Museums as Gifts to Universities: Case Study Magnes to UC Berkeley

How good does WMA get? Well, check out this session from last year’s conference in Portland entitled, “Museums as Gifts to Universities.”

It’s got fundraising, collections issues, administration, technology, new leaders, drama and networking all wrapped into one…

And don’t forget to REGISTER NOW FOR WMA HAWAII 2011!

Ripped from the headlines: “Hammer Museum to UCLA” (1994); “University of Tulsa Celebrates Partnership with Gilcrease” (2008); “Pacific Northwest College of Art and Museum of Contemporary Craft Become One” (2008); “Loyola University, Chicago Getting The Cuneo Museum and Gardens as Gift” (2009); “Magnes Museum to Become Part of University of California Berkley” (2010). What’s the trend? With these and other specific examples in mind, this panel will explore the implications of troubled museums being “gifted” to institutions of higher education and the business model of university art museums. Being presented in partnership with the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries.

• Moderator: Carin Jacobs, Director, Center for the Arts, Religion and Education, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California
• Presenters:
• James G. Leventhal, Deputy Director for Development, Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, California
• Jill Hartz, Executive Director, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Eugene, Oregon
• Tom Manley, President, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, Oregon

WMA Portland 2010: Museums as Gifts to Universities from PNCA on Vimeo.

REGISTER NOW FOR WMA HAWAII 2011!

A couple of years ago, I asked students and colleagues with various perspectives to talk with me about possible solutions. These conversations led back to the same idea again and again: broaden the community but tighten up the network. (I still marvel at how simple the solution sounds compared to how difficult it is to actually do those two things at the same time.) With that goal in mind, “broaden the community but tighten up the network,” I started working with several teams to see if we could come up with an appropriate tool that would work for both students and professional mentors.

About a month ago, we quietly launched the beta version of a new network named InternActive (a salute to its interactive nature in facilitating internships). We’ve been watching the community grow, hoping for tight networks to emerge. This morning, the first gem arrived in my inbox:

Dear InternActive Staff,

I was one of the first student members of this site, and I wanted to let you know how helpful it has been! I found my summer internship here, and will be working at the Alaska Museum of Natural History for several weeks. I am beyond excited for this opportunity! I was really hoping for an internship somewhere out of state (I’m from Michigan) so that I could have a totally new experience, and this website was the best way for me to find those opportunities. I have recommended InternActive to my Museum Studies department at Central Michigan University, and to members of the Museum Club. I will definitely continue to refer friends, colleagues and classmates to this site. Thanks again for leading me to my internship!

Sincerely,
Hillary

I am thrilled that the first museum we heard about is located here in the West, and so it seems particularly appropriate to post this to the WMA blog. If you are interested in a broadening the community and tightening up your network, join us at InternActive.org and post a summer project. There are more than 200 students around the country looking for opportunities to collaborate and shape a great summer internship with you. (Just a friendly reminder: the site is still in beta release, so forgive us for the bugs here and there. We’re working as hard and fast as we can to get those ironed out!)

If you are interested in networking as an organizational concept, you may want to attend the upcoming Colloquium at JFK University on Saturday, April 30, 2011. Patti Anklam, author of Net Work: A Practical Guide to Creating and Sustaining Networks at Work and in the World and guest blogger on Beth’s Blog will be the presenter. (Space is limited.)

One more resource: AAM has scheduled a roundtable session in Houston on Sunday, May 22 at 4:15-5:30, Museum Internships: Today and Tomorrow. This will be another forum to broaden community and tighten up those networks!

Over the past nine months I have applied to arts administrative positions all across the country, including every city I have never wanted to visit. One of my mentors occasionally reminds me that opportunities abound in Doha, Qatar, but as committed as I am to working in the museum field, there is only so much angst I am comfortable causing my mother in pursuit of my professional interests. Moving to Utah in 2009 for a position as communications director at the Salt Lake Art Center was difficult enough for her to fathom. Persuading her that I was making a good career move wasn’t the issue; rather, it was convincing her that I’d be able to meet a nice Jewish boy while living two blocks from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Certainly if I were to move to Doha, my love life would be the least of her concerns, so alas, I have limited my job search to the United States.

