Join the BCMA

Not just for museums

BCMA Membership

Join the BCMA and be a part of a vibrant cultural community!

You will gain access to professional resources designed to support you and the work of your museum, gallery or cultural heritage site. The BCMA offers different types of membership – institutional, affiliate, and individual – each with their own unique benefits.

The BCMA isn’t only for museums. We embrace a broad and inclusive definition of museums as institutions created in the public interest that engage visitors, foster deeper understanding and promote the enjoyment and sharing of authentic cultural and natural heritage.

All of our memberships share the following benefits:

  • Discounted online courses. Check out our collection of online courses at school.museum.bc.ca.
  • Discounted registration for our annual conference, workshops, and other events.
  • Access to the recording archive of our popular webinar series. Hundreds of webinars on every topic including: collections management, emergency preparedness, museum activism, and much more!
  • Regular e-newsletters: Stay up to date with the latest news and happenings in the sector.
  • Unlimited access to job and contract opportunities, news and information through our member distribution list online.
  • Access to the tools and resources available on the BCMA Learning Centre with special member-only features like custom playlist creation!
  • And more!

Explore additional benefits by membership type:

For My Museum

Institutional membership for qualified museums and related institutions in British Columbia

For My Business

Businesses, organizations, and individuals that provide services to the arts, culture, and heritage sector

For Me

Memberships for individuals, students and volunteers

Questions?

Can’t decide which membership is best for you or have any other questions? Contact us at members@museum.bc.ca

When we say “museum” what do we mean?

BC Museums Association embraces a broad and inclusive definition of museums. In the BCMA Bylaws, a “museum” is defined as:

Institutions created in the public interest. They must engage their community, foster deeper understanding, and promote the enjoyment and sharing of authentic cultural or natural heritage. Museums work to collect, preserve, research, interpret, exhibit, and enhance understandings of people and their environment.

The definition of “museum”  includes the following: museums; art galleries; archives; heritage and cultural centres; Indigenous cultural centres, Friendship centres, and bands/council; universities and/or local governments responsible for stewarding arts, culture, and heritage; natural, archaeological and ethnographic monuments and sites and historical monuments and sites of a museum nature; institutions holding collections of and displaying live specimens of plants and animals, such as botanical and zoological gardens, aquaria and vivaria; science centres and planetaria; conservation institutes and exhibition galleries permanently maintained by libraries and archive centres; nature reserves; such other institutions as the BCMA Council determines in its discretion.