Stories of Partnership: Kelowna Museums and UBC Okanagan Library

“Stories of Partnership” is a Q&A series by the Community Engagement Network (CEN) that is dedicated to shining a light on examples of reciprocal community-university partnerships. These Q&As are meant to center the experiences of community partners and foster a culture of continuous learning within community engagement and our practices.   

Three panelists seated in a discussion setting, with one person in the foreground speaking passionately and gesturing with their hands. The other two panelists, one wearing glasses and a rainbow lanyard and the other in a patterned shirt, are listening attentively. The background features glass shelves with books and items, creating a professional and academic atmosphere.
Christian Isbister, Erik Beardmore, and Donna Langille (from left to right). Photo provided by Doug Brown / UBCO Studios.

We are excited to share the second episode of our Stories of Partnership series—recorded live in front of an audience on October 2, 2024, in Kelowna, BC. 

In this episode, we feature an inspiring partnership between Kelowna Museums and the UBC Okanagan Library. Together, they’ve launched projects like the Okanagan QueerStory podcast and Kelowna’s first-ever Queer Zine Fair. You’ll hear firsthand how this collaboration is amplifying queer history and building essential community spaces in the Okanagan. 

Our guests, Erik Beardmore, a queer artist and Programming Associate at Kelowna Museums, and Donna Langille, the Open Education Librarian at UBC Okanagan, share the challenges of maintaining momentum in community partnerships and the creative solutions they found to keep their projects thriving. From organizing live podcast recordings to overcoming funding limitations, Erik and Donna emphasize the importance of flexibility, trust, and communication in their work. 

Moderating the conversation is Christian Isbister, UBCO’s Indigenous Initiatives Librarian, who helps explore not only the successes but also the hurdles faced by the team—such as the ongoing search for safe, accessible queer spaces in Kelowna—and how partnerships with institutions like UBCO can help address community needs. 

Whether you’re passionate about preserving queer history, interested in community-driven creative projects, or looking to learn more about fostering reciprocal community-university partnerships, this episode has something for you. 

Dive into the conversation below, available in podcast and written formats.  

Listen

Special thanks to Taylor Wilson from UBCO Studios for recording and editing this podcast.

Click here to read the interview

Edits have been made to this written Q&A for clarity, style, and tone. 

Introductions

Christian – Tânisi nitotemtik. My name is Christian Isbister. I am of mixed Métis and Settler ancestry, and I work as the Indigenous Initiatives Librarian here at UBC Okanagan Library. I’m really grateful to be here, not only as a moderator but also as part of this partnership with my two amazing panelists.

Erik – My name is Erik Beardmore, and I use any pronouns. I work with Kelowna Museums. There are three museums in Kelowna, which is why it has an “S” at the end. I work in the Programming and Education Department as a Programming Associate. I do things like leading field trip programs when kids visit, organizing public events, and supporting other education initiatives. It was through those avenues that I first reached out to Donna.

Donna – Hi, everyone. I’m Donna Langille. My pronouns are she and they. I’m the Open Education Librarian here on the Okanagan campus, as well as a PhD student in Interdisciplinary Studies. I’m also a podcaster—I host a podcast called Okanagan Queer Story, which features the histories of queer people who live or have lived in the Okanagan. That’s another thing that brought us together.

Erik Beardmore

Origin Story

Christian – Amazing. I figured we’d start—appropriately—with the beginning of this partnership. Erik, do you want to talk a little bit about where this all began and why? I’ll turn to you first.

Erik – I was the one who initially reached out to Donna when I started working at the museum. One of the big parts of my role was doing a lot of reading and research to really understand Okanagan history so I could teach and share it through our programs. Being queer myself, I naturally started looking through our resources to see what existed about queer or LGBTQ+ history in the area. I ran keyword searches—queer, LGBTQ, all of that—and nothing came up at all.

So, I turned to good old Google, and that’s when I found Okanagan Queer Story, Donna’s podcast. It wasn’t long after that when I discovered the Greater Vernon Museum had done an event. I think it was Queer in Place. They did this event where people went out and recorded Okanagan queer stories, and I thought it was super cool. I’ll admit, I immediately wanted to rip off the idea!

