“We’ve always been such a good resource for our community and for the educators, and we don’t want to lose that aspect of being the resource,” said Sharon Morin, program manager for Musée Héritage Museum.
Morin says many teachers are able to relax and take a break when they come into her space.
“I’m hoping that we can kind of do that in the same sense,” said Morin, “where the kids are really focused in on what they’re doing and the teacher can sit back a little bit and maybe have a little bit of a breath and take some time for themselves throughout the day – because I know it’s a lot more for them and what they’re taking on.”
The museum and heritage portion of AHF has tailored its classroom programs to 45 minutes instead of one and a half hours. They’ve also been able to reach a virtual audience through their social media and blog posts. Morin says they started in June and July with Museum Moments, weekly online talks accompanied by blog posts and virtual activities.
“Early on with COVID, we had all started figuring out: ‘What can we do from home?’” explained Shannon Vance, program manager for the Art Gallery of St. Albert.
The Art Nook is one aspect of the St. Albert Art Gallery visitors can usually experience in person, but with the rise of COVID-19, Vance said they began developing an at-home variation to engage the public with art using materials found in the household.
“We were creating just little step-by-step processes for working with coloured pencils or felt pens or printmaking that you can do from home,” said Vance.
Art Nook at Home incorporates follow-along videos that can be found on the Art Gallery of St. Albert’s Facebook page.
While field trips have become challenging for online classrooms, programs at AHF have helped to spark some excitement when virtual learning grows dull.
University of Alberta graduate Erica Gonzalez explained Morin wanted to find ways to bring artifacts to classrooms despite not being able to travel to different schools during the pandemic.
Gonzalez worked with the Musée Héritage Museum this summer to make online educational resources like artifacts available to the public. Part of that work entailed photographing museum objects in order to create online 3D models. The museum began experimenting with a program that creates 3D product renderings.
“At first, we didn’t really know what we could do with it, so we gathered some artifacts that were used in some of the programs and we made an attempt at it,” said Gonzalez. She said the process is now going quite well.
Gonzalez shared her thoughts on the digitization of museums in the current age.
“On one hand, I think it really helps on a global scale for different museums having different reaches and it helps provide people who wouldn’t regularly have access to these artifacts see them,” said Gonzalez. “I’m kind of a stickler to having the experience of holding an artifact and physically feeling it – it’s invaluable in a way.”
Vance said digitizing the foundation's programs help offer multiple ways for people to engage.
“All galleries and museums are moving forward in this trajectory of digital, but also wanting to retain that comfy space,” Vance said. “We’re still here, you come in with masks on, but if you’re not comfortable you can also stay at home.”
