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This year, the Alberta Museums Association introduced a grants program to
initiate museum consortia across our province.  The strategy attempts to bridge
the gap between the large, professionally staffed museums and the small,
volunteer-run museums.  It is clear that regional facilities can play a
leadership role with repect to providing not only a model for smaller facilities
but also by providing information and services to smaller museums.
 
The aims of the Regional Museum Grants Program are as follows:
-to help museums become regional centres of excellence in heritage preservation
and interpretation
-to promote museum networking to ensure the most efficient use of human and
fiscal resources
-to support museums in their role as regional clearinghouses of museum
information and services
-to facilitate the development of regional perspectives on the preservation and
interpretation of the natural and cultural heritage of Albertans; and
-to help museums implement at the regional level standards of museum practice as
defined by the AMA
 
The Rationale for the Grants Program to encourage the growth of a network of
strong regional museums including the following reasons:
1.  because of the great distances that divide Alberta communities one from the
other, regional cooperation makes strong economic sense from the perspective of
spreading funding around the entire province;
2.  because of regional difference in geography and demographics, cultural
identity frequently has a regional character;
3.  regionalization is one way of implementing a policy of decentralization, the
result of which is a sharing ofresources, fiscal and humna, threoughout the
province;
4.  it is more difficult to implement a service delivery model whien the
services are located in one or two major urban areas; and
5.  at a time of scaracity, the distribution of small amounts of money to many
museums will allow non of them to meet their mandates; whereas, the distribution
of substantial funds to key players will enable them to provide the necessary
leadership to others and deliver a range of services to others in the region.
 
In this pilot project, five museums have received grants for various projects
(e.g.  hiring a conservator to share among the museums, collections management
database project).
 
In addition, Alberta has two successful consortia working for over three years.
You might write to the following people for first-hand advice:
       Anna Robertson
       Drumheller Valley Museums Consortium
       Box 203
       Drumheller, Alberta    (dinosaur country!)
       Canada   T0J 0Y0
 
and
 
       Victoria Barsalou
       Museums of the Peace Consortia
       Peace River Centennial Museum & Archives
       10302 - 99 Street
       Peace River, Alberta     (north of the 56th parallel!)
       Canada   T8S 1K1
 
Good Luck in your endeavors!
 
shari saunders
standards coordinator
alberta museums association
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