An accessibility lift will offer more patrons full access to the Revelstoke Museum and Archives (RMA) as community funding helps the museum with their latest project.
“More and more people weren’t able to access the full building,” Cathy English, RMA curator and lead contact for the project, told Revelstoke Mountaineer. “That’s just really not acceptable to have a building that people can’t access.”
Currently a service lift on the side of the museum in the garden space only allows access to the first floor of the museum. That restricts patrons from accessing new upper floor exhibits, the main part of the archive storage and a growing list of programs offered at the museum including the Brown Bag Lunch program, English said.
Plans for the new lift include access from the back parking lot and using the current first floor parlour exhibit and a second floor washroom as entry points. A second accessibility project of retrofitting of the remaining upper floor bathroom to be gender neutral and accessible is also taking place.
“That will give us a universally accessible bathroom on that second floor, which we’re very excited for,” English told the Mountaineer.
The cost for both projects is estimated at $700,000, including rerouting electric and water services in the lift area. Retrofitting the technology into the building is where costs are building the most, English noted.
“We’re chopping into a building, an almost 100 year old building at that,” she said. “Those parts and electrical bits aren’t cheap.”
RMA launched a fundraising campaign for the lift on Giving Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023 with community support stepping in right away.
“They haven’t disappointed us,” English said when discussing the current community donations which sit at over $12,600 from individual community donations as of Jan. 9. “They’ve just been fantastic. This is a very generous community.”
On top of donations from residents, RMA also received over $10,000 in donations from Cooper Equipment Rentals, Revelstoke Rotary Club, Cronometer and an anonymous community donor, all who pledged to match resident donations up to the end of 2023. Revelstoke businesses and organizations have also stepped up to help, donating or pledging over $33,700 for the project.
The collective $63,800 in community donations helps the museum achieve another goal of raising $100,000 from community donations alone, English explained.
“One of our stated goals was that we do community fundraising as well [as grant writing]. We wanted people to be able to contribute to it and feel like they were a part of this project. That it was really a part of the community.”
Other means of funding for the project include grants from the Government of Canada’s Cultural Spaces program, Columbia Basin Trust, Canada Community Building Fund through Columbia Shuswap Regional District and the Resort Municipality Initiative of the Government of British Columbia, all totaling $595,000. Those donations combined with the $63,800 in community donations means the end is in sight, and English said they are looking to start work in the fall.
It’s the first in a list of access projects the museum is taking on, including creating audio files for exhibits, accessible language pamphlets and more. All with the same goal in mind as the access lift project.
“We say in our mandate that we’re a place for all to share and explore the history of the region. But currently, not all can do that. That’s really what we’re addressing, trying to make the museum as barrier free as possible.”
You can donate to the museum in person during museum hours or online through their website.
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