Skip to main content
Ingenium Logo

You are leaving IngeniumCanada.org

✖


This link leads to an external website that Ingenium does not control. Please read the third-party’s privacy policies before entering personal information or conducting a transaction on their site.

Have questions? Review our Privacy Statement

Vous quittez IngeniumCanada.org

✖


Ce lien mène à un site Web externe qu'Ingenium ne contrôle pas. Veuillez lire les politiques de confidentialité des tiers avant de partager des renseignements personnels ou d'effectuer une transaction sur leur site.

Questions? Consultez notre Énoncé de confidentialité

Ingenium The Channel

Langue

  • Français
Search Toggle

Menu des liens rapides

  • Ingenium Locations
  • Shop
  • Donate
  • Join
Menu

Main Navigation

  • Browse
    • Categories
    • Media Types
    • Boards
    • Featured Stories
  • About
    • About The Channel
    • Content Partners

Behind the scenes: Meet Ingenium’s travelling exhibitions team

Share
7 m
Nov 26, 2021
Categories
Exhibitions
Media
Article
Profile picture for user Sonia Mendes
By: Sonia Mendes
Ingenium - Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation
Three women pose in front of the massive iron wheels of a locomotive. They are wearing coats and scarves and smiling at the camera.
Photo Credit
Ingenium
From left to right: Maren Hackett, Julie Leclair, and Alison Ward make up Ingenium’s travelling exhibitions team.

Exhibitions are the backbone of most museums, but what you may not know is they don’t always stay put within the museum walls. Travelling exhibitions enable museums to share colourful stories and engaging educational content with audiences around the world — instead of being limited to local audiences. 

At Ingenium – Canada’s Museums of Science and Innovation, the travelling exhibitions team — Maren Hackett, Alison Ward, and Julie Leclair — work hard to make a range of exhibitions accessible to communities across Canada and beyond. The Ingenium Channel sat down with the team to find out more about what their work entails — and a new carbon-neutral shipping initiative. 

Ingenium Channel (IC): How is a travelling exhibition different than a permanent or temporary exhibition?

Maren Hackett: A permanent exhibition is one that is on long-term display in a main gallery of the museum, and usually features items from the museum’s own collection. A temporary exhibition might be a special, short-term showing of artifacts from a museum’s own collection, or it could be a borrowed exhibition. A travelling exhibition is one that is produced by a museum, science centre, art gallery, or exhibition production company and is shown at more than one venue. Travelling exhibitions are accessible to a greater number of visitors in different regions, and they can attract new audiences by adding interest to host museums whose exhibitions might change infrequently. 
 

A series of blue and white exhibition modules are stationed in a room with high, well-lit ceilings.
Photo Credit
Ingenium

Cipher | Decipher is a travelling exhibition that explores the past and present of communications cryptology.

IC: Tell me more about the behind-the-scenes work performed by Ingenium’s travelling exhibition team.

Julie Leclair: The travelling exhibition team starts working on an exhibition right at the very beginning of its inception. We start with market testing, to see how potential venues react to the subject matter. Then we work with the exhibition development team to ensure that the exhibition will be easy to install (and dismantle), and engaging for visitors. 

Once an exhibition is built and ready to ship, we work with host venues to sign contracts, coordinate shipping, troubleshoot any installation (or dismantling) issues, help with marketing and promotion, and provide support for the full duration of the booking. Then we do it all over again for the next venue! We also collaborate with our colleagues around the world to share our best practices and learn from others.

Large, two dimensional wooden pieces of a travelling exhibition are being loaded into a pallet by three men.
Photo Credit
Ingenium

Getting ready to roll: A view of the Cipher | Decipher travelling exhibition being packed for its next destination.

IC: Where do Ingenium’s exhibitions go? Who rents them?

Alison Ward: Ingenium’s exhibitions go practically everywhere in Canada. They’ve travelled from Mount Pearl, Newfoundland to Iqaluit, Nunavut to Port Alberni, British Columbia. Typically, they would be rented by small to mid-sized museums, but our exhibition hosts also include libraries, universities, large museums, and sometimes even conferences, festivals, corporations, and embassies.

Several exhibitions, such as Game Changers, have been popular with American museums. Two of our exhibits, On the Trail of the Monarch Butterfly and Climate Change is Here, have also travelled to Mexico. 

