City of Waterloo Museum Survey |
Introduction
At present, the public face of the City’s museum is a 4,000 square foot space in the largest shopping mall in the city (Conestoga) with two entrances from the interior food court and the exterior parking lot. This arrangement is the result of a generous arrangement on the part of the Mall owners, and the City is certainly grateful for their contribution in this regard. While this location has definite advantages in terms of accessibility, parking, visibility, etc., there are some drawbacks when considering storage, preservation and conservation activities, total display space available and programming opportunities. These locational and logistical issues need to be addressed in the strategy. The City also owns and manages under its museum program the Elam Martin Farmstead in RIM Park, and future options regarding this property need to be considered as well.
While the mall location is expedient and convenient in the short and medium timeframe, this arrangement may not be suitable in the longer term as representing what citizens truly expect of their envied city. On the other hand, perhaps a mall location is the ‘wave of the future’ and should be seriously considered as a preferred location. Part of the right answer to this question will involve the future collecting mandate of the Museum, and how much space may be required to house and manage the collection.
To address these complex and interrelated issues, the City has retained (through a tender process) the services of TCI Management Consultants, who specialize in strategic planning for museums and other cultural institutions. TCI has teamed with Reich + Petch, museum architects, and Maltby & Associates Inc., experts in museums collections, to undertake the project. Their mandate is to come up with a longer-term strategy for the effective management of the collection and the museum.