Agnes Jamieson Gallery Minden Hills Museum R.D. Lawrence Place

Organizational History

Mission StatementThe Minden Hills Cultural Centre contributes to the life of our community by

helping residents and visitors explore the arts, our heritage and the environment.

  “Explore, Experience, Enjoy”

Agnes Jamieson Gallery, the Minden Hills Museum and the new R.D. Lawrence Place.

Citizens donated significant collections to the Township (Lapine, 1972).

Dr. Agnes Jamieson.

1979 plans began to build a new library and create a Museum.

1981 the Agnes Jamieson Gallery opened.

1982 Sterling Bank moved to same location to become the Museum.

In 2004 gallery expansion & Capacity Building Strat Plan.

2007 R.D. Lawrence Place added.

Minden Hills – Driving the Creative Communities Process Through Heritage

Institutions One of 4 rural townships that comprise Haliburton County.

2-3 hours north of Toronto, in Canadian Shield country below Algonquin Park.

Permanent population of 5,526 (2006).

Swells to 60,000 with seasonal residents/cottagers.

Approx. 200,000 visitors to County annually.

Poorest region in Ontario (2006).

Haliburton County is one of the most per-capita arts-rich regions in Ontario.

Cultural renaissance in Minden over the last 5 years - several up-scale restaurants, commercial art galleries, restoration & re-opening of Beaver Theatre, Toronto Film Fest circuit.

August 2009 Minden’s town council officially made cultural planning a priority.

The Minden Hills Cultural Centre is both the beneficiary and a key player in this renaissance.

Municipal Effectiveness in Creative Economy

Key Ingredients:

Support to Cultural Institutions/Creative Businesses

Financial Investment

Strategic Community Partnerships

Human Resources/Creative Thinkers

How can your institution contribute to the economy?

Minden Hills Cultural Centre & the Creative Economy

Contributes to regional economy, quality of place and quality of life.

-Conjurors of County Town-OAC Recommender Gallery-Human resource development (writers, researchers, artists) -Gathering place-Tourism-Education-Repository of local heritage-Deep understanding of local community-Network of key volunteers-Strategic partnerships (HCDC, CIA, BIA, Service Groups, Arts Council, HHWEN, HMA, Foundation, County Ec Dev & Tourism)

Minden Hills – Commitment to the Creative Economy

Increased support to Minden Hills Cultural Centre by 300% between 2004 and 2009.

Increased museum curator to F/T equivalent and hired a part time collections assistant

Helped fund renovations to the museum, including new collections storage

R.D. Lawrence Place, which holds the literary estate of the late R.D. Lawrence (Canadian literary icon, conservationist and field naturalist) was built.

 Minden Hills was the only community in 2007 to receive federal infrastructure funding for a cultural project (5,000 square foot library expansion).

  Invested in a major expansion to the Agnes Jamieson Gallery. Invested in a new department head position to oversee Cultural Centre operations.

Helped fund strategic planning at municipal level and Cultural Centre. 

Minden Hills – Commitment to the Creative Economy

Supported Doors Open Ontario, with 22 sites and over 4,000.

Instigated the creation of a County-wide steering committee for Creative Cultural Planning and Cultural Mapping.

Council passed a resolution prioritizing cultural planning in a proposed economic development plan.

Cultural Centre initiated 2 community based research projects: a) scan of best practices in Cultural Planning and inventorying “intangible” cultural assets; b) R & D of a mechanism to quantify economic impact of cultural activities in Minden Hills.

Investment in increasing quality of place through Riverwalk project.

Economic Development & Heritage Institutions

Haliburton County Development Corporation has been a consistent partner in all aspects of the rapid growth and development at the Cultural Centre.

Agnes Jamieson Gallery: The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Two Chairs exhibition – has been touring for two and a half years and is currently in Nova Scotia – The Mary E. Black A Gallery

Stamp Project • HCDC funds allowed us to purchase

Minden’s 1st legal Canadian postage stamps which celebrated the grand opening of R.D. Lawrence Place.

• Sale of the stamps as a fundraiser was very popular, helping RDLP meet our goals for 2008.

• There was enough $ from 2008 sales to go ahead with a 2009 stamp – Sesqui stamp celebrating Minden’s 150th and the Minden Hills Museum.

R.D. Lawrence Commemorative Anthology

HCDC Support meant:

-Dozens of writers were allowed to be published, some for the first time

-Assisted RDLP in meeting their mandate of fostering a love of reading and promoting the art of writing

-The anthology has been sold to people from literally around the world, exposing new audiences to our Haliburton writers

-The anthologies left in 2009 are now being sold as a fundraiser and in the Foster A Bookworm project. People can buy a book and it will be given for free to a local student as a means of fostering interest in reading, and to inspire our local students to write by showing them what our local writers have achieved.

Results: the media equipment and furnishing are used every day in a variety of ways.- we have supported local writers, actors, and performers by allowing them to use our space to connect with an audience.- we have used the equipment for educational talks for children, seniors, adults and special groups like the Rangers.- over 3,200 visitors have made use of this equipment and every one of them has walked away having learnt something about wildlife, conservation, culture and our history.

R.D. Lawrence Place media/furnishings grants

The highlight of the RDLP experience for hundreds of tourists is watching our documentaries, people often remark on how educational they are and how inspired they are by the stories told. This wouldn’t have been possible without the grant.

Innovative Heritage Programming -

HCDC has supported:-hiring of an intern. -development of several young actors, a few seen above, who have developed their skills to pursue at a university level.-development of local playwrights, the production of our own stories about our history, and been an economic driver for the community and the centre.

Conjurors of County Town

– A River Needs to Run,

2008

Minden Hills MuseumSesquicentennial Coin

HCDC support of the coin project as a museum fundraiser has been a resounding success.

The moment the coins were announced the orders started pouring in.

While this is a fundraiser, it has also been a means of promoting the museum, Minden heritage and the Sesquicentennial year and events.

Over a 100 people attended the official April 1 launch of the coin and stamp.

The coin commemorative package includes cherished heritage photographs of Minden that will be passed down for generations.

Just today a national coin collectors site picked up the information.

The Creative Economy

Innovative activity in the public, private, and not for profit sectors that leads to new wealth and an improved quality of life in Haliburton County and is supportive of a healthy, natural environment.

The Creative Economy isDriven By:

• IDEAS• INNOVATION• KNOWLEDGE• COLLABORATION AND• CREATIVITY

Just as infrastructure and taxes are a competitive advantage for classic industrial development, quality of place and lifestyle

amenities are competitive advantages to develop the creative economy.

PLACE MATTERS

CULTURAL RESOURCESCultural resources play a key role in enhancing quality of place and enhancing local creative economies.

LOCATIONLOCATIONLOCATION

Minden borders onthe largest economy in Canada,the 5th largest in North Americaand 12th largest in the world.

This geographic position presentstremendous trading

opportunities in the new creativeeconomy.

Conclusions & Recommendations

Study your community, not just your collections

Listen to your visitors & ask them lots of questions

Educate community, Educate council, Educate yourself

Develop strategic partnerships

Ask yourself how you can help develop your community

Track economic impact not just attendance

Read about creative economies & learn to speak about it

Learn to speak Economic-ese

Initiate inventorying of cultural assets

KEEP TRYING