[BCMA] Retirement After 28 Years

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[cid:image002.jpg at 01DB4FD5.999097A0]Executive Director Louise Avery Retires from the
Kitimat Museum & Archives after 28 Years
The Board of Directors for the Kitimat Museum & Archives announces the retirement of Executive Director Louise Avery and thanks her gratefully for her valuable and long-standing service.  Board Chair Katherine Johnsen identifies Louise's ongoing perseverance, creativity and commitment.  "Her respectful advocacy and professionalism on behalf of the Kitimat Museum has been exceptional."
In 1996, the Museum needed direction.  Louise stepped in to take on the work, organizing staff roles and responsibilities, collections, and programming.  Given her leadership, the Museum in 2024 is much different from 28 years ago.  It welcomes over 8,000 visitors annually and runs a successful suite of annual children's and school programs, and exhibitions in visual arts, community and natural history.
Over the years, Louise has worked tirelessly to build capacity in staffing.  Museum staff now includes one additional full-time position and one part-time position in Collections & Programming.  Consistent programs, staffing, and financial stability have made the facility operations successful.  Organization of the Museum's spaces have seen the introduction of a computerized network with online collections, new permanent exhibitions telling the story of the Kitimat-Kemano Power Project, smelter and town, and Haisla cultural heritage and Territory.  Several of her projects can now be found online at www.kitimatmuseum.ca<http://www.kitimatmuseum.ca>
Louise has a passion for museums in service to communities they seek to serve.  She advocated for the Museum with the District of Kitimat, and created new partnerships and liaisons with businesses, industry, and local NGOs.  She enjoyed working with local non-profit organizations and served on several Boards including Kitimat Arts for Youth, Kitimat Community Foundation, Kitimat Multicultural Society, Kitimat Community Development Centre, and the BC Museums Association (BCMA), Awards Committee.  Today she serves on the BCMA Advocacy Committee.  She is one of fifty individuals to receive the Golden Service Award from the BCMA for her years of service to BC Museums and her Association.
Louise advocated for reconciliation with the Haisla Nation through continuing work on programming and collections and listening to community members and representatives.  The Memorandum of Understanding for the Haisla Photograph Image Collection was signed by the Haisla Nation Council (HNC) and the Museum Board in 2018.  Today, three Haisla community members have a seat on the Museum Board.  The Haisla heritage collection is now rehoused in new exhibition cases with nine interpretive panels of cultural information.  Another case for cultural heritage artifacts has been added at the Museum entrance.  This summer, the Haisla Artists exhibition featured twenty-five artists.  The exhibition booklet is the newest Museum publication.
Advocacy can sometimes be tough, but Louise continued with tenacity.  In 2018, Louise was tasked by the Museum Board to explore a shared facility with the Haisla Nation.  In these last years, she has accessed funding for the Strategic Plan and for the Feasibility Study, then worked with CEDI - Community Economic Development Initiative between Haisla Nation Council and District of Kitimat - to explore the possibility of two governments funding a shared museum facility.  The idea is before the two governments now.
Katherine Johson states, "I have observed Louise Avery's dedication, her leadership and her ongoing passion and vision for preserving and sharing local history and culture.  She has been instrumental in creating strong relationships and community connections that foster learning, engagement, pride and celebration about our community through our museum."
Louise shared that she would miss museum conversations the most.  She will continue to call Kitimat home and hopes to join the planning team for a new museum for Kitimat.  "Museum work has been my passion for so long, it is hard to give it up."  The search for the next Executive Director is now underway.

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