To serve museums in Saskatchewan and work for their advancement.

Museums Association of Saskatchewan is a non-profit, collective organization of 209 member museums and a total membership of 471 (including individuals and associates). The Association is governed by a member-elected 7 to 11-member Board of Directors representative of the museum community. The Board develops policy and Staff are responsible to the membership for programs and services that contribute to the advancement of museums.

OUR COMMUNITY

Vision
Museums are places for our engagement with the diverse and ever-changing meaning of objects and ideas. Museums enhance our understanding of ourselves and our sense of community identity, and thus, enable us to participate in and contribute to society.

Statement of Philosophy
Heritage is our social and natural inheritance: the objects, ideas, places, and traditions of intrinsic value which have shaped our present and will guide our future.

We believe our collective inheritance is an asset that must be preserved, understood, and built upon by each generation.

We believe that museums, in service to society, provide stewardship for the material evidence of our human and natural inheritance and contribute to the understanding of the world and our place in it - our past, our present, and our future.

Museums
A ‘museum’ is a non-profit making institution in the service of society and its development, and open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits, for the purposes of study, education and enjoyment, material evidence of people and their environment.

Museum thus defined shall include, but not be exclusive to, archives, art galleries, artist-run centres, aquaria, botanical gardens, community museums, cultural centres, historical societies, historic buildings, sites and parks, keeping houses, natural history and science museums, planetaria and zoos, preservation projects and sites which meet the requirements of the preceding sentence.

OUR ASSOCIATION

Vision
Saskatchewan’s cultural and natural heritage will be preserved, understood and celebrated through a strong vibrant museum community, valued and supported by society.

Values
Each member museum, the board and the staff of the Museums Association of Saskatchewan values:

• Commitment to the role of museums in the preservation and interpretation of heritage
• Relevancy to our communities
• Commitment to quality product and service
• Active involvement in our Association
• Common purpose within diversity
• Good governance
• Effective and efficient use of resources
• Flexibility, forward thinking and planning
• Accountability
• Contributions of volunteer and paid museum workers
• Innovation and creativity
• Enterprise
• Commitment to continuous learning
• Spirit of sharing and collaboration
• Acceptance of responsibility for our own development and improvement

Ownership
‘Ownership’ is a concept used in the Association’s governance model to describe who the Board governs on behalf of and to whom the board holds itself accountable. The Board is legally accountable to the voting membership of MAS, but feels that there is also a broader ‘moral’ ownership which forms a fundamental reference group for the Association.

The Ownership of MAS has been defined as:
Those groups and individuals involved with Saskatchewan’s cultural and natural heritage.