From: Mary Lou Hultgren
Patrick: The arts and museums in Virginia are realizing the results of
Gilmore's reign. This is really draconian, to say the least. See you
Thursday morning. Mary Lou
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Budget ax threatens Muscarelle Museum
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State's money crisis is likely to cause drastic reductions
By Mark St. John Erickson
Daily Press
February 19 2002
WILLIAMSBURG -- The director and staff of the Muscarelle Museum of Art began
to cancel exhibit contracts and look for new jobs Monday after learning that
the 19-year-old museum is likely to fall prey to the state budget crisis.
The unexpected news came Friday, when College of William and Mary President
Timothy Sullivan and Provost Gillian T. Cell told the Muscarelle staff that
the college -- which faces a $16.4 million shortfall over the next two
years -- would be unable to continue its annual $545,000 contribution to the
museum's budget.
If no other source of money is found, the college could lay off all nine of
the museum's full-time employees June 30, the end of its fiscal year, and
dramatically reduce the Muscarelle's operations.
"We're dealing with a lot of unknowns right now. But we did feel that it was
right and fair to give the staff as much notice as possible," Cell said
Monday.
"We would like to avoid this if we can. But, realistically, the state budget
situation is such that the chances of keeping the museum open in its current
state are very, very small."
Dedicated in 1983, the Muscarelle quickly became a Williamsburg landmark,
beckoning to nighttime motorists along Jamestown Road with a two-story wall
of brightly illuminated, pigment-filled fiberglass tubing.
In recent years, especially, the museum has become an increasingly visible
part of the region's cultural life, too, expanding its presence through an
ambitious schedule of programs that included a nationally prominent 2001
exhibit on one-time Williamsburg resident Georgia O'Keeffe.
Attendance has more than doubled since Bonnie Kelm became director in
mid-1996, and it reached a record high of more than 60,000 last year.
Membership has risen from about 420 to nearly 1,000 people during the same
time -- and the annual operating budget has grown from about $600,000 to
$900,000.
Revenues from grants, donations and memberships have more than doubled, too,
totaling about $300,000 this year. But they still fall far short of the sum
required to keep the museum open on its own.
"That's what makes this so sad. Both the president and the provost told us
that the museum has been performing better than it ever has," Kelm said
Monday.
"So let me tell you -- we're reeling from the news. We've all been walking
around like we're shell-shocked."
Similar expressions of surprise came from other parts of the Peninsula's
hard-pressed museum community, which has lost nearly $1 million in state
cultural money over the past fiscal year.
"I just looked at the Muscarelle's annual report -- and it really looked
great," said Peninsula Fine Arts Center Director Lise Swensson, whose own
institution is trying to overcome an annual loss of about $300,000 in state
money.
"So this is really scary -- really horrible. I'm just in shock."
Williamsburg Mayor Jeanne Zeidler, who recently left her longtime post as
head of the Hampton University Museum, also responded grimly to the news of
the Muscarelle's predicament.
She's now director of community cultural affairs at Colonial Williamsburg,
but Zeidler was forced to make several cuts in personnel and operating hours
at her former job because of drastic state cuts in cultural financing just
two years ago.
She still shakes her head at the state's continuing disregard for the role
that such resources play in encouraging economic development, as well as
cultural enrichment.
"It's a painful step back," she said Monday.
"I think the museum adds a lot to the community, and I don't just mean the
Williamsburg community - but the whole region. From the day it opened, this
museum made an impact."
Mark St. John Erickson can be reached at 247-4783 or by e-mail at
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Copyright (c) 2002, Daily Press
Patrick
T.Patrick Brennan
Executive Director & CEO
Historic Columbia Foundation
Columbia, South Carolina
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