An endowment and capital campaign at the Manitoba Museum just got $250,000 towards its $19-million goal.

James Cohen, incoming chair of the museum's board of governors, and his wife Linda have donated that sum to the museum's Bringing Our Stories Forward campaign.

James says the Manitoba Museum is an irreplaceable icon, but it's time for a renewal.

"It's time for us to re-invest in the Manitoba Museum to better reflect the changes that have impacted our province since (the museum) first opened in 1970... large waves of immigration from nations not always represented in the museum's permanent galleries have occurred in that time, and there's a real need to reflect those changes in our gallery renewal."

James is also contributing on a personal level.

"My own mother, Irina, is an immigrant from what is now the Czech Republic. She, along with people from a variety of other countries, have helped weave the fabric of our society over the past half-century."

The Bringing Our Stories Forward campaign is the second step in a three-step vision. It will fund a renewal of 42 per cent of the museum's galleries, in an effort to better reflect immigration, Indigenous peoples, and our coexistence with nature. The plan is to have the project complete by 2020, in time for Manitoba's 150th birthday, the Museum's 50th birthday, and the Hudson Bay Company's 350th.

The first step was the $5.3-million expansion of Alloway Hall. The third step is still in the conceptual stage.