Hector Heritage Quay RENEWAL AND BUSINESS PLAN A.L. Arbic Consulting with FINAL REPORT | JUNE 2019 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 1 6. PROGRAMMING 71 1.1 Historical Context and Significance of Ship Hector 2 1.2 History of the Hector Heritage Quay 3 7. BUSINESS PLAN 75 1.3 Renewal and Business Plan Purpose and Objectives 4 7.1 Projected Attendance 77 7.2 Projected Operating Revenues 78 2. OPERATIONAL ANALYSIS 7 7.3 Projected Expenses 81 2.1 Human Resources 8 7.4 Financial Projections Summary 84 2.2 Facilities 8 7.5 Capital Cost Estimates 85 2.3 Attendance 14 2.4 Current Experience 15 8. IMPLEMENTATION CONSIDERATIONS 89 2.5 Financial Analysis 16 8.1 Next Steps 90 8.2 On-going and New Relations 91 3. CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS 19 8.3 Hector Heritage Quay and the Mi’kmaw Community: 3.1 Provincial Heritage Context 20 Relationship building 92 3.2 Regional Museum/Heritage Context 25 APPENDICES 4. MARKET ANALYSIS 27 Appendix A: Visitor Experience Matrix 4.1 Resident Market 28 4.2 Tourist Market 20 4.3 School Market 39 4.4 Primary Audience Strategies 42 5. RENEWAL PLAN 43 5.1 Hector Refurbishment and Upgrades 44 5.2 Interpretive Renewal 45 5.3 Interior Changes 50 5.4 Visitor Experience Walkthrough: Interpretive Centre 54 5.5 Visitor Experience Walkthrough: Shipyard and Ship 64 NOTE: ALL IMAGES USED WITHIN THIS REPORT ARE DRAWN FROM VARIOUS PUBLIC AND WEB SOURCES, AND ARE UNLICENSED. THEY ARE FOR INTERNAL REFERENCE ONLY. June 2019 Hector Heritage Quay • RENEWAL AND BUSINESS PLAN 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Historical Context and Significance of Ship Hector In the late 1700s, during the early stages of the Scottish Highland The story of the Hector and its passengers is a unique story of the first Clearances, many Gaelic families were pressured by hardship and crushing permanent, enduring Scottish settlement in Nova Scotia. Through political, economic and social change to flee their homeland in search determination, skills, and faith in the future, a thriving and expanding of a new life. When a recruiting agent named John Ross offered one-way community at Pictou arose out of the initial disappointment and struggle transportation for £5, one year of free provisions, and farmland near for survival. The Northumberland Shore, as well as Cape Breton Island to Pictou, Nova Scotia, a group of 189 of these Highlanders took up Ross’s the east, became a magnet for Scottish refugees, settlers and members offer. The following year, they departed Scotland aboard the Ship Hector, of disbanded Scottish regiments who came in later migrations. The bound for Pictou. The Hector had been built in the Netherlands in the original few who first arrived in Pictou, as well as the diaspora of Scottish first half of the 18th Century as a trading vessel and was later converted settlers, made enormous cultural, political, intellectual and industrial to carry immigrants to North America: it was a waterlogged, cramped and contributions to Canada. tired old ship. The story of the Hector and its passengers is also powerfully universal and After a harrowing, desperate 11-week voyage, during which 18 of the timeless. It is a story of survival, courage and persistence in the face of dire passengers died, the Hector arrived in Pictou harbour on September 15, circumstances and hardship. It is a story of displacement and rupture; of 1773. What the Highlanders found was not what they had been promised. leaving behind all that is familiar. It is a story of finding welcome and help The “farmland” was forest, which they would have to clear before they in a time of need. could build or farm, and it was almost winter. Some were determined to stay. Others moved on. The families who remained in Pictou would not have survived the first winter without the Mi’kmaq of Piktuk, who shared both resources and knowledge, and who were themselves experiencing devastating pressures from British imperial dominance, colonial land- ownership policies, and the spread of European settlement. 2 A.L. Arbic Consulting with 1.2 History of Hector Heritage Quay Over 200 years after the Hector arrived in Nova Scotia, planning began for a fitting commemoration of the Hector and the historical significance of its arrival in Nova Scotia. In 1988, a group of local volunteers formed the Pictou Waterfront Development Committee with the purpose of building a replica of the Ship Hector. In 1990, work began on the construction of the replica, with help from the Ship Hector Foundation, which was formed with the purpose of raising funds for construction and upkeep. In 1995, the Hector Heritage Quay (HHQ), an interpretive centre dedicated to telling the story of the Hector, opened on the Pictou waterfront. Ongoing work on the construction of the Hector replica was a popular attraction among residents and visitors to the area until completion and launch of the Hector replica in September 2000. For the next decade, the Ship Hector and Hector Heritage Quay were operated by the Town of Pictou, with financial support from the Ship Hector Foundation. In 2010, the Town of Pictou sold the Hector and the Heritage Quay buildings to the Hector Quay Society1, a group of local business people and volunteers who were committed to ensuring that the popular waterfront destination continued to operate. 