So, of course, I listened to everything on the podcast and then reached out to Donna to see if she’d be interested in collaborating with us. And Donna said yes! From there, we started working together, and it was such a great experience. We worked really well together, which was so nice.

I think that’s such an important part of this project—our personalities and the way we approach work really meshed. It made it easy to keep the momentum going and start branching out with other ideas.

Donna – Yeah, and I think even in that very first conversation we had, I was just blown away that someone had listened to the podcast episodes and was interested in it. It was such a surreal moment. But what really stood out to me was how motivated we both were, right from the start, to amplify the queer history of the Okanagan. It felt like we were immediately aligned on something bigger than just working together on a single event. We shared this deeper goal of shining a light on this often-overlooked history.

I remember telling you that I had done the exact same Google searches when I first moved here. I had come from Montreal, and when I moved to Kelowna, the first thing I did was try to seek out queer community. I did the same searches, and I found the exact same lack of results you did. So I think we really connected over that shared experience and that sense of wanting to amplify this part of the community in a meaningful way.

Erik – Yeah, I remember us having this really meaningful conversation about archival materials, the protection of queer history, and the importance of recording it so it can be preserved and shared with future generations. We talked about how crucial it is to connect with the community about queer history as part of the broader narrative of Okanagan history.

Even during that first event, where we did a live recording of Okanagan Queer Story, we kept that idea front and center. We set out big sheets of paper along with paint, markers, pencils, and pencil crayons, encouraging participants to draw and express themselves. It was such a creative and collaborative process, and the artwork became our submission to the Kelowna Museums archives—a piece of queer-made art tied to the history we were capturing in that event.

It was so rewarding to see that piece go on exhibit in the main gallery of the Okanagan Heritage Museum. I think it stayed up all summer—maybe even a bit longer than originally planned—because it resonated so well. The exhibit included not just the art but also information about the event and its context. Afterward, the piece was added to the museum’s collections.

That project really set the tone for the conversations we’ve continued to have since then, about preserving queer stories and making them a visible and integral part of our shared history.

Navigating Evolving Relationships

Christian– Amazing. That’s so nice to hear about that history—especially since I joined a little later in this journey. It’s fantastic to see how it all started. So, how have you found the relationship and dynamic shifting over the years?

Erik – It definitely has shifted over time. After the Okanagan Queer Story live recording wrapped up, we both got really busy—especially Donna, who always seems to have so much on her plate! It actually took quite a while to get the recording finalized and uploaded. I helped with some of the editing to try and move things along, but we quickly realized that managing all of that on top of our regular jobs was a lot more work than we had capacity for.

The dynamic really started to change when we began pitching new ideas instead of focusing solely on that one project. And of course, that’s when you, Christian, came on board. Donna mentioned you, and it was clear right away that you were really excited to be involved.

Since then, it’s been fun to explore what else we can do together. We’ve been able to take a creative approach, looking at the resources and knowledge we already have and figuring out how to apply them in new ways. I think that’s going to continue to be a big part of our working relationship—leaving space for suggestions, being innovative, and finding fresh ways to collaborate as partners.

Donna – I definitely agree with you. The first event we held, which was also at the museum, was a live recording of a podcast episode. That one focused on the history of drag in Kelowna, and we had two incredible drag performers join us. I talked with them, we recorded the episode, and we had a live audience as well. It was such a great experience, but also a learning one for us in terms of scoping out our capacity and resources.

It worked out in the end, but we had to adjust our timelines—that was the biggest takeaway. We initially hoped to have the podcast episode ready fairly quickly after the event, but it ended up taking a few months. I think the fact that we were both understanding and flexible with that process was key. That adaptability has definitely been an important part of what’s made our partnership so successful.

Erik – Yeah, I think so too. It’s really been about the people—both you and Christian. That’s been the core of it, the driving force behind everything we’ve accomplished. I don’t think we’d be tossing ideas back and forth like this if we didn’t work so well together.

