ONmuseums: OMA Advocates for Museums at the Standing Committee

• Ontario Museums Relief Funding to address the immediate and significant impact of loss of revenue
• Property tax exemption for all museums applied consistently across the province
• Update to the Community Museum Operating Grant (CMOG) program and funding
• Revision of funding programs to eliminate or reduce the matching funding requirements
• Creation of incentives and tax credits inclusive of museums to encourage private-sector donations
• Digital Response Funding to allow Ontario museums to produce engaging and accessible online content based on their existing high-quality museum work

In anticipation of the Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (ONCA) being proclaimed this fall, ONN has shared seven key legislative amendments with the Ontario government to consider as part of its proclamation. These are the critical amendments needed to the now ten-year-old legislation that would make the implementation of ONCA much clearer and consistent for the 58,000 nonprofits serving their communities in Ontario.

Read more HERE.

Read the ONN letters to Government and Consumer Services Minister Lisa Thompson HERE and HERE.

On July 7, the government released the "Final Components of Phase 2 of the COVID-19 Emergency Support Fund for Cultural, Heritage and Sport Organizations." This final component helps address some of the gaps that have been identified by the industry across Canada since the fund was first implemented. 

The news release notes that when the first component of Phase 2 was released on June 18, "it included $53 million in support to organizations with heritage collections through the emergency component of the Museums Assistance Program." It adds that "details on the application process for small community museums will be available very soon."

There is no confirmation on the possibility that the Museums Assistance Program would be extended to small community museums with smaller budgets that are seasonal, dependent on volunteers, that may not reopen this summer. The government may consider adjusting the sliding scale to be able to provide grants below $5,000 that are proportional to those budgets.

To read more, click HERE.

On June 25th the CSSG launched the CSSG and it's the website I Want to Help, through which post-secondary students and recent graduates can find volunteer work. The CSSG will provide these volunteers with a one-time payment of between $1,000 and $5,000 based on the number of hours they serve.

Charities and not-for-profit organizations can register with the I Want to Help platform and connect with student volunteers. Volunteers recruited through the platform may be eligible for the CSSG.  

There are three steps for organizations seeking to recruit volunteers through the CSSG program:

1) Register your organization
2) Create postings for volunteer roles
3) Train and mobilize volunteers

To read more, click HERE or HERE.
To register your organization, click HERE.

• take part in community activities, programs and services
• access employment

• small construction, renovation or retrofit of existing spaces to improve accessibility
• accessible information and communication technologies

Since Ontario entered Phase 2, Minister MacLeod has been travelling around Ontario visiting communities and some of the places important to them, including museums!

To date (July 8, 2020), Minister MacLeod has visited:

• Art Gallery of Burlington (Oakville and Burlington, click HERE.)
• Elgin County Museum (London and St. Thomas, click HERE)
• Fanshawe Pioneer Village (London and St. Thomas, click HERE)
• Butterfly Conservatory - Niagara Parks (Niagara Falls, click HERE)
• Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto, click HERE)
• Brockville Museum (Brockville and Gananoque, click HERE)
• Thousand Islands Boat Museum (Brockville and Gananoque, click HERE)

• Demetra Christakos, Art Gallery of Sudbury
• Alexander Gates, Canadian Automotive Museum
• Brian Meehan, Museum London
• Janis Monture, Woodland Cultural Centre

Participants will learn how to plan for the long-term under extreme uncertainty and imagine possible futures.

Gayle McIntyre is retiring on June 30, 2020 after an outstanding career at Fleming College. How does one begin to honour Gayle's contribution to her program, her profession, her students, colleagues and friends?

Gayle is a graduate of the Art Conservation Techniques Program at Fleming College. She went on to spend over 30 years teaching and coordinating two graduate certificate programs.

Gayle McIntyre has made an incredible contribution to the care and continuity of Canadian cultural heritage through her work at Fleming College where she has been a teacher, a leader, and a mentor. Gayle has trained generations of expert practitioners in the fields of museology and conservation. She is single-mindedly focused on ensuring that Fleming students benefit from professional training, which meets existing as well as emerging needs of the field. Under her guidance, both the Cultural Heritage Conservation and Management Program and the Museum Management Curatorship Program have developed into postgraduate programs with national reputations for excellence.

Gayle’s professionalism is matched by her empathy, compassion and respect for her relationships with students, colleagues and peers. She makes sure that each individual student admitted to the Arts and Heritage programs at Fleming receives every support they might need—in good times, and through times that are more challenging.  Faculty who work under her leadership enjoy an inclusive, safe, collaborative team environment, where they are trusted to contribute and encouraged to shine. Gayle also has a strong network amongst other college employees, including life-long friends from the Peterborough community. She has also been a long-standing and staunch advocate for better, more respectful and more just connections between non-Indigenous and Indigenous people.

Gayle’s retirement is well-earned. She has another chapter ahead of her that no doubt will be written with passion, joy, laughter and love. Know that you have made a difference and that your legacy will not be forgotten. From all of us, we thank you and wish you and our family the very best.

In lieu of gifts, Gayle suggested that friends and colleagues might make a donation to:

• Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Peterborough Regional Hospital
• A local foodbank
• Blood donation at a local blood drive 

Angela Stukator, Dean, Haliburton School of Art + Design and School of General Arts & Sciences