Projects: Esplanade Centre In Medicine Hat

March 5, 2013 by Dave Haynes

CapitalNetworks_Esplanade_Installation

The Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre in Medicine Hat, Alberta (for people who like this sort of Canadiana, about 90 minutes west of Swift Current, five hours west of Moose Jaw and 63 hours west of Joe Batt’s Arm) has installed a digital signage network to promote current and upcoming events at the venue.

The Esplanade, in the city’s downtown area, is a unique, multi-use cultural facility that includes a museum, theatre, art gallery, archives, discovery centre, gift shop and café.

“We were looking for a solution that would allow us to modernize our venue and work to promote our events to the public that passes through the building,” says Trampas Brown, Cultural Facilities Supervisor at the Esplanade.  “We wanted a way to provide timely, current information about the exhibits currently in the building as well as digital wayfinding to people less familiar with our space.”

There are 40-inch LCDs installed in the main and upper lobbies, as well as a portable solution that can be moved depending on event needs.

The centre is working with Capital Networks and using its hosted, Android-based system, which kept costs down.

“The idea of a hosted solution allowed us to get the product up and running in a very short time frame without a huge capital outlay,” says Brown. “The training to utilize the system was very straightforward and brief as the interface is very simple to learn.  We were able to go live with the system about 30 days after the decision was made to proceed.  This is really remarkable when you consider that we started from scratch rather than using some boring old template.”

“The fact that Capital Networks has been around for over 20 years and is a Canadian company also played heavily into the equation, as we wanted someone with experience that we were confident would be around for years to come.  The support we have had in getting the system up and running has been outstanding.”

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