YUKON HISTORICAL & MUSEUMS ASSOCIATION 2009 Newsletter RD 3126 – 3 AVENUE, WHITEHORSE, YUKON Y1A 1E7 PHONE: 867-667-4704 Fax: 867-667-4506 EMAIL: [email protected] Winter YHMA Welcomes Two New Museums John Tizya Centre in Old Crow and the Da Ku Centre in Haines Junction have become the newest additions to YHMA’s mainstay membership. John Tizya Centre Da Ku Centre Where: Old Crow, Yukon Where: Haines Junction What: Vuntut Gwitchin Cultural Centre What: Champagne & Aishihik Cultural Centre What to expect when visiting: What to expect when visiting: The John Tizya Centre houses exhibits on Da Ku (Our House) Cultural Centre Vuntut Gwitchin culture, the Porcupine welcomes you to experience the culture and Caribou herd, the landscape, artefacts and traditions of the Southern Tuchone First oral history. This is a community building with Nations people. Come see the exhibits and capacity for multimedia presentations and listen to the First Nations interpretation of workshops. traditional lifestyles. Open 9:00 am to 4:30 pm Monday to Friday. Open from late May to Labour Day Open year-round Hours: 9:00 am to 4:00 pm Monday to Friday Table of Contents Calendar p.2 Ta’an Website Launch p.6-7 Yukon Archives p.13 Note from ED p.3 History Hunter p.8-10 MacBride Museum p.13 Thoughts - Sam p.4 Museum Learning p.10-11 Side Notes p.14 VoiceThread DIY p.5 Old Log Church p.12 Invitation / YHTF p.15 YHMA Winter Newsletter 2009 – Page 1 What’s Happenin’ Now: Yukon heritage and museums across the Territory…… List of special events, training, conferences, AGM, deadlines. Do you have an event you think our readers may be interested in? YHMA members are welcome to send in their events at [email protected] =Deadline =Course = Conference =Holiday =Event Important Dates: February 24-26, 2009 Creating Experiences: Program Planning January 21-23,2009 for Heritage Workers CMA Museums Retail and Visitor Services Beringia Centre, Whitehorse Conference Offered by YHMA and YTG Tourism & Culture January 27, 2009 February 27, 2009 CSJ & SCPP Deadlines Heritage Student Poster Contest deadline March 25-28, 2009 January 29, 2009 Canadian Museums Association Yukon Heritage Training Fund Conference Application Deadline Fairmont Royal York Hotel, Toronto February 1, 2009 March 25-28, 2009 Young Canada Works in Heritage Organizations Sharing our Knowledge: A Conference of Application Deadline Tlingit Tribes & Clans Juneau Centennial Hall, Alaska February 2-7, 2009 Managing Cultural Organizations April 15-18, 2009 Course offered at University of Victoria Museums and the Web 2009 Indianapolis, Indian, USA February 5, 2009 Planning for Success: Preserving Black Canadian Museums JANUARY Held at Canadian War Museum, Ottawa S M T W T F S More info: Melissa Roy 1-819-994-2155 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 February 6, 2009 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 CMA Conference Early Bird Deadline 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 February 13,2009 FEBRUARY 2009 SPCAP Application Deadline S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 February 16, 2009 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 National Heritage Day 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Yukon Heritage Awards 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Ceremony to be held at Yukon Archives MARCH February 20, 2009 S M T W T F S Heritage Day (Yukon) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 February 23-28, 2009 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Downtown Revitalization through Heritage 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Conservation - Course offered at University of Victoria 29 30 31 YHMA Winter Newsletter 2009 – Page 2 From the Desk of Erin Wall..... The New Year is upon us, the holidays are over and it’s back to the grind stone for the YHMA Board of Directors and employees. We have been working hard to continue serving our Yukon Heritage community. Our message of preservation, lobbying, education, and governance has been vital to the communities we live in. With governmental changes and the economic slowdown we have to be even more diligent in delivering our message. History, both the stories of yore and built physical places, serve to bind us to the place we call home and to lives that we live. It is so important for us to rally together to keep those places which provide us with a greater sense of our identity. At this time, the media, economists and politicians have repeatedly told us that we are facing economic uncertainty, that we are in a recession and that regardless of billion dollar bailouts