Chairman and Members of Committee of the Whole. Ken Doherty, Manager, Culture & Heritage Division. Report CSCH Canadian Canoe Museum Funding

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TO: FROM: Chairman and Members of Committee of the Whole Ken Doherty, Manager, Culture & Heritage Division MEETING DATE: March 1, 2004 SUBJECT: Report CSCH04-008 Canadian Canoe Museum Funding PURPOSE

1 TO: FROM: Chairman and Members of Committee of the Whole Ken Doherty, Manager, Culture & Heritage Division MEETING DATE: March 1, 2004 SUBJECT: Report CSCH Canadian Canoe Museum Funding PURPOSE A report in support of a request from the Canadian Canoe Museum for $60,000 in operating funding for RECOMMENDATIONS That Council: a) Acknowledge and support the Canadian Canoe Museum as an independent community/ regional museum responsible for a nationally significant collection and as a regional tourism attraction; b) Provide $60,000 from the 2004 contingency fund as operating support for the Canadian Canoe Museum for the current fiscal year; c) Direct City staff to review the impact of City funding support; assess the Museum s progress in meeting its proposed organizational, operational, and financial targets; and prepare a follow-up report on the Museum s on-going operating funding requirements for Council s consideration before the end of the City s 2004 fiscal year; d) Appoint a member of Council to sit on the Museum s Board of Directors;

2 Page 2 e) Encourage the Museum to report through the City s Culture & Heritage Division and invite the Board to have representation on the Culture & Heritage Board; f) Encourage the Museum to approach the County of Peterborough for operational funding; g) Encourage the Museum to develop and maintain on-going involvement and support of local First Nations; h) Encourage the Board to direct any surplus funds resulting from fund-raising or operational efficiencies in 2004 to honour the Museum s financial commitments to creditors; i) Encourage the Board to involve appropriate City staff in the recruitment and selection of the Interim Manager. j) Approve the following terms and conditions, specifically that the Canadian Canoe Museum: i) Proceed with the re-organization of its Board of Directors and governance structure; and the recruitment and selection of new Board members from both the private and public Not For Profit sector and with a broad range of skills and experiences; ii) iii) iv) Conduct appropriate organizational development activities to orient and assist the new Board in its transition to a Professional/ governance-focused Board; Carefully and clearly define the respective roles and responsibilities of the Board and its committees (as a working board), the Interim Manager and other staff, volunteers and members; Develop and maintain a consistent decision-making and approval process for all plans, policies, projects and especially for operating, capital and special project budgets; BUDGET AND FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS In October of 2003, Council approved an expenditure of $50,000 from the 2003 Contingency Fund in response to a written request and subsequent presentation from Bill Lockington on behalf of the Canadian Canoe Museum Board. Success of the enclosed plan is contingent upon immediate and on-going funding support from the City of Peterborough. This request for $60,000 should come from the City s 2004 Contingency Fund and be awarded in two installments. A subsequent report, as identified above, will be used to determine levels of operating support in subsequent years.

3 Page 3 BACKGROUND History of the Canadian Canoe Museum Retired University of Toronto Professor, Kirk Whipper, began collecting canoes in His collection gradually evolved into the Kanawa International Canoe Museum located at Camp Kandalore, near Minden, Ontario. By the end of the 1980 s, Whipper was actively searching for a new home for his collection and there was growing interest in the Peterborough area, which is generally regarded as the birthplace of the modern day canoe. By 1989 a group of people, many of them connected with Trent University, formed a new Board and secured a commitment from the City of Peterborough and the Otonabee Region Conservation Authority to develop and construct a dedicated canoe museum on former city property along the east shore of Little Lake. An exhibit, featuring selections from the collection, at the Peterborough Centennial Museum & Archives the following summer illustrated the popularity and growing community support for the aspiring museum. The dream of a new museum quickly gained momentum. Commonwealth Historic Management Ltd. & Lord Cultural Resources Management Inc. were hired in 1992 to conduct a feasibility study for the proposed development with the $35,000 in funding coming from both the federal and provincial government. The 270-page report recommended a phased development at the 4- acre site, beginning with a relatively modest interpretation center at an estimated cost of $8 million. (In hindsight, many of the projections and recommendations were valid and realistic.) The Board began fund-raising accordingly. Shortly thereafter, Whipper transferred control and ownership of his collection to the Canadian Canoe Museum. The project took a huge leap forward in July of 1995 when Outboard Marine Corporation announced that it was donating 6 acres of land and 8100 square meters (90,000 square feet) of its former industrial plant along Romaine Street (and later the former corporate headquarters as well) as the new home for the museum. Shortly thereafter, the oldest part of the OMC building dating to 1917 was demolished to make room for parking. Plans began in earnest to transform the former factory into a suitable home and showcase for the collection. Under Dawn McColl s guidance (as the first paid full-time staff member), the collection was gathered from storage areas throughout the region and transferred to its new home in May of The pace of development quickened. The Board launched a $7 million campaign in January They hired Bill Byrick, former Manager of Ste. Marie Among the Hurons, as the Museum s first Director late that spring. On July 1 st, 1997, The Canadian Canoe Museum officially opened with its first exhibit: Museum in the Making, developed with support from the Royal Ontario Museum, Ste. Marie Among the Hurons, Peterborough Centennial Museum & Archives, and the Museum Management & Curatorship/ Collection Conservation and Management Programs from Sir Sandford Fleming College. Thanks to O.M.C. s generosity, this new Museum featured: 10,000 square feet of exhibition space, 40,000 square feet of office space, and 100,000 square feet of storage, well in excess of the initial phase of the Interpretive Centre envisioned in the original feasibility study.

