We wanted to share with you today how this pandemic is effecting YOUR local museum, Backus-Page House Museum. The Ontario Museums Association conducted a recent survey, shared the results and we are making them available to you in the links below. As you may already know Backus-Page is closed until at least April 30th as is John E. Pearce Provincial Park (trails remain available to walk). This means no staff or volunteers are to be onsite working except to check buildings for insurance purposes or pick up work as needed three times a week.
Please open the Infographic
HERE to follow along with how we have been impacted by COVID-19. We made the decision to close to the public, staff and volunteers on March 13, 2020 as did Ontario Parks. All the museums that participated in this survey have all closed as well. We are part of the 39% located in southwestern Ontario and 38% that are independent non profit organizations which means we are governed by a Board of Directors and not owned by any government entity.
The biggest impact is that we are part of the 74% that have less than 3 months worth of general operating funds only because of the timing of this pandemic. We close mid-October to daily visitors and only have a few events between October and May 1st when we reopen. Generally by March we are on the low side of cash reserves but know that we are about to open to daily tours, facility rentals, field trips and many grants are released at this time. Our March revenue was reduced by about 20%. We won't lose all our April revenue, but it will be significantly reduced as we have cancelled all events up to May 10th, some that required purchasing tickets ahead.
You may be wondering about the construction of our new Agricultural Centre. The funds used are restricted to that project only and cannot be used for anything else. The centre has been in the planning stages for over 2 years and construction needs to be complete before park bird breeding season on May 1. The funds were left to us in the wills of George Kimble and Theresa Cutler McPhee and can only be used for the Agricultural Centre. When we reopen again the new exhibits in the Agricultural Centre will be instrumental in our operations and strategic plan.
We have also delayed hiring summer student staff because the funding announcements haven't been made by Young Canada Works, Canada Summer Jobs and Summer Experience Program and we don't know if we will open for the season on May 1st as usual. We are hopeful but have made plans for being open or continuing to be closed. Our Cultural Manager is being paid for 7 hours/week so doesn't qualify for either E.I. or the Canada Emergency Response Benefit because she is still employed. Hopefully the next round of CERB addresses those employees whose hours have been severely decreased, but are still essential to operations.
Hopefully you have noticed the additional blog posts that have been the core of our digital strategy with special thanks to volunteers Sabrina Merks, Catie Welch, and Beth Goldsworthy and Cultural Manager, Angela Bobier. Behind the scenes the board of directors and volunteers have been incredibly supportive and in constant contact. If you have ideas for how we can provide you and the general public with digital museum content, please let us know info@backuspagehouse.ca
The Full Key Findings from the Ontario Museums Association are
HERE. We thought it important to keep you up to date on how this is effecting YOUR community museum. If you can provide any assistance right now, to offset the lost revenue from cancelled events, a donation or purchase of a Tyrconnell Heritage Society membership would be appreciated.
You can mail a cheque payable to Tyrconnell Heritage Society, Box 26, Wallacetown, ON, N0L 2P0 or online at
https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/tyrconnell-heritage-society/ which saves on our staff time because CanadaHelps automatically emails you charitable tax receipt.
Thank you to everyone for your support, online comments, social media shares and likes. Look out for a Colouring Contest for all ages next week.
