By Shaun Penner

Dinosaur Museum

More revenue sources, expanded reach the focus for growth of Dinosaur Museum

Jul 15, 2019 | 3:30 PM

Finding more revenue sources and expanded reach is the name of the game for the Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum.

Executive Director at the Museum Linden Roberts presented to Council at the County of Grande Prairie this morning, where she shared some of the successes the museum has had in it’s four years of existence, as well as some of the challenges they continue to face and navigate.

The overall theme of the presentation was that growing to where the museum wants to be is not a quick process and needs to time to come to fruition.

“With any museum, the vision is different from the way the public views it and what it becomes as it evolves, as it matures,” said Roberts. “It’s in that process of maturing the museum, that’s where we are in now.”

That vision Roberts references is one that goes beyond that of the museum being just that, but something more for the community to centre around. With that, the museum sees more revenue opportunity through facility rentals and outreach programs, something she notes as lacking at this point in time.

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“(People) knew about the museum as a museum, but they didn’t necessarily think of it as a place they could get married in, or a place we could have our Christmas party,” said Roberts. “It’s that, that people start to view, after they’ve accepted it as a museum and begin to know it as a familiar and good place to visit.”

Like any other museum, notes Roberts, the need to develop a sustainable model for long term growth of the museum is paramount. Though she sees a lot of success in the museum, the time is now to further expand upon its exhibits. With that though, it’s not about just adding pieces, but more about extending the overall reach of those pieces to attract more visitors through creating a more digital and interactive experience.

“It already has a digital infrastructure, it has interactive exhibits that are digital,” said Roberts. “Working on our digital infrastructure gives us an opportunity to have a museum that can reach beyond the walls… to me that is the next big step.”

Another way to expand it’s clientele, provided by Roberts, was to create more outreach opportunities to schools.

“One thought that we are thinking of working on is an outreach box. So a school that has to travel a fair distance might rent a box of materials, work for a week in the classroom and then come in to do an activity that they would then get so much more out of.”

She says they will look to model a lot of these programs after places like the Human Rights Museum in Winnipeg, as well as look at similar models developed by the Royal Tyrell Museum.

In terms of current funding, between all revenue sources and Grants from a wide variety of supporters, such as the County of Grande Prairie and their $400,000 grant for 2019, the museum stands to have an operating budget of just under $1.5 million.

Roberts also noted the museum has reached out to corporate sponsors that have shown interest in similar offerings, such as Telus and Air Canada.