It’s also about being active in the community and drawing inspiration from what’s already out there. For example, I wouldn’t have thought to pitch doing Okanagan Queer Story live if I hadn’t seen that you had already done something similar. That kind of synergy—between our collaboration and our community presence—has made it all possible.

Starting out by doing events, looking for partnerships, and meeting people is always like an avalanche effect. You begin to understand your capacity, how to move forward, and what else you can do, while also figuring out what works well. That’s exactly what happened with what we did this year—the Queer Zine Affair. We went into it with no idea what kind of response we’d get from the community.

We worked really, really hard on it. I reached out to different organizations, pulling on some relationships I had built with Okanagan Pride that year, and started connecting with groups like the Kelowna Queer Craft Club to help make it happen. Honestly, we thought we’d be lucky to get a dozen people—maybe two dozen if we were really fortunate. But, oh my gosh, the final number was incredible! It was well over 100 attendees. We were blown away.

Donna – It was over 120!.People that had come to the Queer Zine Fair this year that we held during Pride Week.

Erik – Yeah, we had an incredible response from the community, with so many people saying they wanted us to do the Queer Zine Fair again and that they’d definitely come back. It was amazing to see that level of enthusiasm. One exhibitor even called in sick from work in Vancouver just to drive up and participate—it was really spectacular.

What made it work, though, was having the space to experiment and pitch different ideas to figure out what would resonate, especially given that in Kelowna right now, the queer community often hears, “There’s not actually that much going on.” It’s not that there isn’t any history or precedence, but there hasn’t been enough happening to really gauge what people want. That’s why it was so important to have workplaces that were enthusiastic about trying out new partnerships and to secure the funding needed for these kinds of experiments. As a nonprofit, Kelowna Museums relies heavily on that kind of support to make things happen.

It was also about leveraging the assets we already had. For example, we have the Laurel Packing House, this beautiful heritage building that’s part of the museums. Most of the time, it’s used as a rental space, but as part of our programming, we’re able to book it for events. It’s such a lovely venue, and for so many of the ideas I’ve pitched, the question has been, “How can we make the most of this space?”

The goal has always been to make it available to the queer community in a way that’s meaningful, aligns with the museum’s mission, and supports community development. That’s been a big part of our process—using what we have in ways that matter.

A group of people seated indoors, attentively listening during an event or presentation. Most are wearing name tags, and some hold cups or plates of food. The room features bookshelves with books and display items, as well as framed artwork and historical photographs on the walls. The atmosphere appears focused and engaged, with a mix of casual and professional attire.
Attendees from the “Stories of Partnership: AMSSA & UBC CMS” session. Photo provided by Doug Brown / UBCO Studios.

The Zine Fair

Christian – Yeah. You mentioned the vendor coming from Vancouver, and I remember being so scared when they showed up and they told us that they drove all the way from Vancouver. Like, there’s no way we can live up to the drive!

Erik – We were so worried. That’s right. I thought that too, like, “Oh my God, what if they did all this and there’s only like seven people who come through?”

Donna – Yeah, it was nerve-wracking, but then people just kept coming. Like you already mentioned, the feedback we received was wonderful—feedback that made me realize this was so worth doing. People who hadn’t experienced a sense of community since moving to Kelowna were looking for exactly that type of outlet.

We do have events in the city, but many are focused on performances or drinking. Having a space where people could express their creativity and connect with others in the community was something that filled a gap, I think.

Erik – It was really moving. I left feeling like it had gone way beyond my expectations, and I was so excited, thinking about what else I could do. I think it was probably at least as big as the one I went to in Toronto that had been running for years and years. I was very happy with that. Between the number of vendors and the number of people who attended, I think it lived up to that standard.

Christian – I think you and I were walking back after the event, Donna, and I can’t remember if you said this or I said this, but one of us mentioned that it was maybe one of the best days of being a librarian. And I think that probably still holds true.

Do you want to talk a little more about it? Like, can you describe the zine fair in case someone in the room didn’t get a chance to attend or wants to know more? Maybe go through the workshop?

