First opened in 1979, the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre is celebrating 40 years of serving the community.

Staff will be marking the occasion with a series of lectures.

First up will be museum director Sarah Carr-Locke, who will speak on . about her enduring fascination with museums and the importance of storytelling.

SA国际影视传媒淲e thought it would be good to start off with a talk by the director because then I can set the scene for the rest of the talks,SA国际影视传媒� she said.

Carr-Locke is hoping to get Yellowknifers excited about the museum and the work that goes on behind the display cases.

SA国际影视传媒淧eopleSA国际影视传媒檚 ideas of museums can be old-fashioned,SA国际影视传媒� said Carr-Locke.

SA国际影视传媒淏ut we think about them as much more alive and dynamic and having a place for people to go and do things and engage and have discussions and do activities as well.SA国际影视传媒�

Carr-Locke's talk will also touch on the importance of having a museum that is accessible to every member of the community.

SA国际影视传媒淭he idea is that museums would like to be places where all kinds of people, all levels of community, all ages come and all experience something thatSA国际影视传媒檚 meaningful for them,SA国际影视传媒� she continued.

This idea of accessibility is something staff think about while planning events, programming and even writing labels for exhibits, said Carr-Locke.

Reconciliation

In many ways, the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre is a cutting-edge museum, said Carr-Locke.

In the past it has brought in elders to look over its collections and help identify people in archive photographs, she said.

SA国际影视传媒淲hen I hear what other (museums) are talking about, theySA国际影视传媒檙e doing all this work on reconciliation and trying to get to where weSA国际影视传媒檝e already been for the last 20, 40 years,SA国际影视传媒� said Carr-Locke.

One exhibit titled SA国际影视传媒淲e Took Care of Them," which is currently on display both at the museum and , is an example of this work.

The exhibit examines the work of Indigenous Northerners who worked as special constables for the , and taught southern police officers how to survive in the North.

researchers collected 19 oral histories and museum staff translated that knowledge for the exhibit, which recently won a national award for outstanding achievement in exhibition.

Looking forward, Carr-Locke wants the museum to continue looking at how to best represent culture and heritage for everyone in the Northwest Territories.

SA国际影视传媒淪ome people in Yellowknife, if theySA国际影视传媒檝e grown up in Yellowknife and donSA国际影视传媒檛 go to other museums, may think that what we do is normal, whereas I think what we do is pretty fantastic,SA国际影视传媒� she said.

The next speaker series will be archaeologist Mike OSA国际影视传媒橰ourke talking about coastal erosion in the western Arctic on May 30.

SA国际影视传媒淗is work also shows that same ethic of working very closely with community and not ever doing culture and heritage work without consulting local Indigenous people,SA国际影视传媒� said Carr-Locke.

The spring speaker series will be followed by another series of talks in the fall.

The museum will be celebrating 40 with a birthday party on June 15. The free event will be open to the community with music, food, activities and cake.