Moving the Maritime Museum of sa国际传媒 into the CPR Steamship Terminal is a good plan, but many details need to be worked out before it鈥檚 full steam ahead.
Museum executive director Jon Irwin announced Tuesday that an option has been signed that will give the museum six months to work out a long-term lease for space in the terminal with the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority. He said the museum will close in October and will reopen next spring in the Steamship Terminal.
The Maritime Museum has not had an easy existence since it opened in the former courthouse in Bastion Square in 1965.
In 1974, the City of Victoria tried to evict the museum, offering another site that would have required major renovations. Museum trustees voted to close, and the problem wasn鈥檛 resolved until 1977, when the province agreed to pay the city $1 for the building and place the museum under provincial control 鈥� at least as a venue.
In 2003-2004, the province stopped subsidizing the museum鈥檚 rent, which was more than $200,000 a year. However, the government agreed to a partial subsidy and reduced the museum鈥檚 share of the rent to $75,000 after museum officials said it might go under.
Beginning in 2006-2007, the province decided to waive rent charges, but has not provided much else in the way of support. Contrast that with the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic on Halifax鈥檚 waterfront, which operates as part of Nova Scotia鈥檚 provincial museum and receives an operating budget 鈥� $2 million in 2010.
The Nova Scotia museum gets about 160,000 visitors a year; the sa国际传媒 version struggles to get past the 20,000 mark.
Location is undoubtedly a factor, and moving the museum to the Steamship Terminal will give it more prominence, making it part of the 鈥済olden triangle鈥� of Victoria鈥檚 core Inner Harbour attractions: the Royal sa国际传媒 Museum, the Empress Hotel and the sa国际传媒 legislature.
The terminal building itself is an important maritime artifact, a classic structure where seagoing travellers embarked and disembarked for half a century.
The Maritime Museum has always struggled on a shoestring budget. Will it be able to afford the rent for the terminal building space? It would be most helpful if the province picked up the tab.
Irwin said the move is an opportunity for the museum to reinvent itself. That鈥檚 vital, if it is to increase attendance.
The museum will have less display space in the new location 鈥� down to about 6,500 square feet from 10,000 square feet 鈥� but that could become an advantage. It is now able to display only 10 to 20 per cent of its 37,000 artifacts, the largest maritime collection in sa国际传媒. Rotating those artifacts through regularly changing displays will make the museum more dynamic and will give people reason to return. It will need more than its current 50 or 60 visitors a day to survive and thrive.
The Inner Harbour location is a natural fit, providing an opportunity for water-based functions and floating displays, including the museum鈥檚 own 26-foot sloop Dorothy, believed to be sa国际传媒鈥檚 oldest functioning sailboat. That should help draw in tourists and locals alike.
The museum is the chief repository of Victoria鈥檚 marine heritage. It鈥檚 important that the necessary resources and support are in place to ensure its survival, along with innovation to promote its growth.
A sa国际传媒 editorial suggested in 2010 that the CPR Steamship Terminal would be the ideal location for the Maritime Museum.
It does, indeed, look like a marriage made in heaven, but the prenuptials should be carefully worked out before the final vows are made.
