By Museum Board of Governor Jim Lutz.

For the last several years, a dedicated team of volunteers has revolutionized the Queen’s Own Rifles Museum by preserving its treasures, recording its inventory on film, and developing dramatic displays that tell the regiment’s story to the thousands of Casa Loma visitors each year.  While much good work has been done, much more can still be done.  Towards that end, the Museum’s Board of Governors commissioned a strategic planning process to identify the objectives of the Museum and the many projects we could undertake in future years.

The strategic planning process began with four research projects, designed to identify what people enjoyed in the Museum and what improvements they would like.  We began with a facilitated brainstorming session with 15 Museum volunteers, who gave us enough great ideas to keep us busy for the rest of the century.  We also surveyed samples of visitors to Casa Loma, key members of the regimental family, and digital visitors to our website.

Based on all this research, our strategic planning team drafted a document to serve as the Museum’s strategic plan for the next five years.  This team consisted of Mr. Jim Lutz, MA (member of the Museum Board and Regimental Senate), Mr. Alex Meyers, MA (Museum volunteer), and Major (Retired) John Stephens, CD (Curator of the Museum).

The strategic plan seeks to achieve the Museum’s Vision, which is to be “a modern, historical, educational and rewarding experience to ‘all’ who visit Casa Loma, and continue to be known by peers as the best example of a volunteer organized and managed ‘specialized’ museum and archival collection”.  The planning team identified five strategies that will help us achieve this Vision:

1. Preserving the regiment’s history
2. Promoting the regiment’s history and current mission to the public
3. Serve the interests of a wider community through outreach and digital presence
4. Support and benefit from Casa Loma’s tourist business
5. Ensure the effective governance and management of the museum to accomplish the above

You may read the approved plan, and you will see the extensive list of projects we can undertake to achieve these goals.  With the help of all our volunteers, supported by the Liberty Group management of Casa Loma and our regiment, we can now focus our efforts on the most productive and valuable projects we have identified to achieve our goals for the Museum.