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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Museum Of Science And History Advisory Committee - 11/07/2002 t.12• 7 - ryfr .1)c MINUTES n, N' Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History Advisory Committee Meeting I-' November 7, 2002 The Museum Advisory Committee met in the Museum at Noon on Thursday,November 7, 2002. Members Present: Hank Brennecke, Phyllis Riddle, Grady Price Blount, Shirley Abrams,Joe Martinez, Randy Lara, and Lynda Falconer. • Upon motion by Phyllis Riddle and 'seconded by Lynda Falconer the minutes of the October 3, 2002 meeting were unanimously approved. Upon motion by Lynda Falconer and seconded by Joe Martinez, the absences of Shirley Abrams and Hank Brermecke were unanimously excused for good cause. Chairman's remarks: Two new members, Grady Price Blount and Randy Lara were introduced. In the absence of Vice Chair Donna Flynn it was decided to postpone election of officers until the December meeting. Business: a. A new staff chart was distributed that calls for collaboration by Sandra Linderman (Museum Educator), Don Zuris (Head Curator and curator of history), and the now vacant Curator of Natural History on managing Museum programming. The intent is to have these three people commit more time to the development and delivery of programs while (in the case of the curators) spending less time managing collections. Collection Manager Michael Creasy assumes responsibility for collection management for both natural history and history collections as was intended when the position of Collection Manager was created. This is now accepted practice in museums across the country. The Museum must begin to rebuild a reputation as a place to learn about local history and science. It is especially important that the Museum staff begin to function more as a teaching faculty to better enable teachers of social studies and science to use exhibits and other Museum resources. For the foreseeable future Museum staff must spend less time on collection management in order to devote time to educational programming. b. By forming an informal relationship with the Columbus ships in 1993 the Museum experienced an increase in the number of non-local Texan visitors. This audience increased from an average 46 % to an average 56%of visitors. A closer relationship developed when the ships moved on site in 1995, but the cost of that relationship was a drop in local visitors through price resistance to the combined admission fee. The local audience dropped from an average 30%to an average 13% of visitors. Over the past two years non local Texans have averaged 51%while local visitors have averaged 20%. Regardless of what happens to the Columbus ships, the Museum must follow a strategy of rebuilding a local audience. There must be a greater emphasis on providing improved programming on local topics to school students and families to attract local citizens. c. The City provides funding for staff and facility maintenance, about one-quarter of which is offset by earned revenue. Increases in this support over the past decade have been insufficient to sustain growth. Private support for exhibits and programs is also insufficient to sustain growth. It is anticipated that the City will be able to begin to SCANNED 160 Advisory Committee Meeting November 7, 2002 Page 2 address the deferred maintenance needs of the Museum within the next few years, but no real growth in City support is anticipated. That means that the only hope for growth by the Museum must come from the private sector- the Friends and the Auxiliary. d. Work continues on the Corpus Christi History exhibit (focus on 1852 - 1960) to make it integral to the social studies curriculum at several grade levels. With funding in place, planning for the Cultural Encounters exhibit(focus on South Texas from 1519 through 1820) continues with a targeted opening in 2003. These two exhibits will be important focal points for the two institutes for teachers that will be sponsored by the Museum over the next two summers funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education. In addition, the Coastal Bend Community Foundation announced funding for Teacher Curriculum Guides for these two new exhibits. These guides, which will be created next summer by two teams of three teachers each, are intended to directly address the Social Studies needs of school children in Grades 3 and 4. Another grant announced by the Coastal Bend Community Foundation will fund the development of a series of interactive exhibits on early maritime navigation machines and devises. In summary, the Museum staff is reorganizing to develop exhibits and programs that target topics of interest to Corpus Christi and South Texas residents -both school student and family visitors. By making the Museum more relevant to South Texas it is hoped that private funding can be found that will enable the Museum to grow and improve. There being no further business the meeting adjourned at 1:15 p.m.