Annual Activity Report 2018-2019

Prizes for women entrepreneurs – a tribute to our founders

In December 2018, the J. Armand Bombardier Foundation launched the Excellence Prizes for the Next Generation of Women Entrepreneurs.

This initiative was designed to promote the role of women in economic and community development. For the next ten years, these prizes, worth $10,000 each, will recognize the work of three women entrepreneurs who have launched their businesses within the past five years.

Created in honour of our three founders who retired in 2018 after 53 years of dedication, the prizes are awarded in the following fields:

• The Janine Bombardier Prize – cultural and creative sector
• The Claire Beaudoin Prize – processing and manufacturing sector
• The Huguette B. Fontaine Prize – technological innovation sector

Three distinct selection committees composed of Foundation representatives, family members of our founders, specialist advisors and women entrepreneurs chose the prizet winners:

• Janine Bombardier Prize: Entremise
  Entremise is a non-profit dedicated to facilitating temporary and transient uses for vacant buildings in Montréal.
• Claire Beaudoin Prize: TERO
  TERO develops alternative solutions to composting, making people’s lives easier and answering the needs of citizens worldwide.
• Huguette B. Fontaine Prize: CANN Forecast
  CANN Forecast uses artificial intelligence to optimize water management at all levels of government.

We would like to extend a huge thank you to the following people for the time they spent assessing the myriad of applications:

• Isabelle Leber, Executive Director, École d’Entrepreneurship de Beauce
• Christine Renaud, Founder of E-180
• Dianne Maltais, Senior Advisor, Innovation and solidarity-based financing, Caisse d’économie solidaire
• David Santelli, Founder, Rhizome
• Eve-Lyne Biron, Laboratoires Biron
• Ghyslain Goulet, Executive Director, Accélérateur de création d’entreprises technologiques (ACET)

And the family members of our founders:

• France Bissonnette
• Katerine Cloutier
• Denise Beaudoin
• Nicole Beaudoin
• Paule Fontaine
• Catherine Gagnon

Rallying behind L’Autre Escale

Every year, the Foundation’s employees adopt a cause and mobilize to gather funds.

Over the year, they come up with various methods of funding their chosen cause, such as payroll deductions, draws and a variety of activities.

In 2018, Sherbrooke’s La Grande Table benefited from our support. We raised $5,162 to help support the organization’s food security and self-sufficiency programs.

In 2019, we chose to rally behind L’Autre Escale, a centre for children and teens exposed to domestic violence. The centre also provides assistance for the children’s mothers. These efforts are an attempt to highlight the remarkable and, unfortunately, necessary commitment of these people working in the shadows.

Join us in supporting the Grande Table and l’Autre Escale!

Social Action Day

Social Action Day gives us the opportunity to don a different hat as we get out and meet with organizations working in the field.

For this 11th edition of Social Action Day, we became cultural mediators and helped visually impaired people discover the Museum of Ingenuity J. Armand Bombardier and the Yvonne L. Bombardier Cultural Centre.

For the occasion, we prepared a guided visit and activities specially adapted for our guests from the Conseil des aveugles de Memphrémagog and the Association des personnes handicapées visuelles de l’Estrie. Explaining our exhibitions through the other senses was quite a challenge, but more than anything else, the day was filled with enriching encounters.

And the experience certainly made us think about how we can be more inclusive.

“Every year, Social Action Day allows us to experience the everyday life of various people and organizations. It’s an opportunity to discover other realities, acquire new insights and get out and meet our fellow citizens.”

Marie Mottola

Employee Volunteer Engagement Recognition Program

Volunteers play a crucial role in the non-profit sector. With this in mind, the Foundation actively encourages its employees to get involved in the community.

Those who wish to take advantage of the Volunteer Recognition Program can do so to their heart’s content! For participation in a one-time event, the Foundation donates $500 to a registered charity and, for long-term commitments (minimum 40 hours), it donates $1,000. This extremely popular program recognizes employees’ social actions and fosters a culture of helping others.

Developing innovative practices

With the Artch program, Art Souterrain is developing a new training model for emerging artists.

For many young artists, transitioning to a professional career is not easy. The challenge of combining artistic creation and marketing means that talent alone is not enough to keep young people actively engaged in the arts scene.

