The Galt Museum and Archives was recognized this month for its social responsibility. It was presented with the 2022 Robert R. Janes Award for Social Responsibility at the Alberta Museums Association annual conference.
“We are thrilled to be recognized by our peers with this prestigious award,” said CEO and executive director Darrin Martens. “It validates the work our team has been undertaking for many years and provides us with an opportunity to build on those foundations. We are working hard to create a better community where all feel welcomed, engaged and have the chance to contribute and be acknowledged. Being a socially responsible organization is critical to our success.”
The award was created to support museums that are solving community issues and promoting health and wellbeing. The awards committee said it saw the work of the Galt as community centred and change-making. It comes with a $3,000 contribution to the museum aimed at supporting programs that affect social and environmental change and have the potential to create public benefit on a larger scale.
The committee recognized the museum’s multi-layered approach to public programming with community partners, including relationships with Treaty 7 Nations and the Métis Nation of Alberta. The recent Blackfoot name gifted to the institution, along with the success of the museum’s cooperative approach to curating Indigenous-led initiatives and projects were also credited as being stand-out accomplishments.
