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Home My WebLink AboutThe Citizen, 2018-02-22, Page 18PAGE 18. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2018. Museum looks to new strategic plan after banner term By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen As the Huron County Museum and Historic Gaol ends the five-year term under its current strategic plan and prepares to reassess its direction, councillors find themselves impressed. Senior curator Elizabeth French - Gibson presented her report to Huron County Council at its Feb. 14 committee of the whole meeting. The report stemmed from a request from Paul Carroll, who has since passed away, in regards to the direction of the museum and the status of goals set out in its strategic plan. Councillor Art Versteeg said that he felt French -Gibson and her team had met most, if not all of their goals and he was impressed to be able to say that. Versteeg said he was one of the more skeptical councillors when this plan was first presented five years ago, but he was happy to admit that he was wrong. Through innovation and a number of changes, attendance had increased at the museum and a number of efficiencies had been found over the five-year period. In order to create a brand for the museum, the county worked with POET Design to develop a brand standards and style guide, as well as a new individual logo and slogan, "Always changing, always inspiring." Regarding aligning the county's physical facilities with future aspirations, French -Gibson said that in 2014, Lundholm Associates completed a study for the county that focused on the development of a 20 - year facility plan for the storage of the county's archival collections, corporate records and museum collections. "The preferred included a new collections accommodations planning strategy off-site museum repository, of public access and storage functions of corporate records and archives and a two-level addition to the museum to accommodate new exhibition and program spaces," the report stated. "Until such time as next steps can be taken on this plan, staff are working on various internal procedures to work through collections issues." French -Gibson said that this continues to be an area of focus for the museum and, despite the fact that the space isn't ideal at the moment, the organization is continuing to collect items. In order to increase access to the museum resources, French -Gibson said that the museum has consistently been making changes regarding its accessibility. She said that through its new website, social media and the purchase of iPads, the museum has moved with the times and worked to welcome guests of all ages. In order to develop community partnerships, the Huron County Museum hired a business develop- ment manager for two years. "Through this position, the museum has been able to create various partnerships with organizations for activities and use of space," French -Gibson said in her report. "The museum is also actively involved in cultural activities in the county, such as the 161st Battalion commemorations, the Multicultural Festival, immigration partnerships, theatre activities and writer's festivals" To increase visitor space, marketing and revenue generation, French -Gibson said that staffing at the museum and gaol were reorganized into two streams: a curatorial stream and a programming stream. The moves seem to have paid off, she said, with increases in every area of revenue. From 2013 to 2017, admissions rose 36 per cent, education programs rose 57 per cent, retail sales increased 70 per cent, Business Directory PHARMASAVE. 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The Citizen MINN Call Us Today For Details 519-523-4792 or 519-887-9114 Fax: 519-523-9140 memberships were up 171 per cent, the reading room attendance increased two per cent and rentals saw a tremendous increase of 551 per cent. In order to help drive increased attendance with the introduction of dynamic programming, French - Gibson said that a number of partnerships were established to ensure long-term event relationships. In terms of special events held at the museum, from 2013 to 2017, programming rose 78 per cent, special events attendance increased 95 per cent, while rentals and meetings attendance increased 117 per cent and overall attendance increased at the museum by 44 per cent and at the gaol by 81 per cent. French -Gibson said that with 2018, the current strategic plan will be coming to an end. 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