I think some potential hosts may assume that our exhibitions are prohibitively large because we’re a national institution, but the reality is the complete opposite; our exhibitions are designed to go anywhere and be hosted by any sort of institution. 

A series of large exhibition panels are set up inside a museum space. The title “Eyes on the Skies” is visible on the nearest panel.
Photo Credit
Ingenium

A view of Eyes on the Skies, a travelling exhibition that examines the evolution of air traffic management and the systems, people, and technologies that keep our busy skies safe.

IC: How often do they move? How long do they typically stay on tour?

Maren Hackett: A rental is usually about 12 weeks, so an exhibition typically moves about three times a year. A tour might last only a year; for instance, the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum developed a travelling exhibition to tour during the International Year of Pulses in 2016. Some tours could last 10 years or more if the topic is timeless, but usually a combination of wear and tear — and the need to update content — limit a tour to between five and 10 years.

A red forklift hoists a huge crate into the back of a waiting truck.
Photo Credit
Ingenium

The Eyes on the Skies travelling exhibition is packed and loaded into a truck for shipping. 

IC: I understand that Ingenium’s travelling exhibitions now offer carbon neutral shipping. How does that work, and why is it important?

Julie Leclair: We are so excited to announce that we are carbon neutral for the shipping of all of our travelling exhibitions. For the past year, the team has been thinking about how we can be a greener program. Knowing that shipping causes just over three percent of the world’s carbon emissions, we thought perhaps offsetting our carbon footprint for our shipping might be a good place to start.

Offsets are designed to help mitigate the emissions associated from one activity with another activity that avoids or reduces the equivalent amount of emissions. For example, emissions caused by shipping 13 exhibitions around North America can be neutralized by preventing the release of an equivalent amount of emissions through the implementation of a renewable energy project.

We worked with the Canadian carbon offset company, Less Emissions, to determine our carbon emissions. And we are pleased to announce that Ingenium has acquired and retired just over 36 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) to offset emissions caused by the shipping of our travelling exhibitions across North America. We know this is just the start on our greening journey, but we are proud to be one of the first in the travelling exhibition industry to be carbon neutral for all of our shipping. We hope to encourage other travelling exhibition producers to do the same.

IC: Are there other sustainability initiatives that you hope to introduce in the future? 

Alison Ward: Absolutely. The most obvious next step is to continue to offset other elements of our travelling exhibitions work. For example, if one of us travels to meet up with an exhibition on the road or to attend a conference, we could offset that travel. The greater step, however, will be moving away from offsetting the exhibitions’ footprints to reducing the footprints in the first place. It’s the same as needing to move away from recycling to reducing.

The travelling exhibition industry needs to move toward producing exhibitions with low-emission materials and in a low-emission fashion. This will be a challenge, but not impossible by any means. For example, exhibition panels can be made from inedible biodegradable sorghum stock, instead of plastic or metal. Recycled aluminum can be used for case frames, and reclaimed wood is now an option for shipping crates. Today, there are a multitude of new products made from recycled plastic; there are many options to explore. As sustainability is increasingly included in decision-making across every industry and sector, it will become more natural for all of us to choose sustainable options.

Another way Ingenium can reduce the environmental impact of its travelling exhibitions is to pursue digital options. We already have two “download-and-display” exhibitions where host venues can display exhibition panels digitally. As a result, there are no emissions generated from fabrication or shipping. With ever-increasing online connectivity, we feel there is plenty of room for expansion within the realm of digital exhibitions!

So, all of this to say, going carbon neutral for the shipping of our travelling exhibitions is only the beginning.

By the numbers: Ingenium’s travelling exhibitions

5,996,264: Number of visitors who experienced Ingenium’s travelling exhibitions in the past five years

46,823: Number of kilometres travelled by the Ace Academy exhibition (and it’s still travelling!)

5,758: Number of kilometres travelled by the Health in Space exhibition in its longest single trip between venues, between Fort Smith, NT to Saint John, NB 

40: Total shipments of Ingenium’s travelling exhibitions in 2019

1.69:  Number of trips around the world taken by Ingenium’s travelling exhibitions in 2019

36.230: The number of tonnes of CO2 that Ingenium has acquired and retired, to offset emissions caused by shipping their travelling exhibitions across North America


Enjoying the Ingenium Channel? Help us improve your experience with a short survey!

