Just 8 Days Left....

...to email us your entry about what inspires you about museums!

That's right, we're looking for your wordles, haikus, photos, videos and you need to get them to us by July 31st.

Amazon gift certificates will go to four lucky, lucky people!!!

AND, your inspirations will help us here at MANY frame our strategic plans for the coming five years.

We've been posting entries on the homepage of our website. Oh, yeah, we'll do that for yours, too.

Photo: magnetic poetry by surrealmuse

Root Causes - Real Solutions

On Monday, the Albany Times Union published commentary from MANY regarding the legislation stipulating that collections cannot use proceeds from deaccession to pay operating or capital debt. You can find it here.

The legislation does not address the very real issues of how museums should generate revenue. That is not its purpose. Once using proceeds is taken off the table as a revenue generating option, it leaves us to really focus on addressing the creation of safety nets that can stablize museum operations and help these important institutions to flourish.

Among the solutions cited in the commentary are:

• A revolving loan fund that strapped museums could tap into to buy time to restructure and figure out their next steps.
• A check-off box on the state personal income tax that gives residents the opportunity to make a contribution to an arts fund. (That legislation is pending.)
• Access to the state's health insurance program and aggregated energy purchasing to help lower two big chunks of operating costs.
• Comprehensive board and leadership training.
• Let's also look at the state's current grant reimbursement system, which can keep nonprofits waiting months or years to receive project funding, forcing them to borrow funds and take on added debt.

These are just a few potential solutions -- all of them are achievable and any one of them would go a long way to helping institutions steward their educational and collecting missions.

Deaccessioning Bill is Subject of Albany Letter to the Editor

Albany Times Union Letters to the Editor, first published Thursday, June 18, 2009

Recently there have been attempts in New York and elsewhere to monetize museum collections and to use that money for purposes other than the protection and expansion of collections. The Troy Public Library is an example ("Troy Public Library sculptures on auction block," June 9.)

The economic downturn has increased the financial pressure on these cultural institutions. However, selling pieces of their collections is inconsistent with accepted practice.

Without a law, the financial pressure and the bean counters will endanger collections that took centuries to acquire, many of which were donated by people who may not have intended to have their gifts sold. Unless these rules are codified, the integrity and existence of collections handed to us by earlier generations will be endangered.

Libraries and museums aren't private businesses. They are the custodians of our common cultural and historical heritage and have always been publicly supported, be it by tax preferences or direct cash. Collections aren't assets, to be tapped when things get genuinely difficult. If you sell sculptures to keep the doors open, soon you'll have open doors and no sculptures.

We have worked with the Board of Regents and the Museum Association of New York to craft legislation (A.6959) that incorporates the long-standing policies of most museums that are necessary to protect our cultural heritage in a time of economic stress. We urge you to join us in support.

Assemblyman Richard Brodsky
92nd Assembly District
Elmsford

How Museums Inspire Me

The first of our Wordles and haikus have arrived! We here at MANY look forward to your thoughts about how museums inspire (or challenge) you.

A haiku by David Palmquist, Head, Museum Chartering, NY State Museum:

The deaccessioned

work of art screams

but no one hears

From Lisa Delmonico, Director of Development, Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden (NYC):

Museum tagline:

"Washington did not sleep here,

and neither can you."

Visit the MANY website for more.

Get Creative!

What's your vision for the future of the state's museum community? Where are we going as a community of practice and how do we get there? What do you as museum practitioners and museum-goers need to meet your vision? How do we harness our collective power? How can MANY help?

Get creative and tell us!

• create a wordle image from your written vision by going to www.wordle.net
• make a 1-minute (or less) video about your vision and email it to us or post it directly on YouTube
• email us photos of what you think museums do best
• compose a haiku
• post your thoughts on this blog

and don't forget....