1 From 2010 to 2014, the Hector Quay Society and the Ship Hector Foundation continued to work in parallel, until 2015, when the two organizations merged and became known as the Ship Hector Society. June 2019 Hector Heritage Quay • RENEWAL AND BUSINESS PLAN 3 1.3 Renewal and Business Plan Purpose and Objectives Twenty-four years after the opening of the Hector Heritage Quay and nineteen years after completion of the Hector replica, the Ship Hector Society identified the need to develop a long-term plan to ensure the preservation of the Hector and the continued success of the Heritage Quay as a visitor attraction. Toward this end, the Society contracted a team led by A.L. Arbic Consulting and AldrichPears Associates to develop a renewal plan for the Hector Heritage Quay, along with an accompanying business plan that projects the impacts of implementing the renewal plan on the Heritage Quay’s operations, and provides capital cost estimates for implementation of the renewal plan. The specific goals and objectives of the plan are as follows. Each of the goals is supported by specific, measurable objectives. 4 A.L. Arbic Consulting with 1. Ensure the survival and best 2. Ensure the Hector Heritage Quay maintains 3. Enhance the financial stability of use of the ship Hector its status as a signature tourism attraction the Hector Heritage Quay and Society » Undertake priority remedial work on the ship for the Northumberland Shore. » Develop new exhibits and experiences that increase » Carry out necessary restoration work and introduce new, attendance at the site among all age groups » Implement additional upgrades that will ensure the ongoing high-quality visitor experiences that appeal to and meet maintenance and long-term preservation of the ship » Increase self-generated revenues, including admissions, the expectations of the tourist market giftshop sales, programs and rentals » Develop opportunities for enhanced visitor experiences that » Reinforce the position of the HHQ as “the” attraction feature the ship, its construction/renovation and the historic » Generate sufficient resources to establish a paid staff for the Northumberland Shore story it represents position » Raise awareness of the importance of the Hector » Grow economic spin-offs in the community by increasing in provincial, national and international media visitation, extending the length of stay in the community » Raise awareness of the project and attraction in urban HRM and introducing new business partnership opportunities » Develop rental opportunities for the ship, building and site 4. Build awareness for historic importance 5. Develop and foster relationships of the ship and the story in the region » Strengthen relationships with the town and other » Develop a stronger link to the education system via municipalities curriculum-based programming, exhibits and outreach » Engage other local municipalities via shared events and » Highlight the Centre’s renewal process and its commitment programming to preserving the ship and story » Collaborate with other local and regional museums and » Collaborate with regional, national and international groups cultural groups on events, programming, knowledge- with related historical and genealogical ties sharing and cross-promotion » Seek ways to develop and honour relationships with Pictou Landing First Nation and Mi’kmaw cultural groups, and the story within Mi’kma’ki June 2019 Hector Heritage Quay • RENEWAL AND BUSINESS PLAN 5 2. OPERATIONAL ANALYSIS This chapter of the Hector Heritage Quay Renewal and Business Plan 2.2 Facilities provides an overview of the current operations and conditions at the Hector Heritage Quay. 2.2.1 Ship Hector Construction of a replica of the Hector generated much interest when it was being built on site beginning in the early 1990s. The success of the original 2.1 Human Resources project relied heavily on the ongoing nature of the ship construction project. Visitors were drawn to the site by the lure of work and activity. The ship was The Ship Hector Society is governed by an 11-person board of directors, launched to great fanfare in 2000 and quickly became an icon not only for whose members are drawn from business, education, financial planning, Pictou, but for the broader Northumberland Shore. banking and performing arts sectors. During its first decade in the water, little ongoing maintenance work was The Society relies on a dedicated core of volunteers to manage the site carried out on the Hector. In 2010, when the Hector Quay Society took over and deliver its programs.