Government remains committed to The Rooms

Tourism, Culture and Recreation Minister Paul Shelley today reiterated government�s commitment to The Rooms project as a state-of-the-art facility to preserve and promote the province�s cultural heritage, and to opening The Rooms in the summer of 2005. The minister also announced go-forward plans in anticipation of next year�s opening.

"Government remains strongly committed to the recognition and promotion of culture and heritage in the province and to opening The Rooms next summer. The Rooms is, and remains, a significant part of the long-term, sustainable plan for Newfoundland and Labrador into the future," said Minister Shelley. "While we realize that there is concern about a delayed opening, I have met, and will continue to meet, with representatives of the arts and heritage communities to answer any questions they may have and to seek their views on the opening. This extra year will allow government to work with these important stakeholders and The Rooms Board of Directors to ensure that when The Rooms opens, it will be a facility of which we can all be proud.

"In recognition of the importance of protecting important pieces of our culture and heritage, beginning this summer, government will move collections belonging to the Art Gallery, Provincial Museum and Provincial Archives to temperature-controlled vaults at The Rooms. This will ensure that these important collections from all three institutions are adequately stored until they are put on public display next year."

Construction on The Rooms is now nearing completion. The Rooms Corporation will continue to operate and will strive to offer and make accessible as many programs and services as possible to the public within existing facilities over the next year. While a limited number of pre-booked events will go ahead, the building will continue to be closed to the public.

While the Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador, located in the Arts and Culture Centre, will remain closed to the public until the move to The Rooms in 2005, a number of art gallery exhibitions will be temporarily displayed at the Provincial Museum and alternate sites. Staff will continue to complete the collection inventory, develop exhibitions for the opening of The Rooms and administer the residencies and art education programs. The AGNL is currently rescheduling all of the exhibitions originally planned for this year.

The Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador (PANL), located in the Colonial Building, will now be closed on Mondays to allow for preparations to continue for the move to The Rooms, and for staff to handle the functions related to client services which cannot be carried out during opening hours. Normal on-site services will continue to be provided to the public. Distance services, which had been suspended in preparation for the move to The Rooms, will be resumed in September 2004, enabling PANL staff to manage on-site research demands during the busy summer season.

PANL is also very pleased to be able to offer a modified version of the exhibition it had planned for its opening at The Rooms. This exhibition is titled Newfoundland�s French Shore Depicted: 1713 to 1904 and has been developed in partnership with the Association of Newfoundland and Labrador Archives. It features original archival documents from both PANL holdings and the collections of the Library and Archives Canada, as well as high quality reproductions of important documents from the Biblioth�que nationale de France and the Minist�re des Affaires �trangeres of France. It will be presented at the Provincial Museum building on Duckworth Street from June 29 until the end of September.

The Provincial Museum of Newfoundland and Labrador (PMNL) will re-open to the public at 285 Duckworth Street on June 29 with an official opening of the PANL French Shore Exhibition. The museum will present a number of temporary and permanent exhibits and offer programming services to the public until early 2005 when it prepares for the move to The Rooms. During the next few months, PMNL will complete its permanent exhibit on the third floor of The Rooms and will begin the move of its collection to The Rooms.

"I am pleased that many of the exhibits that were originally scheduled to be on display in The Rooms this year have been renegotiated for alternate sites this year or rescheduled for The Rooms next year," said Minister Shelley. "While in Europe last week, Premier Williams met with officials of the Biblioth�que nationale de France, where he was able to view the originals of the documents which will be presented as high quality copies in the PANL exhibition at the Provincial Museum. The Premier reiterated government�s commitment to the opening of The Rooms next summer."

An official date for the opening of The Rooms will be announced in the coming weeks following the finalization of plans for an official opening by The Rooms Board of Directors in consultation with the Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation. Once the date has been announced, government will inform the public and potential tourists through a number of channels in the coming weeks and months. The new date will also be profiled in the province�s travel guide for 2005 and will be included in an addendum for the 2004 Travel Guide. Key stakeholders will be informed and consulted over the coming months to answer questions and address concerns.

Media contact: Tansy Mundon, Communications, (709) 729-0928

2004 05 21                                        9:45 a.m.