Unemployment has its obvious challenges. It creates a sense of anxiety that sticks to my body like a hot wad of chewing gum on a rubber sole—it stretches, snaps or is eventually compounded, but it doesn’t really go away. While trying to stave off bipolar-like symptoms that sway radically from motivation and promise to apathy and discouragement, NPR offers uplifting reports explaining why the unemployed are likely to earn less than their working peers for the rest of their lives.

The most frustrating aspect of job hunting is the repetitive process of applying to inspiring institutions where I know I could make a positive impact, only to be denied an interview—denied, to be clear, not by letter or email, but in the trendy econo-dip fashion, which, for those of you who are not in the know, is characterized by cool and enduring silence. On the rare occasion that the opportunity presents itself, I find myself composing a heartfelt note to an HR manager, conveying my sincere gratitude for her rejection letter. In such instances, there is only one question to ask myself: Is this really what it’s come to?

Unemployment also has its benefits, and despite what I’ve written above, some even rival the radiant luster of its setbacks. On a Monday morning last fall, a friend and I took a hike where we spent hours enjoying luxurious shade, picking wild raspberries and stumbling upon moose—a cow and her calf standing like statues on the curved trail. Moose appear cute and cuddly (spindly legs and all) but they are known to have a mean streak. The duo we encountered spent 20 minutes assessing our worth and intentions until they were tranquil enough to absent-mindedly chomp on leaves and continue their ascent into the thick, waxy foliage. (Job or no job, they could sense we didn’t deserve a hoof in the mouth.) Upon returning to the base of the trail I thought, “Where was everyone today and how were we so lucky to have this spectacular experience to ourselves?” Then of course it hit me that everyone was at work. Suckers.

What I have learned from being unemployed, other than how to grow rhino skin and enjoy leisure time while I have it, is that I’m too passionate about museums and the arts to relinquish my aspirations to any old job. My professional experience is in contemporary art galleries, art museums, public art agencies and academia, and I feel an affinity for each. In the future I’m hoping to focus my attention on curatorial work. It’s true that ten years ago I had a brief stint as a BriteSmile dental technician, but I’m no longer masochistic enough to work in industries where I clearly don’t belong. Why would I when they can’t possibly “complete me” à la Zellweger and Cruise in Jerry Macguire?

I’ve taken calculated steps to move myself in the right direction. Since roughly 70% of all jobs are filled through some form of networking, I have gotten savvy at marketing my skills and interests and have turned life into one big informational interview. I also recently moved back to my hometown, Denver, to make connections in a larger city and live closer to family. Negotiating my unemployment status, as it turns out, has revealed that I’m capable of creating my own opportunities. When I’m not hobnobbing with moose, I spend my time freelancing for artists, curators and companies such as the Eames Office in LA. This has not only allowed me to participate in invigorating experiences, but it has also reaffirmed my belief that proactively pursuing one’s goals is essential. For me, that will always beat suctioning spit from a stranger’s mouth.

Marlow Hoffman is a WMA member and recipient of the 2010 Wanda Chin Annual Meeting Scholarship Fund. She is currently seeking employment in the museum profession.

Hulihe’e Palace Once Hawaiian Royalty Vacation Home, Now Museum

Lara Yamada KITV4 News Anchor

KONA, Hawaii — “This is an old photo of princess Kaiulani,” said Palace Administrator Fanny Au Hoy as she showed KITV4′s Lara Yamada into the palace basement.

In it you see lithographs of Hawaiian monarchy soaked and smeared with mud, and muck, muting the silver surface of a daguerreotype picture of Princess Ruth.
“You may be able to salvage this?” Yamada asked.

“We don’t know,” said Au Hoy. “We’re going to ask the folks as the University of Hawaii to take a look at it.”