Donna – Yeah, so we planned an in-person workshop at the Laurel Packing House about a month before the Queer Zine Fair. The workshop focused on a brief history of zine-making and how to actually create a zine. It was led by Christian and me, and we provided time and space for participants to make their own zines. I think we had roughly 20 people attend.

They were super engaged. I should also take a moment to acknowledge that we were successful applicants to the CUES Fund, which was incredibly helpful in putting on these events—not just for the Okanagan Queer Story event the year before, but also for the Queer Zine Fair. It allowed us to offer food as part of the event. At all of our events, that’s been essential to us—we want to make sure that whoever’s attending is well-fed.

Erik – That’s actually something that, if you go around to queer events, is always a cornerstone. Providing food is a key focus because food insecurity is a significant issue in queer communities. Poverty, unfortunately, disproportionately affects the queer community, so being able to feed people at these events is a very big deal.

Donna – Yeah, and that’s something we agreed on very early when we were planning our events. So, we had pizza, and while the initial workshop had a smaller group, the engagement we felt from the people there was incredible. We had faculty members, community members, undergraduate students—people from all over. There were those who were new to zines and others who had already started making them.

I mean, at the end of it, I remember we actually had to gently encourage people to wrap up. People were so into it. That was really heartwarming—it showed that the workshop was worth having. Then, a month later, we had the Queer Zine Fair. We had put out a call for exhibitors to bring their zines, and in the end, we had about ten people sign up. Some of them even brought friends to share their zines as well.

We had people who had been making zines for a long time and others who were new, including participants from the workshop. Some of them had made their very first zine between the workshop and the fair and came to give away their copies. We saw people trading zines and others selling them for a small fee.

Erik – And tons given away for free. I remember running around trying to help people get more printed!

Donna – We also had at the front, a registration table. We had a piece of paper just covering the table that people started drawing on as well and leaving us messages as they left.

Donna Langille

At the end, we also had an open mic so people could read from their zines. We didn’t have many people sign up initially, but once a few started talking, it encouraged others to join in. By the end, we had about four or five people standing up to share.

Erik – We did. What I was most impressed by was that I was worried everyone would leave once we started the open mic. But absolutely not—what happened was the opposite. Everybody stayed for the open mic portion, and people even wanted more time. They wanted more time to talk to the vendors as they were closing up, and the vendors themselves wanted more time so they could fully close up and then attend the open mic. So, even though we didn’t have many speakers, the engagement was still really strong.

I should also mention that the workshop was led by you, Donna, as well as Christian. That was such a great resource you both brought as librarians. I pitched the zine fair, but you were so on board and already had this workshop ready to go. I had to do very little for the workshop because you two basically brought everything and led the whole thing. It was fantastic—you were completely ready and excited to make it happen. Then I took on more of the work for the fair portion, as you both had the workshop absolutely on lock.

Donna – Yeah, it was a really great event for us to bring our own strengths and experience. Christian and I had provided zine-making workshops to courses here at UBC Okanagan before, but never to the larger community, which I think made it really special.

Erik – Yeah, and hopefully we can find some dates to get more of that booked in. I’ve already booked the Laurel Packing House—I think it’s June 10th—for the Zine Fair again. But I know it’s a very busy month. We’ll probably take a short break, then come back and re-plan how we want to move forward with it.

The Importance of Space

Christian– One of the things I’ve heard both of you talk about is the importance of space. It seems like you were both looking for queer spaces in the Okanagan and ended up creating your own. But I’m also really interested in the Laurel Packing House becoming a queer space. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the first podcast was also in the Packing House, right?

Erik – Well, for me, a lot of it from the beginning was about how we had this space and how we could use it. That was actually an important part of pitching it to Kelowna Museums. It was relatively easy to make the case, but anytime we book these events, they’re going on faith that we’ll get people to attend and that it’ll be worth it—especially since margins are very slim when you’re a nonprofit.

We’re also booking off time that could otherwise be used for event rentals. So a big part of the pitch was about the impact of linking the Laurel Packing House with queer events and building a good relationship with the queer community. That’s really important because it’s so hard to find a good queer space in the Okanagan.

