Mennonite Heritage Village in Steinbach is one of seven signature museums in Manitoba to be part of a newly created endowment fund.

Sport, Culture and Heritage Minister Cathy Cox says they are creating these funds to ensure ongoing support for these unique and popular museums. In addition to MHV, the list includes the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum (Brandon), the New Iceland Heritage Museum (Gimli), the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada (Winnipeg), the Manitoba Agricultural Museum (Austin), the St. Boniface Museum (Winnipeg) and the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre (Morden).

The Signature Museum Sustainability Funds will provide each signature museum with its own $1.4-million endowment fund that will be administered by its community foundation. Interest generated from the fund will be used to support each of the seven museums. This year alone, each designated signature museum will receive approximately $62,000. The amount will continue to grow over time, creating guaranteed sustainability and growth for the museum in perpetuity.

Additionally, the signature museums will have access to about $10,000 for training each year through the proceeds of a $200,000 Signature Museum Capacity Building Fund that will also be managed by The Winnipeg Foundation.

"Our government is proud to help the seven signature museums continue to showcase and tell Manitoba's unique stories and the Signature Museum Sustainability Funds, along with the Signature Museum Capacity Building Fund will help ensure these organizations have permanent, sustainable funding into the future," says Cox. "These additional investments come at a time when many Manitoba families are staying within our province and spending more time exploring our own beautiful backyard."

"It's a huge deal," says Gary Dyck, Executive Director for Mennonite Heritage Village in Steinbach.

According to Dyck, the fund is irrevocable, which provides MHV the stability it needs for future planning. He notes the money can not be used for operations, but rather for strategic planning and figuring out other details of the museum.

"It gets us thinking about how do we serve our community long term and even other possibilities, research and such, those kinds of objectives, it helps with that," he says.

Dyck notes the $62,000 is about $5,000 more than the museum receives annually from the province through a grant. Not only is this annual amount more, but Dyck says it also provides stability as they now know this money is coming each year.

"It just goes to show the government is really believing in our heritage and the museums of Manitoba," says Dyck. "It's a long term investment."

Dyck admits he was surprised to first learn the news. He notes with everything going on in the province this year, he was not sure what might be happening with their grant for 2020.