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Shawnigan Lake Museum gets $1,078,000 for expansion project

Project will triple size of museum
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The Shawnigan Lake Museum will receive more than $1 million in a government grant for its expansion project, which will include an enhanced Kinsol Trestle exhibit. (File photo)

The Shawnigan Lake Museum will receive a government grant of up to $1,078,000 for its expansion project.

The Shawnigan Historical Society said the funding for the expansion, called Project Impact, is from the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program - Rural and Northern Communities Program.

Project Impact is a community supported capital expansion project to triple the size of the Shawnigan Lake Museum from 2,100 sq.ft. to more than 6,000 sq.ft.

“We have been working on the expansion project for over five years,” said executive director Lori Treloar. “We are honoured to be a recipient, and grateful, as we know that this project will greatly impact our community.”

The project will position the museum as the cultural hub of the community; it will grow tourism potential in the area; and it will provide space to invite the community and visitors in for events and workshops led by the storytellers of the community.

The project will result in local spending of more than $2 million on construction materials and labour in the local community, create many new jobs during the construction, and generate new staff positions within the museum post-construction, said a press release on the project.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the museum welcomed more than 4,000 visitors a year, and delivered cultural programming and events for youth, families and adults in the region with a team of up to 75 volunteers who helped to deliver more than 4,000 hour of volunteer service each year.

The society received $480,000 for its expansion project last year from the Government of Canada Legacy Fund – Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program.

That grant celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Historic Kinsol Trestle, which occurred in February, 2020.

Supported in part by this federal funding from the Department of Canadian Heritage, an enhanced Kinsol Trestle exhibit will be an important part of the overall project.