Charline Lanteigne listens to the tap, tap, tap of water landing in buckets. It’s not the sound she wants to hear standing in the middle of the Restigouche Gallery in Campbellton.
“The roof is very old and we had water dripping through the hole. Now it’s in the museum,” said Lanteigne, the director and curator of the northern New Brunswick art gallery.
She said the building hasn’t had any major renovations in 26 years, and it’s not alone.
Several museums in the Restigouche region have not been renovated for years, and their managers are maintaining the buildings with limited resources.
Charline Lanteigne said that when it rains heavily at night, she fears the buckets will fill and flood the gallery floor. (Honorine Ngountchoup/CBC)
In the Rural Community of Kedgwick, the Olivier Historical Museum hasn’t been renovated in 22 years. The museum closed in 2020 at the start of the pandemic, but the museum committee remains active.
It opened in 1982 in the old fire hall of Saint-Jean-Baptiste-de-Restigouche before moving to the old post office and finally ending up in the building of a former general store in 2004.
“There’s plumbing, there’s sheet rock, there’s paint [to be done], there’s problems with the foundation near the entrance,” said Burt Paulin, the building’s owner and president of the museum committee.
Jean Robert Haché said that some walls in the basement of the Restigouche Regional Museum had been dismantled many years ago and had not been repaired. (Honorine Ngountchoup/CBC)
The last major upgrade at the Restigouche Regional Museum in Dalhousie was started in 1997 by the province, which dismantled some walls and left them unrepaired.
“Then they closed in 2008, something like that,” said Jean Robert Haché, a councillor in charge of parks, recreation and culture for the Town of Heron Bay, the new municipality which takes in Dalhousie.
Now the museum is encountering issues with the current building. Haché said there are lots of pockets of cold air and the windows are cold for the most part.
“It’s a very large building. It’s very difficult to heat,” said Leslie Savoy, the museum’s executive director.
“We have temperatures going down to –30 C and when it’s that cold it’s difficult to heat.”
On the Acadian Peninsula, Claire Godin is concerned for the state of the Founding Cultures Museum in Grande-Anse.
The electrical at the Founding Cultures Museum needs to be updated, according to Claire Godin, the director of the Grande-Anse museum. (Submitted by Claire Godin)
“We do have a section of our roof that is leaking, we also know that there are certain areas in regards to the electricity that needs to be updated and reviewed,” said the museum’s director.
“We also have external buildings to our main building that need to be restored as well.”
Godin said it’s been about 25 years since “major renovations” were done and their current need is to restore the roof, electricity, plumbing and probably some structural issues as well.
‘That’s kind of what we do is try’
In Kedgwick, the Olivier Historical Museum survived for years with volunteers as well as free rent and power thanks to the building’s owner. Paulin paid around $200 for electricity from his own pocket for a space that he could rent for $600 a month.
He said the only funding for the museum came from donations, which was used to take care of artifacts.
“We gave priority to our artifacts and we had to neglect the building,” Paulin said.
Burt Paulin said three years ago, a project estimate suggested it would take around $15,000 to renovate the space housing the now-closed Olivier Historical Museum in Kedgwick. (Honorine Ngountchoup/CBC)
For over 10 years since the Restigouche Regional Museum in Heron Bay moved into the building of the former provincial courthouse in Dalhousie, renovation work has been carried out in small projects each year. That included upgrades to the drainage system and parking.
“We try to maintain it as best as we can,” said Savoy, who paints the building on a regular basis and cleans the museum “from top to bottom very well.”
“That’s kind of what we do is try to prevent it from further deterioration.”
Leslie Savoy, pictured with Heron Bay town councillor Jean Robert Haché, right, said the idea of modernizing the Restigouche Regional Museum in Dalhousie is a “dream.” (Honorine Ngountchoup/CBC)’It’s going to be hard alone’
In Campbellton, Lanteigne is said the Restigouche Gallery is not only in dire need of building repairs. It has been struggling with space issues for 25 years, she said.
“We had to buy a little [shed] to put our exhibit in there,” she said.
