A popular local museum exhibit recently received a $10,000 grant to develop a book about the children who attended the Alberni Indian Residential School through their art.
A series of drawings made by the children were donated to the University of Victoria by a former art teacher at the institution, and became an exhibit at the Royal BC Museum, the Alberni Valley Museum, and are currently on display at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau Quebec.
Alberni Valley Museum Manager Jamie Morton said the Indian Residential School survivors who made the paintings as children, will guide the development of a book to further tell their stories.
Morton says this is the first year of the pilot program from the provincial government, meant to strengthen resilience in B.C.’s smaller communities, through the power of arts and culture.