Culture has become an important part of keeping Humboldt vibrant.
Which is why the city created the Cultural Services Department in 2015 to keep Humboldt culture and history alive.
The need for cultural services to be their own department came from the Our Humboldt cultural place, says Director of Cultural Services, Jennifer Hoesgen.
“(It) looks at how the city is creative, what that means to the city, and that’s where we take our direction from.”
Cultural Services run three sites, the museum and gallery and the Original Humboldt site west of Humboldt.
The entire collection of the museum is a total of 18,000 objects, which runs in size from a mother of pearl button from the late 1800s to archival documents and fabrics to a printing press or Red River cart, says Hoesgen.
“Part of our job is to make sure that collection, which is held in public trust, is here in 100 years or 200 years.”
There is a committee involved with sifting through the 300 objects that the museum receives in a year to see what is appropriate for the museum to take.
If the item does not relate directly to Humboldt, there are other places the item can be collected.
“We’re collecting stories of Humboldt and the district.” Says Hoesgen.
Managing the collection includes preserving the items, which is a different process for each item.
“You keep a piece of glass differently than you keep a newspaper article, than you keep a wedding dress from the 1880s.”
Adding to the collection is not only about collecting pieces that are over 100 years old but also the pieces that are happening now.
“(Staff) is on the bit, collecting the documentations right off the bat.” Says Cultural Services Board chair, Carol Oleksyn.
Hoesgen says they would give their eye teeth to get those pieces from previous events that happened more recently, like events that happened in the ‘70s. Collecting pieces from events that happen now ensure that they are just as
preserved as the things from 100 years ago.
“History is yesterday. People think they can’t give it to us because it’s only from the ‘70s. We want that material now.”
Part of their collection is the Humboldt and District Sports Hall of Fame inductees collection, which is on display in the Uniplex conference area.
The Hall of Fame has been inducting people for a long time and the museum has copies of all their inductees.
When it came time that the Hall of Fame wanted a place to house items on the inductees, the museum stepped up and made that part of their collection.
This is a good partnership, says Hoesgen.
“We help them with tasks, like when they’re doing their banquet but they work on their own...if someone comes in and says we want to donate this, and we don’t have a lot of information about them, we consult with them and say, ‘is this important to the sports history of Humboldt and we take those recommendations.”
The Museum and Gallery have a lot of support from within the community, with board members always looking for new items for the collection, the Museum Foundation gathering capital for projects, including the renovations of the Gallery before it reopened in January of 2014, and the Friends of the Museum who do project based funding.
“They take the funds raised and reinvest them all into arts and cultural programing, both at the museum and the gallery.”
The Original Humboldt site is 80 acres of land that is managed by a board that reports to the department.
Managing the natural environment, traffic, archeological digs, and visual exhibits are all things to consider when managing the Original Humboldt site.
In partnership with the Organization of Saskatchewan Arts Councils, the museum and gallery bring in tours from all across the province from big named Saskatchewan artists that may only appear in Regina or Saskatoon galleries.
“They can access those art exhibits, we can show them. It’s just a really good partnership.” Says Hoesgen.
Local visitors can have good access to exhibits this way, says Hoesgen.
As well as bringing in these big names, the museum and gallery staff work with artists who are just starting out on creating portfolios and shows.
The museum has a sub-committee of artists helping them select from submissions which is a really important connection to the local artist community and the staff.
More recently, Cultural Services has started working with the Business Improvement District to keep the downtown vibrant.
“It’s not like it needs to be revitalized. That assumes that there is nothing going on but we’ve done a lot of great work and what do we want to do going forward.”
Along with these three major sites, the department is also responsible for other artistic projects all across the city. Mural projects, including the Canada 150 Mural that is coming up this summer, culture days, the Water Tower, artist openings, are just some of the other things that Cultural Services works on to keep culture and art going in Humboldt.
“The staff just does so much work,” says Oleksyn.
Keeping Humboldt creative is also up to the residents.
Hoesgen says that the museum and gallery is always open to new ideas of events and programs people want to see in Humboldt.
See parts 1-5 by clicking the links: Mayoral Duties, Communications, Corporate Services, Public Works and Leisure Services
