You may have noticed some changes with our website lately…

In late 2014, we launched completely fresh edmontonheritage.ca—a redesign that reflected a bit of a growth spurt for the Edmonton Heritage Council. We were evolving from a young organization—small in number but flush with ideas, goals and long-term plans—into an organization with more staff, increasingly diverse programming, and a big appetite to streamline our messaging and reflect on what we had learned. Over the last year and a half, we’ve used new features such as this very blog to do just that.

But in that time, we saw and heard that there was still room for improvement. Feedback centred on getting essential information to our visitors faster—right on the front page as much as possible—rather than visitors having to search through our site for opportunities to participate. Here’s a rundown of the major changes you’ll find throughout the site.

The first step was ensuring that, upon arrival, new visitors land right on our vision and mission:

So now you know what we do. How can you participate?

Glance just a bit lower and you’ll find the four categories that people traditionally collaborate with the Edmonton Heritage Council: our Grants, other employment or funding Opportunities, our Membership program, or simply Contacting us for some conversation.

While most of these pages haven’t changed, the Grants page is completely different, reflecting our recent work to make the program more inclusive and welcoming. The biggest addition to the Grants page is a section dedicated to those who are new to the program or curious about applying for the first time. We’ll be updating this page with the latest information through the spring leading up to the summer, when we’ll launch the Heritage Community Investment Program’s 2017 run.

In need of some inspiration? We’ve given some of the spotlight to past grants recipients on the Grants page. Here, you can catch up with some of these recipients as they share stories and reflect on their work and development in local heritage. There are only a few stories posted right now, but there are many more to come—yours, perhaps?

Heading back to the home page, you’ll find a short section dedicated to specific items and opportunities of note. If you’re eager to discover exactly what we’re working on and how you can participate, you’ll find the most immediate items here, from upcoming deadlines and recent Requests for Proposals to notices of upcoming events and meetings.

Lastly, the new front page has a lower navigation bar featuring links to our for-your-information pages—Initiatives will take guide you through descriptions of our key initiatives, Reports features a running list of key foundational reports and documents, and finally the Blog, where our staff and collaborators continue to reflect on the EHC, our initiatives, and the fantastic work happening in the community.

There’s so much happening in Edmonton’s heritage community right now, and we’re eager to spread the word. We hope that this updated website can be a conduit to help further your passion and interest in local heritage.

So whether you’re interested in our grants, looking to become a member, or simply want to call for a conversation, don’t hesitate to get in touch.