the economy still falters and is teetering on the edge of dire crisis. But what does this mean for Yukon Museums and Heritage Buildings? Well, it means we fear. We fear it means we will have less operating money, less tourist dollars to harness and a decline in community support. We fear that as constituents rally behind sacrificing all, minus a few mega‐buck bank bailouts and giant infrastructure development projects, that our funding will be cut short. Instead of buying into the fear, this is a good time for Yukon heritage attractions and museums to stand up and prove our vital importance to our communities. It is always good business to adapt to the times we live in and provide the services that are needed. Currently, museums and heritage interpretation provides a wealth of knowledge to tourists and to our communities. In fact, I would say the Yukon provides excellent value for all its learning opportunities. As dollars tighten, we as a community need to share. Share resources, build strong and working partnerships and expand to include more unconventional partnerships. We should think about partnering with youth groups (you never know some of those kids may grow up to be heritage workers), old‐age groups (ex. for a ‘museums to you’ program, it may be comforting to gaze at old photographs or objects), hospitals (art programs have proved to be beneficial and therapeutic to some patients www.abcnews.go.com/WNT/Health/Story?id=2146253&page=1 ), and rally for support from corporations. With more pooled resources we can stretch our dollars and work for the greater goal of preservation and education. In the last couple of weeks we have witnessed some major economic turmoil, we have seen the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver switch from a golden calf to an East Hastings junkie, (*tongue in cheek: out of money and begging the City of Vancouver for another hit. Nortel, once a megapower on the stock market , is now a company that has filed for bankruptcy. And Chrysler of the ‘Big Three’ is trying to stay afloat by proposing to amalgamate with Fiat, the Italian auto maker. As non‐profits, we should take a page out of the old ‘big shot business handbook’. Its sink or swim time, and Yukon heritage and museums are going to have to become more relevant and a part of everyday life. If that’s because we offer the public wonderful edutainment options at a fair price, or offer great venues for lofty events, so be it. However, it may be a good time to look to other non‐profits or businesses for partnerships and strategic alliances to boost our usefulness and importance to average person. So that in the future when it comes time to trim the budget, the issue is no longer ‘niche’ and it’s the voting public at large outraged at proposed cuts to the heritage and arts. YHMA Winter Newsletter 2009 – Page 3 Our favourite Project Manager, Sam Bergman‐Good, has one week left with us here at YHMA and then he’s off to the big city. We will be looking to our membership to help with web content and be our eyes and ears from the community. In the mean time he’s left us with some thought on what the New Year will bring... Tourism vs. The Economy Posted on January 13th, 2009 by sbgood. Filed under Thoughts. Economy, economy, economy. If you’re like me you are probably a little tired of hearing about the economy. You know, the big downturn, the collapse, the.. *gulp*... recession. Don’t worry I’m not here to tell you scary things about the economy. I don’t have the degree, or the Googling skills. Instead I would like tell you all about the positive side of the world economic crisis. Yes, I think there could be a positive side and it all has everything to do with tourism in the north. I think certain aspects of this little crisis we’re having are going to drive people to the north. Here’s how: Lower Canadian Dollar This does not bode well for my upcoming trip to New York. Our dollar is now only worth 81 cents US. But wait, that means one American dollar is worth $1.23! I think this will draw some of our neighbours from the south up for their holidays. I am willing to bet you will see increased traffic of American tourists in Provinces and Territories, especially in places that border the United States ‐ like Ontario, British Columbia and the Yukon. This means that these people can go further with their dollar. Maybe take a longer trip that they couldn’t afford when we were at parity. Gas is Cheaper Without researching any facts I’m going to say that our main source of tourism in the north is rubber tire traffic. All those big motor‐homes filled with retired Texans.