Recommendations

Governmental:

• To view Communities, Culture and Heritage COVID-19 Guide for Creating a Reopening Plan for your Museum. Click here
• To view the Communities, Culture and Heritage COVID-19 Prevention Guide for Event Organizers, Theatres and Performance Venues. Click here
• To learn more about the Government of Nova Scotia’s response to COVID-19, click here.
• The Government of Nova Scotia has released a website outlining how to prepare Nova Scotia for reopening. Click here

Reopening:

• The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) has pulled together a wide range of reopening resources.
• A step-by-step approach for how to plan your reopening from the American Allience of Museums. 
• The Canadian Museums Association (CMA) has compiled a number of reopening resources
• A set of toolkits for reopening, collections care, virtual programming and more from the Institute of Library Services (IMLS), OCLC and Battelle.
• The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) has compiled a list of sample reopening plans. Click here.
• The American Alliance of Museums, Center for the Future of Museums blog post titled “How to Get Ready to Open the Doors” by Elizabeth Merritt.
• The Alberta Museums Association (AMA) has released a list of Ticket Service Providers for museums to review that may be considering online ticketing platforms during reopening (see below).

Collections:

• The Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI) has released Caring for Heritage Collections During the COVID-19 Pandemic (Version 2).

• On June 9, 2020, Senior Conservation Scientist Tom Strang gave a presentation entitled “Caring for Heritage Collections During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Focus on Reopening.” The recording is available here.

Support

• CRA released changes to the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS). Click here to learn about these changes.
• The province has extended the provisions for organizations and societies to conduct their required AGM either virtually or be held customary within 90 days after the State of Emergency Order is lifted. Click here to learn more.
• The Alberta Museum Association (AMA) has compiled resources to help museums respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Part 1: Activating Your Emergency Response, and Part 2: Workers and Employees.
• Imagine Canada’s chart summarizing Federal Government measures for charities, nonprofits, and social enterprises.
• The Community Sector Council of Nova Scotia is offering resources for nonprofit & voluntary organizations.

Training

• Tourism Nova Scotia offered a weekly series of webinars that gave tourism businesses tools to adapt and be ready to open following COVID-19. Click here to view recordings.
• The Ontario Museum Association hosted a webinar entitled “Caring for Heritage Collections During the COVID-19 Pandemic.” In this webinar, Irene Karsten, Canadian Conservation Institute Preservation Development Advisor, shared information and recommendations to help those responsible for heritage collections. Click here to watch the recording.
• ACHIEVE offered a free webinar led by trainer Lynda Monk titled, “Managing Your Stress During COVID-19.” Click here to watch the recording.
• Cuseum offered a webinar titled, “Preparing to Reopen – Strategy, Planning & Process on the Road to Reopening Museums.” Click here to watch the recording.
• Cuseum offered a webinar titled “Museum Think Tank: Cultural Organizations as Incubators for Social Impact.”  Click here to watch the recording.
• Cuseum offered a webinar titled, “Re-Opening Museums & Cultural Attractions: Succeeding in the Post-COVID Era with Digital Tools.”  Click here to watch the recording.
• Tactile Studio offered a webinar titled, “How Museums can still be Inclusive after Covid-19?” Click here to watch the recording.

Fundraising

• Visit Canada Helps to learn more about donating and fundraising online.
• #GivingTuesday is a global day of giving and unity that will take place on November 28, 2023 as an emergency response to the unprecedented need caused by COVID-19. GivingTuesday was started in Canada by a group of organizations, including CanadaHelps.org. Click here to learn more about this initiative.

Research & Marketing

• Get involved in province wide tourism marketing with Tourism Nova Scotia using the hashtags #RediscoverNovaScotia and #VisitNovaScotia or tag @VisitNovaScotia on Twitter or Instagram for a chance to be featured on their social media pages or in their gallery on NovaScotia.com.
• Updating your business listing, packages, events and experiences on NovaScotia.com to reflect your open/close dates, business hours, rates by emailing: novascotia@novascotia.ca, and listing your packages on NovaScotia.com. You can create listings for your packages using the online Partner Portal.
• Information on factors influencing attendance at cultural venues during the pandemic from Impacts Experience.
• ANSM’s Museums & COVID-19 Impact Survey Infographic is now available (see below).

Other

• Risk Mitigation Tool for Child and Youth Settings is available in English and French.
• Risk Mitigation Tool for Outdoor Recreation Spaces and Activities Operating during the COVID-19 Pandemic is available in English and French.
• Museum Hack offers helpful insight on their blog about virtual museum tour trends.
• International Council of Museums (ICOM) blog post titled “Museums and COVID-19: 8 steps to support community resilience”
• Volunteer Canada is offering Resources on COVID-19 and Volunteering, click here.