CMHR | Winnipeg

[esquire]

CMHR Officially Open

I'm sure some people thought this day would never come, but here we are... open for business.

[bomberjet]

I thought this was a pretty cool graphic.

https://vine.co/v/OWUhxPgVw7e

[Wigglez]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

I thought this was a pretty cool graphic.

https://vine.co/v/OWUhxPgVw7e

VERY cool!

[Wigglez]

Does anyone know how it went? Did anyone here manage to get in?

[RAFS]

Originally Posted by Wigglez

Does anyone know how it went? Did anyone here manage to get in?

I got in today (with my wife and 2 kids). It was fabulous. We can't wait to see the rest. Nuf said. Naysayers be danged.

[roccerfeller]

will the final night lighting just be the tower of hope lit up?

[Gadzookz]

Originally Posted by roccerfeller

will the final night lighting just be the tower of hope lit up?

^ I too was wondering the same, will the tower of hope be lit up every night as a usual thing now that the museum is officially open?

[rrskylar]

Originally Posted by Gadzookz

^ I too was wondering the same, will the tower of hope be lit up every night as a usual thing now that the museum is officially open?

Considering the museum has already paid out $71 million in salaries maybe there just isn't enough $$ left for things like lighting the tower!

From what I heard from a few that attended the soft opening, the experience with only 4 PARTIALLY finished galleries garnered about a C-.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

From what I heard from a few that attended the soft opening, the experience with only 4 PARTIALLY finished galleries garnered about a C-.

The way that the opening of the CMHR was handled was a real head scratcher. I know there was probably immense pressure to open the place up given that the building has been substantially finished for what, almost two years now? But after a decade long build-up to the grand opening, it does seem like a bit of a letdown to have the place open up with only a few of the exhibits open. It probably would have made for a bigger splash had they waited until the thing was completely ready. This is basically the Tim Hortons Field of museum openings.

[trueviking]

the federal government pushed them to open now because they wanted it to be an outdoor event...they felt this was the latest they could do.

should have just waited until the spring in my opinion.

only one chance for a first impression.

[esquire]

Bartley Kives nailed it in the Free Press:

(Stuart) Murray cannot go back in time. But since Winnipeg had only one shot at showing off this massive new attraction to the rest of the country, let's not pretend the CMHR's opening weekend was a memorable moment in this city's history.

The museum itself is obviously bigger than its opening weekend, but it's hard to ignore the feeling that there was a huge missed opportunity in how it was handled. I think that the opening of IKEA created a bigger splash.

[Cyro]

Originally Posted by trueviking

only one chance for a first impression.

Words to live by. Otherwise in life, as I've noticed, It takes a considerable amount of time to make up the for the initial impression you left. Sometimes it's even hard to recover, even with the best intentions.

Although with the CMHR, I find it will constantly be a work in progress, always evolving, no matter if all the galleries were open at the reveal, they will change, similar to peoples attitudes and beliefs. It's not the WAG, with pre-defined exhibits. It's more of a journey in understanding and learning about the issues involved, It's quite hard to define. It will never be a walk in and view the artifact from 1885, although I feel many would have wanted this type of museum. They're not used to this concept.

[esquire]

Now that CMHR is more or less finished, it would be nice to see the Manitoba Museum step up with an ambitious plan for a major upgrade. The museum itself turns 50 years old in 2020, and apart from the addition of the Nonsuch gallery which opened a few years after the museum itself and then the HBC gallery in 1994, the place hasn't really seen any major changes or improvements.

It's a great museum but it could use a freshening up... it would be nice to see, for instance, a new natural history wing and space for travelling exhibits built on the parking lot to the north, and the existing museum converted into a wing focusing exclusively on the human history of Manitoba.

[blueandgoldguy]

Originally Posted by esquire

Now that CMHR is more or less finished, it would be nice to see the Manitoba Museum step up with an ambitious plan for a major upgrade. The museum itself turns 50 years old in 2020, and apart from the addition of the Nonsuch gallery which opened a few years after the museum itself and then the HBC gallery in 1994, the place hasn't really seen any major changes or improvements.

It's a great museum but it could use a freshening up... it would be nice to see, for instance, a new natural history wing and space for travelling exhibits built on the parking lot to the north, and the existing museum converted into a wing focusing exclusively on the human history of Manitoba.

