What will the grounds at Mennonite Heritage Village in Steinbach look like three decades from now? That topic was discussed recently at a strategic planning session. Executive Director Barry Dyck says this session included board members, senior staff, invited guests and a professional facilitator.

Dyck says the objective of the meeting was to try to develop a master site plan. "This is an important element for us in that we clearly have vision for the future and we want to see expansion and growth here over the years," he says.

Dyck notes from time to time the museum has the opportunity to plant trees and put up new monuments. "It's important that we know what this site should look like fifteen or twenty or thirty years from now." He notes that will help them make day to day decisions such as where to plant trees, erect a monument or move a facility to.

There have been several site plans drafted for the museum over the years, according to Dyck. "It's interesting when you look at some of the older site plans. We are not too far off currently from what some of the original vision was," he says. Dyck notes there has always been a vision for Main Street, including a house barn, Church and school. "The original vision of course was to replicate, to some extent at least a village street not unlike the first Main Street of the village of Steinbach when it started shortly after 1874."

As for future artifacts, Dyck hints there are a couple of things the board is working on obtaining. Though he says he is not in a position to comment at this point.

One of the limiting factors when working on a strategic plan is finances, says Dyck. "We do have a significant debt." Dyck says the board has come to realize that certain governments aren't interested in increasing their levels of support for museums. "In fact some governments, not all, but some are specifically reducing their support."

Furthermore, Dyck says they're already going to their constituents for a large sum of money each year. That amount is $200,000. "They are very generous," he says. " To consider increasing that amount substantially doesn't feel like the best way to go."

Dyck says the museum tries to operate in the black each year. "Fortunately in the last three years we have been able to print black ink on our operating statement." But he says they will also need to find a way to deal with their debt. And finally, Dyck says the challenge is to structure themselves for the future in order to be sustainable.

Dyck says it's important to dream up initiatives that will support themselves and in fact generate revenue for the facility so it will be sustainable in the long term. "So that we can, from time to time add a new exhibit, so that we can maintain our facility and don't just have to go hat in hand to the community and look for dollars to do these things."

Another item discussed in their planning involved technology. Dyck says the board realizes there are new ways of doing interpretation, different from twenty years ago. One of those ways is through smart phone technology. "We've begun to have some very specific dialogues about modifications to our main gallery to utilize technology," he says. Dyck notes if they can create an experiential destination, the museum is more likely to grow and generate more revenue through admissions and restaurant and gift shop sales.

But he says one of the challenges is that technology changes so rapidly. "For an organization like this to come up with technological solutions we have to be really, really careful that they aren't out of date by the time we get them out there," says Dyck.