Roadmap to a New Museum
Phase One - Learn and Plan - Completed!
Spring 2004 -- The Bank of Fayetteville sponsored a team of MBA students from the Walton College of Business to research the museum industry and to determine what was neccessary to create a stustainable museum in Northwest Arkansas. The research project was underwritten by Hannover House, Happy Hollow Foundation, and the Fayetteville Community Foundation.
The resulting report included trends and analysis, hypothetical museum concepts for our region and a study on museum failures.
This groups visited and interviewed museum staff in Chicago, New York City and Washington, D.C. Early in the research, the team learned capital campaigns for funding the construction of a new museum are the easy part; developing a sustainable museum organization - one that meets the needs of the community, one that is relevant to the region, one that will adapt to cultural and economic variances - is the difficult task. Thorough planning and attention to the extended family demographic are two of the many lessons gained from this research.
2005 -- A second MBA project focused on determining the type of museum possible for Northwest Arkansas. After visiting museums in Dallas/Fort Worth, Little Rock, Memphis, Tulsa and Washington, D.C., these students interviewed leaders throughout the Northwest Arkansas region. They spoke with dozens of educators, policy makers and business people to identify the region’s museum needs. Their research clearly identified the community’s desire for an art museum, a science and technology museum and a children’s museum.
Our team worked closely with Bob Workman on the Fort Worth site visits so we were already aware of the soon to be announced Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Given our strong connections to the University of Arkansas’ researchers and collections, the science center was an easy choice. Now, another group is pursuing a children’s museum concept for the region.
2006 -- A third MBA project interviewed staff and leaders at the top science centers in the United States, including the Minneapolis Museum of Science and San Francisco’s Exploratorium. The students took a concentrated look at the financial components of science centers. Nationally, only 40 percent of all museums charge admission, but 95 percent of science centers charge an admission fee. Understanding this difference is a key to developing an organization that can achieve its mission without becoming a burden to the community.
Over the past two years, we’ve partnered with intern students at the University of Arkansas Honors College. Each semester, a new group of students tackles a new research goal. These groups have visited science centers, conducted focus groups, interviewed educators and conducted website surveys. This relationship will continue as we move down the roadmap and will lay the groundwork for internship and mentoring opportunities once the new science center is open.
Phase Two - Build Organization - Partially Complete
To ensure the museum is sustainable, we are taking great care in laying the foundation for the museum organization. Within this process, several steps have been completed and others are underway.Completed steps include:
• Creating a non-profit foundation (Jan. 2005),
• Creating this website (Mid 2005),
• Developing a museum concept (2005),
• Creating an initial draft of a strategic plan (2006),
• Forming a Science and Technology Advisory Panel,
• Hiring museum consultants and writing the museum’s Business Plan
(Winter 2006/Spring 2007), and
• Accepting the Business Plan as the Foundation’s guiding document (May 25, 2007)
Note: White Oak Associates of Massachusetts oversaw the Business Plan’s development. This process involved multiple meetings with our board, steering committee and Science and Technology Advisory Panel over a six-month period. The White Oak Team also conducted meetings with groups throughout Northwest Arkansas, including school superintendents, mayors, economic developers, city planners, cultural entities and chambers of commerce. One group included 21 science teachers from Bella Vista to Fort Smith and cities in between. They implored us to provide kids with the WOW factor about science that will inspire and motivate them in the field.
The following steps are currently underway:
• Reviewing the Business Plan by peers to validate assumptions and costs,
• Selecting a site for the new science center, and
• Developing the museum’s brand.
Within roughly six months and continuing through to 2009, we will:
• Conduct a search for an architect,
• Conduct a national search for a permanent executive director,
• Begin educational outreach by hiring an education director and staff, and
neighboring communities of Missouri and Oklahoma.
Phase Three - Start Capital Campaign
With the strategic plan and organizational elements in place, we will begin the capital campaign to fund construction of a museum building and the endowment of the organization. The capital campaign will include traveling exhibits, exhibit kiosks, partner events, and other fundraising activities.
Phase Four - Build Museum
In this phase, we will conduct numberous community meetings to refine the design of the museum facilities and then begin construction of a new Northwest Arkansas Museum!
