After receiving a $75,000 grant, the Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat says it plans to continue fundraising in hopes of completing much-needed upgrades.
During Cochrane’s regular council meeting on Oct. 10, Amy Baxendell-Young, manager of the habitat, made a presentation highlighting some of the possible enhancements.
In total, the desired upgrades could cost around $1.45 million.
Baxendell-Young said that exhibit content upgrades within the viewing building and Ganuk’s Theatre are one priority and would cost between $75,000 and $250,000 to update.
“Some of our technology is starting to wear down. Science has also learned a lot in 10 years. So, it's just time that we upgrade,” she said.
“I reached out to Science North a few months ago and they came for a visit and put together an example of what could be possible. There's still lots of discussions to have. Nothing is set in stone, but it's exciting to see what could be possible.”
Baxendell-Young said they would like to increase education opportunities.
“When our visitors come, they really only start learning once they get to the viewers building, and that's halfway through the facility. We want when people walk in that door that they're hit with knowledge and see that we are a legitimate facility dedicated to education and to supporting polar bears and our local environment as well,” she said.
“So we're looking to inspire our visitors by the work that we're doing so that they can take action in their own lives.”
Baxendell-Young said they want to shorten the current eight-minute-long video that plays in the theatre as well as update its seating to make it a multi-use space.
Way-finding is also another priority and would cost between $50,000 and $200,000, Baxendell-Young said.
“The amount of times I hear that no one can find the Polar Bear Habitat even though we have about five signs on the road between us, the highway, and the habitat… Clearly, we're missing something,” she said.
“Way-finding all the way to the facility is going to be really important, as well as within the centre as well. When you're with a staff member, you get the most fantastic information, they’re a wealth of knowledge, but if you're not with a staff member, there's not a lot of understanding or learning about the centre and our history.”
Signage within the centre would allow visitors to stop and read signs as they make their way through the centre to have a more immersive experience, Baxendell-Young said.
According to Baxendell-Young, the viewers' building has taken the brunt of the guest interactions over the years. She also noted that they have been working with Science North International Sales since 2007.
“A couple of the screens don't work anymore. There's just some upgrades that need to happen. But again, considering this is 10 years old, and there’s been thousands of thousands of people who have come through, Science North clearly makes some really quality exhibits because they have held up very well,” she said.
“So yeah, we're looking at making things a bit more interactive for small children. Computer screens don't really mean much to them. So we're looking at ways of being able to engage that younger audience as well as our more mature audience as well.”
The last priority being a new exhibit would be the most expensive addition, estimated between $100,000 and $1 million.
“One thing I should probably make clear is that we intend on fundraising every cent for this. So this will not be something that we're going to be adding on to our annual budget asked, it's going to be completely fundraised,” Baxendell-Young said.
“That's one thing that's really exciting about this donation from the Canadian Polar Bear Habitat. A lot of funding organizations like to see that initial donation first, and then they'll jump on board. I've had quite a few conversations with different foundations about fundraising opportunities who said they were interested but that we needed that first commitment. And now we have that first commitment. So, that's very exciting for us.”
Mayor Peter Politis said they’ll always have the support from council to continue to move forward as possible.
“I think the dialogue here is demonstrating what collaboration really means. When everybody's working together and trying to pull out the same outcome and when we have a collaborative council and collaborative operation and collaborative goals in mind, we work together on achieving those goals together,” he said.