Galt Museum and Archives reopens after two month long shutdown

Galt Museum executive director and CEO Darrin Martens said he's glad the museum can start welcoming guests once again.

Lethbridge, Alta. — Museums and art galleries were given the okay by Alberta Health Services to reopen on May 14 as part of Stage 1 of Alberta’s relaunch. But Lethbridge's Galt Museum and Archives wanted a little more time to ensure they had COVID-19 measures in place and a decision was made to reopen the Galt on June 2.

Executive Director and CEO of the Galt Museum and Archives Darrin Martens said after being closed for a little over two months, he’s glad the museum can start welcoming guests once again.

“One thing that a museum needs in order to survive and in order to strive is to have visitors, so this is a day that the entire Galt team has been working towards.”

In order to ensure guests follow social distancing guidelines Martens said, only 50 people are allowed inside the museum at a time. He said that’s one of the reasons the Galt now has time slots for tickets.

“This provides that security mechanism that we have for our staff but as well as for the other visitors who are coming into the museum.”

Martens said since they are limiting capacity, some parts of the museum like inside the archives have limited the amount of guests to only a few people.

Galt Museum archivist  Andrew Chernevych said only two researchers can look through information at a time, and as for now the rule of putting back things where you found them don’t apply - for the time being.

“We wipe the services and we kind of provide that kind of layer of protection," Chernevych said. "People can help themselves, then just leave it - they don’t re-shelve the items.”

Chernevych said the archives are still free to access, but now guests must register for an hour-long time slot online in order to come in.

When it comes to the interactive exhibits, Martens said some of them had to be temporarily removed but added that the Galt team modified some of them so guests can still enjoy some of the interactive exhibits by using their smartphones.

“We’ve taken a number of our sound interactives and we’ve made those available through QR codes," he said. "So visitors coming with their smartphone can scan a QR code and they can watch a video or listen to some of the interactives.”

Ticket time slots are from Tuesday to Saturday between 12-5pm and Sundays from 1-5pm. Annual pass holders can book from 10 a.m. until noon. Tickets are available at https://www.galtmuseum.com/visit