Hi Robert,
The Moses Lake Museum & Art Center first opened as a city owned museum in Moses Lake in 1958. To the best of my knowledge we have always been under the fiscal umbrella of the City of Moses Lake's Parks & Recreation Department. The city council acts as our governing body in terms of setting an operating budget from the city's general fund and occasionally from city tourism dollars. Membership dollars fund all of our public programming, and in turn admission and programs are free. Proceeds from pay-as-you-go classes, workshops and sales from the museum retail/consignment store are returned to the city's general fund. We share a multi use facility with the civic center/city hall administrative staff.
While our staff is primarily responsible for traditional museum functions (collections, educational programs etc.) there is crossover within Parks and other departments. For example, I'm the museum manager but I also help moderate the city's social media accounts, provide communications support for our wellness program and am helping develop a history component in a new city park. There is no formal job description outlining department partnerships besides the catchall "other duties."
Parks & Rec. also maintains a waterpark, ice rink and rec center. Although the latter two facilities are currently closed due to a budget shortfall. Recreation is usually the first and hardest hit during budget squeezes so that part of the relationship isn't ideal. However the shared facility has helped to insulate us. We contributed $1m to the civic center we're housed in through a state capital heritage grant. In our current budget climate we are not receiving any general fund support so all supplies etc. are paid out of our membership. In the past we've received general fund dollars for office supplies, travel/education, exhibits and professional services. It just depends on the financial health of the city in a given fiscal year.
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Freya Liggett
Museum Manager
Moses Lake Museum & Art Center
Moses Lake WA
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-18-2015 07:54 PM
From: Robert Barzan
Subject: Governance of City Owned Museums
Hi Everyone, I would like to know what models are used for governance of city owned museums, especially art museums. Is your museum governed by a board of directors? Who makes up the board? How are they appointed? Do they have the same responsibilities as a nonprofit board of directors? Is it working? Second, is your city owned museum in relationship with a 501c3 that receives grants and gifts on behalf of the city owned museum? How do you manage that relationship? Contracts? MOUs? I am a member of the Modesto Culture Commission and we are exploring different models for city owned museums. We have two. Thank you ------------------------------ Robert Barzan Architecture Curator Modesto Art Museum Chair - Modesto Culture Commission Modesto, California ------------------------------