Impact of COVID-19 on WHMCC

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Please consider making a monetary donation by following this link HERE to donate through PayPal - you don't need an account to donate this way, you can also use a debit or credit card. you can also keep us in mind when purchasing from Amazon. Use Amazon Smile and select as the nonprofit the Waterford Historical Museum and Cultural Centre so that a percentage of your total is matched by Amazon and donated to the museum. Checks - as "outdated" as some may find them - are still good too. Or consider donating supplies to becoming a volunteer. Becoming involved is a great way to support the museum!

Our map-centered exhibit planned for this year, “Waterford: A Changing Landscape”, will be postponed and the museum hopes to offer this and our other exhibit spaces to the public when New York State begins phased openings of museum institutions. Museums are part of NY Forward Phase 4, tentatively set for June 26.

The museum is considering all potential plans to open and maintain the guidelines being outlined to ensure continued observance of health and safety measures the State and the CDC have outlined for all places open to the public.

We have also had to cancel our Canalways educational program for 4^th graders that is held at Lock 2, the Champlain Canal Trail, and the Hurst Visitors Center that had been scheduled for June of this year. We are sad to not be able to engage with students this year in hands-on learning experiences. Canalways is currently the only program the museum has been able to offer to students due to limited staff, volunteers, and funds.

This program is only possible thanks to the amazing collaboration with our partners, the NYS Canal Corporation, the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor, the Waterford Canal and Towpath Society, and the Town of Waterford and the volunteers from each partner that ensure content and guides can be offered to students. This crisis has shown that the museum needs to also consider potential alternatives to the usual large group field-trips of the past. One of the museum’s goals moving forward will to be determine the feasibility of additional programs to offer to students. While educational in value to students, this program also serves as a major fundraiser for the museum, just like special events hosted by the museum like Trivia Night - the most recent event that we unfortunately had to cancel. The museum relies on private funds and volunteer support to continue to meet its mission of preserving and sharing Waterford’s heritage and past.

Small museums like us across the country have struggled with having to remain temporarily closed and cancel programs and events that are relied upon to maintain their operating budget. Overnight, museums lost 2/3 of their income when shutdown occurred. While museums are “closed” to the public, we have been more active than ever before in addressing changes in offering educational programs, exhibits, and events to the public.