You’re invited to Mennonite Heritage Village’s Spring Gala!

If you have visited MHV, you may have visited our Printery! This building is known for being the home of our operational platen press. In summer, you can find our volunteers bringing this historical technology to life through demonstrations.

However, we have sad news. The foundation of the Printery is failing, and the building is sinking into the earth. Therefore, we are dedicating all money raised in our Spring Gala to restoring the Printery.

The Gala

A preview of our newest exhibit will be open to attendees at 5:30. Dinner will commence after 6:00pm.

You will be treated to a lovely dinner and entertainment, while supporting the preservation and restoration of our Printery!

Guest Speaker

Dorota Blumczynska is the Chief Executive Officer of the Manitoba Museum.

Dorota was born in Poland; six months later martial law was declared, food was rationed, personal freedoms were suppressed, and an uprising took hold of her country. As a child she witnessed her family struggle under an oppressive regime eventually fleeing to eastern Germany. While living in a refugee camp for over a year, her family held onto hope that they would be chosen for resettlement. On October 27th, 1989 they landed in Canada as Privately Sponsored Refugees.

Prior to coming to the Manitoba Museum, Dorota was the Executive Director of the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba Inc. (IRCOM). During her thirteen-year tenure, Dorota led the organization through a period of rapid growth, innovation, and increased impact and influence. Her deep sense of social justice and equity shaped her leadership of one of Manitoba’s largest and most dynamic settlement and community development organizations.

Joining the Manitoba Museum, a provincial cornerstone institution with reach into the lives of thousands of Manitobans, offered Dorota the opportunity to continue to fulfill her purpose of celebrating our shared humanity. In the midst of COVID and the resulting uncertainty, Dorota brought visionary leadership, great enthusiasm, and renewed hope for the future. Having personally experienced the Manitoba Museum as a child refugee, she believes it has the opportunity to meaningfully contribute to inclusivity and community cohesion, leaning into its purpose as a living institution and centre for intercultural dialogue. In this new role, she’s also come to understand that the Manitoba Museum, which has partnered with Indigenous communities for decades, including The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, is trusted by Manitobans to advance the TRC Calls to Action related to its work. Bringing communities together, and inspiring visitors to live in harmony with the world that surrounds them, the flora and the fauna, is the work that Dorota most passionately lends her heart and skills to.

She has a double major in Business Administration and English. In 2014, she was selected as an emerging female leader in Canada and invited to participate in the Canadian Women’s Foundation Leadership Institute in partnership with the Coady Institute of Development at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia from which she graduated in 2015. In 2019 she completed the Executive Education Program at the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University.

Her past board experience includes the Youth Agencies Alliance, the Manitoba School Improvement Program, Communities4Families, as well as the University of Winnipeg Healthy Campus Advisory Committee, the Provincial Healthy Child Advisory Committee of Cabinet, the Housing Advisory Roundtable to the Minister of Housing and Community Development, the University of Winnipeg Community Renewal Corporation 2.0 Inc., the Manitoba Association of Newcomer Serving Organizations (MANSO), and the Canadian Council for Refugees. She currently serves as a member at large of the Canadian Museums Association.

Call 204-326-9661 to book your tickets today!

Can’t attend the Gala? Donate to help us restore our Printery!

Donations larger than $20 are tax receiptible.

Thank you to our Sponsors!