It is a scramble at Hulihe’e Palace in Kona on the Big Island to remove the irreplaceable.

“Our basic concern is to empty out this room as soon as we can before mold starts to grow,” said Au Hoy.

The palace lawn is littered with artifacts that are now washed of the salt water the tsunami washed in. Au Hoy says she’s thankful for the day’s sun and wind, to dry the stone artifacts, the wooden bowls, and even more so, the centuries old mats.

“Much of our artifacts like our tapa that dates back to possibly the 17 and 18 hundreds were all under water,” she said.

In the basement the racks of artifacts are empty.

The walls and doors are marked with the rising water that nearly filled the basement. With mold and mildew their enemy, they know the work down there will be much harder. ”This is like my fourth disaster I’ve been through!” said Au Hoy.

She said she’s unsure when the palace will reopen, or what may be lost for good, but she said volunteers are working fast to help save a part of history. ”You just move on one step at a time and you do the best that you can with limited things that you have to do it with and you just move forward and don’t look back,” she said.

It took 1.5 million dollars to repair the damage done by an earthquake in October 2006. The palace reopened in September 2009. Hulihe’e is also in a flood zone, so Au Hoy says they have no flood insurance, but she said the palace itself was relatively untouched, and she knows they find a way to recover again.

Museums that are part of state colleges and universities are not directly affected, though the governor has proposed significant cuts in funding for higher education. Individual university presidents and governing boards will determine those museums’ condition.

The state legislature, now in session, will decide whether to accept or modify the governor’s proposal. A draft budget is not likely to be written until after the mid-March forecast of state revenues, and may not be finally passed until May or even later.

Our institutional predecessors have seen this before: during the Great Depression and two world wars, we maintained programs and countered civic malaise by offering knowledge of the past and faith in the future.

We at the State History Museum continue to do our jobs professionally, heartened by statewide community support. We opened a major exhibit last weekend, have started planning for a Smithsonian exhibit connected with Martin Luther King Day in 2012, and are working on other exhibits and programs through 2015. Our counterparts in Spokane are doing the same. Like other state employees, we have taken program budget cuts (33%) the past several years, and salary cuts via unpaid furlough days and double-digit increases in health care co-payments, but we are still serving the public. We are still here, and intend to remain.

Redmond J. Barnett, Secretary of WMA, is the Head of the Exhibits Department, Washington State History Museum. This comment is his own and is not an official statement by the Museum or its parent organization, the Washington State Historical Society.

“Muses Sarcophagus”

This post was inspired by my trip to the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD), over the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, where I was pleasantly surprised by every aspect of my visit, from my interactions with friendly security guards to the realization that I was the only white person in a room full of participants for the Saturday art activity. I thought that using “diaspora” in the museum’s name perfectly described what I found inside – but upon returning to my home in the rural foothills of California and relating my visit to others, I wondered how much struggle the MoAD founders underwent before settling on a word that can’t be found in the common vocabulary of a majority of Americans.

I started thinking about the naming of any museum (new or existing) and how much weight the name carries in the road towards it success – or its failure. San Francisco has seen several attempts over the past few decades to create a new museum that presents an overarching exhibition of the history and cultural landscape that shapes the city. However, in a town well known for its progressive, contentious politics, one of the stumbling blocks each group has encountered was indecision over what to call the institution itself. And like any conscientious parent analyzing names for their newborn, the nickname of a museum should also weigh heavily in the decision-making… MoAD scores big points for its abbreviated format, while another San Francisco museum project, the proposed CAMP, may very well have been doomed from the start simply because of its moniker.

Within this forum, I thought it would be interesting to open up a dialogue on the challenges of choosing a name for an institution, whether during the initial founding process or from museums that underwent a full rebranding. I know that most of us do our best to ensure that our respective temples of inspiration can survive for generations to come, and as a person whose name is filled with cultural connotations of its own, I’d love to hear some success stories on the ways in which a name shapes an institution.

