Our museum would like to reinstitute a program created years ago but since disbanded. The "Blue Book Fund" of the Pensacola Museum of Art enabled individuals to contribute to the purchase of a work of art for the collection through opening an account. A minimum donation of $200 would enable one to open an account. They could make additional contributions to grow their account at any time. When a work of art was purchased with money from a particular Blue Book their name would then go on the record of that work and also on the label any time the piece was exhibited. Blue Book accounts could also be combined in order to purchase larger ticket items. If no donation or activity had been made to a fund within 3 years then that fund was added to the general collections acquisitions fund and account holders would no longer receive a call to "ask permission" to access their account for a particular work. Notes show that this concept was inspired by similar programs that a board of trustees member had seen (Chicago Institute of Art, High Museum of Art, etc) under different names.
Do you currently work at a museum with a program such as this? Any information and/or policy files that you could share with us to assist with formatting this program would be greatly appreciated!
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Alexis Leader
Director of Curatorial Affairs
Pensacola Museum of Art
Pensacola FL
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