For a while, Pride and the queer community had a strong relationship with the Rotary Centre for the Arts—they even had art displayed there. But now there’s a huge petition because the Rotary Centre is renting space to Praxis Church, which is extremely vocally anti-trans, anti-queer, and very heteronormative, with beliefs like “the man rules the household.” So now, that’s a space that’s lost to us.

When I was working with the Pride Society, we were trying to host both last year’s Trans Visibility Awareness Day and the Trans March at Revelry. But Revelry is really struggling, and we had problems with those events. We’ve heard that’s a common story for everyone hosting events there, so we’re concerned that it might not be a viable space for much longer. Finding these spaces is really important.

Some other good options we know of include the Kelowna Art Gallery, which works really well and is always happy to support these kinds of events. For us, being in the cultural district and having that space—making that connection and letting people know it’s accessible and available for summer events—is very, very important.

It’s important as part of our branding, as part of encouraging other people to come in, and in supporting the queer community by showing them this is a space that can belong to them. That was a key part of getting the green light right from the start. One of the things I used to pitch this was mentioning that the very first annual Trans March from the Kelowna Pride Society ended at the Laurel Packing House, and that was the year before COVID hit.

Since then, there hasn’t been a major queer event to come back to the Laurel Packing House. For events like the Trans March and the main Pride march, it’s just too small a venue—which is fantastic because they need a larger space. But as far as I know, and I’m pretty sure about this, these have been the only major queer events held in the Laurel Packing House.

That’s been very helpful, and it’s common for people at these events to come up afterward and ask me questions about the venue and about Kelowna Museums. I wouldn’t be surprised if you get similar questions about UBCO or the library. People want to know more about the programming and how they can connect.

It’s very important to me in two ways: as someone queer, knowing I’m using what I have in my role in the community to make these spaces accessible to others, and as someone who works for the museum, ensuring people know this is a space for them. It’s that duality that’s so important.

Donna – We’re very thankful because space is somewhat limited for us to hold events in the community, at UBC. So being able to to work with Erik and use that space has been really great. And so, thinking about where we can bring our resources, maybe it’s not the space, but we might offer more communications and promotion support.

Erik – Which is hugely valuable because we don’t have that. We might have the space, but we don’t have a communications team. It’s always something we struggle with. When we do these events, I try to check in with people and ask, “How did you learn about us?” A lot of the time, it’s through UBCO. I know for sure that a good portion of our vendors—not the majority, but definitely some significant ones—were people connected to UBCO or UBCO organizations, and they came as part of that network.

Being able to create that community link and take advantage of that marketing is incredibly important. I think for people who are part of small community organizations or nonprofits, when they partner with UBCO, they might only think about what’s immediately available through the specific department they’re working with. They may not realize they’re partnering with a massive organization that can support them in other ways.

For us, it wasn’t just about partnering with the UBCO Library—it was about accessing broader support like funding, marketing, and other resources that were crucially important for the success of our events.

Reciprocity and Relationships with the Community

Christian – Erik, you were talking a little about reciprocity with the community, and I’d really like to expand on that—either reciprocity or relationality between the two of you as representatives of these different organizations, or reciprocity with the wider queer community. How do you ensure that the relationship you’re building remains reciprocal?

Erik – That is really hard to do. One thing I was really happy about, as part of UBCO and the library, was that you were able to put out feedback forms. That’s something we haven’t gotten lined up yet at the museums. I would love to have them, but we’re not there yet.

So that’s been very, very helpful. But especially as a cultural organization in Kelowna, a museum, that’s the question we have to ask ourselves every day: how do we make sure we’re connecting with people, doing what they want, and continuing to build that relationship? I’ll think on it. I’ll see if Donna has something to say. But that’s kind of the golden question.