With 10 years of experience promoting the work of visual artists, Art Souterrain and its founder Frédéric Loury firmly believe that developing entrepreneurial skills is a key factor for any emerging artist to successfully transition to a lifelong professional career.

And so, in 2018, in collaboration with the Carrefour jeunesse-emploi Montréal Centre-ville and Jack Marketing, Art souterrain launched Artch, a program combining the development of entrepreneurial skills with an open-air exhibition in Montréal. The objective: to allow emerging contemporary artists to carve out their place in the Québec art market.

The first edition of Artch was a resounding success. The participating artists saw concrete results (sales, gallery presentations, exhibition offers), and the team gained experience that allowed them to organize an even more impressive second edition.

Artch 2018 :

Knowledge creation and sharing

Recognized for classroom workshops that aim to demystify sexual orientation and gender identity, GRIS Montréal also conducts research and creates resources to facilitate the integration of LGBT+ people in society.

In schools, academic and social learning are closely intertwined; this is where knowledge and values are shaped. That’s why GRIS Montréal prioritizes the educational setting, sending trained volunteers to speak of their personal experience and to deconstruct prejudices. Every year, their messages reach more than 25,000 young people.

These essential demystification activities are not limited to classroom workshops. Because the dialogue must continue, GRIS educates school staff so that they can address questions about sexual orientation and gender identity. With this in mind, GRIS produced a series of publications for elementary and secondary school professionals. Other publications are also available for the general public.

The Gris-Fondation Simple Plan Prize encourages students and school staff to get involved with putting in place concrete initiatives to counter homophobia and transphobia. These concrete and complementary actions allow GRIS to magnify its impact, a vital action considering that young members of the LBGT+ community continue to be victims of discrimination and bullying.

Mobilizing a community

Getting tenants and decision-makers to rally behind a project promoting the mental health of low-income housing occupants is what the Synergy Project, proposed by the Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal, is all about.

Led by Dr. Janie Houle, a community psychologist at the Institut de recherche en santé mentale de Montréal, Synergy is the sequel to Flash sur mon quartier, a project in which people living in low-income housing units in six regions across Québec became researchers, with the aim of improving their well-being and their environment. The project resulted in a number of initiatives that helped transform living environments into spaces that promote the health of low-income housing occupants.

However, the project revealed the absence of coordination between decision-makers, which sometimes created a barrier to implementing the tenant-researchers’ proposed solutions. With the desire to explore this issue further, Dr. Houle created the Synergy Project. The project aims to bring together tenant-researchers and decision-makers, along with low-income housing building managers, neighbourhoods, the public health system, etc.

The purpose of these consultation committees is to examine the well-being of low-income housing occupants and the transformations necessary to improve their health. This balanced sharing of expertise allows tenant-researchers to play a greater role as active citizens, and decision-makers to gain a greater understanding of the reality of the communities they serve. What a wonderful example of democracy in action at the service of community health!

Building organizational and personal capacity

Up With Women helps recently homeless and at-risk women to build careers and businesses with the aim of permanently exiting poverty.

Serving six regions in Ontario and currently expanding elsewhere in Canada, Up with Women offers an intensive program that focuses on career development and entrepreneurial skills. This customized coaching is designed specifically to meet the needs of women who have experienced a range of set-backs.

Each participant is paired with a professional coach certified by the International Coach Federation and trained by Up With Women to work specifically with its vulnerable clientele. This additional training is vital to helping these women, of whom 73% have mental health problems and 78% are survivors of violence.

The program gets results: after one year, participants have tripled their income on average, and 63% of them have moved from a precarious job to stable employment. The women in the program also end up with significantly more self-esteem, a larger social and professional network and greater access to permanent housing. These numbers reflect the organization’s mantra: Success Belongs to Everybody.

The workshops: a new crowd favourite

Early Bird Chats, a new workshop format that is becoming a crowd favourite, was one of the outcomes of our service design brainstorming.

