Direct from the Atlas Coal Mine in Drumheller, the Galt Museum and Archives and Fort Whoop-Up has found its new Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director Dr. Sarah Newstead.
It’s been a real whirlwind transition, says Newstead. “I ended my job at the Atlas Coal Mine two Fridays ago and we just bought a house in Lethbridge last week. We closed on the house and I started here.”
“I knew about the Galt quite a bit before I came here. I’ve been involved with the museums community in Alberta for the last seven years or so. The Galt has an excellent reputation in Alberta and within Canada for the programming and its exhibit and community work,” notes Newstead.
One of the exciting things Newstead has found over the last week is when you come to an organization it is often shiny on the outside and you rip off the package and it’s less shiny on the inside. “But the Galt is shinier on the inside. So much of the work the staff have been doing is incredible. They’re doing national-level quality exhibits and community relationship building.”
According to Newstead, Lethbridge is awesome too. “I haven’t spent a lot of time here, but my last week with the trees and the downtown neighbourhood have been great. I think Lethbridge is a hidden gem in Western Canada, as a city to come to and live.”
Newstead says a lot of people will visit municipal museums or local sites for school trips or the like and have somewhat fuzzy memories. “They’ll wonder where those memories came from.”
“We hold onto those community and individual memories from our childhood. What I’d like to see is a lot of people to come to the Galt this season who maybe haven’t been to the Galt for years and see what we’ve got going on. To revisit those individual, family and childhood memories and see all the new memories you can make at the Galt and at Fort Whoop-Up,” adds Newstead.
Newstead’s first goal with the Galt and Fort Whoop-Up is to get as many Lethbridge residents as possible to visit the sites, especially new ones. “These are your museums and heritage sites.”
