1461 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

Dubois, a lawyer, came under intense criticism last year, however, for the closure of some of the museum’s most popular exhibits on the third floor, including Old Town, in an effort to “decolonize” the museum and include more voices from B.C.’s history.

 

In May 2022, with then-premier John Horgan, Dubois announced plans for a $789-million replacement building on the museum site, but the plan was scuttled a few months later by Horgan after a massive public pushback.

 

Later that year, Dubois launched B.C.-wide sessions to collect feedback from the public and First Nations communities to redesign the current museum’s displays in a more inclusive manner, but sessions outside Victoria rarely attracted above 30 attendees. A public consultation in Prince George on March 10 drew only a single attendee beyond the city’s mayor.

 

The province gave the museum $1 million for the engagement process and those funds are now being used to reopen the third floor.

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...-months-7158765

[Nparker]

The incompetencies and wastefulness of BC's current government are staggering.

[Victoria Watcher]

Royal B.C. Museum CEO resigns; says 'no longer best suited to the position'

 

The museum announced Alicia Dubois’ resignation in a statement Friday afternoon

 

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...-months-7158765

 

 

 

 

 

I think if you were to look, you'd find females in positions of significant power - on the whole - are making decisions counter general public opinion.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 17 June 2023 - 03:29 PM.

[aastra]

I'd counter by saying people who seem to occupy positions of power actually don't make any decisions about anything. Which is why all of them, all over the world, make the exact same "decisions" at the same time.

 

Either they're fully independent decision-makers who just happen to always be making the exact same decisions at the exact same time merely by incredible coincidence, or (spoiler alert) they ain't deciding nothin'.

[dasmo]

I'd counter by saying people who seem to occupy positions of power actually don't make any decisions about anything. Which is why all of them, all over the world, make the exact same "decisions" at the same time.

Either they're fully independent decision-makers who just happen to always be making the exact same decisions at the exact same time merely by incredible coincidence, or (spoiler alert) they ain't deciding nothin'.

It’s obvious to some, but not most.

[FawltyVic]

So does this mean we get the third floor back again and everything returns to normal?

 

If so, what a horrible waste of time and money that was.

[Victoria Watcher]

Why totem poles were never meant to be in museums


A sacred totem pole that has been in a Victoria, B.C. museum for over a century has been returned to its owners, the Nuxalk Nation. CBC’s Wawmeesh Hamilton takes us through its repatriation back home to Bella Coola, B.C. and he tells us what this homecoming means for the community.


https://www.cbc.ca/p...y/2192760387586

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 21 June 2023 - 12:15 PM.

[Dexter]

This is the only bit of good journalism about the museum that came out in the last year. All the bull has overshadowed the immensely impactful work of returning items such as the Nuxalk pole.

Why totem poles were never meant to be in museums


A sacred totem pole that has been in a Victoria, B.C. museum for over a century has been returned to its owners, the Nuxalk Nation. CBC’s Wawmeesh Hamilton takes us through its repatriation back home to Bella Coola, B.C. and he tells us what this homecoming means for the community.


https://www.cbc.ca/p...y/2192760387586

[Mike K.]

Old Town re-opens this Saturday.

[Nparker]

It's been woked though hasn't it?

[Mike K.]

Looks pretty good. We’ll have to wait and see what changes they’ve incorporated.

[Blair M.]

My expectations are extremely low.

And remember too that the entire First Nations exhibit remains completely closed. It was far from a perfect representation of all First Nations history, but it certainly laid out a fine example of First Nations history as can physically fit on just half a third floor of a museum.

Removing the mining exhibit and mine, which was spectacularly accurate - speaks to where they're coming from, even still.

Mining is one of the big-three that built the very bones of B.C. (with fishing and logging), so to treat mining as a diseased limb destined to be cut away is still a bit too woke for words.

[Victoria Watcher]

Cap Daily:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An old favourite returns to the Royal BC Museum tomorrow when the popular Old Town gallery reopens, albeit in scaled-down fashion.

 

The exhibit, depicting small-town BC from days gone by—along with the First Peoples Gallery on the third floor—was shut down more than a year ago to address issues of racism and reconciliation.

