Museum piece

So, I’m watching the City Council meeting from last week, mainly for the conversation about the Carnegie and the ultimate result (voted 3-2 for putting the Planning Department/Community Arts thingamabob in), and decided to skip back to the “Presentation by the Alameda Museum of Business Plan” or something worded along those lines.   After the request made by the City Council when the Alameda Museum’s funding was up for review to forumulate a business plan, the Board finally delievered.   Now, I haven’t seen the business plan, I only know what was discussed during the presentation and I have some thoughts.

My first reaction was to feel slightly bad for the Alameda Museum, I know they are trying really hard to raise money and be a functioning and useful resource.   And they are, to a certain extent.   It was a little sad that when queried about their recent solicitation efforts the result was not the most positive, as in, did not get them much money.   But then listening further to the dialogue between the museum representatives and the City Council was not entirely positive.   It would be better for the representatives, rather than being defensive and making excuses, to be open to suggestions being made by the City Council.   For example, the Mayor brought up the suggestion which was made in the Carnegie consultant’s study that the Museum become accredited so that it could access more grants to open up the types of funding they could raise.   The Museum representative said that this was not something that they had considered and that it wasn’t necessarily in their plans.   According to a brief skimming, it doesn’t cost a lot to become accredited ($400 application fee and a minimal annual fee), but it does take some time to put together an application and the museum has to have clear vision and direction.   

There was also a question about possibly hiring an Executive Director to help guide the Museum’s fundraising efforts — who could also work on the accreditation process in the meantime.   The Museum representatives quickly discarded this idea, saying that they had already tried that and while the ED had a ball going to cocktail parties and the like on their dime, that no money came in during that time.  

So here is my completely unsolicited advice to the Alameda Museum.   Despite all my critiques of the Museum, I really do think they serve a much needed purpose in the community and they are the keepers of much of the history of Alameda. 

First and foremost, overhaul the Board of Directors.   I know they are bringing on three new Board members, which is a terrific start, but doesn’t help if none of the ideas of the new folks will be implemented because the old guard still runs the joint.   I don’t know how long a term is on the Museum Board, but folks shouldn’t be on Boards in perpetutity.   Of course you still need to maintain a certain level of institutional knowledge on the board so make sure that whatever term limits there are — there should be some if there are not — that all the folks down leave all at once.

Next, hire an Executive Director, maybe just part-time, and not someone who has been involved with the Museum for a long time.   Someone who has worked with other Museums.   And make him/her fundraise, fundraise, fundraise.   And get the Museum accredited.  And find and apply for grants for the Museum, particularly grants to help digitize the archives of the Museum which was one of the program areas that the Museum representatives brought up that night, but mentioned that they didn’t have the time or resources to do it.  

Next, brand yourself.   The Alameda Museum, in my opinion, has a serious image issue as well as a problem marketing themselves.   Get any one of the many Alameda based public relations firms that do branding work to offer some in-kind support to assist with a new image.   Start a new campaign around the new image to draw in donors

Get into a new building with more space, if the mysterious “anonymous donor” was willing to give money if the Alameda Museum made it into the Carnegie, then they should assist to get the Museum into somewhere that would allow the Museum to spread out a little and use the space to help with revenue by way of renting out the Museum for events, etc…   But from the presentation given by the Museum representatives one thing that I did take away was the fact that having a storefront off Park Street has helped with revenue through the gift shop.   So, here are two ideas about that, if the gift shop can make enough money to sustain the rent for a storefront on or around Park Street and provide a good amount of money to the Museum, then perhaps a small storefront just selling the gift shop items can be maintained.   Or perhaps the new Planning Dept/Community Arts thingamagig will set aside a small space for a gift shop for the Museum.

Or the Museum can just do nothing.