Director of Cultural Services Updated County Council on Strategic Plans for the Museum, Historic Gaol and Cultural Services Last Week

by Bob Montgomery

Huron County Cultural Services Director Beth Rumble brought county council up to date on their ongoing strategic plans for the Museum, Historic Gaol and Cultural Services at last week's council meeting.

Rumble says the plans were developed separately, and there were several years right in the middle of those plans that created problems, but they were able to adjust and she was very proud of what they were able to achieve.

In the Museum Strategic Plan one of their goals was to engage with youth by encouraging an interest in heritage and culture, and they have seen an increase in the number of class visits. Part of the reason for the increase is the help from Compass Minerals in providing the cost of busing students to the Museum or the Gaol.

Rumble says they've also been able to get young people engaged by taking them to various events and festivals, most recently the Exeter 150th, and Brussels also had an anniversary. Being able to attend those events and bring in artifacts that reflect those different regions of Huron County was a success.

The Cultural Plan was approved early in 2020 so a lot of what they were hoping to do was impacted by COVID, and staff re-deployment, but they were still able to move a lot of work forward. Rumble explains, because of their partnerships, even when there wasn't staff working specifically on the Cultural part of it, the Museum was doing work, and the Library was doing work, and projects were being moved forward, and she credits their partnerships for that.

Rumble says some of their events had to be virtual for a couple of years, but they're back now. Events like the Multi-Cultural event had to be cancelled, but it's back. She says Economic Development helped them improve communication with events happening on their Central Events Calendar. The Heritage Round Table was something they started just ahead of COVID, and they've restarted it now. She says it's a great asset to the community, and it brings groups together from across the county that have a common interest in Heritage.

Rumble added, COVID definitely presented some challenges but with a lot of cooperation and flexibility among staff they were able to get through it and are essentially back to normal now.