Is there any room to expand on that site though? Seems all the space is spoken for. Could they expand upwards? Was the original building constructed with that in mind? Or could they expand to the parking lot across the street?

I agree that the museum could use some freshening up.

[1ajs]

they should make majour upgrades to our belovid science museum

[esquire]

Originally Posted by blueandgoldguy

Is there any room to expand on that site though? Seems all the space is spoken for. Could they expand upwards? Was the original building constructed with that in mind? Or could they expand to the parking lot across the street?

I agree that the museum could use some freshening up.

I'm pretty sure that the parking lot to the north of the Centennial Centre is owned by the Centennial Centre itself, or at the very least by some arm of government. I vaguely recall plans being floated about 15 years ago for some sort of proposed complex tied into the Centennial Centre, so I think it's being held for that reason.

That site is really the only practical place to expand to given that the Centennial Centre is hemmed in by fairly busy streets and buildings on every other side, and I don't think there is much room to expand on the existing footprint. The parking lot to the north is pretty well it.

[Cyro]

Originally Posted by esquire

Now that CMHR is more or less finished, it would be nice to see the Manitoba Museum step up with an ambitious plan for a major upgrade. The museum itself turns 50 years old in 2020, and apart from the addition of the Nonsuch gallery which opened a few years after the museum itself and then the HBC gallery in 1994, the place hasn't really seen any major changes or improvements.

It's a great museum but it could use a freshening up... it would be nice to see, for instance, a new natural history wing and space for travelling exhibits built on the parking lot to the north, and the existing museum converted into a wing focusing exclusively on the human history of Manitoba.

There has been changes to the exhibits and upgrades to the museum over the last several years. ( last vist aprx: 2 years ago)

But you are correct in the fact you cannot continually do a makeover in the exact amount of space allotted to the current museum. You have to remove content to add content.

Would I like to see an expansion, yes. Is the COW ready to allot funds to such an endevour? I find the political will lacking.

[cllew]

While not a major upgrade wasn't the museum and planetarium closed a few weeks ago for a major painting and cleaning project?

A history note, the parking lot north of the museum complex at one time was suppose to be the home for MPI and DVL back in the late 1970's. Their building was going to take that lot and go over Pacific Ave. onto the lot where the now Ukrainian museum is located. The NDP Govt was defeated and the Sterling Lyon Conservatives instead had MPI move into Eaton (now City) Place instead and left DVL on Portage ave.

[Biff]

Originally Posted by esquire

Now that CMHR is more or less finished, it would be nice to see the Manitoba Museum step up with an ambitious plan for a major upgrade. The museum itself turns 50 years old in 2020, and apart from the addition of the Nonsuch gallery which opened a few years after the museum itself and then the HBC gallery in 1994, the place hasn't really seen any major changes or improvements.

It's a great museum but it could use a freshening up... it would be nice to see, for instance, a new natural history wing and space for travelling exhibits built on the parking lot to the north, and the existing museum converted into a wing focusing exclusively on the human history of Manitoba.

All I can say is more dinosaurs. I like dinosaurs.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by cllew

While not a major upgrade wasn't the museum and planetarium closed a few weeks ago for a major painting and cleaning project?

A history note, the parking lot north of the museum complex at one time was suppose to be the home for MPI and DVL back in the late 1970's. Their building was going to take that lot and go over Pacific Ave. onto the lot where the now Ukrainian museum is located. The NDP Govt was defeated and the Sterling Lyon Conservatives instead had MPI move into Eaton (now City) Place instead and left DVL on Portage ave.

Very interesting... that's the first I've ever heard of that. Given that they demolished the entire area anyway, it's too bad that the province never followed through with construction of this project. It would have been a great looking gateway to downtown as opposed to the huge void along Main Street and Disraeli that exists there now.

Originally Posted by Biff

All I can say is more dinosaurs. I like dinosaurs.

They need to work out a deal with the people in Morden... we build a spectacular gallery to display it, they give us the world's biggest mosasaur

I think it would be awesome. Use the Main Street frontage for some sort of residential or commercial element, and use the rest of the lot for a new natural history museum with a large atrium in the middle housing some of Manitoba's most impressive fossils.