This new type of workshop satisfies a number of objectives:

• Meet the expectations of organizations who wish to share more with each other
• Respect the inability of non-profit employees to leave the office for full-day workshops
• Introduce a greater number of topics to the programming while respecting our logistical and financial limits

Influenced by the initiatives of our colleagues in the capacity building sector (in particular Centraide of Greater Montreal and the Fondation Dufresne et Gauthier) and the “beg and brag” concept, we organized 90-minute discussion circles followed by 30 minutes of networking early in the morning. We chose a clear topic and used a flexible structure and low-key facilitation with the aim of keeping the focus on participant input. The leitmotif: “Early Bird Chats, a workshop where you are the hero.”

Leaving all formalities behind, we swapped our usual workshop spaces for a tango dance hall and space provided by a partner organization.

And finally, so as not to miss any gems emerging from the conversation, the Foundation team recorded the discussions and then shared them with the participants. In fact, this practice inspired us to further document our workshop activities, as informal as they may be, in order to maximize the spinoffs for attendees.

This straightforward activity was so popular with non-profits that we held four Early Bird Chats throughout the year!

The cohort: five years of co-learning

When the fifth co-development cohort on the culture of change and social innovation wrapped up this year in April, it was an opportunity to reflect on what has become one of the Foundation’s flagship programs.

In 2013, some of the executive directors who were regulars at Philagora workshops expressed a need to engage in deeper reflection with peers regarding their management practices. In the months that followed, we began to think about how we could meet this need.

Over a period of eight months, a dozen NPO executive directors met to share their knowledge on various issues familiar to them all: communication, governance, human resources, funding, complexity, etc.

Five years and 50 alumni later, we can see that the need for executive directors to build a community of practice is as great as ever. The mental workload, imposter’s syndrome and isolation are recurring problems among participants.

What are the most common effects experienced by cohort graduates? Greater confidence in their management skills, the appropriation of social innovation concepts and vocabulary, and changes in posture were the main impacts identified through the assessment interviews. These answers make us want to go even further, both with the proposed content and in our efforts to bring participants into contact with each other. Because, naturally, the end of the cohort does not mean the end of discussions!

Meaningful collaborations

We found sources of inspiration in collaborations that took place at external events.

In particular, two events come to mind:

• Changemakers and mental health: tools to increase well-being

  Co-hosted with Nadia Duguay, co-founder of Exeko, as part of a reflection day organized by Pôle IDEOS, Esplanade and Revivre in May 2018.

  The workshop, which put graphic representation in the limelight, gave participants the opportunity to identify the main mental health issues experienced within organizations, and to come up with concrete solutions to these problems.

• Design workshop: new services and impact

  Co-hosted with André Fortin, the Foundation’s social innovator in residence, as part of the Impact conference organized by Service Design Canada in November 2018.

  The workshop allowed service designers to test their practices related to social issues. With the help of a prototyping kit designed and produced by the Philanthropic Activities team, participants built service models related to food security, employment integration for persons with disabilities, and the pooling of services within NPOs.

Summer 2018

The Cultural Centre welcomed three artists for the summer exhibition Fragments de folies. Painter and sculptor MAJ Fortier has a whimsical yet profound take on contemporary society. He draws his creative inspiration from the irony of the human condition—the precarious balance between reality and ridicule. His work here consisted of a series of digital prints based on clothing and appearances. Also included in the exhibit was a new bronze sculpture of a toothpaste tube being squeezed by a key, depicting the pressure individuals are subject to in a society of over-consumption.

Metal worker Robert Biron and stained glass artist and mosaicist Marylène Ménard displayed fascinating, playful works of art covered in mosaics and a medley of items that find new life as upcycled art. Combining various ancestral techniques, this pair of artisans presented a highly colourful collection imbued with modernity and brimming with originality.

Artist and collagist Adèle Blais draws inspiration from her childhood and her entourage to create dazzling and inspiring works with a hint of romance. She enjoys deconstructing and reinterpreting the human condition. Her unique style combines photography, painting, textured collages and a sprinkling of well-chosen words. Her creations portray women who have left their mark on the world. A remarkable collection of masks, a dreamy dress and a few ceramic pieces gave this surprising summer exhibition added pizzazz.

Fall 2018

This fall, the Cultural Centre made its space available to Québec artist Paul Béliveau. A recipient of multiple visual arts awards and grants, the artist has showcased his work in more than a hundred solo exhibitions in Canada, the United States and Europe. Paul Béliveau’s work is a construction and preservation of collective memories, and is teeming with historical and cultural references. He is passionate about words and readily admits to being a Proustian. This retrospective exhibition featured images and sculptures from various series, including Cantus, Les Éphémères, Museum, Drone, Nightwatch, Capture, Vies parallèles, Vanitas and Les Autodafés, and thrilled Cultural Centre visitors all season long. Mémoires émergentes was a remarkable fall exhibition.

