Centre offers immersive online exhibit

By Kinjal Dagli Shah

A novel partnership between a local software company and King Heritage & Cultural Centre (KHCC) has resulted in a free virtual exhibit titled Stories of King, features interesting and lesser-known tales from the Township.
While the KHCC continues to be closed to visitors, their staff continues to work on new projects behind the scenes.
Vito Giovannetti, CEO and co-founder of Treasured, Inc., a local start-up, reached out to the KHCC with a grand idea: to create the most affordable, accessible and immersive online exhibit platform in the world.
“Treasured wants to enable museums and heritage centres, with small staff teams and limited resources, to complement their physical locations with an impactful online presence,” said Giovannetti. “We want to support the KHCC in becoming a beacon for stories, history and community legacies, all while growing their audience and measuring engagement along the way.”
The KHCC, in turn, is teaching the Treasured team about the needs of community museums.
Stories of King launched on Feb. 8, and features nine stories, including Marooned on the Ice, Railroad to Freedom and Stranger Than Fiction. The tales feature love stories, a disappearance as well as the experiences of runaway slaves. Liza Mallyon, Collections & Exhibit Coordinator at the KHCC, said the partnership is timely as the museum is keen to increase its online presence and reach new, younger audiences and those who are not able to visit in person.
“With the doors to the KHCC still being closed due to COVID restrictions, this is an ideal time to launch Stories of King, a new, fun online exhibit. Stories of King features lesser-known people and events from King Township. Visitors may be surprised to learn how many intriguing things have happened in King.”
Erika Baird, supervisor at KHCC, chimed in.
“As more of the world moves to online platforms, having a strong digital presence is part of our long-term goals and planning for the KHCC, both in a COVID and post-COVID world,” she said. “We attempted to choose stories that would resonate with people. Some may find their own family names mentioned, others may relate to a situation, and others are just too interesting not to share.”
The free, online exhibit will evolve over time, as more stories are added. The KHCC will continue to use Treasured to launch additional exhibits so it can be revisited time and again.
“Erika Baird and I came up with a long list of potential topics and then pared it down to the ten stories that would work best online. Some of the stories were much too short for a traditional on-site exhibit but made an ideal story for the online format. Since the exhibit is composed of short stories, staff will be able to continually add new content,” explained Mallyon.
The exhibit can be viewed at story.treasured.ca.