened on November 4, when the first national meeting of Canada’s historical societies was held. In addition to the members of the steering committee - the CHA, the FHQ, the Institut d’histoire de l’Amérique française (IHAF) and the British Columbia Historical Federation (BCHF) - the following societies took part:

· Canada’s History

· Newfoundland & Labrador Historical Society (NFLHS)

· Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society (RNSHS)

· New Brunswick Historical Society (NBHS)

· Saskatchewan History & Folklore Society (SHKS)

· Historical Society of Alberta (HSA)

· Yukon Historical & Museums Association (YHMA)

At the meeting, they discussed the contemporary issues they face in order to continue their work and remain relevant to their communities and Canadian society today. They agreed to continue the discussion, with the aim of maintaining this link and encouraging the sharing of experiences and successes. To be continued.