Avon River Heritage Society
Our Vision and Values
Our vision is for a sustainable and just community built from understanding cultural and historical interactions among people, river and land and working through partnerships and collaboration in our community.
Our Values:
Our Values:
- Diversity and inclusivity; We believe the ARHS must represent and engage with the diversity of people and groups represented in the history of our community.
- Innovation and improvement; We value the ability to respond to new opportunities that will advance the interests of our community. We embrace challenging assumptions and considering new approaches. We seek to provide progressive and inspiring resources and services for our community.
- Community Collaboration; Our work is improved by meaningful collaboration and partnerships. We value the pursuit of new relationships and new models of collaboration.
Our Mission
Our mission is to engage and inspire our community and beyond through preserving, sharing, and celebrating Avon River area stories, heritage, arts, culture, ecology, and interrelationships among all peoples of this area and their environment.
Our Mandate
Working in partnership with community, supporters, and other museums the mandate of the ARHS is to:
- preserve and promote the history of people of the Avon River area (Mi’kmaq, Acadian, New England Planter, African Nova Scotian, etc.)
- preserve and promote the history of wooden boat and ship-building in the area
- sustain a vital gathering place for community residents and visitors to explore history and take part in art and cultural activities
- make known the links between local ecology and cultural heritage
- host demonstrations by artisans who work in historical and contemporary trades, crafts, and art forms
- provide a centre of research
Board of Directors 2021
Kim Lake, President
Dawn Allen, Vice President
Mallory Ross, Secretary/Treasurer
Carolyn van Gurp, Curator
Allen Shaw, director
Sarah Beanlands, director
Darlene Felix, director
Ken Greer, Full Circle Festival representative
Nicholas Hughes, Full Circle Festival representative
Wayne Young, director
Ross MacFarlane, director
Sean Coutinho, director
Hugh MacNeil, honourary director
Ralph Lyons, honourary director
Unfortunately our facility will be closed to the public for the 2020 season and all of our regular events have been postponed to 2021. As we navigate through this new chapter we will be making the most of the situation. Over the next few months we will be dedicating time towards making our museum and gift shops' entire collection accessible online. As the warmer months approach we look forward to sharing some of our other ongoing community projects via social media, follow along with us as we adapt and grow! facebook.com/AvonRiverHeritage
Come dream with us - planning retreat for Avon River Heritage
The next two Saturdays we welcome interested volunteers, community members and collaborating partners to join us as we map out what the next five years could look like for the society and our facility in Avondale.
Covering a number of important areas and topics, we will look at our site as a whole and determine the best moves to make as we navigate our way through the pandemic and continue on with the incredibly positive momentum we've built up over the last several years.
If you are interested in participating in the whole weekend or certain sections, please respond to this email and I will be sure to save you a spot, as space is somewhat limited. Please share this invite with anyone who you think would be interested in these planning sessions.
Cheers,
Tacha
November 21st, 11am - 3pm
Section one, 11 am
- Review our Mandate and Mission and past strategic plan
- Review board positions and volunteer committees
- Review CMAP audit for 2019; our strengths and areas we need to continue to improve
- Review current interpretive plan and identify potential new areas worth exploring further
Section two, 111:45 am
- Review Accelerated Market Readiness report; our strengths and areas we need to continue to improve
- Review branding and the name of our facility
Break for lunch, 12:30 pm
Section three, 1pm
- Revenue generation and funding; explore ideas to increase/improve revenue streams and target grants to pursue immediately and in the near future
- Identify people/groups who could be involved in revenue generating collaborations (invite to next session)
Section four, 2pm
- Review Climate Mitigation presentation held Nov 12th, hosted by the Municipality
- Nominate a committee to manage this project
- Identify a list of priorities and construct a timeline for upgrades and improvements to our facility and the berm
November 28th, 11am - 3pm
Section one, 11 am
- answer the question "What if?" exploring various scenarios of how we could reorganize our facility and business model to better serve our community and accommodate the new exhibits identified in session one, keeping COVID restrictions in mind
Section two, 11:45 am
- Brainstorm with collaborators ways to create new experiences, programming or educational opportunities for community members and visitors. Create quick budgets and timelines and potential sources of funding to determine which ideas will result in the best ROI
Break for lunch, 12:30 pm
Section three, 1 pm
- Construct a timeline of goals for next 5 years based on information collected during planning retreat, creating a rough draft of our new strategic plan for 2021-2026
- Address any new questions or pressing issues that have been identified during this process, but not yet covered
Dawn Allen, Vice President
Mallory Ross, Secretary/Treasurer
Carolyn van Gurp, Curator
Allen Shaw, director
Sarah Beanlands, director
Darlene Felix, director
Ken Greer, Full Circle Festival representative
Nicholas Hughes, Full Circle Festival representative
Wayne Young, director
Ross MacFarlane, director
Sean Coutinho, director
Hugh MacNeil, honourary director
Ralph Lyons, honourary director
Unfortunately our facility will be closed to the public for the 2020 season and all of our regular events have been postponed to 2021. As we navigate through this new chapter we will be making the most of the situation. Over the next few months we will be dedicating time towards making our museum and gift shops' entire collection accessible online. As the warmer months approach we look forward to sharing some of our other ongoing community projects via social media, follow along with us as we adapt and grow! facebook.com/AvonRiverHeritage
Come dream with us - planning retreat for Avon River Heritage
The next two Saturdays we welcome interested volunteers, community members and collaborating partners to join us as we map out what the next five years could look like for the society and our facility in Avondale.
Covering a number of important areas and topics, we will look at our site as a whole and determine the best moves to make as we navigate our way through the pandemic and continue on with the incredibly positive momentum we've built up over the last several years.
If you are interested in participating in the whole weekend or certain sections, please respond to this email and I will be sure to save you a spot, as space is somewhat limited. Please share this invite with anyone who you think would be interested in these planning sessions.
Cheers,
Tacha
November 21st, 11am - 3pm
Section one, 11 am
- Review our Mandate and Mission and past strategic plan
- Review board positions and volunteer committees
- Review CMAP audit for 2019; our strengths and areas we need to continue to improve
- Review current interpretive plan and identify potential new areas worth exploring further
Section two, 111:45 am
- Review Accelerated Market Readiness report; our strengths and areas we need to continue to improve
- Review branding and the name of our facility
Break for lunch, 12:30 pm
Section three, 1pm
- Revenue generation and funding; explore ideas to increase/improve revenue streams and target grants to pursue immediately and in the near future
- Identify people/groups who could be involved in revenue generating collaborations (invite to next session)
Section four, 2pm
- Review Climate Mitigation presentation held Nov 12th, hosted by the Municipality
- Nominate a committee to manage this project
- Identify a list of priorities and construct a timeline for upgrades and improvements to our facility and the berm
November 28th, 11am - 3pm
Section one, 11 am
- answer the question "What if?" exploring various scenarios of how we could reorganize our facility and business model to better serve our community and accommodate the new exhibits identified in session one, keeping COVID restrictions in mind
Section two, 11:45 am
- Brainstorm with collaborators ways to create new experiences, programming or educational opportunities for community members and visitors. Create quick budgets and timelines and potential sources of funding to determine which ideas will result in the best ROI
Break for lunch, 12:30 pm
Section three, 1 pm
- Construct a timeline of goals for next 5 years based on information collected during planning retreat, creating a rough draft of our new strategic plan for 2021-2026
- Address any new questions or pressing issues that have been identified during this process, but not yet covered