AMA Celebrates Lougheed House, Recipient of the 2020 Robert R. Janes Award

 

Congratulations to Lougheed House, the 2020 recipient of the Robert R. Janes Award for Social Responsibility! This Award recognizes Lougheed House’s commitment to creating exciting and unique visitor experiences that tell the lesser-known stories of Calgary and to integrating social responsibility into all aspects of its museum practice.

The team at Lougheed House has gone beyond the traditional historic house museum to embrace, challenge, and educate the communities around it and evolve alongside them. 

“At Lougheed House we believe that our story is best told together.”

Watch Lougheed House's acceptance video below: 

Through its many ongoing partnerships with Indigenous, racialized, queer, and feminist groups, Lougheed House is telling the lesser-known histories of the many and varied communities it serves. Its responsiveness to the feedback gathered from these diverse communities firmly positions it as a leader in the museum field. 

 Métis veteran Sergeant Major George Pambrun, Retired, at the raising of the Métis flag at the Lougheed House Garden Festival in July 2019.

Lougheed House created a Community Engagement Framework and a Re-Imagined Exhibition Development Plan that is embedded with community feedback. Standing out as a model for other institutions, this framework guides Lougheed House’s work with the community and enables it to transform its exhibit spaces to reflect the more diverse history of Calgary. 

Exhibits and events, such as Exploring Métis Identity: Past and Present and Roar: Exploring Queer History and Gender Identity, are shining examples of Lougheed House’s re-imagining and historic illumination.

Costumed attendees pose for the photo booth during Outliers: Queer History in Calgary in May 2019.

In focussing on the evolution of the House and telling these stories together, Lougheed House is building a thriving and sustainable organization that exemplifies the active role museums can take alongside their partners in shaping the narrative of a dynamic Alberta. 

Congratulations, Lougheed House!

Robert R Janes Award for Social Responsibility and Giving Tuesday

“Imagine a day dedicated to giving back … around the world, across Canada and in your own community! Just as Black Friday kicks off the holiday shopping season, Giving Tuesday is the opening day of the giving season.” givingtuesday.ca

This year, while museums across Alberta work with their communities to create programs that give back and promote social and environmental awareness, the Alberta Museums Association (AMA) will be participating in Giving Tuesday to raise awareness and support for the Robert R. Janes Award for Social Responsibility. The Robert R. Janes Award for Social Responsibility is an annual award that recognizes, supports, and furthers the work of museums that are solving community issues and promoting health and well-being. The Award was made possible through an initial donation from Dr. Janes, who continues to provide funding to the Award, and relies on additional community funding to continue directly supporting museums that are true contributors to the social, cultural, and educational fabric of Alberta. Award recipients are museums that do things differently and demonstrate leadership by building museums as true community spaces that affect our environmental and social landscapes.

Recipients of the Robert R. Janes Award for Social Responsibility receive $3,000 to investigate their drivers for success, scale up their activities, and host a workshop designed to model their lessons and successes for other institutions. The 2014 recipient, Fort Calgary, used the funds to examine the impact of their community garden on their neighbours in the inner city and demonstrate how the garden encourages stronger relationships with their community. Funds were also used to host a one-day workshop that explored what community engagement and social responsibility mean to the Fort and to their long standing partner, Suncor Energy Foundation.

The 2015 recipient, Historic Fort Normandeau and the Kerry Wood Nature Centre in Red Deer, will host a workshop in the spring of 2016 to share their environmental sustainability and socially responsible work. As part of the AMA’s Giving Tuesday initiative, AMA staff will spend Tuesday, December 1, 2015 at the Centre lending a hand with this work and learning how it is integrated into the day to day life of the Centre. Follow the AMA @AlbertaMuseums and through the #GivingTuesdayCA and #MuseumsEngage hashtags as we explore the Centre’s important work, and the impact it has on the Red Deer community.

How Did Our Garden Grow? Fort Calgary's Community Garden in 2015

Fort Calgary, the 2014 recipient of the Robert R. Janes Award for Social Responsibility, hosted a Modelling What Works workshop to share their experience connecting with their community through their Community Garden. Workshop participants came away with knowledge, plans, and enthusiasm to inform and encourage their own socially responsible work – and were able to get their hands dirty in the garden!

Gardening on the prairies is not for the faint of heart! Although Fort Calgary’s community garden was blessed with a warm spring and warm fall the summer can best described as a “challenge!”