In January 2018, the gallery’s board of directors commissioned a study to enlarge and modernize the building. With money funds by the federal, the province, the municipality and the gallery, the board paid the design firm Groupe Gid $40,000 to draft an expansion plan.
Lanteigne said the proposed renovated space would have 11 rooms for permanent exhibits, one room for the artists, a workshop, a conference hall, a small room for solo exhibit and storage.
“It would cost more than $1 million, for sure, to have what [the firm] had put in the study,” Lanteigne said.
Charline Lanteigne said that the money received from the municipality and government grants is enough for all the bills including electricity, “which has raised to $2,000 a month now,” as well as taxes and her salary. (Honorine Ngountchoup/CBC)
Lanteigne said the investment would be worthwhile.
“They had studies that a museum and outdoor sports and all that is very important for people and seniors,” she said.
Godin in Grande-Anse said she would to conduct a similar study for the Founding Cultures Museum, but there wasn’t enough government funding available.
“There is very little funding available for our structures,” she said.
The museums in Kedgwick and Dalhousie estimate they would need anywhere from $15,000 up to hundreds of thousands of dollars to bring their space up to today’s standards.
Jean-Robert Haché said they would need hundreds of thousands of dollars to bring their space up to today’s standards. (Honorine Ngountchoup)
“It’s going to be hard alone,” said Heron Bay Deputy Mayor Denis McIntyre, who highlighted that the municipalities “have a lot” of work on the go and already paid for the maintenance of the museum building.
“It is going to take a long time.”
McIntyre said it will need provincial, federal and business help.
The vice-president of the Association Heritage New Brunswick said that some museums who are facing “financial strain” organize fundraisers.
“We’re always having to be creative of how we look after these buildings,” Janet Clouston said.
Janet Clouston, the vice-president of the Association Heritage New Brunswick, said the sector “often” works with limited budget. (CBC)
The gallery and museums all charge between $3 and $8 depending on age or whether it is a group visit.
Last year, more that 150,000 people visited around 100 museums and heritage sites in New Brunswick.
“We’re also part of economic development,” said Clouston, mentioning that museums also are spaces for cultural promotion where there are gift shops that sell local products, books written by local authors and more.
Securing funding a challenge for museums
Museum officials say they receive regular operational funding through the province and municipality with the exception of the Olivier museum, which received no funding.
Lanteigne said that the money received from the municipal and provincial grants is enough for all the bills including taxes, her salary and electricity, “which has raised to $2,000 a month now.”
Other funds available at the province are to develop exhibits for promotion and for acquiring and managing the collections.
In terms of federal funding, the museums sometime receive summer student grants, except the Founding Cultures Museum, which received some project-based funding.
Claire Godin said they could perform a major overhaul of her museum if they were able to access the necessary funding. (Submitted by Claire Godin)
“But when it comes to the actual building, it is very difficult to find sufficient funds to be able to do the work that’s needed,” said Godin, who called on the government to “re-examine” funding available for the structural needs.
“Could that be expanded to include just any building that a museum is in to be able to make sure that everything is up to code and functioning and not hazardous?”
Charline Lanteigne said that the Restigouche Gallery in Campbellton hasn’t seen major renovations in 26 years and the building is over 50 years old. (Honorine Ngountchoup/CBC)
The minister of tourism, heritage and culture said it has been about a decade since the grant programs for museums has been revised.
She said all the arts and culture programs were analyzed last year after the consultation tour across New Brunswick.
“This is going to result in an action plan that we’re going to launch really soon,” Isabelle Thériault said.
“We need to be relevant. We need to make sure that the criteria are the good ones, that we have a broad look at what’s happening in the province.”
Isabelle Thériault, the minister for tourism, heritage and culture, said the province is re-analyzing heritage grant programs. (Shane Fowler/CBC News)
The minister said she recognizes that museums work differently, referring to museums that are non-profit and some that are managed by the municipalities.
“We know we have to help them,” said Thériault. “We really want to listen to them and see how we can better support them moving forward.”