4 Page 4 Fund-raising continued. By the spring of 1997, the Board had raised $1 million of the $7 million dollar target. They approached the City to see if the Canoe Museum could be included in any anticipated cost-sharing infrastructure programs provided they raised the Municipality s share. It was later determined that the Canoe Museum was ineligible for consideration as a project. The following year saw a $100,000 donation from the Lions Club and an additional retroactive tax break from the City for the former O.M.C. headquarters. Interest in the Canoe Museum continued to grow. By April 30 th, 1998, the Museum announced that over 10,000 had visited the museum since its official opening. Later that year, the Board dedicated one of their buildings the Garfield Weston National Heritage Centre in recognition of donor support. By the end of 1999, the museum had attracted 25,000 visitors during the year, a 61% increase over 1998 s statistics. Part of the success was attributed to the growing profile but also to the recent acquisition and installation of a century-old trading post donated by the Hudson Bay Company. In April of 1999, the Museum announced yet another coup when they unveiled their $3.2 million national millennium project The Canoe: A Canadian Icon, including a new 15,000 square foot exhibit. The $1.058 million contribution from the federal Canada Millennium Partnership Program was seen as the largest single community-based grant in the country committed up to that time. By June 1999, the Museum was operating with a $200,000 operating budget and four full-time staff. For the next two years all of their energy would be directed to the development of the new exhibits and programs. On March 30, 2001, The Canoe: A Canadian Experience officially opened with nine new galleries in the former O.M.C. headquarters to rave reviews. This milestone must be credited to: Kirk Whipper, the original founder; Jack Matthews, John Jennings, Les Groombridge, Jon Grant, Don Curtis, and all the board members to date; to the core staff team, especially Bill Byrick, Dawn McColl, Brittany Cadence, Susan Ramey, Jeremy Ward, and John Stevenson; and to the hundreds of volunteers and members. This success fueled more development. In June of 2002, the Museum Board announced a new multi-million dollar fund-raising campaign to build an Outdoor Learning Centre to link the Exhibition area to the reserve collection storage building. This project enabled them to secure $600,000 from the provincial Ministry of Natural Resource s Living Legacy Fund and $500,000 from the Department of Canadian Heritage s Cultural Spaces Program. By the end of the year, the Canadian Canoe Museum had attracted almost 40,000 visitors. But then things started to unravel. Bill Byrick, the Museum s first Director, left to take over the Athletics Department at Trent. His replacement, former Marketing and Communications Coordinator, Brittany Cadence, was appointed in October of 2002 but resigned before her first anniversary. The Board then appointed Lynn Hill, a local Financial Manager, as Executive Director. Lynn started on August 18, 2003 and within two short months convinced the Board that the Canadian Canoe Museum was facing bankruptcy as a result of declining tourism, sagging attendance and cash flow challenges. At 5:00 p.m., October 15th, 2003 the Canadian Canoe Museum closed its doors and shortly thereafter approached the City with a request for $50,000 to

5 Page 5 help with insurance costs and to hire a consultant to assist with restructuring. The accompanying request reflects the results of that work. Analysis: The preceding is not a definitive history of the Canadian Canoe Museum. While there may be some slight inaccuracies in terms of dates and financial commitments, a strong pattern still emerges to explain the Museum s current challenges. In hindsight, it would appear that: i) The Canadian Canoe Museum grew too big too fast; ii) While successful in attracting an enviable level of capital, foundation, corporate and special project funding support, the museum was never able to obtain secure and sustainable operating funding; iii) the Board disregarded many of the findings and recommendations from the 1993 Feasibility Study; iv) the Board, in particular, was too caught up in the dream of what the museum could or might become, setting the stage for unrealistic expectations and/or conflicting agendas. City Support to date: The City of Peterborough has been supporting the Canadian Canoe Museum since the museum moved to the Peterborough area in Early that year council approved a motion for the Kanawa Canoe Museum Board to construct a museum on the city-owned Johnston Property along the east shore of Little Lake. In support of discussions for the Museum to permanently locate on the former Outboard Marine Corporation site, City Council agreed to acknowledge the original warehouse at 575 Romaine Street as a Municipal Capital Facility in the fall of 1995 in order to waive the industrial property taxes. This exemption was extended to include the former O.M.C. office at 910 Monaghan in 1998, resulting in a total annual tax break of approximately $107,304 (2003). Shortly after the museum closed its doors in the fall of 2003, City Council agreed to a request from the Canoe Museum Board to provide $50,000 from the 2003 Contingency to help cover the cost of insuring the collection and to engage the services an external insolvency and restructuring consultant. Paul Casey and his associate Kim McLeod, of Kroll Restructuring Ltd., have been working with the Museum s Board of Directors since then to assess the situation and develop the recovery plan presented here for consideration.

