Rochelle Riley: Continue to bankroll the Wright Museum

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

Every museum in the U.S., regardless if it's "black" or international or whatever, gets subsidies.

They don't all get government subsidies. You can fundraise. If the CHW Museum gets $1M a year from the city [[the stat cited at the start of this thread), that is an achievable amount to raise over the course of a year. I think maybe the museum needs a new fundraising arm.

[JBMcB]

The other direction is to persuade some outside source[[s) to subsidize the operation. Not as good as Door #1, but so what; this is no time for false pride, correct?

Adding onto the complication of that option is that it appears that they already get quite a bit of outside capital. Look at the board of trustees - PNC, DTE, PW-C, BoA, Comerica, GM - all the philanthropic usual suspects. They might be able to hit up a couple more companies and organizations, but I suspect the charity outflow to Detroit is going to start drying up pretty quickly.

I think increasing revenue is the way to go. Really push for more conference and meeting traffic, and cut deals with schools for field trips. Maybe they could work with the science center and/or DIA for package deals.

[aj3647]

it is located in Detroit because William H. Wright was a Black Physician in Detroit who started collecting artifacts and information from this Countries time of Slavery. By your statement alone proves why it is needed. You don't even know the History of how the Museum came about. learn things and then comment.

William Wright? Do you mean CHARLES Wright? Nice job knowing your history there, sporto! "Learn things and then comment" indeed!

[Chinman]

sorry. I stand corrected. was busy with other stuff when I Posted!

[rb336]

So, I'm still right where I was, last night. Either the place has to come up with ways to generate more dough, or the folks who are so rabid about keeping it open should step up with cash, or worthwhile suggestions, in hand.
But that's not how things go, around here.

It is a good museum. I wonder what their grant-seeking operations are like. Most successful museums have at least one full-time grant writer. AMNH, for example, has about ten staffers who do NOTHING but search for grants, and about half of the researchers on staff get a good chunk of their budgets from their own grants

[poobert]

sorry. I stand corrected. was busy with other stuff when I Posted!

I humbly recommend that you focus on one thing at a time when you "Post" as not to further embarrass yourself. I know first names can be a bother when one is trying to multitask. I assume you were working on a remedial course on punctuation and capitalization at the time, with which I wish you all the best.

Housekeeping aside, I believe the Charles H. Wright needs to go the way of the Science Center. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth when the Science Center went belly-up, from myself as well. Then it was bankrolled by some private entities and renamed the Michigan Science Center, also to the chagrin of many. Now they have a sustainable business model and what appears to be a competent board, and, I might add, their CEO if African-American. I don't agree with their business model entirely, but it seems to work.

When the Science Center failed, we then learned how poorly it was managed. We could have just kept throwing money at it and hoped for the best, as Rochelle and others suggest we do for the CHW, but I think it has been demonstrative in what good painful change can bring.

[mwilbert]

One is for the folks running the place to brainstorm like crazy and figure out some inventive ways to bring more people through the doors. That may mean enlisting the assistance of some marketing whiz-kids. The people in charge may be doing a good job in a number of areas, but it's apparent that they are coming up short when it comes to attracting visitors, or we wouldn't be having this discussion.

I tried to address this idea before, but I'll try again. Admission revenue is something like 5% of their total revenue. It seems unlikely that they could make up any significant fall in revenue from the city by increasing admissions in the short to medium term.

Of course they should still try to increase patronage; even if it doesn't provide much money directly, it gives them a better argument for funding from the various philanthropies that do or might help fund them, and of course their mission is better performed if more people visit.

[Dan Wesson]

A true Museum is a vibrant and attractive collection of memorabilia, art and history. It attracts funding and people.

If it's not attractive it's becomes a repository.

Tax based subsidies for startup seed money for ventures..... yes.
Sole reliance on tax based subsidies is part of the welfare state and it depends which side of the equation your on if that is an attractive option or not.

