Museums build community. They bring people together through shared experiences and diverse histories. Museums invite us to explore our sense of place and identity. They foster civic participation, learning, creativity, discovery, and unexpected connections. Join us as the Canmore Museum embarks on the journey of becoming the museum of the future … today.

A Community Approach

We know that when an organization is representative OF its community, people feel seen and heard. When an organization is co-created BY the community, people feel a sense of belonging. And when an organization’s purpose is FOR the benefit of a community, the more people want to contribute and participate.

A Museum That Connects With Our Community More Authentically, More Effectively.

In 2021 the Canmore Museum embarked on a journey to connect with our local community, listen, find new ways to engage, and reflect on our role as an organization. Through this work, we recognized the museum is a civic and social space, and we have a responsibility to steward conversations that are important on a community and societal level. We are creating a museum where our community and visitors can come to learn, share, and connect in ways that are:

Representative OF our community.
Co-created BY our community.
Welcoming FOR ALL of our community.

The Canmore Museum is deeply committed to the work of community building through culture and history, and to bridging diverse communities together to strengthen society. This includes a commitment towards Truth and Reconciliation with Treaty 7 Indigenous communities, and equity, diversity and inclusion. We embark on this journey with humility, as we build relationships with the many diverse communities and histories, here in Canmore.

Also in 2021, the Canmore Museum became a member of the OF/BY/FOR ALL Change Network – an international network of civic minded organizations building stronger, more equitable, more inclusive, and more sustainable relationships with communities.

The OF/BY/FOR ALL Change Network was developed by museum visionary Nina Simon to build more inclusive community organizations. Known for her community-centered approach to design, she has consulted with hundreds of museums, libraries, parks, historic sites, art and cultural centers on issues of relevance, community engagement, and participatory design. Nina is the best-selling author of The Participatory Museum and the popular Museum 2.0 blog. Her work has been shared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, NPR, and TEDx.

You can learn more about Nina’s work and the OF/BY/FOR ALL Change Network, through the above video.

Focusing Our Work In Four Areas

Connecting more authentically with our community has resulted in numerous community-driven changes to our work. We bring people together around the cultures, histories, and environment of this place, to build a stronger and more connected community.

COMMUNITY BUILDING

The Canmore Museum builds a stronger and more connected community by bringing together people from all walks of life around local culture and heritage in unexpected ways to foster dialogue, relationship building and understanding, and deepen community connections.

PLACE KEEPING

Place is where we feel alive, where we connect with others, and where we feel we belong. The Canmore Museum facilitiates deeper connections with our environment, our built history, and the cultures here, to foster a sense of belonging for everyone.

LIVING MEMORY

The Canmore Museum is a memory organization, providing a platform for sharing over 10,000 years of human history in the Bow Valley. History, like our community, is a living entity that changes and develops with time and the voices and actions of many. We are stewards of the multiple histories of this place, and continually adapt and update our understandings of history and its meaning in the context of today.

SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY

As Canmore grows and changes, the Canmore Museum will continue to be a platform for civic engagement and shared learning, supporting community vitality, strengthening livability and our sense of identity, and contributing to the social sustainability of our community.

Taking The Journey … Together

As an organization seeking to address community needs and conversations, the Canmore Museum is adopting the following principles as it works to build a stronger, more connected community.

SOCIAL CONTRACT WITH YOU

The Canmore Museum acknowledges that our role as a community resource includes a responsibility to the people of our region. We wholeheartedly embrace the importance of our role as stewards of the culture and heritage of this place, with a focus on building a stronger, more connected community.

SHARE, CONNECT, CONTRIBUTE

The Canmore Museum embraces a participatory approach to community building and offers visitors and members meaningful ways to actively contribute to our shared mission. This includes opportunities to become involved through our membership program, volunteer opportunities that support youth programs and our collection, opportunities to share knowledge through community working groups and advisories, and to contribute to our future as a donor.

EMBRACING LEARNING + CHANGE

The Canmore Museum is a learning organization both internally and externally. We are committed to understanding the multiple histories and perspectives in our community, to learning how we can be more equitable and support greater diversity, and create meaningful experiences for everyone.

RELATIONSHIPS + PARTNERSHIPS

The Canmore Museum desires to establish long-term relationships and respectful and equitable partnerships with other community groups seeking to strategically build community and address community issues and needs.

SUSTAINABILITY

As an organization, we will act in a manner that addresses and enhances the social and environmental sustainability of our community and our natural, built and cultural landscapes. We pledge to raise awareness and support research and knowledge creation to contribute to the well-being of the planet and society for future generations.

LIVING MUSEUM

The Canmore Museum recognizes that we are living and building history right now. Our museum is a community hub and resource for everyone. As history continues to evolve, so do we.

GREATER RESPONSIBILITY FOR HERITAGE

In adopting a “community as museum” or an open or living museum approach, the Canmore Museum takes on a responsibility for the community’s heritage in a far more wholistic sense by:

Extending our duty of care beyond Canmore’s tangible and intangible heritage to include Canmore’s natural, cultural and built landscapes and heritage by promoting an integrated approach to the protection of heritage.
Our work in heritage is intrinsically tied to Canmore’s broader cultural and economic development strategies where the work of placemaking plays a vital role in developing and promoting Canmore as a quality place to live, work and recreate.

Documents & Videos

CANMORE MUSEUM REIMAGINED STRATEGY PRESENTATION

Watch this 30 minute presentation to learn more about the strategic direction we are taking, and some of the projects the Canmore Museum is working on,

Watch Now

ON THE TABLE EVENT: COMMUNITY, MUSEUMS + THE FUTURE

Join our panel of internationally-recognized cultural sector thought leaders – Gail Lord, Maddie Taylor and Doug Worts with an introduction by Stoney Nakoda Elder John Snow – as we explore the evolving role of community museums.