6 Page 6 IN SUPPORT OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS Museum Scope There is no question that the Canadian Canoe Museum s collection is nationally--if not internationally significant. This, however, does not guarantee federal operating support. Currently, there are no on-going federal operating grant programs for museums in Canada, with the exception of funding provided to departmental agencies like the National Archives of Canada and the National Library of Canada; or to Crown Corporations like: the Canada Science and Technology Museum Corporation, the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the Canadian Museum of Nature, and the National Gallery of Canada all of which are located in the National Capital Region. There are, however, on-going special project and capital funding programs, most notably through the Department of Canadian Heritage s Museums Assistance Program (M.A.P.), and Cultural Spaces Program, that the Museum can and has used to access funding. Much the same pattern exists at the provincial level. The Ministry of Culture provides direct operating funding support to a number of agencies, boards, and commissions like: the Art Gallery of Ontario, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Ontario Science Centre, Royal Ontario Museum and Science North. But, in recent years, the province has been divesting its interests and funding support in museological institutions like the former Agricultural Museum in Milton. Unlike the federal government, however, the Province does provide operating funds to qualified museums through the Ministry of Culture s Community Museum Operating Grant Program (C.M.O.G.). The Canoe Museum met the eligibility requirements by the late 1990 s and has received an annual C.M.O.G. grant of approximately $35,000 per year based on fulltime operation. It should be noted that the funding level is determined as a percentage of the previous year s actuals. With the Museum Closure after the third quarter of 2003 and with the proposed seasonal operation, the Canadian Canoe Museum can expect a substantially reduced amount in 2004, probably less than $20,000. This leaves the issue of Municipal funding support. Statistics from the annual C.M.O.G. applications show that Ontario municipalities own/ operate 64% of the approximately 185 community museums in the program and provide 70% of the funding to those institutions. They also provide 20-27% of the funding for the balance of the museums in the program. Level of Funding The author of this report agrees with the total amounts indicated i.e. total receipts of $578,500 but suggests some reallocations: eliminate the federal operating funds because there is no program; reduce the provincial amount to $20,000; keep the City contribution at $60,000 but reflect a possible challenge to the County in the amount of $30,000. Discussions with former Directors Bill Byrick and Lynn Hill suggest that admissions, memberships and stores sales could be increased to offset the decreased level of funding support. Discussions with Kim McLeod, from Kroll Restructuring Ltd., suggest that the current fund-raising and membership targets are on track and could exceed projections.

7 Page 7 Follow-up Report The Canadian Canoe Museum needs to get up and running again as soon as possible. A followup report based on the seasonal operation will provide a strong indication of the Museum s ongoing viability under the new governance structure and more realistic expectations. While the initial fund-raising target will work for this year, this level is probably not sustainable over the long-term. There will probably be a need for a higher level of operating funds from the City of Peterborough over the next several years until the operation stabilizes. This funding, however, should not be at the expense of the City s existing commitments. Council Appointee The City has a vested interest in ensuring the Museum s success. Having a member of Council on the Canoe Museum Board will enhance communications and ensure accountability for the taxpayer s investment in the operation. Culture & Heritage This recommendation will recognize and nurture the on-going long-term relationship between the Canoe Museum and the City s Culture & Heritage Division by encouraging sharing of resources, information and ideas. The seat on the Culture and Heritage Board will provide a consistent vehicle for two way communication, cooperation, and coordination among the City s leading arts, culture, and heritage organizations and institutions. A similar condition was imposed on Showplace Peterborough several years ago when it applied for operating funds from the City and it has proved mutually beneficial. County Funding It can and should be argued that the entire region has a vested interest in the activities and fate of the Canadian Canoe Museum. Local First Nations plied their craft throughout the area. In later years, the canoe/ boat building industry that evolved from their invention flourished throughout the County, most notably along the shores of the Otonabee River in and around Peterborough, but also in Lakefield and along the shores of Rice Lake. It should be noted that the County of Peterborough owns and operates Lang Pioneer Village as the County s community museum. First Nations Involvement Since the Museum s primary existence and over half of its collection revolves around First Nations / Innu inventions like the canoe and kayak, local First Nations, at the very least, should be involved in the Canadian Canoe Museum in a significant way, like formal representation on the Board of Directors, paid full-time staff etc.. If they had had more ownership and involvement, especially in the early stages of the Museum s development, there could well have been more federal funding available, especially since Aboriginal Museum Development has been a priority of the Museums Assistance Program for the past decade. Meaningful involvement could also provide more access to lottery-based funding. Commitment to Creditors This proposal is predicated on convincing creditors to accept a fraction of what they are owed and for this to be settled before the museum re-opens. But, this creates a potential chicken versus the egg scenario. If the creditors don t accept the offer, the museum can t reopen. If the museum doesn t re-open, then the most the creditors can expect is what is offered.

