Entering a New Era

The Great Lakes Museum is entering a new era in its 45-year history. Having recently purchased the Kingston Dry Dock property, a National Historic Site we occupied since 1975, transition plans for a new 21st century museum will soon be a reality.

To fulfill our vision, the Board of Directors believes a bold and progressive strategic plan is needed to chart a new course. We intend to transform the Museum into a maritime cultural hub that actively embraces our one-of-a-kind historic waterfront location in Kingston. We believe that the most successful museums in the 21st century will continuously refine their strategies as the external landscape evolves, new lessons are learned and opportunities arise.

In this spirit, our new strategic plan, Steering Into the Future, is a dynamic document outlining our clear ‘destination’ – our 2025 goal – and encouraging flexibility and creativity throughout the journey. Our plan aims to drive the positive changes necessary to create an unrivaled, sustainable Marine Museum that excels in delivering our mission and vision. The plan sharpens our focus with three strategic priorities;

• Experience, audience and engagement – strengthen our engagement with donors, non-profit organisations, key stakeholders and opinion leaders as essential drivers of innovation and positive change in our community
• Collections, research and programs – reaffirm our commitment to ensuring residents and families, as well as tourists, have access to our Museum, its waterfront, exhibits and programs
• Operational excellence – rethink how we organize our time and talent, and where we invest dollars

A vital component of culture, heritage and experiential education is currently missing from Kingston. Our Museum has a community role to play in promoting life-long learning and non-formal knowledge transmission about our region’s unique and living maritime history. We intend to listen to and consult with citizens and stakeholders on how the Marine Museum can make a higher contribution to our community. In turn, this will helps us to fully establish our ultimate goals.