“I feel that the museum should reflect the community.  It helps to strengthen our identity and strengthen our sense of not only ourselves,  but what we can do for one another,” said Melanie Boyle, Managing Director of the Cortes Island Museum and Archives.

One of the  mottos of the museum is ‘Reflect, Celebrate, Imagine.’  

Boyle explained, “I’d like to think of it as reflect on the past, imagine the future and celebrate what we have today.”

“I look at the museum as a visitor’s information booth and a museum, which automatically makes us a visitor’s hub,” said Laura Balducci, the outgoing program and events coordinator.

Balducci does not want to leave, and the museum does not want to see her go. They have wanted to hire a program and events coordinator for a long time and a grant made it possible this year. They hope to secure funding to rehire her next Spring.  

We were sitting around the lunch table in the back of the museum. Balducci seems like a pent up bundle of creative energy, ready to explode into action. Boyle appears to be more relaxed. She hopes that everything that happens in the museum looks effortless, as if it appeared magically — but it is really hard work. 

Boyle attributes the museum’s accomplishments to funding, committed volunteers and community support.

Balducci added, “Come to our events. Have a good time and sign our guest book. The more signatures we get in the guest book, the better it is for our possible grants  and stuff like that. We need people to come.”

Boyle expanded upon this, “We keep our programs free by donation, and there’s a reason for that.  We really want to make all our programming accessible. So that everybody can participate and enjoy.  Please come and visit us. If you can make a donation, we really appreciate that. That helps us to keep the lights on, the doors open and be able to also offer more programming. It’s just like a great cycle, isn’t it?” 

The Cortes Museum is always looking for new members, especially Board members. 

“Check out our organization, and see if you would like to participate on any level,” said Boyle. 

Balducci proceeded to list other areas where they need help, “We need more volunteers for setups, tear downs, baking, offering to put out posters for all of our events and programs and exhibitions. If you have any plants in your garden, you could  offer some of your plants for our garden to keep things fresh. Volunteer online on social media. If you see us sharing a poster, feel free to share it. That’s volunteering, that’s helping spread the word. So there’s many different directions for volunteer help.  If we have events at the hall, we need help behind the concession. We need help doing dishes, cleanup.” 

She also had a list of some of the smaller things that still needed to be funded, “We need art supplies, paper, toilet paper, paper towels, garbage bags, laundry supplies, treats to have at events. If we wanna have a liquor license, we need booze money to be able to serve. We need insurance money.

They also need funds to pay honorariums for the speakers, artists, and writers who participate in Museum events.

Boyle explained, “Minimal funding, you get a minimal museum.  What we’ve been able to offer due to funding is new exhibitions and new exhibitions take a lot of work. They take a lot of material costs,  labor time, all these factors, but at the same time,  a new exhibition will generate a lot of new energy and around that new programming. The more support we have, the more we can offer in terms of new exhibitions.” 

Without funding, the Cortes Island Museum would become another institution that does not change its exhibits for a decade. 

“Some people like that, but a lot of people find that it is very static,” said Boyle.

“We’ve been really fortunate to be able to have these new exhibitions come every year,  sometimes even more often than that. I hope that we meet the needs of the community. Get new people to come in, as well as visitors. Expand our regular full-time demographic, reaching young people to older people and meet the needs where they’re at, with what we can offer.”

A lot of preparations are needed for every event and museum needs to start the process at least a month in advance.

The last program of this very active season is an Origami and Haiku workshop on October 30th. There are only a few seats left, so phone ahead if you wish to attend.

“The program and event coordinator position started on July 1st and lasts until November 1st. That involved working with different artists, presentators, authors and speakers.  We created many events in all sorts of artistic mediums.  I feel like it was pretty well received by visitors and locals.  We had a lot of fun and a lot of excitement. Art was produced and books were sold and we learned about bees. We had a vintage filmfest with popcorn and stuff,” said Balducci.

Boyle added, “We’ve been very fortunate to have the support of government, local as well as at a provincial level, but it does require applying for grants every year. It’s a huge undertaking. Anyone who would step through the doors while we’re in the middle of it, would attest to a grueling process. We submit and hold our breath.  If everything comes through, we really hope to have a program and events coordinator again.”

The museum hired two students, one for museum itself and the other for Wild Cortes. 

There will be a membership drive at the end of this month, at which point the museum will release a summary of all that was done this year and what they hope to do in 2023. 

The traveling portion of the current exhibition, ‘The Suitcase Project,’ is on loan from the Nikkei National Museum. It needs to be returned by the end of November, so the exhibition will come down November 27th.

“Our next exhibition at the museum is going to feature maps and artifacts relating to maps in our collection. The larger idea behind the exhibition is really finding ways to pass on our knowledge and our experience of the land.  All animals and all humans find their way across the landscape and,  have ways to communicate that, whether it’s by wind patterns or wave patterns or oral traditions. Maps are just one aspect, but we have a really interesting collection and we would like to feature some of the elements from it. So that opens mid-December, the targeted day to be determined,” said Boyle. 

The Cortes Island Museum is currently on winter hours, Fridays and Saturdays from noon to 4 P.M.

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