[NickCharles]

I tried to address this idea before, but I'll try again. Admission revenue is something like 5% of their total revenue. It seems unlikely that they could make up any significant fall in revenue from the city by increasing admissions in the short to medium term.

Of course they should still try to increase patronage; even if it doesn't provide much money directly, it gives them a better argument for funding from the various philanthropies that do or might help fund them, and of course their mission is better performed if more people visit.

If it is true, that "admission revenue is something like 5% of their total revenue," I think that's all the more reason why somebody, somewhere, needs to get off of their ass, and come up with some fresh ideas, pronto.
It really doesn't change anything. If I'm running on $100/year, and only $5 is coming from admissions, any amount above that $5 is very good news.
Which, judging from your second paragraph, means that we are in agreement. I think.

[poobert]

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...=2014302020065

Here we go again. Riley shits out basically the same column, with no hard facts or numbers, just adjectives like "wonderful." There is also no creative solutions, just demands that the City of Detroit continue to bankroll the Museum.

7,000 members, by the way, is absolutely dismal. They need to gut their entire staff. To put it in perspective, the modest DHM has 50 - 100k members.

Of course the solution to the problem from Riley and her ilk is to just keep the money flowing. Riley doesn't live in the city, so I find it interesting she's finding ways to spend my tax dollars while my city is going through bankruptcy.

I want to save the Museum but things need to drastically change. No more same old same old. Sorry, you're cut off.

I'm really sick of this People's Museum shit. They're charging nearly $10 per person to get in there. Remember the outrage when it was announced Belle Isle would cost $10 per year? You've got a city full of poor African-Americans and you're charging them $40 for a family of 4 to visit the CHW, when they could visit the DIA or the Detroit Historical Museum for free, then you have the damn gall to call yourself the People's Museum. And then you wonder why nobody freaking comes.

[Wesley Mouch]

They don't all get government subsidies. You can fundraise. If the CHW Museum gets $1M a year from the city [[the stat cited at the start of this thread), that is an achievable amount to raise over the course of a year. I think maybe the museum needs a new fundraising arm.

More proof that public subsidies are dangerous. Here, they discourage the museum from reorganizing and fixing their attendance problems, it seems.

I've said this before w.r.t. the Opera House and its financial challenges... I think its totally appropriate for the city government to pay for the physical infrastructure costs for museums and arts facilities. But zero for operations.

[NickCharles]

And there [[re: Poobert's post) is a point on which we all-- with, perhaps, one exception-- can agree: Rochelle Riley has a knack for starting discussions into which she has nothing worthwhile to add.
It's an interesting ability, and one that may have some shaky value, but I tend to believe that it's not worth a column in the newspaper.

[mwilbert]

And there [[re: Poobert's post) is a point on which we all-- with, perhaps, one exception-- can agree: Rochelle Riley has a knack for starting discussions into which she has nothing worthwhile to add.
It's an interesting ability, and one that may have some shaky value, but I tend to believe that it's not worth a column in the newspaper.

Actually, that column had a perfectly practical suggestion, which is that people become members and donate to the museum. I don't think it will work, but sometimes people will cough up money if something they think is important is actually in danger. We certainly have seen that with the DIA. The Wright doesn't have the visitor or donor base that the DIA has, but it doesn't need nearly as much money either, so maybe there are enough people who think it is important to keep it open. Given the admission figures, I doubt it, but it isn't impossible.

The big problem is that the Wright needs that money every year, and you can't play the "give or we close" card too often, so that can't be the whole strategy.

[NickCharles]

That's true, her suggestion was practical.
It doesn't change my general opinion of her, but "credit where credit is due," etc.

[Lowell]

All museums need to build a support base and from that create an endowment fund to allow them the navigate the stormy politics outside their control and retain independence.

Ideally they would be pushing and driving for that goal as hard as possible every day, but it often works better when a kick-in-the-pants crisis this arises. Then the bureaucrats in charge get off their behinds, get to work and solve it with the benefit of survival as a rallying call.

