Province of NL Recognizes Importance of Historic Stained-Glass Windows

NL Historic Stained Glass is pleased to announce that it has received funding from the Province of Newfoundland & Labrador.

“On behalf of our working committee, I am very grateful to the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts & Recreation for granting us $15,000 under their Cultural Economic Development Program,” says Board Chair Heather MacLellan. “The money is helping us to develop a website, which will be fundamental to our community outreach and engagement. The website will include a registry that people throughout Newfoundland and Labrador can use to help us document their historic architectural stained-glass windows. It will also have an interactive map allowing visitors to our website to search historic stained glass by community.

“We have a multi-year strategy for engaging governments, interest groups and the public in this initiative,” says MacLellan. “The current funding is integral to helping us get key elements, such as the website, registry and map, up and running. We appreciate the Province’s recognition of the importance of NL’s historic architectural stained glass to current and future generations. The amazing and, in many cases, rare collections are priceless masterpieces of art that have often been overlooked.”

MacLellan says “the Committee looks forward to working with the Province and others, as we not only research and communicate information about NL’s stained-glass collections, but understand how communities can be better leveraging them for economic and tourism development. Many other countries are doing this successfully, and NL has much to gain by this initiative. We are thankful for the funding – especially at a time when churches and other buildings are being sold and some demolished, which is putting NL’s historic stained-glass art in peril. We need to act now, and the Province is enabling us to do that.”

NL Historic Stained Glass is a volunteer initiative. It is made up of primarily retired heritage and other professionals who came together in 2024 because of their concern about NL’s important collections of historic, architectural stained-glass windows.