After a weekend of finger-pointing and back-and-forthing and many members of the public and the press voicing their strong support for moving ahead with a badly-needed new building Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton, there may be hope. Indications late this afternoon are that conversations are at least happening between the Province of Alberta and the Federal Government. The latest news (as of 6:30 pm Mountain Time, on November 2), from the Edmonton Journal, can be found here.
Although nothing is of course final yet, and funding still hangs in the balance as I write this, at least the finger-pointing seems - for the moment - to have stopped and politicians are trying to solve the problem.
In the meantime, several people have spoken up about this issue. Here are a few examples:
Edmonton Journal columnist Paula Simons, has been writing and blogging almost constantly on the subject. Some of this writing can be found here. Some of the latest work of her colleagues - with files from Ms. Simons, can also be found here and here.
...and former Mayor of Strathcona County Cathy Oleson, whose incredibly well-written Letter to the Editor was published in November 2's Edmonton Journal.
...and also Alice Major, Edmonton's former Poet Laureate, wrote an equally thoughtful and thought-provoking Letter to the Editor, also published in the November 2 Edmonton Journal.
...and let's not forget PACE, the Professional Arts Coalition of Edmonton, who sent letters to several top government officials at the federal and provincial levels, encouraging people to please just sit down and work it out so that this very valuable project could move forward. Check out their work on their facebook page.
As we all agree, the RAM's new building is long overdue. Fingers crossed that it will finally move forward.
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