---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 27 Jun 1997 11:27:05 -0400
From: John Strand <[log in to unmask]>
Newgroups: bit.listserv.museum-l
Subject: Re: An obituary (a small rant)

Dear Matthew White and others who have contributed to this thread:

The following is the posting that I sent out on June 25, but which, I now
realize, did not make it to the list. I apologize for the techno-glitch.

Dear Matthew White:

I am sorry you were so disappointed in the March 1997 Museum News
article, "Blue Crabs and Biotechnology," by Jane Lusaka, Museum News
managing editor. I should point out, however, that the point of the
article was not to review the financial status of individual museums, but
to report on what the city administration claimed was a strategy of
making Baltimore a "national biotechnology center comparable to
California's Silicon Valley." According to Mayor Kurt Schmoke, the new
Columbus Center, a marine biotechnology research and exhibition center,
is an example of how the city planners want to use museums to help achieve
this goal. They point to education and outreach programs at the National
Aquarium and the Maryland Science Center as examples of introducing young
people to the possibility of careers in science. The planned Port
Discovery children's museum, scheduled to open at an Inner Harbor site in
1998, will reportedly emphasize educational opportunities and what it refers
to as "tools for life" for children.

This was the primary topic of the article. To be fair, the writer was not
attempting to analyze the financial condition of the BCLM.

You attack the article for being a "fluff" piece; I think that's a cheap
shot. When the article was researched in the fall of 1996, financial
conditions at the BCLM were already entering a critical stage. See page
49 of the issue : "But it may not be as easy as it sounds. In November
1996, Durel resigned (...) reportedly under pressure from the museum's
board of directors ... the board felt the 1996 attendance
figures--two-thirds below a set goal of 100,000--were too low ... Only a
few months before he resigned, Durel was cautiously optimistic about the
future, characterizing Schmoke's plan for Baltimore as dependent on the
fortunes and failures of the national economy. He described the city's
economic strategy as 'an act of faith,' adding, 'As long as there is
enough leisure money being spent on the East Coast, I think we'll do fine.'"

This despite, I reiterate, the fact that financial conditions at the BCLM
were not the primary focus.

I maintain that Jane Lusaka's article is a better piece of writing and
reporting than you state. I note that local Baltimore commercial
publications, with large budgets and investigative reporters on staff,
didn't exactly "break the story" of the fall of the BCLM.

I share your distress at the closing of the museums. I too have a friend
who worked there and is now out of a job. I hope that the closing will
be brief and that new sources of funding will be found to keep the
museums open and healthy.

A final word about Museum News: as soon as the article appeared, a senior
staff member from your institution, the Baltimore Museum of Industry,
contacted the AAM president and complained. His complaint: that his
institution wasn't mentioned in the article. I bring this up to
illustrate that Museum News is a professional journal meant to be a forum
for discussing issue of concern to the museum profession. It is often
perceived otherwise. We always strive for thorough reporting; we always
try to be objective; neither endeavor is always simple or easy.

We have already begun working on an article that will look at the
phenomenon of museums that present to their boards or funders an overly
optimistic picture of attendance, and the often dramatic consequences.
The BCLM, unfortunately, may be a prime example.

Finally, I urge you and others who are concerned about such issues as
these disucussed here, and our reporting of them, to contact us on the
editorial staff of Museum News. We welcome your comments, your leads on
stories (I only wish this happened more often), and your
criticisms, a necessary though painful part of writing and editing. If
you feel that Museum News has done an inadequate job of reporting on this
issue, and that we should do more, write a letter to the editor. We'll
print it, and the museum profession can hear your point of view. Or
contact any of us individually. We do listen; one individual can make a
difference. Try it, you'll see.

Sincerely,


John Strand
Editor
Museum News