Chilliwack Museum and Archives

06/05/2026

On Friday, June 26, the Chilliwack Museum is collaborating with the FVRL - Chilliwack Library to bring you Out of My Closet: A Q***r Community Runway. We invite members of the q***r community to showcase outfits that celebrate their individuality, identity, and personal journeys in a playful and affirming runway experience inspired by ballroom culture and q***r self-expression.

The evening will feature music, refreshments, and a photobooth with a professional photographer. Chilliwack’s very own Mr. Teri Westerby — a bold and empathetic voice on identity and belonging — will be our special guest emcee for this event.

There are two ways to get involved:
🙌 Cheer from the Audience — Admission is free! Registration is recommended to secure a spot: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/out-of-my-closet-a-q***r-community-runway-tickets-1991112705702?aff=oddtdtcreator
👠 Walk the Runway — Want to showcase an outfit that illuminates your personal journey? Head over to the Events page on the FVRL website to register as a walker: https://www.fvrl.bc.ca/events/20486

06/05/2026

Join us on Saturday, June 20, at 12:30 PM for a craft session + participatory play workshop with knowledge keepers Gracie Kelly and Jay Peachy for National Indigenous Peoples Day.

The afternoon will kick off with a creative craft session led by Jay, which will be used as props in the next part of the workshop - Gracie's beautiful play, "It's Not Just a Rock".

This unique performance shares powerful teachings of nature, community, and connection to the land, honouring the traditional territories and teachings of the The'wá:lí First Nations and Ts'elxweyeqw Tribe.

No prior acting experience is necessary. All ages are welcome.

Admission is free, but registration is recommended. Please sign up using the link below:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/its-not-just-a-rock-a-participatory-play-with-gracie-kelly-tickets-1990518096209?aff=oddtdtcreator

We can't wait to share this afternoon of crafts, storytelling, and connection with you!

04/22/2026

Our friends at Heritage Chilliwack are putting together an amazing event. Please check it out and grab a ticket!

The Heritage Chilliwack Society is a group of local citizens concerned with preserving our heritage homes and local history .

04/22/2026

Join us on April 28 at 6:00 PM for an engaging evening exploring the remarkable story of the Coast Salish woolly dog—an animal once central to Coast Salish life, artistry, and weaving traditions.

Author Liz Hammond-Kaarremaa will share insights from her book "The Teachings of Mutton: A Coast Salish Woolly Dog", which traces the life and legacy of a single woolly dog while illuminating the deep relationships between people, animals, and land. She will be joined by Musqueam artist and knowledge keeper Debra Qwasen Sparrow, whose work continues to revitalize Coast Salish weaving practices and cultural knowledge.

This special event features an author talk, reading, and conversation, with time for audience questions. Admission is free, but registration is recommended—please sign up using the link below.

We hope you’ll join us for this meaningful evening of storytelling, learning, and connection.

Join Liz Hammond, the author of "The Teachings of Mutton: A Coast Salish Woolly Dog", for a special author talk, reading, and conversation.

04/09/2026

Monthly museum tours are back! Join us at the museum every second Saturday of the month @ 1:00 PM for a free museum tour of current exhibits.

Collecting Memory is a community-centred exhibition that considers how memory, history, and heritage are passed from one generation to the next. Canada, Here We Are! is a travelling exhibit from the Royal BC Museum with Chilliwack stories woven in to bring together stories of movement, settlement, and belonging within the Ukrainian Canadian community. Also on display is the Hustka | Kookum Scarves project by local artist Tanya Zilinski, who practices loom beading as a way to explore shared histories, cultural exchange, and intersections of identity.

The first tour is this Saturday, April 11th, at 1:00 PM. Walk-ins are welcome, but pre-registration is recommended to guarantee your spot. See you there!

Join us on the second Saturday of each Month at 1:00 pm! Walk-in welcome, but pre-registration is encouraged to guarantee your spot.

03/17/2026

Call for Artists | CM+A Window Residency

Artists are invited to propose bold, site-responsive work for the ground-floor windows of the Chilliwack Museum.

Located in the historic 1912 Chilliwack City Hall, these highly visible windows face a busy downtown pedestrian corridor and will be transformed into a public-facing gallery space.

Through the CM+A Window Residency, developed in collaboration with the Chilliwack Arts Council, selected artists will create work that engages with themes of place, community, and shared memory, bringing contemporary art into everyday public space.

We’re looking for artists ready to imagine how the museum’s façade can become a dynamic canvas for storytelling, reflection, and connection.

Application deadline: April 10, 2026
Learn more and apply: https://www.chilliwackmuseum.ca/about-us/careers/

03/17/2026

Call for Artists | CM+A Window Residency

Artists are invited to propose bold, site-responsive work for the ground-floor windows of the Chilliwack Museum + Archives.

Located in the historic 1912 Chilliwack City Hall, these highly visible windows face a busy downtown pedestrian corridor and will be transformed into a public-facing gallery space.

Through the CM+A Window Residency, developed in collaboration with the Chilliwack Arts Council, selected artists will create work that engages with themes of place, community, and shared memory, bringing contemporary art into everyday public space.

We’re looking for artists ready to imagine how the museum’s façade can become a dynamic canvas for storytelling, reflection, and connection.

Application deadline: April 10, 2026
Learn more and apply:
https://www.chilliwackmuseum.ca/about-us/careers/

02/26/2026

Ever wondered what’s behind those closed Archive doors?

Join us for a Free Archives Tour with CM+A Archivist Tristan Evans, who will greet you in our Reading Room before taking you behind the scenes.

Yes — the doors are closed (for safekeeping and a carefully controlled environment)… but inside? Shelves of records that tell Chilliwack’s story, photographs waiting to be rediscovered, drawers filled with unexpected treasures, objects that hold memory, meaning, and mystery

Tristan will dive into the records that shape our community heritage and spark a little curiosity along the way — What story lives in that box? What might we find in a newly opened drawer?

Come peek behind the scenes.
Come build your curiosity.
Come see where stories live.

Free Archives Tour — All welcome. This Friday Feb 27 @ 3 PM

02/23/2026

Afro-descended women from the Chilliwack community have partnered with us to host an evening of Afro-kinship connection and gathering.

At the Museum, we are committed to being an active partner in cultivating belonging across Chilliwack. We strive to create spaces of kinship, connection, and shared dialogue — spaces where the stories held within this community are honoured, preserved, and woven into a more inclusive collective memory.

We look forward to gathering in gratitude for heritage and in the spirit of building community among Afro-descended people and their families in Chilliwack on Wednesday, February 25, 2026, at 7:00 pm.

Finger foods and appetizers will be provided. Guests are warmly invited to bring a favourite dish to share if they wish — something that connects you to your roots, your family, or simply brings you joy.

This is an intergenerational space for conversation, connection, and belonging. All ages are welcome. Come hungry for both food and community.

02/22/2026

Maybe you've noticed we've been showing up a little differently of late! We've been developing our future vision through a rebrand.

Our work begins with care - for the artifacts, photographs, and oral histories that define Chilliwack's character and for the people whose stories continue to shape it. We see history not as something finished, but as a shared narrative that grows when new voices are added. Every exhibition, program and archival records invites participation: as opportunity to discover how local stories resonate within a larger world.

To be a dynamic gathering place is to be both host and learner - a trusted steward of the past and an open door to the future. Our role is to inspire connection, understanding and belonging through curiosity and collaboration.