(rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Ian Gustafson

Community staple

Sunnybrook Farm Museum thrilled by city’s ongoing financial support

Dec 10, 2025 | 2:45 PM

Red Deer city council unanimously approved ongoing annual funding for the Sunnybrook Farm Museum during budget deliberations on Tuesday.

The community staple had previously received $30,000 in funding from the Community Culture Development Fund, but found out they would no longer receive it.

Executive director Ian Warwick said after they found out the news, he requested annual funding of $50,000 from the city, and on Tuesday, council approved an amended motion of $30,000 in ongoing annual funding.

“We are really pleased that it was unanimous in their support for us and we’re going to work with the city in making sure we deliver in all the areas we need to to make sure that investment is valued,” Warwick said.

Warwick explained that this was an opportunity for the museum to put its institution on a different funding model.

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“We used to be under the Red Deer Museum, and so they were providing us some support, but that hasn’t been the case for quite some time. We felt like we were falling between the cracks, so this solidifies our museum in the right spot,” he added.

Currently, there are two staff members at the museum, himself and curator Nicole Parson-Admussen. Warwick explained that for the past 10 years, they’ve been creatively finding other funding resources to cover her.

She has been working full-time, but he said it’s been a struggle to find enough funds. The requested $50,000 would have helped with that.

“The ask was to cover the curator for the full year, and the $20,000 would have been the difference to keep her employed through the winter. We’ll just keep fundraising for that creatively in other ways and keep her on board,” Warwick said. “The $30,000 helps. Going to $0 would have meant that we would not have been able to employ her for the winter.”

Warwick explained that if they didn’t get the funds, it would have also affected their service delivery.

“I think the city recognized that and they stepped up.”

CCDF gets significant boost

City council also approved a boost to the Community Culture Development Fund by $150,000 this week during budget deliberations, with a vote of 5-4.

This came after various community organizations lost either part or all of their funding during the 2026-28 funding cycle that was announced in November.

The number of applicants and applications had soared compared to the 2023-25 funding cycle. The number of applicants increased by 32 per cent from 28 to 37, and the number of applications was up 38 per cent from 37 to 51.

As a result, 31 applications were either fully or partially funded with a total of $1.3 million in funds allocated through 2026-28. The additional $150,000 will increase the total to $1.4 million.

In a separate motion, the Central Alberta Crime Prevention Centre also received funding from council in the form of a one-time $60,000 grant from reserves.