Following an extensive search, the Board of Directors of the Centennial Museum Society of Canmore and the staff at the Canmore Museum and Geoscience Centre are excited to welcome Ron Ulrich as CMAGS’ new Executive Director.
Ron brings 22 years of leadership and senior management within museums and cultural organizations to the organization, having formerly served as the CEO/Executive Director of the Galt Museum and Archives (Lethbridge, AB), as Executive Director of the NWMP Museum (Fort Macleod, AB), Supervisor of Operations with the Visitors Services branch at the Alberta Legislature (Edmonton, AB), and most recently as Executive Director at the Fernie Museum/Heritage Fernie (Fernie, BC).
“We have undertaken a long and very thorough process to get here are very excited to bring someone with Ron’s skills and experience to the role”, said Andrew Nickerson, Museum President. “As we enter a very exciting phase in the Museum’s evolution, we wanted to ensure that we have the right leader, and we are thrilled to welcome an Executive Director of Ron’s caliber.”
Ron added “I am very excited to be taking on this role, having worked with the Canmore Museum and Geoscience Centre from 2002 to 2005 in conjunction with the Year of the Coal Miner, a celebration of coal mining heritage which brought Canmore the 2004 Cultural Capital of Canada designation along with the communities of Lethbridge, Fernie, Crowsnest Pass, and Drumheller. The story of this community is exceptionally compelling, and I am looking forward to working with the staff, the Board, our members and community to bring this story to life in a dynamic way”.
In interviewing Ulrich for the role, the one thing that set him apart was his Participatory Museum approach, which can be best described as museums giving visitors and the community opportunities to participate in developing experiences that are more valuable and compelling for everyone. This approach is done with intention with opportunities for the community to participate in their design with the goal to promote dialogue or creative expression, shared learning or co-creative work. Ulrich is also a big fan of the “community as museum” approach in which the stories the Museum tells through its collections are often best told within the natural, cultural and built landscapes which surround and are part of our community. Actively engaging the community in telling the stories that matter most to Canmore is something Ron is particularly looking forward to in taking on the Executive Director role.
Ron has been working over the past two weeks getting to know the staff and their work, as well as meeting with community stakeholders to understand how their work intertwines with that of the Museum. With his team, Ron will be working to ready the Canmore Museum for a September 5 opening; this work will include updating all the internal systems which the Museum uses to operate, refreshing the Museum’s branding, updating the Museum Shop, and assisting the Board with refreshing governance policies and procedures.
