Austerity Tours: How Decades of Funding Stagnation Affects the MOV

The MOV’s Austerity Tours will highlight the problems, risks and missed opportunities museums typically hide from view: buckets that catch leaks, the oldest continuously operating freezer in Vancouver, a vintage iPod used to power exhibitions, and, depending on the weather, a hallway filled with ants. The aim is to make voters understand the risks austerity pose to irreplaceable cultural heritage—which is why they’ll be offered during the 2026 municipal election period.

In addition to hidden buckets and 20-year-old iPods, the Austerity Tour will include:

• Access to areas not normally available to the public;
• How MOV’s fabrication team produces new exhibitions at a fraction of the cost of the industry standard;
• Discussions with the team responsible for safeguarding the largest civic collection of objects in Canada; and, imagining what a revitalized civic museum could achieve.

Dates: Thursdays, September 24, October 1, 8 and 15, 2026
Time: 5:30pm-6:30pm Location: Museum of Vancouver Tickets: By donation on a sliding scale. RSVPs required. (plus fees and taxes)