Banting House Picture from bantinghousenhsc.wordpress.com
Museums are amongst the many businesses taking a hit from the pandemic. Some have been shut down since March when the pandemic initiated, while others remained open with limitations. Due to those factors, most of these places are not getting as much support as per usual, resulting in funding issues.
The Banting House museum is no exception. It had shut in March, reopened back in November, and is shut down yet again, and now counts on its online content to keep the museum active and the public engaged.
Grant Maltman the curator at the museum says they had big plans for this year, but because of the pandemic, they were forced to postpone most of them.
Grant Maltman (Curator at Banting House)
Picture from expertfile.com
” Our biggest frustration is that this is not how we envisioned our 100th-anniversary celebration. We’ve had to postpone exhibits, we had commissioned a local playwright to do a play, and we were going to do a night at the museum, on October 31st we were trying to see if it would be possible to do a 2 AM show and recreate that event, and that moment and it’s all gone,” said Maltman
The museum is also run mainly by volunteers and that has also been a drawback for the Banting House this year. With schools canceled and everything going virtual, the amount of volunteers at the museum has decreased significantly.
“This building does not operate without our volunteers, who are really the backbone of what we do. The issue is a good chunk of our volunteers are students and when schooling went online, a number went home, some have or are affected by diabetes and a lot of our other volunteers are retired seniors, so we have two at-risk populations for COVID.” added Maltman
Despite the challenges, the museum continues to gain the public’s support through its online content that has been made available.
The museum is also counting on the help of Western’s Public Health students who are helping to keep the museum active online. Banting house has been hosting some funding campaigns and is preparing to launch some more events online, that will continue to further contribute to the museum during this difficult time.
Now with COVID-19 vaccines beginning to be distributed, the museum is keeping positive, and have big plans for next year.
With so many plans pushed back by the pandemic, the volunteers are now willing to take whatever means necessary to bring bigger, better, and more special events to properly celebrate the 100th anniversary of the museum.
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