Gypsy McFelter currently works in Visitor Services at Yosemite National Park, and was previously with The Mint Project, a planning effort to build a museum for San Francisco’s diverse history.

By Ted Greenberg

22 February 2011

The latest from Christchurch is very grim, however, we have not heard of anyone being hurt in museums or galleries there. We have received a number of messages of support, and these are in the ‘Messages for Canterbury’ Discussion Board on our Facebook page here. Please add your own messages, and hopefully our colleagues in Christchurch will be able to access the page when their power and communications are restored.

We understand that most of the damage this time is confined to the city and Lyttelton areas. Here is what we have heard about Christchurch institutions so far.

Air Force Museum
Staff are all OK. Other details not yet known, but we hope the damage at Wigram is less than in the central city area.

Akaroa Museum
Is unaffected this time, all are OK.

Arts Centre of Christchurch
No direct word, but news and internet photos show significant damage.

Canterbury Museum: Closed Until Further Notice

Canterbury Museum
Staff are all OK. Apparently the sprinklers were activated and lots of loose things moved around in the staff areas. The situation in the public and storage areas is unknown but presumed to be ‘a mess’ and some bits have fallen off the building. With the whole central city cordoned off, they do not expect to get back in until after the weekend. The museum server is completely out of action so no staff will be able to access their work e-mails, even from outside the museum.

Centre of Contemporary Art (CoCA)
No information as yet.

Christchurch Art Gallery
Staff all safe, apparently no structural damage – ‘we’re in good shape considering all that has happened’. CAG is once again starring on TV news as the Civil Defence HQ. No information about the exhibits or collections as yet.

Lyttelton Museum
Has been closed since the September earthquake, and apparently suffered additional damage on Boxing Day. We have no information as yet, but fear it is now even worse.

Okains Bay Museum
Is unaffected this time, all are OK.

Our City O-Tautahi
This was in the Municipal Chambers building which suffered damage last September and was still closed to the public. It is now apparently completely ruined.

The Physics Room
All staff are safe, don’t expect to get back to their building to assess it for some while.

Timeball Station (NZHPT)
Is severely damaged, but thankfully both staff members there at the time of the quake got out safely. No news yet about the collection items which have been stored offsite since the September earthquake.

We have also heard that Lincoln Entomology Museum, Landcare Herbarium, Ashburton area museums, as well as South Canterbury Museum are ok.

We know that this information is only about the public face of these museums, and many staff will have huge challenges ahead with their own homes and families. Our thoughts and best wishes go to all our colleagues.

Kia kaha,

Phillipa and Sophie

WMA Luncheon in Portland 2010

It’s pretty impressive that these annual events occur. Most of the work is done by volunteers, and self-sponsored either through institution or individual support. It takes a lot of effort, and it is always worth it to put on a good show. I commend the WMA board for a job well done, as well as the team that worked so many long hours for the BCMA.

Now I know that both the WMA and the BCMA have gone through some challenging times recently where resources – money and time – have been scarce. But we have made it another year, and were able to celebrate at the conferences. I really enjoyed WMA’s party at the Annual General Meeting luncheon where Melissa Rosengard and Sarah Kennington put on a slideshow of WMA through the years. I thought the hats and noisemakers on the tables were a fun addition for the 75^th birthday party; it is this type of whooping and hollering and commemoration is fundamental to staying strong as an organization.

Oliver the Owl

BCMA also had the opportunity to regroup this year, and to have a little fun. As Program Chair, it was my intention to bring back our owl, the unofficial mascot of the organization, to this conference. Owl – as we simply call him – has been part of our conference experience ever since the organization began in 1957. Although it wasn’t in the same form, Owl was always there at the annual conference . . . until he disappeared at the Richmond conference in 2007, and did not return in 2008 or 2009. No one knew where Owl might be, and this distressed me – he is an important part of BCMA’s ‘juju’ and,

BCMA’s Owl 2.0

boy, we needed him back, simply for the good of BC museums. I think we did his spirit to the conference when live owls come in for one of our evening events (courtesy of a wildlife rescue organization) (so beautiful!), and also through a shared art project (so challenged!)

