Saint-Boniface Museum - Market Trends and Patterns - Research Paper Example

Saint Boniface museum Winnipeg’s oldest building (a former Grey Convent of nuns) is the one that houses Saint Boniface museum (St. Boniface Museum). The museum is a chosen national historic site whose exhibitions illustrate the expansion, continued existence and growth of the cultures of French-Canadian of Western Canada and Metis. It became located in 494 Tache Avenue amid Despins Street and Avenue de La Cathedrale in Saint Boniface (St. Boniface Museum). Saint Boniface get to be found in Winnipeg’s Riel district. The museum has provided the contacts through which people can communicate to the museum; one can use either the phone number (204-237-4500) or the fax (204-986-7964). It has also provided a map that assists strangers to find its location (St. Boniface Museum). Products and collections There is a variety of products or collections and services offered by the museum. The collections found in the museum include medical equipment, archaeological pieces, Louis Riel’s coffin, domestic and furnishing accessories, a Red River cart replica, the first bell of the church in the West, educational and religious artifacts, and trade and agricultural tools (St. Boniface Museum). In the archives, there are photographs while, in the decorative arts, there are musical instruments, furniture or furnishings and textiles or tapestries. Under fine arts, there is the Canadian culture, painting, sculpture, folk art and religious art (St. Boniface Museum). The collections under human history include; Time-keeping devices or clocks Furniture or furnishings Communication devices Imaging (photographs) Medals Local history Domestic technology or household objects Maps, charts, blueprints or plans Spots equipment Weapons Transportation Memorabilia Toys and games Religious or liturgical objects, and Non-motorized ground Biological collections, found under natural sciences, include plants and animals. There exists zoology, mammals (Mammalia), birds (Aves) and vertebrates (St. Boniface Museum). Services and activities Self-guided or guided tours, school visits, exhibits, treasure boxes for seniors, school programs, and consulting services Educational programs- lectures, family programs and school programs Visitor services- children activities or services (playground, change table or nursing area), bilingual services, exceptional needs facilities (wheelchair access, signs and washrooms), guided tours (English and French), a public transportation accessibility, washrooms, gift shop, parking facilities (bus), and cloakroom Volunteer services- there is availability of volunteer training. The number of volunteers should be twelve. Activities: board membership Food services- catering services Internet services- virtual exhibitions, education, local history, online gift-shop or bookstore, directions or maps, and school visits or programs Market trends and patterns The museum (Saint Boniface) is a non-profit organization. All the benefits or profits received from any purchase made become used to support the museum (St. Boniface Museum). It has advertisers and sponsors who support it in marketing and financial matters. Some of the tradeshow participants are; the Canadian Association of Professional Conservators, Cibinel Architects Limited, Dorfman Museum Figures, Color Art Supply and Framing, Maker Technical Sculpture Services, and others (St. Boniface Museum). The museum has a gift shop that offers various gifts, souvenirs and heritage themed items with a link to cultures of Metis and French and the fur trade. Some unique merchandise available in the shop includes the famous voyageur shirts and sashes in different qualities, sizes and patterns (St. Boniface Museum). There are also traditional toys, local foods, small Red River carts (hand-made), gifts made locally by hands, and Quebec Maple Syrup products. Items, which are exclusive, to the museum shop consist of polar fleece scarves, Louis Riel T-shirts, cards, Metis mugs and posters (St. Boniface Museum). Various postcards and a collection of memorable books related to the themes (in English and French) of the museum are also available (St. Boniface Museum). There is also a full Etchiboy collection. Saint Boniface museum has scheduled the events to be attended; there is Christmas caroling on 30th of November, Christmas activities on 1st and 2nd of December and wine and cheese event on 1st of December (St. Boniface Museum). Market positioning approach (SWOT analysis) Strengths The building in which the museum got housed is outstanding and appeals to the beholder, and the museum store is remarkably excellent (St. Boniface Museum). The map provided by the museum makes it easy to locate the museum. Most of the items on display during the exhibitions get well presented in a way accessible by the visitors. The social role of the museum is clear and quite well performed in many fields thus, not in a large risk of exposure to tourism or tourists’ negative influence. The museums organization is hugely apparent, there are skilled staffs and the political support to the operations and mission of the museum is complete. The history and tradition of this museum is long (especially related to the building in which it got housed). It became known to be a centre of information (St. Boniface Museum). Weaknesses Lack of strategies and policies to the development of the audience Lack of knowledge about the needs and wishes of the visitors including tourists Unavailability of more exciting activities Opportunities The museum might be regarded as unknown, or unrecognized by tourists the organizers in the tourist industry (St. Boniface Museum). Availability of opportunities concerning the development of the strategies for public relation and marketing. The museum staff, which seem to be more experienced and skilled has many brilliant ideas. The museum has an international history essential to persons from various countries Opportunities in city-guided tours are available (St. Boniface Museum). Threats An abrupt and radical alteration might challenge the