WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE?
What's Your Favourite...?
Manitoba Museum’s CEO, Dorota Blumczyńska, shares inspiring writers, morning habits and why museums are more important than ever.
By Nicole Keen
DOROTA BLUMCZYŃSKA'S appointment to CEO of the Manitoba Museum four years ago was a full-circle moment. At age nine, after coming to Canada as a refugee from Poland, Blumczyńska visited the museum with her family. “I’ve loved it since I arrived in Canada,” she says. “Thirty years later, I was gifted the tremendous honour and responsibility of leading this organization. For me, it was a kind of homecoming.” As the leader of this cherished institution, Blumczyńska is committed to fostering a sense of community and making the museum an inclusive gathering place.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF DOROTA BLUMCZYŃSKA
The Manitoba Museum combines science centre and human and natural history museum in one space and houses a collection of 2.9 million artifacts and specimens. | PHOTO: COURTESY OF MANITOBA MUSEUM
Why are museums important? Museums are incredibly important in helping us understand ourselves and understand each other. We’re at a moment in history when it’s critical for us to listen with kindness and to have open minds and open hearts.
Are there any exhibits at the museum that are special to you? I have a very warm fondness for the Nonsuch. The ship tells a very powerful story, and the museum centres the experience of the First Nations who were in the north and on the shore of Churchill seeing this ship arrive. There’s also this wonderful exhibit in our Prairies Gallery of the [honorary] first premier of the province of Manitoba, Louis Riel. Parts of his life are described — Louis Riel as the father, Louis Riel as a husband, Louis Riel as a traitor. It really shows how incredibly dynamic history is, and how those multiple perspectives are valid and true in their own respective ways depending on who the storyteller is.
I understand that you once dreamed of being a writer. Who are your favourites? When I think of poetry, Walt Whitman and Leaves of Grass. When I think of how we organize ourselves [in] relationship to the material world, Marie Kondo and Spark Joy. [And] I love Rohinton Mistry.
You’re known for your moving speeches. Are there any public speakers who inspire you? Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a captivating speaker [and writer] from Nigeria. She does a wonderful job of integrating very powerful messages with humour.
You’ve documented your practice of witnessing the sunrise every morning. Where’s your favourite place to start the day? A bridge overlooking the Assiniboine River. That reconnection with water and that walk in nature is medicinal. CAA
“Museums are incredibly important in helping us understand ourselves and understand each other.”
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The Nonsuch exhibit contains a replica of the 17th-century ship that led to the creation of the Hudson’s Bay Company; the cantilevered Assiniboine Park Footbridge spans the Assiniboine River. | PHOTOS: IAN McCAUSLAND/THE MANITOBA MUSEUM; AHPOTOSWPG/iSTOCK
DOROTA BLUMCZYŃSKA'S appointment to CEO of the Manitoba Museum four years ago was a full-circle moment. At age nine, after coming to Canada as a refugee from Poland, Blumczyńska visited the museum with her family. “I’ve loved it since I arrived in Canada,” she says. “Thirty years later, I was gifted the tremendous honour and responsibility of leading this organization. For me, it was a kind of homecoming.” As the leader of this cherished institution, Blumczyńska is committed to fostering a sense of community and making the museum an inclusive gathering place.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF DOROTA BLUMCZYŃSKA
