Our Mission

To inspire an enduring connection to the maritime heritage of Kingston and the Great Lakes.

About MARINE MUSEUM OF THE GREAT LAKES AT KINGSTON

The Marine Museum of the Great Lakes at Kingston is entering a new era in its 45-year history. For decades the Museum has housed galleries, archives, library and research centres, this unique facility being dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of the rich maritime history of the Great Lakes. The Museum, now located at Portsmouth Olympic Harbour, was housed in the former Kingston Shipyards and Dry Dock a National Historic Site reflecting the significance of Kingston as a major shipbuilding centre and port on the Great Lakes.

Having recently purchased the Kingston Dry Dock property, transition plans for a new 21st Century Museum will soon be a reality. To fulfill our vision, the Board of Directors believes a bold and progressive strategic plan is needed to chart a new course. We intend to transform the Museum into a maritime cultural hub that actively embraces our one-of-a-kind, historic waterfront location in Kingston. We believe that the most successful museums in the 21st Century will continuously refine their strategies as the external landscape evolves, new lessons are learned and opportunities arise. In this spirit, our strategic plan is a dynamic document, defining a clear “destination” – where we want to be in 2025 – and encouraging flexibility and creativity throughout the journey.

Our plan aims to drive the positive changes necessary to create an unrivaled, sustainable Marine Museum that excels in delivering our mission and vision. The plan sharpens our focus with three strategic priorities developed to assure a clear path to success. It requires us to rethink how we organize our time and talent, and where we invest dollars. At the same time, the plan strongly reaffirms the Museum’s commitment to ensuring residents and families, as well as tourists, have access to our Museum, its waterfront, exhibits and programs. Finally, the plan strengthens our engagement with donors, non-profit organizations, key stakeholders and opinion leaders as essential drivers of innovation and positive change in our community. 

A vital component of culture, heritage and experiential education, is currently missing from Kingston. Our Museum has a community role to play in promoting life-long learning and non-formal knowledge transmission about our region’s unique and living maritime history. We intend to listen to and consult with citizens and stakeholders on how the Marine Museum can make a higher contribution to our community. In turn, this will help us fully establish our ultimate goals.

In the end, we need generous funding and volunteer support for our National Historic Site to be transformed indoors and out into a safe, welcoming space for a variety of programs, intercultural dialogue, creative play, and connecting people to our unparalleled waterfront. A revitalized Marine Museum has a unique potential to promote cultural and biological diversity, and protect our heritage. We have a mission to raise public awareness of the value and fragility of our region’s precious maritime environment. Our exhibits, programs, services and spaces will promote the responsibility of all citizens to contribute to the care and conservation of the planet’s greatest bodies of interconnected freshwater, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway.  Read the complete Strategic Plan here.