• plan to come to a conversation (see the schedule in the previous post)
• take the survey (the address for it is in the previous post, too)

Strategic Planning at MANY

As we work this year to update the MANY strategic plan, we are asking our members and supporters to help us set the course for our future. You have three ways to become involved in this important process:

· take our Member Survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=WhA4HoGq_2frfYG1_2fPWAiytA_3d_3d

· attend one of the following discussions to ask your questions and offer your insights about advocacy, legislation, standards and trends affecting your work. Here’s the schedule so far:

Monday, June 8: Holland Land Office
Museum, Batavia; 3-5 pm

Tuesday, June 9: Tanglewood Nature
Center, Elmira; 1-3 pm

Wednesday, June 10: Oneida Community
Mansion House, Oneida; 10 am – Noon

Wednesday, June 10: Shaker Heritage
Society, Albany; 3-5 pm

Friday, June 26: Manitoga,
Garrison; 10-Noon

Thursday, July 9: Alley Pond
Environmental Center, Douglaston (Nassau County); 1-3
pm

Friday, July 10: Long Island
Museum, Stony Brook (Suffolk County); 10-Noon

Dates and locations are being confirmed for NYC.

AND....use this blog to tell us what your vision is for New York state's museum community

To view the current strategic plan, click here.

Photo: The Future Looks Bright by Cayusa

Deliberating Deaccession

Posted by Senator José M. Serrano

Although I am a frequent blogger, this is actually my first time delving into the guest-blog-stratosphere, and I am honored to do so on the MANY website. As the new Chairman of the Senate Committee on Cultural Affairs, Tourism, Parks and Recreation, I am focused on exploring ways the State Legislature can best support and promote the tremendous cultural and natural assets within the State of New York.

Of course, this is not an easy time to be a proponent of arts and culture. On the one hand, the State is facing a massive fiscal crisis with looming budget cuts across the State. On the other hand, we know that New York’s creative sector will play a vital role in our economic recovery.

Cultural institutions, such as museums, make an enormous contribution to the State economy by stimulating tourist activity, creating jobs, utilizing other local businesses and generating tax revenue. In other words, it makes good financial sense to support the arts in New York. Not to mention, the contribution that the arts make to our quality of life and the health of our society which is immeasurable. This isn’t just political rhetoric, if you take a look at my legislative grants (AKA member items) you can see how serious I am about supporting the arts. Not only did I provide funding for a variety of art organizations, but I also took the unprecedented step of allocating $250,000 to the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) for grant-making purposes.

Museums throughout the state are grappling with enormous financial problems. Unfortunately, Museums are being forced to lay off staff and manage their collections, buildings and programs with fewer resources. In some instances, museums and other cultural institutions have been driven to consider deaccessioning and then sell collection items to raise needed funds. No matter how few times this has happened, I am deeply concerned about the effect this could have on the long-term health of our cultural institutions and what this means for the cultural heritage of our state.

I recently convened a committee meeting to discuss legislation (S.4584/A.6959) related to museum “deaccessioning” that I have introduced (along with co-sponsoring Senators Hassell-Thompson, Little, Montgomery, Morahan, and Schneiderman). To help us understand the intricacies of the bill, the committee was joined by Assembly sponsors, Assembly members Brodsky and Titone. Representatives from the Museum Association of New York, Everson Museum, Hudson River Museum, and the New York State Museum were on hand to offer their perspective on the fiscal crisis facing museums and the proposed legislation. All of our guests did a phenomenal job helping us to hash out the particulars of the bill. As a result, my colleagues and I have identified several flaws in the bill and are diligently working on some necessary revisions.

The fiscal crisis may be temporary, but the long term effects of unfettered deaccessioning will be long lasting. This legislation will place some necessary limits on deaccessioning without being overly restrictive. While changes to the bill are in the works, the essential goal of the bill will remain the same---help us maintain the cultural heritage of the State of New York in a time of deep fiscal crisis.

Just as I was able to work with the museum community on the issue of deaccessioning, I look forward to working closely with all members of the museum community on future issues. Together we can ensure New York remains the premier cultural destination in the world.

Photo: Statue sunbathing in the new Greek/Roman room at the Met by ext212, flickr