City Council kept the doors at the Bushplane Heritage Centre open by approving $40,000 in additional funding at Monday's council meeting.
The centre receives an annual grant of $75,000 from the city to assist with operational costs and their president explained more money was needed to stay open past spring.
"We have to stop meeting like this and we shouldn't be meeting like this, but unfortunately we can't stop meeting like this just yet," said Hugh MacDonald, President of the Bushplane Heritage Centre.
"This money gives us some breathing room and without it we would be looking at closing in June."
The motion for a one time funding amount of $40,000 was put forward by Ward 3 Councillor Pat Mick, seconded by Ward 4 Councillor Rick Niro and was passed unanimously by council.
It hasn’t yet been determined where exactly the money will be drawn from.
“We all hope the centre isn’t forced to come back again asking for more money in the future, but the reality is you probably will,” said Steve Butland, Ward 1 Councillor.
“I think the reality is we’ll probably always have to subsidize the centre in order to keep it alive and it’s important we do so, as long as the financial demands are reasonable. A city of our size requires things like the Bushplane Heritage Centre, Old Stone House and Art Gallery.”
MacDonald said the centre struggles to grow because the government doesn't have the kind of programs needed to provide money for operational support and growth.
"The centre struggles to grow and improve because existing funding programs simply do not work and are not designed to fund a regional museum like ours," he said.
Ward 2 Councillor Susan Myers said the centre falls between government cracks from a grants perspective because of its size.
"Much the same as other smaller cultural attractions, the centre is unable to access funding because it doesn't meet the criteria of something like Science North," said Myers.
"Council has the opportunity to write letters of support to try and lobby for a window of opportunity for other funding opportunities."
MacDonald said the extra money given by council isn't the solution to the centre's woes, but it does buy them enough time to explore an answer.
"Again we are faced with closure without this additional support from the city. This may be our last shot to make this work and we need to try something different."
Something different could be a partnership with another museum in the province, which MacDonald says could finally provide them access to government funding.
A potential match could be Science North; who they recently partnered with to add Wildfires! A Firefighting Adventure in 3D.
"There's a relationship in existence between us. Whether we can go forward with that is part of which we'd like to explore," MacDonald said.
He added Science North receives around $6 million in annual government funding.
A business plan has been completed which MacDonald said proves the sustainability of the centre and currently it's in the hands of provincial and federal representatives.
"What we're pursuing is not an extension of that plan," he said. "Rather a supplementary venture to find a partner to affiliate with, which could help us access the kind of funding we need to do more than just break even, but to grow."
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