Exploration Place needs room to grow

Things are getting crowded at Exploration Place.

CEO Tracey Calogheros says they’re making the most of their current space but sooner or later, something will have to give. She says space becomes an issue for most museums.

“I think it’s a problem for every collecting institution in the world – we only end up with more stuff not less of it so you end up running short of space. This past year we did a project with the Northern Development Initiative Trust and were able to install condensible racking in our collection space in the vault. They came through with $200,000 towards that purchase. That was a very expensive project, up way over $350,00 by the time we finally finished. We absolutely could not have done it without NDIT.”

Calogheros says eventually they’ll need to build more space.

“To do a major building expansion, you’d be up into the millions and I just don’t see that on the horizon at the moment. There’s isn’t that kind of capital funding available. But we are slowly working our way toward having a shovel-ready project so that then when the funding does materialize, we’d be able to jump on it right away.”

Calogheros is grateful for the amount of support Prince George has shown Exploration Place.

“It’s really gratifying to see the community embrace the museum the way they’ve embraced Exploration Place. There aren’t too many museums in Canada that can claim the sort of attendance and support and general goodwill that we’re able to claim.”

While the task of expanding the museum is daunting, Calogheros says solid attendance numbers and an expanding collection are good problems to have.