The Canadian Council of Heritage Rail Alliance offers this conference to Canadian HRA members and other Canadian railway heritage organizations by means of the Zoom video-conferencing platform.

Today, most Canadians, especially younger generations, have little direct experience with railways and only a limited understanding of their role in building and sustaining the Canadian economy. This includes not only the communities from which we draw our visitors, volunteers, and supporters but also the people who staff funding agencies and adjudicate grant applications. This lack of engagement with Canada’s railway history can have a direct impact on the long-term sustainability of our enterprises.

What can we do to change this? How can we make railway heritage meaningful to more Canadians and build larger audiences and more reliable support networks? What do we need to do to ensure that our organizations will survive and thrive in the future? We don’t often have time to ponder these big questions, focussed as we are on the demands of daily operation. Now is a good time to think about why we do what we do, why it matters, and how we can plan for a better and more stable future.

Presentations:

Reading artifacts—telling the story: Sharon Babian and Jim Cullen will discuss the development of the compelling stories that can be told about the artifacts in our collections in a way that will generate interest in museum visitors who are not railfans.

Strategic planning—case studies: Paul Newsome and Robbie Robinson will show how to construct a basic strategic plan to ensure consensus amongst stakeholders which will be useful in determining actions you can take to advance our institutions.

Audience development—school groups: Ian Kerr-Wilson, retired head of Hamilton Museum, will discuss how to generate visits from school groups, boosting attendance and revenues.

A separate registration is required for each attendee. To register for this free conference sign up at: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/heritage-rail-alliance-canadian-council-2021-virtual-conference-tickets-187854657337?aff=HRAmembership