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“ECF WAS CRITICAL
IN HAMMERING [THE MINNOW] HOME, GETTING STUDENTS INVOLVED AND GETTING US TO SHOWCASE THIS DREAM OF AN AQUARIUM ON
THE PRAIRIES.”
̶ Lee Burton
on the Edmonton Community Foundation, this time to help pandemic- proof the operation.
“We were entertaining classrooms and talking about aquatic insects and doing virtual scuba dives [but once the pandemic hit] we had
to decentralize and move everything online,” Burton says. “ECF was critical in hammering [The Minnow] home, getting students involved and getting us to showcase this dream of an aquarium on the prairies.”
And if the organization’s vision of a world-class aquarium in Edmonton is still a dream for now, the crowds of curious children and adults alike that flock to The Minnow are proof that when it comes to the story of water, you often have to experience it to understand it.
“People are tactile and sensory. We have to see, touch, feel, taste and use something to really understand it,” Polman says. “And that’s what a place like this does. It’s a place to be able to personally ask those questions, personally interact with some of the animals, see them in their natural environment, and understand how our culture and our practices and our attitudes impact those spaces as well. And how even little changes can make a difference.”
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