Winter 2018-2019

This winter, we presented work by self-taught artist Sophie Roy in Empreintes d’humanité. Roy explores the concept of traditions by combining archival photographs of Native Americans taken by American photographer Edward Sheriff Curtis at the turn of the 20th century with her own images of contemporary urban landscapes. Using digital technology, her artwork marries photography, collage and acrylic paints to create hybrid images that pay tribute to the indigenous cultures of North America. Her skilful merging of past and present illustrates that traditions are continually evolving and remain relevant even today. This exhibition, which places the past firmly in the present, invites viewers to reflect on the identities of our contemporary societies.

Empreintes d’humanité also showcased works by multidisciplinary artist Josette Villeneuve. Villeneuve likes to incorporate recycled materials into her creations, taking the everyday items she collects and placing them in a completely new context. Her creations made entirely of clothing labels draw attention to over-consumption and globalization—a brilliant technique that brings spectators face-to-face with the consumer society we live in. Her work is closely linked to current environmental, humanitarian, cultural and political issues. These skilfully assembled creations filled the Cultural Centre in a most stunning way.

Activities

In November, the Cultural Centre welcomed eight singer-songwriters from across Québec. All eight had been participants in a week-long performance workshop held at Studio B12 in Valcourt. The bistro-style evening provided a casual ambience as the artists performed their work for the audience.

For the 2019 edition of Mordus de l’hiver day, 660 people swarmed the Cultural Centre. Jimmy Stratosphère performed twice to a sold-out crowd, and close to 60 little faces were adorned with paint. All of that in addition to the crowd of people that remained outdoors to enjoy a host of activities.

During spring break, the Cultural Centre offered visitors a program inspired by the theme “the world and its territories.” Activities included dance workshops, a conference on musical instruments, organized collaborative board games and a treasure hunt, all in connection with the works on exhibit. Families could also make their very own paper flag and proudly display it at the Museum’s Espace Cartonville.

On March 8, we celebrated International Women’s Day with a cocktail party in the company of comedian and actress Nabila Ben Youssef. Close to a hundred women got together to chat and have a drink and snacks, in addition to being gifted chocolates and flowers. The activity, which had a new flair to it, was organized jointly by the Cultural Centre and the Valcourt regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Partnerships

Last fall, the Library team welcomed a volunteer as part of a project aimed at helping people with disabilities integrate into the workplace. Initiated by the Des Sommets Adult Education Centre, the program consisted in providing people with a positive work-related experience.

To kick off the year, the Library hosted the travelling exhibition Le Val toute une histoire, created by Héritage du Val-Saint-François. The exhibit gave the public a broad overview of the region’s landscape, as well as its rural, domestic, industrial, commercial and religious heritage.

With the desire to bring more local actors into play, the Library invited a number of people to facilitate meetings. A space for discussion and reflection on mental health was created, and activities were led by two practitioners from the Valcourt region, one of whom was from Rivage du Val-St-François . Alexo gave a presentation on “passions and experiences,” as part of the TD Summer Reading Club. And, finally, two of the Library’s enthusiastic young members led an activity for the Jeunes Curieux series titled À vos éprouvettes! Prêts? Expérimentez! (Test tubes ready? Set? Experiment!).

Activities

Fun activities for everyone

Here are the top three public conferences given at the Library:

• The conference given by nutrition expert Isabelle Huot which attracted an audience of 96
• Le langage de l’invisible by France Gauthier with 94 participants
• The conference L’alimentation anti-inflammatoire hypotoxique (Gluten and dairy-free diet) given by Rosemary Tiklé, with 90 attendees

The TD Summer Reading Club for school-age children was a great success, with a 34% increase in participation this year. More than 160 young people, including those attending the City of Valcourt day camp, took part in various workshops.

