IT was yet another record-breaking year for the Whistler Museum and Archives (WMA) in 2018.
"We had 12,858 people come through the exhibit," said Bradley Nichols, the WMA's executive director and curator, in a presentation to council on March 26.
"It was the busiest year in the museum on record for the fourth year in a row."
Nichols was on hand for the meeting—along with representatives from Arts Whistler, the Whistler Chamber of Commerce and Whistler Animals Galore—to report on how the Resort Municipality of Whistler's (RMOW) Fee-for-Service (FFS) funding benefited the organization last year.
The $175,099 the museum got from the municipality in 2018 (which will rise to $178,601 in 2019 and $182,173 in 2020, pending budget approval) was instrumental in maintaining its core staff of three, Nichols said.
"That funding is really important, as those key members were able to then access other funds and get other grants," Nichols said, adding that being able to retain experienced staff also helps attract interns.
Working back-of-house with the museum's archives and collection (about 96 per cent of which is now catalogued) takes up the majority of staff time, Nichols said, but 2018 was another big year for museum programming as well.
The Discover Nature program at Lost Lake Park saw about 6,500 interactions, while offerings such as the museum's Speaker Series and historical walking tours also remain popular.
The museum is continuing its search for a permanent home in 2019, but there are no real updates on that front.
"There has been talks with the RMOW, but nothing has been finalized yet," Nichols said after the meeting.
The museum has been in its current location—a temporary facility consisting of four joined trailers tucked behind the Whistler Public Library—since 2009.
Last year, the WMA board revealed it is eyeing Lot 21, a plot of land in Florence Petersen Park next to the Whistler Public Library, for the museum's new home (see Pique, May 8, 2018, "Whistler Museum targets lot 21 for new building.")
Arts Whistler
At $656,569 in 2018, ($669,701 in 2019, $683,095 in 2019) Arts Whistler makes up the biggest chunk of the FFS pie—but it also has a massive impact, said executive director Mo Douglas.
"Part of the challenge with the arts (is) it does tend to need public subsidy, but it has a really great multiplier impact in the community economy—about $3.20 for every dollar spent on arts goes back into the community," Douglas said in her presentation.
"It's much more of an economic driver than people realize ... but when you think about your own experience, when you engage (with the arts), yeah, that makes sense. We often go to dinner, then we go to the show, then we go do something else or whatever it might be.
"So it definitely means people are out there experiencing other things beyond just the arts, and that comes out of their wallet a bit, too."
Of the money received in 2018, $100,000 went to marketing and promotions, $250,000 to the operations of the Maury Young Arts Centre, $256,569 to programming and events and $50,000 to administration.
"Since that amazing Canadian Heritage grant we got a few years ago of half-a-million dollars, we've managed to carry on a lot of our more sophisticated and fulsome marketing programs—things like Arts Scene, our website, which is a portal to all arts, culture and heritage here in Whistler, (and) lots of social media with incredible growth every year," Douglas said.
Arts Whistler has always done fundraising in the past, Douglas said, but has found it gets a better return-on-investment through grant writing and corporate sponsorships.
"We applied for employment diversification and resilience for arts professionals (through the BC Rural Dividend Fund), and we just got $80,000 for this project—that's going to help put artists to work through a variety of means," Douglas said.
"So the more we dig, the more we find these (grants), and some are tougher to get than others, but it also was an example for us of, 'You never know.' So that's where a lot of our energy goes, because it's more lucrative, we find, than traditional fundraising."
WHISTLER ANIMALS GALORE
At Whistler Animals Galore (WAG), the $84,897 received in 2018 ($86,595 in 2019, $88,326 in 2020) went to three different areas: bylaw, impound and lost-and-found services ($27,000), rescuing and rehoming animals ($35,000) and community engagement and education ($22,800).
In 2018, WAG sold 172 dog licenses and dealt with 19 impounded animals and 42 strays (24 were reunited with their families, while 18 were never reclaimed) as well as two RCMP seizures.
"We're an on-call centre for lost and found animals 365 days every year," said WAG's executive director Lindsay Suckling.
"We get about 200 lost-and-found reports per year, and we also provide an emergency shelter for animals that have been temporarily displaced due to emergencies such as fires, floods, owners being injured or ending up in the hospital."
But the "heart and soul" of the work WAG does lies in rescuing and rehoming animals, Suckling said.
"With the funding that you provide, it allows us to have a trained staff member dedicated to adoptions and animal care," she said.
"By going through our adoption program, we are producing more responsible, knowledgeable and committed Whistler dog families, and socialized, trained, sterilized, vaccinated, licensed and healthy animals."
Through its adoption program, WAG placed 134 animals into forever homes in 2018, and provided temporary homes for 180 unwanted, abandoned or abused animals (29 of which were critical-care cases).
"We had two dogs who were shot by arrows, we had a dog who had a broken back, we had multiple broken bones, just to give you an idea of what critical care encompasses, and the time and cost of rehabilitation and aftercare that is involved with that," Suckling said.
"And we're proud to say that we able to fundraise 100 per cent of our critical care costs through fundraising and event campaigns."
WHISTLER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
The Whistler Chamber's $153,875 in 2018 ($156,953 in 2019, $160,092 in 2020) went towards delivering the Whistler Experience program: $66,750 for events, $31,718 for marketing, $28,600 for "tools" and $26,807 for "improved IT."
"FFS funding was applied to cover just shy of 50 per cent of the Whistler Experience program expenses," said Chamber general manager Michelle Ratcliffe. "This allows us to keep costs down for businesses and reach more people throughout the local workforce."
More than 22,000 people have now gone through the Whistler Experience program (which offers customer service training to resort employees), including 3,600 last year alone.
"With FFS funding, we help local businesses recruit, engage and retain the best teams, and as the (RMOW's Economic Partnership Initiative) states, we're developing the next generation of leaders to get us to that vision," Ratcliffe said.
"The primary beneficiaries of the program are the local business owners, and the workforce that drives our visitor economy."
On Feb. 12, council approved an increase to the Whistler Off Road Cycling Association's own Fee-for-Service agreement, to the tune of $120,000 in each of the next two years.
The update to that agreement will bring it in line with the other four, meaning all five will come up for renewal together at the end of 2020.
Find more info at www.whistler.ca/feeforservice.