Three panelists seated in chairs during a discussion. The person in the center, wearing a patterned shirt, is speaking, while the person on the left, wearing glasses and a rainbow lanyard, looks down at notes. The person on the right, with a floral tattoo on their arm, listens attentively. The background features glass display shelves with books, creating a professional and academic environment.
The speakers for “Stories of Partnership: Kelowna Museums & UBC Okanagan Library” discuss their partnership. Photo provided by Doug Brown / UBCO Studios.

Donna – I definitely think it’s been a topic of our conversations, especially when thinking about future projects. Like Erik and I mentioned earlier, we share a goal of wanting to collect queer stories in the Okanagan—to archive them and share them. Thinking about what that would look like in any future project, we’d need to include organizations like the Kelowna Pride Society or smaller nonprofit groups like Transparent Okanagan or Kelowna Rainbow Women. Making sure we work with other community groups would be an important part of moving forward with something like that.

So far, I think between us, leaving those lines of communication open and checking in has been key. Even in that first year, when we were working on our first event, we’d check in to see how things were going—asking about capacity, resources, and understanding that we were both navigating this new partnership without really knowing what it would look like.

I remember when we were planning the first event, we were trying to find a date during Pride Month, but by that point, the Pride programming had pretty much all been settled.

Erik – The other thing is, because I was booked with the local packing house, June is a very big month for weddings.

Donna – Yeah, so no weekends. Even just finding a date was a challenge. I remember we had a conversation really early on where we asked, “Okay, is this adding too much stress? Do we need to think about extending this to October or a different month?” In the end, we didn’t end up doing that because it worked out, but just having those conversations was important. Sometimes things don’t go as planned, and just being flexible and understanding made a big difference.

Erik – Having flexibility is so important. I think another part of it is the personal relationships we’ve built outside of our workplaces—the community building we’ve been doing ourselves and finding opportunities to incorporate that into our work. That’s another reason why, when it comes to partnerships and building relationships, it’s really about the people. It’s hugely about the people.

If I were to leave tomorrow, I’m not sure there would be someone at Kelowna Museums who could continue this kind of work with you. And if you two were to leave, I don’t know who I would connect with to keep it going. That’s just part of life—people move through organizations—and it’s always a challenge. Maintaining relationships and partnerships when someone moves on is tough, and it’s a challenge for every organization.

If you’re ever in a position where your primary focus is partnership management and you have to replace someone in that role, that should be a top priority in interviews. Keeping those relationships going is a huge challenge. But investing in people is so important—whether it’s giving them opportunities to go out and build connections, providing enough flexibility in their work to schedule and move things around, or giving them room to volunteer! It’s so hard to work—especially full-time—and still volunteer. But sometimes that’s the best way to make connections with people. If that’s something they want to go out and do, it’s worth seeing if you have the capacity to support them in that. Especially if they’re in a position and you’re an organization looking to build partnerships, supporting that kind of involvement can really add value.

Of course, that’s more of an upper management-level decision, but it’s such an important aspect. It all comes back to the people.

Donna – And building trust, too. I think, like you said, the nature of our own interests and our positionality in the community made it fairly easy to build trust early on. But that also meant we were holding each other accountable. Navigating flexibility and understanding still required us to bring our best effort.

I know for me, during that first event, it was about making sure I actually followed through on my action items. It’s not just about you planning the event anymore—you’re now working with someone else, and that adds a layer of responsibility.

Erik – Yeah, that was a big thing too. I think we left every meeting by going over what each of us was going to do before the next meeting. I think that’s a good example of the kind of accountability we held for ourselves and each other. It really helped to actually get things done.

Donna – And if something happened in between, you know, one of us went on vacation or one of us didn’t have that time that week, just letting the other person know. Again, I think the communication was really good.

Christian – I feel like one of the really beautiful things I noticed when we were planning our zine fair was that we could lean on each other as needed, and I’m really grateful we had the flexibility to do that.

Erik – I remember that! It was almost like one of us was always on vacation—or, well, I say vacation, but there were a lot of conferences and other things too. We were often shuffling things around whenever something came up, saying, “No, I can do this right now, and I’ll handle this.” Then it was like, “Here it is. I know you won’t see this until you’re back in the office on this day, but here it is so you know it’s done.” That sort of thing.

