McCord Stewart Museum doubly rewarded at the 2024 Société des musées du Québec gala

Montreal, October 11, 2024. – The McCord Stewart Museum team took home two awards at the latest Société des musées québécois (SMQ) gala on October 9.

The exhibition Wampum: Beads of Diplomacy earned the excellence award in category 3 (project with a budget of $250,000 to $750,000). This award recognizes the exceptional quality of the scientific and educational content developed and exhibited at the Museum and online, as well as the impressive work of the Collections Management and Conservation departments and the extensive educational and cultural programming produced for the occasion.

The Museum is also the first institution to receive the Prix Caisse d’économie solidaire Desjardins for socio-ecological transition. This new award was presented to the Museum for its sustainable event planning policy, part of the Museum’s ongoing efforts to limit the environmental footprint of its activities and those of its partners, suppliers and customers.

“The whole team is proud to see their longstanding commitment to sustainable development and reconciliation honoured by the Société des musées du Québec. This recognition of the relevance and impact of our actions only makes us more determined to continue working for a fairer society, as indicated in the Museum’s 2022-2027 strategic plan. I also want to extend this honour to all our partners, private and public, institutional and individual, who support us in our efforts,” says Anne Eschapasse, President and CEO of the McCord Stewart Museum.

Wampum: Beads of Diplomacy

The exhibition was developed and co-produced with the musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac in Paris, where it was first presented, before travelling to the Seneca Art and Culture Center in Victor, New York. The presentation in Montreal – a Canadian exclusive – brought together 40 wampums, 13 of which came from the McCord Stewart Museum’s Indigenous Cultures collection and one of which was gifted by the Kanehsatà:ke community to Pope Gregory XVI in 1831 and never before returned to Canada. The significance of these exceptional cultural artefacts was contextualized and highlighted thanks to the contribution of a number of remarkable Indigenous experts and the collaboration of the many Canadian institutions that accepted to lend their wampum. In parallel with the exhibition, the Museum organized cultural and educational activities, including a ceremony that brought together 40 representatives of Indigenous communities in the US and Canada, an international multidisciplinary symposium, a program that welcomed 36 groups from multiple Indigenous communities to the exhibition, and a family tour integrated into the exhibition.

“This exhibition, the largest ever dedicated to wampum belts, would not have been possible without the support of the many individuals, communities and institutions that agreed to work with us to present these objects that played a founding role for our country. We’re very grateful for the trust they showed us. Thanks to the entire McCord Stewart Museum team’s efforts, dedication and creativity, members of Indigenous communities were able to reconnect directly with their cultural and political heritage in a meaningful way,” ways Jonathan Lainey, Curator, Indigenous Cultures.

“This award is an honour for the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac. Wampum: Beads of Diplomacy is a magnificent example of cooperation and dialogue with source communities, especially for the CRoyAN project, and with our counterparts at the McCord Stewart Museum. I would like to congratulate curator Jonathan Lainey on this award, which also recognizes our respective museums’ careful conservation of this shared heritage,” says Emmanuel Kasarhérou, President of the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac in Paris.
This is the second award presented to this exhibition. In May 2024, it received the prestigious Canadian Museums Association (CMA) Outstanding Achievement Award for Social Impact.

Sustainable events

As announced in its 2022-2027 strategic plan and its sustainable development policy, the Museum is fully committed to sustainable development. It strives to limit the environmental footprint of its activities and to encourage its partners, suppliers, customers and patrons to follow suit. The Museum carries out many sustainability initiatives, including promoting and organizing environmentally responsible events. For example, the Museum bans plastic use, such as in bottles or disposable cutlery, from its events and strongly encourages reusing already available resources. The ultimate goal is to organize zero-waste events.

The Museum team created and put online a guide to organizing sustainable events, which they shared with other museums to create a wider impact within the community. Several institutions took inspiration from the guide to develop their own version and become sustainable event planners themselves.

Guide to Organizing a Sustainable Event