Share your insights
Tags
travelling exhibitions, environment, shipping, carbon-neutral
Author(s)
Profile picture for user Sonia Mendes
Sonia Mendes
Follow

Sonia Mendes is the English Writer/Editor for Ingenium. She loves digging behind the scenes to tell the quirky, colourful stories of museum life and all things related to science and innovation.

More Stories by

Profile picture for user Sonia Mendes
Sonia Mendes
Ingenium - Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation
Award winner Jackson Weir stands next to a large marble wall with a sign that reads, "Harvard Medical School." A tree and the facade of a building are visible in the background.

Final countdown: Applications due soon for STEAM Horizon Awards program

A close-up shot of two young people wearing safety goggles, in a lab environment. The person in the foreground is holding up a glass beaker filled will blue liquid.

STEAM Horizon awards program seeks inspiring, science-minded youth

Two gingerbread and sugar creations are pictured against a dark backdrop; a model of the James Webb Space Telescope is in the foreground, and the Ariane 5 rocket is visible in the background.

Gingerbread art launches the holiday season at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum

A wax model of a set of yellowed and unsightly teeth seem to be suspended in the air, set against a black background.

Toothy tales: 5 artifacts from your dental nightmares

A cartoon-style graphic of two hands holding a tablet; the screen features an open book and some science-themed icons like a light bulb, a microscope, and a rocket ship.

Science Literacy Week explores science in our everyday lives

The surface of the Moon, scattered with craters of various sizes.

Astronaut training mission lands in Labrador

A young woman smiles and looks at the camera as she poses with a cardboard cut-out of Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques.

Asian Heritage Month: A conversation with Ruth Hwang

A woman wearing a protective jumpsuit crouches next to a beehive.

Behind the scenes: Meet a beekeeper at the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum

A young woman smiles as she sits at a desk with a laptop open in front of her. The logo for the Canadian Space Agency is visible on her laptop screen.

Asian Heritage Month: A conversation with Anna Jee

A young woman wears a traditional Vietnamese dress in bright pink.

Asian Heritage Month: A conversation with Linda Dao

A graphical treatment of an image shows a wide-eyed young person, with their head seemingly opened up. Some hand-drawn squiggles and a lightning bolt appear in white on the top section of the head.

Science Odyssey 2021: Ingenium museums offer inspiring, virtual experiences

A young man wearing a mask stands at a table, with two cedar boxes stacked in front of him. He is using a garden trowel to dig in a soil-like mixture inside the top box. Pieces of wood and an electric saw are visible in the workshop behind him.

The Box of Life: Grow a gorgeous garden with one of nature’s superheroes

A woman in a white lab coat smiles widely at the camera. She is standing in a laboratory, and a row of labelled jars and containers sit on a shelf behind her.

Black voices in STEM: A conversation with Dr. Juliet Daniel

A woman wearing an astronaut’s helmet holds a rabbit up to the camera of a laptop, which is open in front of her. Children’s faces are visible on the laptop screen via videoconferencing.

Virtual field trips offer a breath of fresh air amidst pandemic restrictions

A white race car with dark blue and gold accents sits in a tranquil, outdoor setting, with the sun shining through the trees. The word “Ford” is visible in huge letters across the windshield.

Start your engines: A Ford GT Mk II is now on display in Ottawa

A woman wearing purple gloves looks into a glass bottle of water that she is holding.

Life on Mars? Billion-year-old water found near Timmins could offer glimpse into the past

A group of people stand outdoors, looking up as a small white plane drops candy and gifts while it flies over the crowd.

A living legend: Saying farewell to Johnny May’s sweet tradition

A young girl wears a white shirt and protective glasses, as she holds a beaker of green liquid. The image is set against a lime green backdrop, and the words, “Ingenium-NSERC STEAM Horizon Awards” are visible in white lettering.

Wanted: Canada’s brightest young minds

A young woman smiles as she stands next to a large helicopter, which is sitting on the grass.

