The East Coulee School Museum has received a grant that will help restore the roof of its building.
    The East Coulee School Museum has been making steady progress in maintaining and refurbishing the recognized historical site. It was successful installing a new boiler to heat the facility and the next project for the organization is to replace the roof.
    It was successful in its application for $36,250 to the Alberta Heritage Resource Foundation (AHRF) to go towards the roof project.
    “It’s very nice to get this funding,” said executive director Barb Steeves.
    With this funding, they have raised about $50,000. They need to raise about $170,000 for the entire project.
    Steeves explains the funds can be leveraged to get more funding.
    “AHRF expects it to be a matching grant, and expects us to raise enough funds to match it,” she explains.
    The roof is a tar and gravel roof. She explains they are able to use conventional methods to replace the roof
    “When you restore a heritage building you have to stick to a lot of the heritage materials, but because you cannot see the roof, this can be the new torch-on style of roof,” she said. “They also want us to add insulations, which is why the price is higher, but largely because you can’t see the roof you can use the more modern finish and it will last a lot longer.”
    The East Coulee School Museum was the first property recognized under the Town of Drumheller’s historic resource bylaw.

The federal and provincial governments are teaming up to expand the Royal Tyrrell Museum.
Kent Hehr, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of Defense, on behalf of Mélanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage was in Drumheller. He announced a commitment of $3.595 million of infrastructure funding for the Royal Tyrrell Museum's expansion.

"When we look at cultural spaces and what they mean to this country, this is an opportunity to invest in a flagship operation," said Hehr. "We see the Tyrrell as a great place where kids of all ages come to care, share, and play together."
This investment is complemented by$5.705 million from the provincial government for a total $9.3 million investment.
This is the first time the federal government has contributed to the Royal Tyrrell Museum.
"We find our relationship with the Government of Alberta an example of cooperative federalism. It is a place where we can come together, exchange ideas, look at projects and try to build a better province and a better Canada. It doesn't mean we agree on every single issue, but it means we sit down like adults and discuss things of importance to Alberta and important to the national government and try to come to a consensus."
Shannon Phillips, Alberta Minister of the Environment was in attendance for Minister of Culture and Tourism Ricardo Miranda. She underscored the economic importance of the project.
"Construction will begin as soon as we can, and there are a number of short term jobs associated with that and long term jobs as the museum expands. Our capital plan as a province and the federal government has taken the same view. It is really designed to put people to work as soon as we can, particularly here in Alberta where we have seen job losses due to the downturn in the price of oil."
The expansion will add about 1,300 square metres to the facility for activities that encourage exploration, as well as multi-use rooms for meetings and school groups, and additional outreach areas.