
Events Search and Views Navigation
Upcoming Events
January 2019
Decolonizing Guelph’s Founding Story
Guelph Museums is in the process of decolonization through the restructuring of our colonialist framework and by collaborating meaningfully with First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples. We are committed to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action and we strive to initiate dialogues and create safe spaces for truth telling. These guiding principles inform all that we do at Guelph Museums. In the 1850s and 1860s, provincial and university-based museums were created across Upper Canada; however, after Confederation in…
Find out more »Indigenizing Galt
Guelph Civic Museum was established in the 1960s to preserve and share this city’s local history. Since then, our founding story has been told through the narrative of the Canada Company. Founded by John Galt, who became its first Superintendent, the Canada Company is responsible for colonizing over two million acres of land on the shores of Lake Huron, now known as the Huron Tract. This version of our founding story implies that Galt established Guelph on unpopulated land and…
Find out more »February 2019
Reading Galt
Guelph Museums is in the process of decolonization through the restructuring of our colonialist framework and by collaborating meaningfully with First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples. We are committed to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action and we strive to initiate dialogues and create safe spaces for truth telling. These guiding principles inform all that we do at Guelph Museums.
Find out more »Lacrosse: The Creator’s Game
Dewa’áo’:gajíhgwa’e’ is the Cayuga Nation word for lacrosse, which has multiple meanings: “they play with webbed sticks” and “to throw or pass the ball” and “hitting their hips. Lacrosse was gifted to the Haudenosaunee Peoples (Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca) from the Creator at the time of Creation. Other Indigenous Nations have their own Creation stories, as well as different stories about how the game of lacrosse came to be. Today, many variations of the game are played across…
Find out more »September 2019
Into the Light: Eugenics and Education in Southern Ontario
Content warning: The exhibition Into the Light: Eugenics and Education in Southern Ontario includes content that some visitors may find offensive and/or traumatizing. Guelph Museums aims to provide open spaces for the sharing and understanding of all histories and lived experiences. We ask that visitors help to create an atmosphere of mutual respect and sensitivity. Into the Light examines local histories and ongoing legacies of racial “betterment” thinking in Southern Ontario that de-humanized and disappeared those who did not fit…
Find out more »VibraFusionLab: Bridging Practices in Accessibility, Art and Communications
Experience sound and vibration technologies through art installations by David Bobier, Lindsay Fisher, Marla Hlady, Ellen Moffat, Gordon Monahan, Alison O’Daniel, and Lynx Sainte-Marie. By making sound tangible through touch, this exhibition aims to change public perceptions of difference and disability. Presented in partnership with VibraFusionLab, an innovative centre for vibrotactile research and creative practice based in London, Ontario. Public Events: VibraFusionLab Opening Reception Friday, September 27, 6 p.m. Civic Museum | Free admission Remarks, performances and reception. All…
Find out more »November 2019
Operation Keep Warm
Donations of new or gently used tents, tarps, sleeping bags, large hiking backpacks, coats, and new warm socks and underwear will be collected in support of Operation Keep Warm, a program created by Sanguen Health Centre, Lakeside Hope House, Wyndham House, and the Downtown Guelph Business Association, supporting people who are experiencing homelessness. Please bring donations to the front desk of the Civic Museum.
Find out more »December 2019
Downtown EarlyON Playtime
Weekly program offerings for children from 0 to 6 years old and their families, offered through the EarlyON Child and Family Centre. Free drop-in family programming that promotes early learning and development from 9:30 to 11:30 AM on a weekly basis. The EarlyON Child and Family Centre at the Guelph Community Health Centre has been in existence since 2003. EarlyON has eight off-site Neighbourhood Playtimes and two main locations (Downtown and Stone Rd Mall) each providing a multitude of free drop-in and…
Find out more »