Women in STEM: A conversation with Jasmine Shaw

A young woman wearing a navy blue shirt smiles as she stands next to a mannequin dressed in a black tank top. A computer and a variety of equipment is visible on shelves in the background.

Women in STEM: A conversation with Linda Dao

A young woman wearing a lab coat, mask, and gloves sits in a laboratory. An array of bottles and equipment is visible on the counter in front of her.

Women in STEM: A conversation with Crystal McLellan

Two Remembrance Day pins sit side-by-side on a wooden surface: A red poppy pin sits next to a gold ribbon-shaped pin that features an emblem of a pigeon.

Animals in war: Unlikely war heroes took to the skies

A young woman wearing a blue blazer sits at a white desk. She has two laptops and several books open in front of her; she is looking at one of the screens.

Women in STEM: A conversation with Cecilia Odonkor

A large brown house with a wrap-around porch is surrounded by trees.

You could own the house of horrors From ‘Silence of the Lambs’

A young woman wearing a white lab coat and blue rubber gloves sits in a laboratory, working with a variety of tools in front of her.

Women in STEM: A conversation with Micaela Gray

A young woman smiles as she stands at her workstation; a computer, monitor, notepad and pen are open in front of her.

Women in STEM: A conversation with Jillian Anderson

A horizontal banner depicts the faces of five Canadian women in a pencil-sketch style format. The words, “Women’s History Month – October 2020” are visible at the top of the banner.

Women’s History Month celebrates a more inclusive Canada

A wide shot of a gallery inside the Lindt Home of Chocolate, showing white walls, white marble floors and a massive chocolate fountain. A few people are standing and sitting around the fountain, looking up at it.

Lindt opens the world’s largest chocolate museum

A cartoon-style drawing depicts books, flowers, and animals. A large letter “B” represents the theme of biodiversity. The words “Sept. 21-27, 2020” is visible in the bottom, right-hand corner of the image.

Science Literacy Week offers online learning opportunities

A stack of butter tarts sit on a silver platter; a small Canadian flag is inserted into the top butter tart.

Baskin Robbins is bringing back their butter tart ice cream and it's so Canadian

Astronaut Chris Hadfield, wearing a white spacesuit and helmet.

7 tips from an astronaut on how to master remote work

A religious painting of the Virgin Mary, surrounded by angels.

Experts call for regulation after latest botched art restoration in Spain

A colourful painting depicting two locomotives on a track, with a blue sky in the background. The words, “Visit our great exhibit – Steam: A World in Motion” are visible at the top.

Artistic artifacts: Teen taps into creativity to stay connected with his favourite museum 

A pair of pink satin point shoes sit on the floor, against a black background.

Paris Opera dancers thank key workers with a special choreographed video

Red and white tulips are in full bloom under a blue sky; the Peace Tower of Parliament Hill is visible in the background.

Virtual tulip festival commemorates Canada’s role in the liberation of the Netherlands

A painting depicts a lake, with trees and mountains in the background.

Group of Seven artwork has a home amongst science and technology artifacts

A 3D image of the COVID-19 virus on a black background.

How novel X-ray technology made in Waterloo can help COVID-19 patients

A black-and-white image of team of young hockey players, posing on the ice with their hockey sticks.

Ahead by a century: A snapshot of the hockey stick’s evolution since 1920  

A computer screen shows 14 people taking part in a video coffee chat over Zoom.

National Volunteer Week: Ingenium volunteers stay connected despite COVID-19

Map of France

Coronavirus lockdown leading to drop in pollution across Europe

A mother reaches out to comfort a distressed little girl as they sit together in a living room.

How to support children’s mental health during the pandemic

A young girl stands in front of a microphone, looking at a large screen with a blue avatar of a woman's face.

Museum visitors help to grow an artificial intelligence prototype

Willie O'Ree

NHL's Black History Month mobile museum in Ottawa

Catherine Beddall assembles a gingerbread house.

Behind the scenes: Meet a gingerbread artist

A female museum guide supervises two young students, who are reaching out to stroke a large, white rabbit on the table in front of them.

New museum program brings the farm right into the classroom

A view of the solid-looking, wooden steering wheel, inside the pilot house from the SS Prince Edward Island.

Canada’s marine transportation artifacts will be better preserved in the Collections Conservation Centre

Two young girls stand in front of their research display about Elsie MacGill.

