Meet our new Programs Officer, Kevin Meisner, and learn more about the new directions that the Canmore Museum is taking towards museum education. Kevin will demonstrate the museum’s Museum@School website; this is a new online platform for Bow Valley educators to access a wide variety of resources and programming, including Museum@School content, field trip experiences, objects from our teaching collection, and class spaces at the Canmore Museum or the Canmore NWMP Barracks for teacher-created activities.
ABOUT THE PRESENTERS
Kevin Meisner joined the team at the Canmore Museum in November 2021 as our new Programs Officer. He brings a wealth of knowledge in interpretation, education program development, and exhibition research and design to the Canmore Museum. He was with the Britannia Mining Museum from 2007 and 2021, with progressive growth in the organization, beginning as an Interpreter before branching out into interpretive training, interpretive planning, program development, and exhibit development. Kevin was part of the development team of several award-winning exhibitions and programs. Prior to this, he had worked in computer network design.
At Britannia, Kevin was part of the development team responsible for such education programming and exhibition experiences as the Terra Lab, which explores the story of human mineral exploration, from our earliest ancestors, through to the latest research in low-impact resource extraction, all while acknowledging the conflict between our resource demand and the need to protect fragile habitats. He also served as co-creator of the Boom! Experience, Britannia’s award-winning multi-sensory, live-action attraction — now, one of Vancouver’s top things to do for locals and tourists alike. BOOM! introduces audiences to the story, sights and sounds behind the architectural marvel, Mill No. 3, with an immersive live-action experience that offers multiple screens, over thirty speakers, and leading-edge special effects — bringing all 20-storeys back to life.
Kevin has an Honours B.A in Psychology and Mathematics from the University of Waterloo and is working towards a Masters in Museum Education from the University of British Columbia.
Sarah Knowles serves as the Canmore Museum’s Visitor + Membership Services Officer. With a background in community-based anthropology and a passion for social history, Sarah is a trained anthropologist, cross cultural communicator, and youth program creator and facilitator. From a young age, Sarah has cared deeply about people and knows the importance and power of community. Through her Master’s degree in Anthropology from Western University, and her BA Honours in Anthropology and International Development from Trent University, she has learned how to listen and learn from diverse sets of people and how to help facilitate strong community- centered programing. Sarah is fully trained in qualitative research, skills she has honed through her Master’s thesis which included field research in Pune, India and extensive textual analysis of 100s of online blogs. She further grew her research expertise during an internship with the strategy department at the Girl Guides of Canada head offices where she helped plan, conduct, and analyse various research projects. She is also equipped with participatory research and evaluation skills that have allowed her to successfully engage and learn from communities in Canada and Ghana, West Africa. Sarah has worked with people of all ages but especially enjoys working with youth. Sarah is excited to be working in a museum environment and to engage with the Canmore community, where she will particularly enjoy the many hiking and other outdoor opportunities.