Major Hurdles and Challenges

Erik – We talked a bit about the schedule, and especially early on—oh my God, was that a nightmare. It wasn’t just our schedules, but also the fact that we were so place-based with the Laurel Packing House and the limitations that brought. That was definitely a big challenge. And honestly, there’s no clear solution to that other than giving yourself lots of time.

Donna – Which we’re doing this year.

Erik – Yes, this isn’t a big top-down issue, but I remember at one point you were pitching something to me, and I was going back and forth with the archivist. We were trying to figure out if it was something we could do on the proposed timeline. We wanted to see a timeline breakdown of the funding you had proposed, but unfortunately, from our outside view, we couldn’t see it at all. We only had a rough idea, so we couldn’t even wrap our heads around whether it was doable at the time.

That’s a small thing, but I will say, every time I’ve reached out to someone at UBCO in the funding departments, I’ve always gotten quick, helpful feedback and really good support, which has been fantastic.

But I think that was one small thing—not a big issue, but something that popped up for us. Being able to see that timeline breakdown with the funding, even when it’s currently closed, would really help with long-term planning, especially given the scheduling challenges we face.

Donna – Scheduling and timelines are definitely a big one because it’s not just about coordinating our own schedules but also

Christian Isbister

those of our organizations. When it comes to things outside of us—like communications—we connected with the library’s communications team. But beyond that, we weren’t the ones creating the assets or posting on social media.

Bringing in more people can sometimes be tricky because they have their own capacity issues and timelines they’re working with. So, there were times when it was a bit of waiting—on both sides, really—waiting for our organizations to complete things we didn’t have control over. Again, I wouldn’t say it was a major hurdle, but it was definitely something.

Erik – That’s true, and some of it is just a normal part of working in a big organization. Thankfully, I don’t think we encountered anything very extreme. I definitely think the more we’re empowered to look ahead, the easier it becomes to navigate those kinds of hurdles.

Donna – Yeah, I can foresee a potential hurdle being funding in the future. As I mentioned, we were really lucky to receive CUES funding from the Community Engagement Office for both events, which allowed us to provide food. But as most of us know, budgets are getting tight. So not knowing if we’ll continue to have access to funding for future events is definitely a bit anxiety-inducing.

Erik – And we can maybe get creative about some things. It wouldn’t always be ideal, but in some cases, we could look for sponsorships. Of course, with certain projects, that’s just not possible. For example, you pitched something to me about archival work, and that’s what I was discussing with the archivist. We were trying to figure out our capacity, but the archival work runs on such a shoestring budget with limited capacity. I loved the idea, but making it work became very difficult.

That’s definitely not the sort of project where you can get a sponsor to help. And that’s a problem for a lot of people—there’s only so much you can get done with the people, time, and money you have. The more you can affect one of those three factors, the more you can do for yourselves, for communities, for engagement, and for capacity. But you can’t always get more people, and you certainly can’t just create more time.

Donna – Yeah, we have so many good ideas.

Erik – So many!

Advice for UBC Staff

Christian – It sounds like you two were touching on this question as well, but I’m curious—do either of you have any advice or suggestions for things you’d like to see UBC start doing, stop doing, or do more of?

Donna – More funding!

Erik – Actually, I could see the usefulness of something like a partnership package. As I mentioned, if a small organization comes in, they might not realize all the resources available outside of their immediate partnership. For example, marketing and communications was such a big deal for us.

We had a discussion about something unrelated—just a program we booked entirely ourselves. It wasn’t a partnership program, but it involved a UBCO professor coming to do a talk. We wondered if we could reach out to UBCO and let them know it was happening, in case they might want to include it in their communications. But we couldn’t figure out who to contact. We were on faculty pages and staff directories, trying to figure out who to reach out to, and we got nowhere.

So, there might be something useful about having a clear partnership guide or package. If there’s a partner you want to establish, it could outline key people to contact for specific services outside of what someone like Donna might do. Because, for example, if I reached out to you, Donna, and said, “Hi, we have a professor speaking; maybe they’d like marketing,” what would you even do about that? So if that’s something that UBCO is interested in, I can see that being maybe very useful for people.