The Valcourt city parks took turns hosting an outdoor Story Time for young children organized by the Library. The Camille-Rouillard, Henri-Paul-Lavoie and Ciboulot parks, as well as the park at the Yvonne L. Bombardier Cultural Centre, came to life for one hour every Wednesday in July. The activity attracted 60 participants, a fantastic result for the first year.

And our regular activities were as popular as ever. They include Friday night pyjama storytime, pizza and werewolf nights for teens, reading breaks, activities for school groups, meet the author and illustrator activities, all-dressed Tuesdays, conferences and creative workshops.

Tools

Tools for the diffusion and transmission of history

The development of our archives was made possible by numerous processes taking place behind the scenes:

• Sorting, taking inventory, categorizing and describing 1,673 files for the AtoM database
• Scanning and filing documents related to the following archival records: Puch® scooters and motorcycles (Can-Am®, Bombardier, Moto-Skeeter), Sports boats and outdoor motors, Logistics and Marine, as well as 1970-1975 Bombardier Snowmobile Limited and Operation Trails

This mass of documentation will serve as content for future temporary exhibits and other events, as well as for processing requests for historical and technical information.

The development and updating of work and reference tools aimed at optimizing searches within the database made it possible to give training workshops for Foundation employees about the history of Joseph-Armand Bombardier and his successors.

A VIP guided tour also provided a behind-the-scenes look at our archives at Mordus de l’hiver day in February. The presentation of rare archival documents, including a pin honouring the 10th anniversary of Bombardier Snowmobile Limited and the sales record of the very first Ski-Doo®, sparked much interest among our collector enthusiasts.

“For me, Laurent Beaudoin is, to this day, the greatest industrialist in the history of Québec.” Michel Nadeau on the radio show “Samedi et rien d’autre” on ICI Radio-Canada’s radio network.

It was with great pride that the Museum welcomed the Laurent Beaudoin fonds comprised of documents tracing the career of this remarkable leader!

Our objective to acquire this fonds is intimately linked to the Museum’s mission, which is to keep the legacy of Joseph-Armand Bombardier and his successors alive. The Archives and Documentation Department will be the keeper of the documented career of a man who marked the emergence of the Québec business community. This history is a highly valuable source of inspiration for our industrial heritage as a whole.

The 121 boxes received contained, for the most part, Laurent Beaudoin’s press releases, correspondence and planners. Naturally, acquiring this kind of fonds means initiating the process of producing a detailed description of each document for integration into the AtoM database, where they will be preserved.

A year of celebrations

This year, the Museum archives display window showcased golden anniversaries. Working collaboratively, we sifted through content, documents and objects and wrote the texts for two temporary exhibitions in the Museum’s public spaces. We found archival documents, pamphlets, promotional items, photos and videos to underscore the 50th anniversary of the first Sea-Doo® personal watercraft, as well as the founding of the Pionniers de Valcourt snowmobile club.

The department also actively contributed to celebrating milestones within the Foundation. Behind each emotional retirement and important professional anniversary lies a whole lot of careful research and writing!

A job well done!

Participation in content editing in preparation for the novel Joseph-Armand Bombardier: L’inventeur by Josée Ouimet, available at the Museum store.

Successful collaborations

With support from Sherbrooke’s Museum of Nature and Science, we prepared our temporary exhibition Inspiring NATURE, inspired TECHNO: biomimicry and transport for its departure as a travelling exhibition, a first for the Museum since its reopening. We were able to benefit from the expertise of our peers in regard to tour design, production and management.

We also developed, in partnership with multimedia educational game designer CREO, the online game Gear up for Nature for kids aged 9 to 12. The game teaches children that innovation and improved performance can be achieved without harming nature, as long as everyone pools their knowledge. This initiative, buoyed by the provider’s involvement, received funding from the Virtual Museum of Canada under the Virtual Exhibits Investment Program.

In its usual collaborative manner, the Museum continues to develop close community ties. This year, the Pionniers de Valcourt snowmobile club made a huge contribution to helping us prepare our archives window display in honour of the organization’s 50th anniversary. Our meetings and discussions with the club president gave a great boost to the content of the exhibit.

We also formed a partnership with the Université de Sherbrooke, entering into a framework agreement with the aim of creating joint projects, notably with the University’s communications and education departments. A promising collaboration!

Temporary exhibitions

Our temporary exhibitions showcasing ingenuity created quite the buzz.

