Lake Country Museum curator Dan Bruce was awarded the prestigious Arts Educator Award at the 2012 Okanagan Arts Awards.
In accepting the award Bruce said, “I am honoured and surprised—thank you. I am proud to bring such an award to Lake Country.”
Bruce is the curator of the Lake Country Museum, housed in the heritage Okanagan Centre School building and grounds. He also manages the collections of the Fintry Estate and Manor House as its executive director.
Bruce has lived in Lake Country for 26 years. His museum career started in Jamaica, where he worked in archaeological exploration of pre-Columbian sites.
Bruce was hired by the British Museum to curate its collections from the Caribbean.
After arriving in Canada, he has worked with James Baker at the archaeology field school in Lytton, B.C. and has curated at the Princeton Museum and the Kelowna Centennial Museum.
He has assisted the Central Okanagan Regional District with heritage sites.
Over the last several years, the American Museum of Natural History in New York has selected Bruce as its lecturing tour guide for field trips in Latin America.
Bruce has also given numerous public lectures in the fields of history and archaeology.
Duane Thomson, president of the Lake Country Museum writes: “Dan has made an impressive contribution to Lake Country Museum, most recently by curating the All Fired Up exhibition of pottery from around the world. He plans to mount further exhibitions on Mexican arts and crafts and the Japanese Canadians of Lake Country. In preparing these exhibitions Dan uses his extensive contacts internationally and throughout B.C. to gather artifacts which complement our own holdings.”
The year 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the Okanagan Arts Awards, which celebrate excellence in arts throughout the Okanagan and recognize outstanding achievement.
This year’s winners were presented with a bronze cast sculpture of a spiral created by artist Terry Shewchuk of Kamloops.