Visitation up at Galt Museum last year

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on March 18, 2023.

Visitation to the Galt Museum was up 186 per cent over 2021. Herald file photo

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

Visitation to the Galt Museum was up 186 per cent over 2021, says an annual report provided to the Cultural and Social Standing Policy committee of Lethbridge city council Thursday.

The committee consists of acting mayor Jenn Schmidt-Rempel and councillors Mark Campbell, Jeff Carlson and Nick Paladino.

The report submitted by CEO/executive director Darrin Martens and Devon Smithers, chair of the Galt board of directors, also shows that visitation to Fort Whoop-Up was up 35 per cent last year from 2021.

Nearly 8,000 students participated in education programs while almost 150 community programs had participation of almost 6,000 people, said the report.

Institution rentals jumped 306 per cent to 130 while more than 122,000 website sessions were recorded last year, seven per cent higher than in 2021.

The report says 25,780 people visited the Galt last year while the fort experienced visitation of 7,096.

Outgoing chair Vic Mensch, in a report statement, said “2022 was unlike any other for our beloved community centred institution. As the severity of the COVID pandemic waned, the board witnessed the implementation of a new strategic plan for the organization.

“With a renewed focus on redefining what it is to be a museum, reconciliation with local Indigenous communities, being a gathering place for southwestern Alberta and serving as a platform for inclusion, the board helped to guide the team towards an energized and re-contextualized sense of purpose.

“The Galt faced its fair share of challenges and opportunities over the past year. The staff team faced change with professionalism and resolve continuing to provide the best visitor and customer service to the citizens of Lethbridge as well as those visiting from other areas. Seeing visitation numbers increasing at both the Galt and Fort along with renewed engagement through school and community programming, the organization is poised to respectfully and collaboratively lead the community to a renewed sense of belonging.”

The museum received three special awards last year including the Robert R. Janes Award for Social Responsibility from the Alberta Museums Association. It also received two honorable mentions. One was in the Award for Outstanding Achievement: Social Impact category for Voices of the Land by the Canadian Museums Association (CMA). The other was for The Best in Heritage: Projects of Influence for collections management by the International Council on Museums.

In his own report, Martens said the Galt embraces changes and is “committed to developing new ways of working and serving those who visit us in person or online. The global pandemic provided us with an opportunity to critically look at the services we provide, how we provide them and to whom in critical, accessible, equitable, and socially and culturally responsible ways.”

Martens said that as the institution emerged from COVID-19, it faced “an insatiable hunger” by the public for programming that was engaging, thoughtful and meaningful.

“I am very proud to say that the team rose to the challenge and delivered. We have reconnected with our traditional audiences and continue to develop new Galt enthusiasts,” said Martens.

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