The 130-m³ travelling version of the Inspiring NATURE, inspired TECHNO: biomimicry and transport exhibition is leaving on tour and will be on display at the Exploration Place in Prince George, British Columbia, from May to September 2019. We are both happy and proud to be sharing this wonderful production. The travelling exhibition received funding from the Department of Canadian Heritage through its Museums Assistance Program (MAP).

The team also worked diligently to develop the Fab Lab Community temporary exhibition, placing collaboration and innovation in the limelight. Designed entirely by the Museum team, the project required input and collaboration from all departments for designing the furniture, writing the texts and reproducing the items designed by our team based on projects from different Fab Labs around the world. This undertaking involved many good ideas and a lot of recycling and resourcefulness! The results will undoubtedly be a dynamic and colourful installation that reflects the philosophy of sharing embraced by Fab Labs worldwide.

Invaluable assistance

With the aim of continuously improving our installations and preserving the conditions of our reserves, we were very lucky to have a student in museum studies from the Collège Montmorency in Laval join us for the summer. Under the supervision of our Museum technician, the student carried out various tasks, including packing, putting away, labelling and updating our inventory, all of which facilitates tracking and indexing artifacts in our database. This brought added value to the clothing and small items section of our reserve.

We also launched an archival research project on the development of the Ski-Doo®. Starting in the fall, we invited people who had witnessed the invention to our reserves to share their knowledge. André Bombardier, Joseph-Armand Bombardier’ son; Claude Labrecque, a Bombardier employee for 40 years and nephew of the inventor; and Jacques Vincent, a worker at the Kingsbury factory, shared their memories of that remarkable time in the history of Joseph-Armand Bombardier’s company. Thanks to their significant contribution, the team was able to study and document various items and demystify the role they played in the development of the Ski-Doo®.

Developing a new clientele

In 2018, we took advantage of the tourism conference Bienvenue Québec in Rivière-du-Loup to promote the Museum services. Several tour operators, most of them unfamiliar with our facilities, added us to their list of destinations for 2019-2020. Results came swiftly, with a 64% increase in reservations for non-school groups. What a success!

Activities for all

The Fab Lab and the Odyssée secondary school in Valcourt renewed their partnership for another year, continuing with the Profils scolaires program (12 extracurricular half-days), which gave young participants the chance to explore all facets of digital fabrication. We also developed three workshops for elementary and secondary school teachers interested in bringing digital fabrication, 3D printing or microcontroller programming into their classrooms. The workshops were a great success with local teachers.

Youth aged 13 and older were invited to develop their ingenuity potential at the Fab Lab at summer workshops designed especially for them, with boomerangs, kites, hand spinners and longboards on the agenda. For these projects, they learned to work with vector graphics software, a laser cutter and other hand tools.

Last October, the Fab Lab team welcomed local artist Regine Neumann as sculptor in residence. In an experimental interdisciplinary research project, the artist explores the potential of digital processes as a means of developing new avenues for sculpture.

Bio-inspired educational activities

Taking the temporary exhibition Inspiring NATURE, inspired TECHNO: biomimicry and transport on the road was made possible by funding from the Museums Assistance Program (MAP), which also allowed us to develop two mediation activities: Spying on nature and Imitating nature. One of the activities is in line with the Québec school curriculum, and the other leans more toward entertainment. The overall objective is to provide our young visitors with sensory experiences. For example, to explain the principle of flotation, children donned “homemade” snowshoes so that they could feel their weight being distributed over a larger area. These “Made in Valcourt” educational programs will be presented across Canada as part of the travelling exhibition. The Museum hosts will be able to use them as is or adapt them to their own environments.

In May 2018, for the first time, we took part in 24 Hours of Science, a day-long event filled with science and technology for people of all ages throughout Québec. Based on the theme “movement,” our Bio-inspired movement activity invited people to design a vehicle inspired by animal movements and characteristics, and made from recycled containers. Participants used a variety of techniques, including 3D design, sketching and modelling, to produce one-of-a-kind creations.

First-time activities

When presenting an activity for the first time, we are always faced with a slew of unforeseen challenges and constantly question our actions. But the process also gives us a major boost of adrenaline and an incredible sense of pride and is so much fun that we just keep organizing new ones every year!