I do believe the city and state should chip in as the Wright is a cultural asset and an important memorial. But the bulk of revenue will have to be from outside those as politics today are too vicious to comprehend cultural asset preservation and too short-sighted to understand their long-term value.

[gnome]

In the war to end slavery, Michigan sent 90,000+ into battle. 15,000 were killed, triple that wounded.

In 1860 the entire state's population was a tad under 750,000.

[Richard]

Then there was the 6000 + in the Belle Isle prison.

[Gistok]

Then there was the 6000 + in the Belle Isle prison.

I think you've got the wrong Belle Isle...

http://www.censusdiggins.com/prison_bellisle.html

[Richard]

I think you've got the wrong Belle Isle...

http://www.censusdiggins.com/prison_bellisle.html

That must have been before they sold it to Detroit,thanks for the clarification.

[DetBill]

It is important that its funding be continued. Think of it as one of those things we need, like mass transportation, that will not make money but makes sense.

I believe its most important purpose is that it serves as a holocaust museum by telling the story of American slavery through its exhibits. Just like the museum in Farmington Hills or the most moving for me, Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, it is important that the enormity and brutality of this centuries-long crime of be made known and its victims remembered and memorialized.

The great culture that arose from that grim legacy is nothing short of amazing and deserves its celebration.

The Wright Museum does that too and its existence should be defended. It is incomparable to the DIA, DHS or Science Museum. These are tough, gut-wrenching truths to confront, not something people can stand to visit too often. Not something that sells popcorn and swag. But something we need. A bit of truth and reconciliation.

I agree that the museum is of great importance to the area, the major problem here is the facility itself,, Its was far to grand to preserve itself with the available funding throughout its future. It either needs to scale down its facility or the operational board needs to get imaginative to generate revenue with parts of the museum to perhaps other parts of this community.. They to date , have done little, and attendance is poor. Not a good sign for any museum for sustainability.

[Chinman]

Your first paragraph seems a little bit mean! Why do you want to attack me with your words! Did I not apologize for lack of the type. Why do you use two [[2) posts to insult me? Are You angry at Someone?

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

There are 2 separate issues here, although of course they are related:

1) How to get the museum more patrons and be more relevant to historical and cultural education in the SE Michigan.

2) How to fund the museum going forward [[suggestions that it might be too big are perhaps correct, but at this point not very relevant).

Finding successful answers to #1 will probably assist with answering #2 [[I suspect more visitors would lead to not only a little more box office, but also more donations and memberships), but they need to be addressed separately. I have in no way examined it's operations and finances; but I would suspect that some changes in its administration would not be a bad idea. I would employ a team of young, aggressive marketers to sell memberships and fundraise, and let them keep 10% of what they sell or raise over $50,000. I know when the museum first opened they were doing a lot of weddings & reunions [[largely but not exclusively to black families). They might still do that, but if they do, you don't hear about it. That is a great space, and could be lucrative for functions of all kinds. I would let private events people & caterers book it for an upfront facilities fee and a percentage of the gross.

[Honky Tonk]

I think you've got the wrong Belle Isle...

http://www.censusdiggins.com/prison_bellisle.html

Damn, when did they move it to Detroit?

[Richard]

Damn, when did they move it to Detroit?

A couple of Canadians nabbed it in the land rush of 1889,border patrol caught them trying to sneak it across the river and because of lack of funding they left it where it was instead of hauling it back.

Detroit bought it at a gov auction for $1 because nobody wanted to cover shipping costs.You did not know that?

[Honky Tonk]

A couple of Canadians nabbed it in the land rush of 1889,border patrol caught them trying to sneak it across the river and because of lack of funding they left it where it was instead of hauling it back.

Detroit bought it at a gov auction for $1 because nobody wanted to cover shipping costs.You did not know that?

That's what I like about this forum. You learn something new and useful everyday.