Donna – That’s a great idea.

Christian – You know how often I get lost on UBC pages? So, yeah. Amazing.

Advice for Community Partners Looking to Collaborate with UBCO

Christian – Amazing. We’re wrapping up relatively soon, so I wanted to close by asking what advice you would give to other community partners looking to collaborate with UBCO, the library, or specific faculties?

Erik – I think from my own experience, it really comes down to being person-based. You want to find someone you work well with, someone who’s going to help you navigate everything you could do together. That’s a big thing because starting a partnership can feel very overwhelming. But if you start with the right person, they can help guide you through a lot of it.

Maybe that navigation is built into the system a little, or maybe it’s unintentional, but there are so many things I wouldn’t have known we could do or that even existed if Donna hadn’t brought them up. That was really, really important from my experience coming in as a partner.

Donna – I think, just to add to that, it’s important to ask if you share the same goals. For us, we were always keeping in mind the strategic goals of both of our organizations, but also our shared goals as people living in the community. As community members, we shared those goals, and I think that’s what has made the partnership so successful.

Erik – And it got fun at times because I’d pitch something to you, and you’d say, “Yeah, that’s great.” Then I’d say, “Okay, now I have to pitch it to my Executive Director,” because I didn’t want to mention it unless I knew someone was interested first. Yes, I think I even made you talk to my Executive Director at one point. I was so convinced we should do this.

Donna – But it really just started with a conversation, and I think that’s key for anyone. You mentioned communities reaching out to people at UBC, but it works the other way too. If there’s a partner you really want to work with, just ask them for a coffee and start with a conversation. No pressure—just learn a little more about what each other does. That’s really what our first conversation was like.

Erik – I mean, we might have talked and found that we weren’t a good fit to work together, and that would have been that. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case. But you don’t know until you actually start talking with someone and trying to do something together. So, that’s important.

Donna – And I think at the time, I was primarily working at the Okanagan Regional Library at UBCO’s Downtown Innovation Library. Meeting in the community was really helpful. I think a few meetings later, I even came to visit the Laurel Packing House, and you gave me a tour. That kind of flexibility—not always expecting the partner to come all the way to the UBCO campus for meetings—makes a big difference if you can meet them where they are.

Erik – That’s nice because my adventure of finding parking was not great. I see a lot of sympathetic faces. I guess nobody likes the parking here.

Christian – Finding ways to get off campus is super important. I hear you talking about the importance of visiting, which is something I emphasize a lot in my work as a librarian. Visiting isn’t a time-wasting activity; it’s a productive one.

Erik – And I think sometimes people in upper management, if they haven’t had much experience with that kind of work, can be wary about approving community visits. But you know what? When you show up to places—and I find this when I visit partners—even just showing up means a lot and goes a long way. It’s not just about sending someone out with free time on a field trip. It’s crucial work to show up for each other in different places.

Donna – It’s essential to relationship building.

Final comments

Christian – Any last minute things either of you wanted to mention, either partnership wise, zine fair wise, podcast wise?

Erik – You should listen to the podcast episode! If you haven’t listened to it, do it. And listen to the one we filmed in place—I really like that one. Not just because we both worked on it together, which was fantastic, but because it had a live audience. The performers we interviewed got to feed off the energy of the audience, and you can hear their laughter and reactions. I think that interview turned out differently than it would have if it had just been the three of you talking. For them, being performers specifically made a big difference. I’m really happy we got the chance to do that.

Donna – Agreed. I just want to thank everyone for being here, for listening to our story, and for the Community Engagement Network. And a big thank you to Kat and Angela for putting this together and feeding us again. And Christian, thank you, as always.


We hope you enjoyed the conversation between Kelowna Museums and UBC Okanagan Library and gained some valuable insights that can support your own community and university collaborations.

And if you’re a UBC staff member working in the vast realm of community-university work, please consider joining UBC’s Community Engagement Network.