Now… I am not sure if this Owl 2.0 will make an appearance next year when we have our conference in Cranbrook, but one of my colleagues reassured me that Owl was indeed back, and would show up again as another incarnation if not this slightly, um, arty one. In essence, she said to have faith in the future of the organization. And so I shall.

Author with Bardo

I am now back at home, stocked up with new information gathered in the sessions, ideas on how to use the products promoted at the tradeshows, and, most importantly, with memories of meeting and talking fellow museum friends – new and old – who love this work, struggles and all. As I have said before, nothing beats going to the annual conference for professional development and all-round rejuvenation of why museums – and the people who work in them – are so awesome.

I hope to see you in Cranbrook in 2011 for BCMA, and I am going to do my everything to see you all in Hawaii next year!

Caroline Posynick is a museum and heritage consultant based out of Victoria, BC, Canada. She is always looking to connect with fellow museum professionals in the US and Canada – Friend her on Facebook, or connect on LinkedIn. You can also follow her (young) blog Museum Work Musing . . .

Following the most successful Annual Meetings in the past five years, the Board of Directors of WMA is pleased to announce that Brian Mandrier of Hauck & Associates, Inc. will serve as WMA’s executive director.

Mandrier and WMA’s offices will now be located at Hauck & Associates office in Santa Rosa, CA. As WMA’s new executive director, Mandrier – with the services of Hauck’s administrative and event team – will be responsible for leading the day-to-day operations of the regional association, overseeing membership services, and planning for WMA’s 2011 Annual Meeting to be held in Honolulu, Hawaii September 23-26, 2011.

Mandrier has several years of experience working with a variety of non-profit associations, including museum associations for the past five years. He will ensure a smooth and active transition from the current all-volunteer support to oversight of WMA’s daily operations. Immediate plans include working closely with the board of directors, committees, and professional colleagues to plan and coordinate the next year of programs so that WMA can better serve our membership, expand our corporate partnership program, and build upon the success of our Annual Meeting.

Brian Mandrier grew up in Pittsburgh, PA and attended Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He recently moved to Bay Area with his wife and one-year old daughter. He enjoys travelling, golf and is a food and wine enthusiast.

Please join the WMA’s Board of Trustees in welcoming Brian Mandrier as its new Executive Director! Brian Mandrier can be reached at 707-578-6277 or director@westmuse.org.

Several years ago it occurred to me that there might be fewer years ahead than there had been behind me, and I decided to plan for how I might pay back some institutions and organizations that had been formative, instructive, and beneficial to me over the past 35 years or so. In our household we have always supported annual contributions and memberships to museums, food banks, literacy programs, and public radio and television but now I wanted to provide for more substantial contributions to the professional associations that have meant so much to my career and to the museum field as a whole.

Given the volatility of three out of four of our personal estate plans (real estate, savings and investments, and collections of Native American and Hispanic art) and other personal and family factors, the easiest way to do this was by designating WMA and a few others as beneficiaries of a percentage of an existing life insurance policy. It was simple to arrange with the insurance carrier, who sent a form that I endorsed with WMA to receive a modest five-figure gift when I “tip over” (life insurance lingo for die). There will be no probate to clear, no lawyers involved, and a simple check written to WMA, assuming that the mailing address has not changed too many times in between.

Although I am not in a hurry to shuffle off, it is my hope that when that day arrives I can also “pay it forward” by WMA using my gift to continue its encouragement of young professionals who will be the lifeblood of the museum field in the future.

I am personally encouraged by the present efforts of the WMA board to stabilize and sustain the organization, and still have the confidence in its long-term future to maintain the gift as planned. Colleagues, it is so easy to give in this way that I urge you to consider a planned gift of some kind to the Western Museums Association as part of your personal estate planning – to pay it back and forward at the same time.