Britannia Mine Museum Wins Arthur H Wolf Impact Award for Old Town, New Queens Pride Event
HISTORIC MINING MUSEUM WINS PRESTIGIOUS REGIONAL AWARD FOR GROUNDBREAKING PRIDE DRAG SHOW
The Britannia Mine Museum has been awarded the prestigious 2026 Arthur H Wolf Impact Award by the Western Museums Association for its annual Old Town, New Queens Pride event. The award recognizes exceptional leadership and organizational change in supporting diversity and social justice within the museum sector. By transforming the historic 103-year-old Mill No. 3 building into an energetic performance stage for British Columbia drag artists, the museum has successfully created a vital queer gathering space in the Sea to Sky region while bridging historic heritage with vibrant modern community celebration.
The Britannia Mine Museum is proud to announce it has won the prestigious 2026 Arthur H Wolf Impact Award from the Western Museums Association for its Old Town, New Queens Pride event. Old Town, New Queens is the museum’s annual Pride event which celebrates diversity, inclusion and 2SLGBTQIA+ voices by transforming the historic 103-year-old Mill No. 3 building into a show-stopping performance stage for some of the most electrifying and colourful drag artists from British Columbia.
The Arthur H Wolf Impact Award recognizes an individual or group whose work on a specific project or program brought about organizational change; supported diversity, social justice, and/or leadership; or had a significant, positive effect on their museum, their surrounding communities, and/or the museum field.
“We are truly honoured to be recognized with the Arthur H Wolf Impact Award by our museum peers,” says Cheryl Hendrickson, Executive Director of the Britannia Mine Museum. “The award also underscores the museum’s commitment to creating experiences that go beyond traditional museum programming. By bringing diverse voices and perspectives into conversations about Britannia’s history, Old Town, New Queens demonstrates how heritage can create connections across communities and transform a historic place into a dynamic space for inclusion, conversation, and celebration.”
Old Town, New Queens has been an annual event at the museum since 2022 and has featured many vibrant drag artists including Squamish’s MacGayver and Sativa the Diva, and Vancouver’s Acacia, Dust Cwaine, Homo Hardware and Rose Butch.
“Throwing a drag show in a historic mining town doesn’t just take guts, it takes teamwork. I feel incredibly proud of the museum and what we’ve achieved by challenging the traditional mold and creating more ground-breaking events and programs,” says Derek Jang, Director of Museum Programs and Guest Experience at the museum and the event’s project champion.
“When I first walked into our Mill No. 3 building back in 2020, I was awestruck by the size and scale of the century-old copper concentrator. But my view that day had me dreaming not only of gravity-fed ore crushing machines and froth flotation tanks, but of dance divas like Janet Jackson and Madonna, whose music videos juxtaposed similar settings with visuals and themes that still resonate in gay discotheques. Through years of thoughtful community-focused collaboration, our team has helped to transform the Mill into a massive queer gathering space, something that has been lacking in the Sea to Sky region.”
The museum has partnered with several community organizations throughout the years including Pride Squamish and Sea 2 Sky Allies as well as the not-for-profit organization Queer People in Mining, Canada’s first organization dedicated to giving 2SLGBTQIA+ workers in the mining field a formal space to gather.
A great deal of thought goes into the collaborative process for Old Town, New Queens. Working closely with the cast, the Museum team carefully connects drag artistry with stories and themes from Britannia’s 122-year history, ensuring the event remains rooted in the Museum’s content while offering a fresh and unexpected perspective. Historical narratives are woven throughout the evening, creating a unique blend of education, storytelling, and entertainment. The event continues to create opportunities for the Museum to bring diversity to its programs and collections, with photographs and videos being incorporated into exhibits, as well as being featured in a variety of industry professional development presentations.
Each year, the event has sold between 200 and 300 tickets with guests enjoying access to the Museum’s exhibits, food stands, and tables set up by community partners. In 2025, special funding from the Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia allowed the museum to do extensive in-person audience research, and surveys found that nearly 75 per cent of attendees self-identified as being part of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, and more than half of participants came from Britannia Beach, Squamish, or the extended Sea to Sky region, and for many, the event was their first-ever drag show.
“We hope that Old Town, New Queens can serve as a case study for how museums can create effective, memorable, and collaborative Pride events that can grow and return year after year. Most importantly, we hope other museums will be inspired to take this idea and make it their own,” says Jang.
Located 45 minutes north of Vancouver on the picturesque Sea-to-Sky highway, the Britannia Mine Museum provides unique and memorable experiences that engage visitors of all ages. Visitors can enjoy fun exhibits and crowd favourites like the underground mine train, gold panning, the award-winning special effects BOOM! show inside the historic 20-storey concentrator Mill building, the minerals and gem gallery, the gift shop and the Beaty Lundin Visitor Centre.
About Britannia Mine Museum:
The Britannia Mine Museum is a mining legacy site and a vibrant, internationally recognized education and tourist destination located between Vancouver and Whistler on the Sea-to-Sky highway. It is a National Historic Site and a non-profit organization encouraging mining awareness through entertaining, experiential education programs and exhibits, important historic collection preservation and insightful public engagement that allows guests to leave with a better understanding of mining in BC; past, present and future. General admission tickets and annual memberships are available online at www.britanniaminemuseum.ca
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