Welcome to the Kingston Association of Museums, Art Galleries & Historic Sites!
We are a not-for-profit professional network and collaborative resource hub supporting the Kingston region's cultural heritage sector.
The Kingston Association of Museums, Art Galleries and Historic Sites, otherwise known as KAM, first emerged 40 years ago as a community-initiated, professional support network to promote public awareness and increase engagement across Kingston’s cultural heritage sites through collective promotional and programming initiatives. KAM is also engaged in supporting its membership through the dissemination of information, sector best practices, and professional development opportunities.
Our members range from federally owned sites with professional staff, to sites which are member-owned and volunteer operated. Some operate seasonally; others are open year round. Many have specialist collections that tell the stories and histories of our communities from local, regional and national perspectives. From its inception, KAM was driven by the ideal that by working collaboratively, despite differences in size, mandates and resources, cultural heritage sites and organizations could quite simply; do better together, improving practice and strengthening their connections within and across communities.
2020 marks our 40th anniversary and we have much to celebrate. As the professional network and resource hub within Kingston’s cultural heritage landscape, KAM is committed to facilitating a resilient, innovative and responsive cultural heritage sector within the Kingston and area community.
We recognize that our work, and the work of our members, takes place on Indigenous territories across Eastern Ontario.
I love looking at vintage photographs in Kingston and area museums, especially scenes with horse-drawn wagons and carriages. While the scenes look peaceful, anyone who knows horses knows the potential for chaos to be unleashed. In the 1850s when Kingston’s streets were filled with horse-drawn wagons, an unexpected noise could spook a horse. If this happened just when the deliveryman was away...