We organized a Repair Café where people could come to fix old items, inspired by the growing popularity of the “Right to Repair” movement, which has spread worldwide. It seems that Valcourt is no exception to the rule. The first edition was a huge success, with 150 visitors and 50 items repaired. The activity even got media coverage by ICI Radio-Canada Estrie.

Why toss it when you can reuse it? For Christmas, we invited children to bring in an old toy and create a brand new one by letting their imaginations run wild at the DIY workshop. With 915 people attending the very first edition, this is bound to become a Museum activity not to be missed.

For spring break, the Museum rolled out a completely new concept. Families were invited to build elements of a city out of cardboard boxes. Then, we encouraged them to design a flag at the Cultural Centre (just across the street), and return to display it on their Cartonville creation. Thanks to this simple concept, which brought out people’s creative and playful sides, Cartonville grew into a megacity, attracting 2,053 people in 10 days.

The classics

Our classics are here to stay!

This year, with vehicule registration now mandatory for antique snowmobiles, we seized the opportunity to rethink and completely redesign Mordus de l’hiver day. We came up with the idea to offer our collectors an exclusive visit of the underground reserve and archives. We also organized a host of activities for the general public, including an acrobatic snowmobile demonstration, inflatable games, an antique snowmobile “fashion show,” outdoor entertainment and activities at the Cultural Centre. Once again, collectors and the community answered the call: a 1,400-strong crowd showed up for what was our biggest day of the year.

This year, our theme for Culture Days was “words.” For the occasion and in partnership with Jonction Éducation, the Museum offered a workshop titled “The Power of Words.” Workshop participants learned just how critically important words are in computer programming.

Visitors also took part in an activity featuring birds of prey in preparation for the Imitating Nature conference, at which they would use their knowledge of biomimicry to design our future world. The varied programming of this one-day activity, offered jointly with the Cultural Centre, attracted 223 visitors.

Wellness management

The well-being of our employees is one of our primary concerns.

Questioning the way we do things includes re-examining our practices in the area of human resource management. It was this exercise that led to the idea of creating a Health and Wellness Policy for Foundation employees. Our intention: to offer greater flexibility and to implement and promote measures for improving the health, well-being and development of our employees.

Employees were consulted and were able to share their ideas. We then created a committee that would represent all departments and coordinate the implementation of the policy. What a wonderful example of shared responsibility!

A team on the lookout

The members of the communications department are constantly on the lookout, keeping us up to date on social media, in the newspapers, on television, on the radio and even at the movie theatre!

With social media a priority for various components within the Foundation, an interdepartmental committee was established to develop a coordinated strategy with support from an external firm. Together, they established objectives and keywords, defined persona, tone and voice, and laid out benchmarks for improved practices.

The entire staff was invited to get involved and share their achievements and/or suggestions for social media content. We quickly noticed that these good practices were having an effect, since the Cultural Centre, the Museum and Philanthropy all experienced a rise in subscriptions. Our subscribers seem to particularly enjoy posts featuring employees in action—assembling exhibitions or participating in social action activities—as well as the historical publications (for our more nostalgic followers).

With the Museum and Cultural Centre’s programming as robust as it is, the development of communication tools is vital. We produce a multitude of tools every year, such as the 45,000+ pamphlets we distributed throughout the province.

The team is also responsible for the momentous task of promoting events. Their ability to juggle various media and produce different content ensures the Foundation’s presence in myriad newspapers and magazines, on television, in the movie theatre, and on a growing number of digital platforms.

The miracles department

Although completely invisible to the Foundation’s visitors and different audiences, the IT and multimedia department plays a central role in keeping the Foundation running smoothly.

Commonly referred to as “the miracle makers,” the two members of this department seem to be able to multiply in order to meet the IT needs of close to 50 employees housed in four locations. And let’s not forget the role they played in getting the Montréal-based Philanthropy team back up and running just hours after moving to their new office.

This extraordinary pair is also responsible for keeping the multiple interactive activities at the Museum, including the two multimedia exhibitions, operating smoothly, as well as creating audiovisual capsules for the current exhibitions.

They keep watch over the multiple facets of the Foundation’s IT systems, and their remarkable care and efficiency on the job have earned them recognition and appreciation from all.