political and social harmony concerning the museum Its course can not be easily changed since it can consume both money and time Competition growth when it comes to certain activities such as cultural activities Failure in advancing the cooperation with the tourism sector The roles and functions of the organizational structure The organizational structure has organized the employees into systems such as offices, departments and hierarchies (St. Boniface Museum). Structural systems, which have become executed successfully, have offered a means to cooperate and communicate for employees. The museum’s organizational structure also provides control since the museum hierarchy lists executives, managers, supervisors, department heads and other leaders. The existence of the organizational structure helps in addressing the demands of the museum (St. Boniface Museum). Joint marketing relationship between this site and others in the community The museum gets to be surrounded by different business and non-business enterprises and organizations which have either links with the museums or benefit from the museum (St. Boniface Museum). The museum gets to be mostly surrounded by the hotels which offer food and lodging services to the visitors helping the museum to sustain its clients (St. Boniface Museum). However, without the museum the hotels would have existed as the museum is the one that attracts visitors who then lodge in those hotels for rest and also food. Some of the hotels include Inn at the Forks, the Fairmont Winnipeg, Humphry Inn and Suites Winnipeg, Marriagi’s Theme Suites Hotel, Fairfield Inn and Suites Winnipeg, Place Louis Riel Suite Hotel, among others (St. Boniface Museum). There are also other attractions near Saint Boniface museum; such as the Saint Boniface Catholic Church, which supports the museum in terms of guidance and travelling of the visitors. The church is also a sponsor of the museum (St. Boniface Museum). The funding structure (of the organization and government) The museum acquires its funds from purchases made at the gift shop which accepts chief debit and credit cards. It also receives its financial support from the Winnipeg City and the Manitoba province (St. Boniface Museum). Funds for various projects have also become provided by the Canada government, the Thomas Sill Foundation, the Manitoba Metis Federation, the Winnipeg Foundation Inc., the William and Shirley Loewen Foundation, and several other private donors (St. Boniface Museum). The museum encourages individuals and organizations to contribute towards its (museum) development. The brand or image of this aboriginal destination The museum became identified by the province as a major attraction of Manitoba and is privileged to national reputation owing to the collection it possesses and the building itself. The members of staff, also, become known for their professional experience and skills (St. Boniface Museum). The reputation of these staff members leads to numerous requests for them to take part in peer review panels. They also participate in other consultative forums (St. Boniface Museum). Measures currently in use to assess tourist traffic and site sustainability Some destinations provide GPS sensors and phone (mobile) applications to their tourists so that tracking of impressions, habits and movements can be made possible during their stay. Others encourage tourist attraction centers and lodging establishments to apply software which enables the staffers on frontline to travelers on poll (St. Boniface Museum). The application then transmits the data straight to the organization which will do its processing. Measures regarding transportation are the ones mostly used in order to facilitate site sustainability (St. Boniface Museum). Issues this site may have experienced in its formation, operations or feasibility Heritage issues and policies The government has an essential role in cultural heritage, starting from the creation and development of national institutions for heritage meant to preserve heritage records, buildings, objects and sites that are vital to Canada (St. Boniface Museum). In the approach of Canada to cultural policy, there was no even one, inclusive, overarching federal objectives’ statement in the heritage area. This considerably affected the operations and feasibility of the Saint Boniface museum (St. Boniface Museum). Cultural/creative industries issues: policies and programs The establishments, which could have provided contact with the expertise and equipment to process data, were excluded from the operations of the museum (St. Boniface Museum). Cultural diversity and inclusion policies The museum did not consider the immigrants in its operations; it rather concentrated on the local population (Canadians) only. Some cultures were also not in-cooperated in the museum’s programs, thus limiting the museum’s operations (St. Boniface Museum). The country did not also recognize, in an official manner, the specific ethno-cultural minorities; this had a negative impact on the museum’s feasibility (St. Boniface Museum). Language issues The official languages in Canada are English and French. There was no consideration of visitors from other countries who could not communicate in English or French, and had interests in the information at the museum (St. Boniface Museum). Media pluralism and content diversity The early Canada’s cultural policy history used to focus mainly on broadcasting the heritage and arts in which the federal government got actively involved (St. Boniface Museum). However, the cultural industries during the early times got poorly established. Saint Boniface museum, for instance, did not have funds for broadcasting or to advertise their content (St. Boniface Museum). Recommendations for additional marketing activities or approaches The museum should seek sponsorship by national heritage department It should come up with the funding arrangements There should be corporate planning and performance indicators The museum to should have a training institute Works Cited 10 July 2012. St. Boniface Museum. 25 November 2012 . Read More