International Women in Engineering Day: Remembering Elsie MacGill

A microphone sits in front of a computer screen.

Podcast: Inspiring youth through museums and the Canadian Aero/Space Skills Network

Black History Month

Honouring Black Canadians in science and technology

Related Stories

The sternwheeler river boat SS Klondike at an early stage of its journey to Whiskey Flats South, Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. Anon., “Sidewalk Supers Size Up Sternwheeler.” Whitehorse Star, 23 June 1966, 1.

As the world, err, as the wheel turns; Or, How / why SS Klondike, a cargo-carrying sternwheeler river boat briefly used for river cruises, became one of Parks Canada’s 1,004 national historic sites, part 3

A close up of prison bars through which a hallway can be seen.

Captive Labour

Tracey-Mae Chambers stands under her art installation made of red and orange yarns at the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum.

Métis artist uses art to encourage conversations about decolonization

A bushplane, the de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver, on display at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum. A new text panel sits in front of the aircraft: a gray structure with wood-tone side panels and dark metal legs. Its backlit surface presents the name of the aircraft, a selection of images, and interpretive texts. A life-size display of a dock sits to the right, followed by another aircraft and panel.

Whispering Loudly: An Update about the “Quiet Updates”

A typical advertisement of Canadian Frog’s Industries Company of Montréal, Québec. Anon., “Canadian Frog’s Industries Company.” La Patrie, 16 November 1952, 86.

“Is a frog game or fish? There is the rub.” A brief look at the history of ranaculture in Canada and Québec, Part 1

The Shell By-Plane X 100 Astroterramare of Professor Septimus Urge (far right), Pleasure Gardens of the Festival of Britain, Battersea Park, London, England. Anon., “New British Jet Unique, but Not Matchless.” Aviation Week, 18 August 1952, 44.

Heath Robinson / Rube Goldberg machines that Heath Robinson and “Rube” Goldberg themselves would have approved of; Or, The wonderful world of Frederick Rowland Emett and his things

A young man stands in the foreground. The elevated nose section of a jet airplane is on display behind him, flanked by two jets sitting behind a low barrier.

Testing Things Out: An Intern’s Experiences at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum

A wide view of the underwater room in the RIPPLE EFFECT exhibition; the walls, floor, and ceiling are blue and information about water conservation adorns the walls.

A refreshing approach: Students create virtual exhibition to inspire water conservation

A woman is silhouetted in front of a circular, glowing showcase presenting the Koenig Sound Analyser. The title, “Seeing Sound” is visible on the wall.

Mind the gap: The positive impact of multi-sensory experiences

In the foreground, a cell phone displays the splash screen of the Sound by Design podcast. Behind the cellphone is a blurred image of the Sound by Design exhibition.

Museum podcasts: An ideal virtual format for blind and low vision visitors

Working on a small boat near the shoreline, Heiltsuk fishers harvest roe-on-kelp from a line in the water.

Bákvḷá: A collaborative exhibition on Heiltsuk place-based foodways

A white race car with dark blue and gold accents sits in a tranquil, outdoor setting, with the sun shining through the trees. The word “Ford” is visible in huge letters across the windshield.

Start your engines: A Ford GT Mk II is now on display in Ottawa

Footer

About The Channel

The Channel

Contact Us

Ingenium
P.O. Box 9724, Station T
Ottawa ON K1G 5A3
Canada

613-991-3044
1-866-442-4416
contact@IngeniumCanada.org
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Channel

    • Channel Home
    • About the Channel
    • Content Partners
  • Visit

    • Online Resources for Science at Home
    • Canada Agriculture and Food Museum
    • Canada Aviation and Space Museum
    • Canada Science and Technology Museum
    • Ingenium Centre
  • Ingenium

    • Ingenium Home
    • About Ingenium
    • The Foundation
  • For Media

    • Newsroom
    • Awards

Connect with us

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest Ingenium news straight to your inbox!

Sign Up

Legal Bits

Ingenium Privacy Statement

© 2023 Ingenium

Symbol of the Government of Canada
  • Browse
    • Categories
    • Media Types
    • Boards
    • Featured Stories
  • About
    • About The Channel
    • Content Partners