Payoff worth the price for provincial museum - Local - News - The Guardian

William Thorsell, former director of the Royal Ontario Museum, and Doug Deacon, sustainable economic development coordinator with the Town of Stratford pose in front of a cruise ship parked in front of the Charlottetown skyline. Thorsell gave a presentation in Stratford last evening. - Guardian photo by Al MacLeod

Payoff worth the price for provincial museum

Published by The Guardian on September 25th, 2010
by Al MacLeod

With the 150th anniversary of Confederation on the horizon in 2014, the call for a provincial museum on P.E.I. is gaining even more steam these days.

The current museum presence on P.E.I. is made up of multiple sites throughout the province, with each focusing on specific subjects like fisheries and shipbuilding.

The provincial Liberal government has been promising a centralized provincial museum since November 2008 and has financed a study into the subject, which concluded with the recommendation one be built by 2013.

The report also said the province’s approach to heritage is somewhat erratic and ignores important topics like women’s history and archaeological sites.

With this in mind, the town of Stratford brought in William Thorsell, the departing director of the Royal Ontario Museum, to talk about the challenges and processes he went through while rebuilding the ROM in Toronto and making it a vital part of both the city and the province during a presentation Thursday at Stratford Town Hall.

Thorsell said there are challenges involved with such an institution but the payoff is well worth the price.

“It’s a challenge because museums are complex creatures that are pretty expensive to build and pretty expensive to run,” Thorsell said.

“Museums are pretty important centres of identity, pleasure and culture.”

Thorsell came on board with the ROM about 10 years ago and saw the museum go through a fair amount of projects and changes that required substantial funds.

He said the museum took on the responsibility of the projects without government involvement and eventually the government asked to be included and subsequently, provided some of the funding.
Within a few years the institution was a vital part of the city and people flock to the museum every year to see the wide variety of exhibits and galleries.
The key to this success was to solicit interest from the community, Thorsell said.
“We had to create a landscape of desire.”
This was done in part by holding a contest for the architectural design of the renovation projects, which proved to be huge and drew the community into the process and got the media’s attention, Thorsell said.
“Don’t underestimate the power of architecture. It’s more than just a container.
“That created a firestorm of interest.”
It was also important the building stand out and the ROM has a unique architectural design that stands out in the city, Thorsell said.
“Cultural industries are supposed to be the ones to take the risk. They’re supposed to be pushing the limits and create a new sense of possible.”
Thorsell had some advice for P.E.I. on the potential location of its proposed museum.
“You have wonderful water, you have a wonderful waterfront,” he said.
“Don’t put it in a parking lot somewhere in the middle of the city.”