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Brittany Vis – Executive Director of the Maritime Museum of British Columbia

by John MacFarlane 2021

Brittany Vis

Brittany Vis (Photo from the Brittany Vis collection.)

Brittany Vis has been appointed as the Executive Director of the Maritime Museum of British Columbia (MMBC). This appointment is significant as she becomes one of the very few female directors of a maritime museum in British Columbia and almost certainly the first of a nationally ranked maritime museum in Canada. She has earned this appointment after being Associate Director in 2016 where she was the spark plug behind the operational activities and also functioning as the collections manager.

She has an undergraduate degree in History and English from the University of Victoria. Her professional qualifications come from a Masters Degree in Library and Information Science from University of Western Ontario. After working as the Curator of the O’Keefe Ranch in the Okanagan, in 2015 she was appointed as the Archivist at the MMBC where she began a total overhaul of the cataloguing, storage, conservation and digitization of the collection.

We all notice the many public programs and activities that the museum has recently been offering. The staff, the museum volunteers and the members of the Board of Directors have all contributed to the creation and execution of these programs.

I have noticed that she has particularly strong ‘people skills’ which she employs to build engagement and support for the museum. Since their eviction from their original premises at Bastion Square the museum has been in temporary quarters in Nootka Court across the street from the Empress Hotel. In spite of the extreme limitations posed by this predicament she has been making real professional progress in the management of the collection and public programs. The bulk of the collection is stored off site which forces her to divide her time at different locations in the city.

She sees some strengths in the collection: the naval collection is really strong, so is the material related to the colonial period of BC history. She also thinks that there could be more support for research through access to the collection. She observes that a better catalogue, more publicly accessible, would be a catalyst for external researchers to create value added books and papers.

She recently wrote to me "The strength of the MMBC is the people. I have worked and volunteered at multiple museums and heritage sites in BC and Ontario, and no where did I come across the same level of passion and dedication as I have at the MMBC. This includes the volunteers, donors, members, Board, and staff. Everyone is so invested in this museum and is so passionate about BC’s maritime history and culture. It’s this level of dedication that has no doubt seen the MMBC through some difficult times and will surely guide the organization towards a successful future. I feel very fortunate and grateful to work with and for some truly amazing people."

The Covid crisis, and the ongoing saga of the search for a permanent venue for the museum is a constant stress on the director position. I hope that she, working with the Board of Directors, will guide the museum successfully through this period. She and her small team are building a solid foundation for results in the near future.

She says to us all "In my time as the Executive Director of the MMBC I hope to continue to build the community around the museum. As staff, we have spent time talking about how museums can serve as a kind of "community living room". My vision for the MMBC is to be just that. A space where people can gather and know that they belong no matter what background they come from. Since COVID hit, we have been focusing on expanding our reach beyond our local community by offering virtual services and programs. Our "community living room" can therefore expand beyond any physical space the MMBC might be occupying and reach into all corners of the province. There are a lot of ways we can build this community including through increased research services, enhanced programming, and efforts to increase diversity, accessibility, and inclusion. I look forward to this work!"


To quote from this article please cite:

MacFarlane, John (2021) Brittany Vis – Executive Director of the Maritime Museum of British Columbia. Nauticapedia.ca 2020. http://nauticapedia.ca/Gallery/Vis_Brittany.php

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