The Britannia Mine Museum trophy case is getting full after a museum official was named the recipient of two different awards in the past two months.
Kristin Clausen, the executive director of the museum, picked up accolades from both the British Columbia Museum Association (BCMA) and the Association of Mineral Exploration British Columbia (AMEBC) in recent months and said it's a thrill to pick up the hardware.
"It is a huge honour to have the museum recognized by our museum and mining peers with these two awards," she said.
The BCMA award was the award of merit, which is given to an individual or institution for a recent outstanding, innovative, or creative achievement in the museum, art gallery, archives or heritage field in British Columbia.
"I was humbled and thrilled because when your peers recognize you, that's the greatest achievement," Clausen said.
Clausen has been instrumental in guiding the museum and its board through many milestone projects, including the $5 million revitalization of the historic Mill Building in 2007, and the recent restoration of the overall museum.
"Our success focuses on a balance between entertaining and educating visitors," Clausen added. "I'm proud that the success of the Britannia Mine Museum is something that other museums are looking to for leadership and inspiration."
Meanwhile, the AMEBC award was for excellence in social and environmental responsibility, an honour that Clausen said is quite rare for a museum to win.
"The AME award represents hundreds of mining companies and they're basically saying that they like what we're doing and to keep it up," she said. "That award is all about respect and the fairness we present when talking about the subject of mining."
It's been a long path for both Clausen and the museum since she came aboard in the year 2000.
"It was an organization that had a tremendous amount of goodwill and good faith that had been built up," she said of her early years on the job. "My original goal was to harness that energy and use it to build up the museum's reputation. It was really important to get the right synergy between donors and supporters and apply a business model to it as well."
She said her first years on the job helped lay the groundwork for the potential that has been realized in recent years.
"We had huge milestones in those early years," she said. "The environmental remediation of Britannia Beach was being planned and implemented and we were able to be a stakeholder in that. We had a role to play in the carving out of the future of the community and all of those years working behind the scenes helped us on our projects later on."
According to Clausen, the attendance numbers for the museum have grown significantly from 35,000 in 2010 to 60,000 in 2011. Her group is aiming for 72,000 this year and she said the ballooning numbers should be a positive for Squamish.
"Squamish is trying to frame up its tourism and its ways of building a stronger community," she said. "We're proud to be a part of that and we hope our success will bring more people to the local hotels, restaurants and other attractions."
She added that museum officials hope to expand with more exhibits and offer more family-friendly events in the spring and summer. For more information on the museum, visit www.britanniaminemuseum.ca.
