As COVID-19 vaccinations ramp up and case counts continue to fall, the Royal BC Museum is welcoming visitors with a wealth of summertime offerings:
Orcas: Our Shared Future, on now through January 9, 2022, offers a deep dive into the stories and science that surround the magnificent orca, spirit of BC’s wild coast and apex predator of all oceans. Visitors will discover the complex social structure of orca society; learn which orca populations are thriving and which are at risk; and surface with a new understanding of how orcas and humans are inextricably connected.
The museum has reduced visitor capacity and implemented timed ticketing to facilitate physical distancing in our galleries, so please book your entry time on the website well before you arrive at the museum, as tickets have been selling out in advance and your preferred entry time may not be able at the box office. Full details about the museum’s COVID-19 response are available at royalbcmuseum.bc.ca.
Collaborating for Conservation, the museum’s current pocket gallery on the museum’s ground floor, runs until August 11. The display highlights the Royal BC Museum’s role in documenting BC’s natural heritage through the collection of biological specimens in BC Parks. It also highlights the roles played by our universities collecting digital observations and park visitors contributing submissions to the iNaturalist app. There’s no charge to visit.
Peering into the Past : Celebrating Canada’s Oldest Chinatown, a pop-up exhibit in Victoria’s Fan Tan Alley, offers a glimpse into local history. It features an in-depth look at a Chinese Freemasons’ lantern, handmade in Victoria’s Chinatown by a master craftsman, and a striking historical black and white photograph from the BC Archives, depicting children in Victoria’s Chinatown celebrating Chinese New Year in 1900. The pop-up exhibit, also free to enter, runs until March 2022.
Missed RBCM’s previous feature exhibition, Emily Carr: Fresh Seeing—French Modernism and the West Coast? Don’t worry, you can still visit the exhibition through the museum’s virtual tour. Learn how the Canadian icon of arts and letters charted new ground as a modernist painter in France before turning her attention to BC’s wild West Coast. You’ll learn how time spent at her canvas and encounters with international artists in France changed her forever.
Also available online, from the creators of Fake Ghost Tours, it’s Orcas: Wolves of the Sea “Lecture”—an extremely unscientific, tongue-in-cheek tour of the museum’s latest feature exhibition, by “world-renowned” and “totally qualified” zoologist Dr. Brad Gooseberry. Disclaimer: Dr. Gooseberry does not have a doctorate and is neither world-renowned nor qualified… but he is a great comedian! Two dates available for this online event: June 25 and 26.
And remember: you can eat, drink and practice physical distancing with the Royal BC Museum’s year-round food truck festival. Put your hunger in park and visit the museum’s back courtyard to enjoy a selection of Victoria’s favourite food trucks, including DeadBeetz, Puerto Vallarta Amigos, The Love Perogy and Yummy Truck.
