With the passing of Steve Mavers, London has lost an accomplished, dedicated, and compassionate educational leader. Museum London staff and volunteers have also lost a beloved colleague and friend.
During his 18 years as Curator of Education at Museum London, Steve developed innovative, kindergarten to grade 12 curriculum-based programming to support equal and inclusive learning opportunities for all students to experience art and regional history.
Steve put Museum London on the map both locally and nationally as one of the first museums in North America to implement the interactive, digital Smart Board as part of the Museum's school tour program in English and French delivered by a dedicated team of volunteer Tour Guides to over 11,000 students onsite annually.
When the pandemic stopped school tours to Museum London, outreach programming under Steve's direction began with the Tour Guides delivering art kits to 1,800 students in 21 schools; and with the increased need for online learning, Tour Guides lead outreach virtual tours to seniors in retirement homes, as well as to school children engaged in online learning in their homes.
Recently, Steve oversaw the production of two multi-media, multi-lingual, curriculum-based websites about key people and moments of London's art history. He made his final contribution organizing Our World of Nature, the much-loved biennial juried exhibition of student art co-ordinated with regional school boards.
Steve was invested in life-long learning as a program coordinator of Culture Club 55+ for seniors, as a mentor of Western's Public History graduate students and Facility of Education student teachers both at Eldon House and at Museum London. At the time of his passing, Steve was also pursuing his own scholastic endeavours by working toward a Doctorate of Education at Western University while still working full-time. Western will be awarding Steve his Doctorate of Education degree posthumously in June as a way to honour Steve's commitment as an educator and lifelong learner.
We honour Steve's numerous achievements and will greatly miss his intelligence, calm practicality, organizational mastery, sharp sense of humour, and most importantly, his friendship.
A Fund has been set up to honour both Steve the person, but also the exceptional contribution that Steve made to Museum London and to the community as the Museum's Curator of Education from 2003 to 2021.
The monies raised will create a fund that supports an annual bursary for high school students wishing to pursue post-secondary art education, an investment in the future of youth championed by Steve Mavers and Museum London.