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A fundraising gala that cost $132,000 brought in only $139,000. A raffle that cost $61,000 yielded only $86,000. Meanwhile, almost all levels of government have backed away from kicking in stable operational funding.

“We have approached the government both federal and provincial for funding but to date haven’t had success,” Powell wrote in an email.

The museum, which is named for the famed Alberta paleontologist Philip Currie, had its construction funded by $19.39 million from the County of Grande Prairie and $10 million from the provincial government, with private donors and local municipalities covering the remaining $2.6 million.

But now, the museum is effectively functioning on a skeleton crew, having let go its dedicated marketing and fundraising personnel.

Last month, the board of directors also cut short the contract of director George Jacob, an internationally known museum planner brought to the area in 2014 to shepherd the museum’s launch.

Now, the facility is in the hands of Powell’s daughter, Caitlin, an accounting graduate from Edmonton’s MacEwan University. Media reports noted that she will have her CPA by late 2017.

The Philip J. Currie Museum was not blessed with an ideal location. It’s down the road from Grande Prairie and alongside a main route to Alaska and the Yukon, but otherwise it’s far removed from Alberta’s major population and tourist centres.

But the idea with nestling the museum far in Alberta’s north was so it would be next to Pipestone Creek, the world’s densest dinosaur bone bed.