Adhering to past year’s controversy over the expense to establish a new alternative and expanded Royal BC Museum, the provincial government has restarted community session on the foreseeable future of the attraction based in downtown Victoria.
A new on line study gauges enter on public fascination in the museum’s exhibits and programming, early issues for scheduling, and how the public need to be consulted on the foreseeable future of the museum.
This follows the general public outcry in 2022, when the provincial federal government quickly announced it would continue with an $800-million system to demolish the current museum at the edge of Victoria Inner Harbour and construct a brand name new goal-crafted, earth-course museum complicated.
Other than a 2019 public session on the broad notion of “modernization,” there was zero engagement in getting the museum renewal in the direction of the massive leap of closing a cherished provincial institution and making new amenities and reveals from scratch.
In response to the backlash, only about a month afterwards following the project’s announcement, then-Premier John Horgan place the project on keep in June 2022 and promised new general public session ahead of setting foot on any additional investments.
Royal BC Museum in downtown Victoria (Google Earth)
Hugely preliminary concept of the new Royal BC Museum in downtown Victoria not the precise design and style. (Government of BC)
The museum, which is owned by the provincial government and operated as a crown corporation, has lengthy stated that it is in need of modernized amenities. The existing 1968-created museum is severely seismically susceptible, and its basement amounts — the storage of the museum’s vast collections — are at hazard for flooding.
The museum’s modernization approach involved building a secondary satellite facility for the new dwelling of its collections, found in the Victoria region suburban city of Colwood. The $224 million cost of setting up the secondary facility pushes the full modernization project value to above $1 billion.
The previous plan to swap the principal museum constructing in downtown Victoria also meant Vancouver Island would be with out a single of its most significant tourist sights for 8 many years due to the lengthy timeframe necessary to take away and store away the collections, demolish the current making, and construct the new making. Based mostly on the prior timeline, the museum would have closed in September 2022 and reopened in 2030.
Each the museum and the provincial govt also confronted considerable criticism for closing and gutting its broad European settler galleries in early 2022. These galleries were being the most well-liked long term displays of the museum, and the elimination is envisioned to have an impact on attendance quantities.
The current Royal BC Museum in downtown Victoria. (Royal BC Museum)
