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Digital Museums Canada

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Digital Museums Canada
Former name
Virtual Museum of Canada
Established
  • 2001 (as Virtual Museum of Canada)
  • 2021 (as Digital Museums Canada)
TypeFunding program
DirectorLeah Resnick[1]
OwnerCanadian Museum of History
Websitewww.digitalmuseums.ca
Canadian Museum of History network

Digital Museums Canada (DMC; French: Musées numériques Canada, MNC) is a funding program in Canada "dedicated to online projects by the museum and heritage community," helping organizations to build digital capacity.[2]

Administered by the Canadian Museum of History (CMH) with the financial support of the Government of Canada, DMC provides investments of CA$15,000 to $250,000 for audience-engaging online projects by Canadian museums and heritage organizations.[2][3]

History

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The Digital Museum of Canada was preceded by the Virtual Museum of Canada (VMC), which existed from 2001 to 2021.[4] The VMC was launched by the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) of the Department of Canadian Heritage as a major collaborative online initiative to allow Canadian museums and heritage organizations to connect with online visitors.[5][6]

In February 2014, the Government of Canada announced its intention to transfer the VMC and the Online Works of Reference to the Canadian Museum of History (CMH). Bill C-31, an Act to implement certain provisions of the budget and other measures, soon after received royal assent confirming that the CMH would assume responsibility for these two programs.[5][7]

The VMC grew to include virtual exhibits,[8] educational resources for teachers (in both French and English),[9] and over 900,000 images.[10] Additionally, the VMC Investment Program was created to invest in Canadian museums to create online exhibitions. The Virtual Exhibits Investment Program was geared to medium- to large-sized institutions.[11] The other offerings were the Community Memories Program, an investment program designed for smaller Canadian community museums, to allow them to create online exhibits about their history.[11]

In 2020, the Digital Museum of Canada was created as a successor to the VMC with a focus on investing in online projects by Canadian museums and heritage organizations rather than offering a public facing online portal like the VMC.[3] Following this new mandate, in 2021, with a directory of over 3,000 Canadian heritage institutions and a database of over 600 virtual exhibits, the VMC website was scheduled to discontinue hosting exhibits on 30 June 2021.[4][8]

References

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  1. ^ "Our team". Digital Museums Canada.
  2. ^ a b "Our mission". Digital Museums Canada. Retrieved 2021-05-20.
  3. ^ a b "Building Digital Capacity with Digital Museums Canada". Canadian Museums Association. Retrieved 2024-04-10.
  4. ^ a b "Digital Museums Canada Decommissions the Virtual Museum of Canada Website". Digital Museums Canada. Retrieved 2024-04-10.
  5. ^ a b "Virtual Museum of Canada". www.lord.ca. Retrieved 2021-05-20.
  6. ^ "Virtual Museum of Canada announces new online projects". Media Releases - Canadian Museum of History. Retrieved 2021-05-20.
  7. ^ "Virtual Exhibit Investment Program". vmc.historymuseum.ca.
  8. ^ a b "Virtual Museum of Canada (VMC)". Retrieved 2021-05-20.
  9. ^ "Teachers' Centre | Virtual Museum of Canada". Archived from the original on 2013-10-17. Retrieved 2013-10-22.
  10. ^ "Artefacts Canada - Humanities - Find Resources - Canadian Heritage Information Network".
  11. ^ a b Network, Canadian Heritage Information (8 September 2017). "Canadian Heritage Information Network". aem.
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