 

When the provincial government announced Old Town was being shuttered on Dec. 31, 2021, hundreds wrote in to complain.

 

“We have heard you,” Tourism Minister Lana Popham said in May when announcing the exhibit’s return. “Old Town is beloved by hundreds of thousands of visitors. I know people miss it.”

 

Many Victorians recall youthful school day trips to the museum, with Old Town being a highlight. Most of those highlights are back, including the train station, hotel, saloon, garage, parlour, kitchen, print shop, and Chinatown preserved as they were.

 

The Majestic Theatre is back, but will showcase BC’s diversity instead of showing silent Hollywood films. The reopening of Old Town is part of the first phase in a multi-year blueprint for the Royal BC Museum.

 

Several exhibits, such as the Becoming BC Gallery, which includes a likeness of HMS Discovery, fall into the second phase and are slated to return in the future, possibly next year, the minister said in May.

 

In an attempt to embrace reconciliation, contextual panels providing background and historical reference have been placed throughout the gallery to inspire “critical thinking and ignite imagination, encouraging visitors to consider additional stories that could be shared,” according to a BC government release.

 

Last year, then-premier John Horgan announced the museum would close for eight years while a $789M building was built to house it. The public outcry forced the NDP government to mothball that decision.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 28 July 2023 - 05:23 AM.

[Nparker]

I have zero interest in seeing this watered-down, woke version of a once great exhibit.

[Victoria Watcher]

The First Peoples gallery, which is currently being used for discussion and collaboration with Indigenous communities, is not expected to reopen in the immediate future.

 

Museum vice-president of strategic operations and incoming acting CEO Tracey Drake said that Old Town’s re-opening is expected to bring more visitors to the museum, which self-generates half of its operating budget from ticket sales for the museum and its Imax theatre.

 

The museum, which had previously attracted upwards of 880,000 visitors annually, has received 250,000 visitors this year, she said.

 

“Old Town means a lot, to a lot of people,” she said. “I know that when we first closed, there was a lot of discussion about Old Town, about us erasing our community history.”

“As you can see, it was never about erasure. It was about inclusion. It was about expanding the narratives.”

 

 

https://www.timescol...tations-7343777

[aastra]

 

“It was about expanding the narratives.”

 

Gotta expand those narratives. We're in a narratives crisis. We need more narratives, and we need the promotion of those narratives to be more heavy-handed and intrusive. In an ideal world the entire human experience would be about programming via political narratives and nothing else. Anyone who tries to step away from the narratives and re-establish a personal connection to reality would be charged with committing a thought crime.

[aastra]

 

The museum, which had previously attracted upwards of 880,000 visitors annually, has received 250,000 visitors this year, she said.

 

--

 

 

"As you can see... It was about inclusion."

 

[aastra]

^For the record, I think those juxtapositions are there by design, on purpose. Not necessarily by the intention of the ascribed speaker/writer, however. But nevertheless, every agenda is absolutely full of those kinds of contradictions, and they're often presented in an especially conspicuous an exaggerated manner. Can inclusion really be about exclusion? Can war really be about peace? We're being challenged to see it and to get it.

[dasmo]

The First Nations AND Old town was the heart of the museum. There is a way to keep it there. Give back what is sacred, rent back what was stolen, make replicas, whatever. Bring back the letters and news articles for old too. Put that stuff back on the walls. Best education I ever got on the subject. I somehow doubt there is negotiation going on. Better to craft a new narrative than let one develop from bare facts left out in the open.

[Blair M.]

One of the biggest issues with the RBCM is that there has to be a presumption of honesty on the part of those who claim to speak for the future of the museum.

That presumption of honesty is very likely one that is being made in error.

 

I don't for a moment believe that the current management team at the RBCM has anything remotely resembling a plan to get the remaining exhibits back open again.

By their own press release today, 75% of the third floor remains closed, along with the entire First Nations exhibit. 

 

The current state of the museum, and the lack of specific timelines and details about its future strongly indicate that the NDP, and the RBCM management team don't really have a plan moving forward.

The "dog bone" that is the re-opening of Old Town seems to have worked temporarily, although I'm not sure that's something to be celebrated in light of the fact that fully 3/4 of the RBCM itself remains empty or closed.