The Regional District of Fraser Fort-George is going to consider a 500-thousand dollar loan to the Exploration Place at its April 18th board meeting.
Pending approval, the loan would amount to a conversion from two advances on the Fraser-Fort George Regional Museum Society’s 2024 operating grant.
Manager of External Relations, Renee McCloskey spoke with MyPGNow.com.
“For many, many years, the regional district has provided core operational funding to Exploration Place and recognizing its value and contributions to the community and the region and what it does to promote, heritage, culture and science.”
“It’s been a core part of our cultural plan and our commitment to supporting cultural institutions. About a year and a bit ago, the Exploration Place reached out and advised they were experiencing some financial challenges.”
She mentioned the RDFFG advanced the Society $250,000 from its 2024 operating grant to assist with cashflow pressures while a further quarter-million was advanced at the end of January.
The term of the proposed assistance is five years, and the extent of the proposed assistance with interest at a rate of four percent during the term of the loan.
At the height of the pandemic, the museum was forced to close.
From there, a major renovation was launched that was supposed to be ready by the summer of 2022, but was pushed back until October of that year due to supply chain issues and labour shortages.