Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Museum Of Science And History Advisory Committee - 03/02/2000 r .37.9333 • MINUTES coti`O�� Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History v ,�. Advisory Committee Meeting a �� March 2, 2000 Clry r.cCf:I +' „ wi `� °FACE`RI 0 ` The Museum Advisory Committee met in the Museum at Noon on Thursday, M: 1; , 2000. Members Present: Henry Brennecke, Art Howerton, Kathy Heymann, Donna Fl ' e'Fiii.etvs£v Henzi, C.W. Carpenter, Tony Diaz, Mary Longoria, and Woody Riley. Upon motion by Mary Longoria and seconded by C.W. Carpenter the minutes of the February 3, 2000 meeting were unanimously approved. Upon motion by C. W. Carpenter and seconded by Art Howerton the absences of Kathy Heymann and Donna Flynn were excused for good cause. Business: a. Rick Stryker with Danielle Converse (Assistant Curator of Natural History Collections) recommended that a number minerals from the natural history collection be deaccessioned. This is a continuation of large scale effort to eliminate from the collection minerals that are poor specimens and of very limited value for educational use or scientific study. Donna Flynn moved and Art Howerton seconded approval of the deaccession and it passed unanimously. b. Ed Harte and the family of Radcliffe Cheston have contributed additional sums of money so that the construction of Discovery Hall and the restoration and installation of the mudbjar ceiling will be completed entirely through their contributions. A contract has been approved with B.E. Beecroft Construction Co. that includes the base bid and the first two alternates. It is anticipated that a deductive change order will reduce some construction costs enabling alternates 3 and 5 to be added to the contract. There should be sufficient funds at the end of the project to support landscaping as a separate project. c. The City Council will consider a reduced bond package that will be roughly half the t$50 million package that was considered previously. The Council discussed the recommendation of the Advisory Committee that replacement of the air handling units be included in the large package. Whether the two Museum items that were included in the proposed larger package will be in the smaller one is not known. It seems unlikely that an addition item will be added to a smaller package. d. Attendance continues to be below past experience although there is an upward trend since the November low point. School attendance is up slightly,so the problem is the paid attendance categories. The higher admission rates result in a higher per capita income which means that while paid attendance for February was down 36%, revenue was down only 14%. If the upward trend continues then revenue may reach levels experienced in the past without a total rebound of attendance. However, there is no basis for an optimistic revenue projection for the next budget year. A graph was provided that illustrates the - • peak that was achieved by association with the Columbus Fleet in both revenue and attendance in the period from mid 1995 through mid 1997. Museum attendance returned to pre Columbus Fleet levels before the Columbus Fleet closed. After the Columbus Fleet SCANNED Advisory Committee Meeting March 2, 2000 Page 2 closed, Museum attendance has been at historical lows. e. The Friends have raised about$70,000 toward the cost of exhibits in Discovery Hall. However, the Historical Commission has not yet named the Museum repository for the La Belle collection which will be featured in those exhibits. This makes it very difficult to design the exhibits and to raise funds for them. At their last meeting the Friends concluded that it would not be timely to continue the fund drive. They propose commissioning a visualized concept study to determine what the exhibit plan of the entire museum should be while discontinuing the fund drive for the Discovery Hall exhibits. This is a continuation of the process already begun of developing ideas from the Friends, staff, and Advisory Committee of potential future directions for the exhibit plan. The most recent work on this process was the focus groups of people from the community that were held last summer. Upon motion by Woody Riley and seconded by Art Howerton, the Museum Advisory Committee unanimously concurred with this plan of action proposed by the Friends of the Museum. f. Advisory Committee members were alerted to the unveiling of the reproduction"Espiritu Santo"cannon on March 14. There being no further business the meeting adjourned at 1:15 p.m.