A recent review through the American Alliance of Museums, the organization that oversees museums of all sizes in the South, suggests that a third of U.S. museums may close due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While Manitoba’s local museums may not suffer as much as their southern neighbors, the stage remains terrible, many administrators and curators say.
The Dalnavert Museum in Winnipeg, in the former home of Hugh John Macdonald, the eighth prime minister of Manitoba and son of Canada’s prime minister, is among those who have overcome difficult times so far.
“All nonprofits are waiting a year, and Dalnavert isn’t the only one to do so,” the museum’s director, Thomas McLeod, told 680 CJOB.
“We have been eligible for a number of government wage subsidies and investment programs … and we were lucky enough to be eligible. These were so that we could reopen the museum once provincial regulations allowed it.
McLeod said the museum was closed for months due to coronavirus, construction, a national historic site built in the 1890s, still needed maintenance, as did the collections inside.
The museum paid for a minimum arrangement, but received no money from visitors. Once museums were allowed to reopen in Manitoba, McLeod said, Dalnavert also had to invest in non-public protective devices for his volunteers.
“Admissions have gone down and down for a number of reasons: other people don’t necessarily feel comfortable coming to places like museums, galleries and cinemas… and with social distance, we probably couldn’t accommodate the same number of visitors at once,” he says.
Dalnavert is known for major events, especially during the holidays, which probably wouldn’t take place in 2020, at least not for the foreseeable future.
McLeod said the museum encourages others to conduct guided tours safely, making plans in advance, to make sure that the social distance can be followed and that the teams of tourists feel comfortable.
“In fact, it’s a scary time for small museums that have this seasonal assistance or participation in special events,” he said.
Eric Napier Strong, curator of Seven Oaks House Museum, said the lack of public and government assistance was a saving grace for museums like his during the pandemic, but due to the nature of the building, some of the other security measures were a challenge.
Strong said the museum had organized walking and biking tours around and even swapped the windows of the house for storefronts.
“I think other people are interested in … However, other people are looking for anything they feel comfortable with. You can take a walking tour, you can ride a motorcycle around the city and you can still live an old delight as cold. “
The danger, he said, of the final museums is that they cannot be reopened once the pandemic has subsided.
“Once he’s gone, he’s lost forever. That is our legacy; it’s our unusual story.”