The North Vancouver Museum and Archives will bear a new name when its 16,000-square-foot museum facility opens in Lower Lonsdale. The Museum of North Vancouver, or MONOVA, is set to open in the Spring of 2021.
“We were looking for a way to refresh our identity in the eyes of the community, to kind of reintroduce ourselves as we're getting ready to open this exciting new facility,” said Karen Dearlove, MONOVA’s curator.
The brand’s stylized font is inspired by the physical form the community is built on, Dearlove said.
“When we are talking about the stories of North Vancouver, we really are talking about the very land that has shaped the story - the mountains and the sea,” Dearlove said. “I think this is a really clever way to play with that representation. … That is what makes North Vancouver so unique in the Lower Mainland.”
The rebranding comes as the organization is launching a new fundraising campaign aimed at making sure the activities inside the facility are befitting of its prime location on West Esplanade.
Most of the museum’s capital needs are taken care of thanks to government backing, and fundraisers have sought support from major foundations. But Dearlove is hoping there will be individual donors locally who want to step up and contribute to one of their community’s premier cultural assets.
Specifically, they are looking for $1.5 million that will go towards programming and making sure the exhibits inside tell that story well in an interactive way.
“We're just looking at how we can put the finishing touches on what we’re doing,” she said. “To make sure that we can provide a whole host of different experiences and on an ongoing basis as well. We want to make sure that we can animate it for the public.”
There is no set date for when MONOVA may open and COVID-19 certainly isn’t helping matters, Dearlove said, but they are aiming for the spring of 2021.
Two of the signature pieces will be the fully restored Streetcar 153 and a new cedar panel carving by Squamish Nation artist Wade Baker. The carving depicts the story of Sch’ich’iyuy, the twin sister mountain peaks that settlers later came to call the Lions.
“The twins were raised from childhood to be leaders for their people. They asked their father, the Siyam, the Chief, to bring peace to the warring tribes along the coast. He could not refuse their request and fires were lit all along the coast to signal a great welcoming feast to bring peace. For their efforts, the twins were immortalized in the mountain peaks you see today that watch over us,” Baker said in a release.
The archives will remain at the Community History Centre on Institute Road in Lynn Valley.
Click here to contribute to the museum's Bringing Stories to Life campaign.