8 Page 8 Reorganization There has been the perception, whether real or imagined, that the Museum Board was accountable only to itself. The proposed restructuring to make the Board accountable to the membership is a move in the right direction, provided the Board does not lose sight of the fact that as a public institution receiving public funds, it must also remain accountable to the broader taxpayer. It bears repeating that the Canadian Canoe Museum is not a private museum but rather an independent Not For Profit museum that is also recognized as a registered charity. Board Development Since the Canadian Canoe Museum has only existed for little more than a decade, it is not surprising that the Board still reflects some of the traits of a Founding Board, usually characterized by the intense activity of planning, fund-raising for construction, and subsequently paying for and operating the facility. In this pattern of board development, Board members are committed and expend great energy on behalf of the organization but there is usually little distinction made between the governance, management and administration of the new organization. Typically in board development-- especially after staff is hired-- the Founding Board moves into one of four other patterns: Busy Board (where everyone is caught up in the frenzy of making it happen but without plans and policies, the organization keeps spinning its wheels ); Following Board (where the organization follows the dictates of one person, either the founder or a strong senior staff person; and board activity becomes little more than rubber stamping ); Controlling Board (where the Board controls virtually every aspect of the organization) or the Integrated Board (which is policy and plan driven, with a clear distinction between Board and staff responsibilities). (Adapted from Board Development Learner Manual: Voluntary Sector Leadership: Access Network, 1988) It is challenging to peg where the Canoe Museum Board is at this point because it reflects some of the characteristics of several patterns. It is safe to say, however, that the Board of Directors is in transition and should continue to work toward becoming an Integrated Board, which is the most stable, productive, and harmonious of the five patterns. Roles and Responsibilities In an organization that must rely on a working board to carry out some of the operational activities typically conducted by paid staff or volunteers, it is essential that there be a clear separation of roles and responsibilities between the Board, paid staff, volunteer/ unpaid staff, and the membership, reflected in actual job descriptions. Decision-making Process Maintaining a balance between the principle management functions of planning and controlling is the key to a successful operation. The Canoe Museum Board must establish and maintain clear, consistent, and transparent chain of command and authority levels throughout the organization. Board members, staff, and volunteers must know whom they are accountable to and how much authority they have to make decisions relating to mandate, projects, collection acquisition and use, and approval of expenditure/ authorization to purchase.

9 Page 9 Selection of Interim Manager Since the City has an increasing vested interest in the successful operation of the Canadian Canoe Museum, it is not inappropriate to encourage the Canoe Museum Board to involve staff from the Culture & Heritage Division and/or from the City s Human Resources Department in the recruitment and selection of the Interim Manager. SUMMARY In just over a decade, the Canadian Canoe Museum has become a leading tourism attraction and an essential element of the local and regional arts, culture, and heritage sector. Its endearing and enduring symbol of the canoe reflects the proud heritage of Canada s First Nations, and our own local boat building industry. Like the Lift Lock, Market Hall Clock Tower, and the Petes, the Canadian Canoe Museum has become synonymous with our community s identity. It is hoped that in the fullness of time, this challenge will be seen as a reality check, as a hiccup, or as a growing pain in the Canoe Museum s evolution. Subject to the terms and conditions outlined above, the City of Peterborough should continue to support the Canadian Canoe Museum. All of which is respectfully submitted, Ken Doherty Manager, Culture & Heritage Division Contact Name: Ken Doherty, Manager, Culture & Heritage Division Phone Ext. 390 Fax kdoherty@city.peterborough.on.ca Enclosures:

KAMLOOPS CANOE AND KAYAK CLUB: A STRATEGIC PLAN AND BUSINESS MODEL FOR 2012 TO 2016

KAMLOOPS CANOE AND KAYAK CLUB: A STRATEGIC PLAN AND BUSINESS MODEL FOR 2012 TO 2016 Policy: The Kamloops Canoe and Kayak Club is a registered non-profit society (S-0026104) with a Board of Directors committed