ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: June 16, 2003
Author: K. Hasselfelt
Phone: 604-871-6045
RTS No. 03352
CC File No. 2201
Meeting Date: July 10, 2003
TO: |
Standing Committee on City Services & Budgets |
FROM: |
Directors, Office of Cultural Affairs and Finance |
SUBJECT: |
Vancouver Museum
|
RECOMMENDATION
THAT an operating grant of $662,900 be approved to the Vancouver Museum Commission; source of funds to be the 2003 "Other" Grants budget.
GENERAL MANAGERS' COMMENTS
The General Managers of Community and Corporate Services RECOMMEND approval.
CITY MANAGERS' COMMENTS
The City Manager supports the Museum objectives to increase revenues, but the projections seem very optimistic, in light of the history. The City Manager will be asking staff to review the budget position in September 2003 after the summer season. The City Manger recommends approval of the grant as outlined.
COUNCIL POLICY
Council has approved annual operating grants to the major exhibiting institutions to support ongoing operations since their formation as independent non-profit societies in 1971. Approval of a grant requires eight affirmative votes.
Since February of 1996, Council has approved a series of actions to revitalize the Vancouver Museum, including a new governance structure and approval of $3 million in several stages from the 1997-1999 Capital Plan. Council approved Phase 1 funding of $490,000 on November 7, 1996, Phase 2 funding of $850,000 in February 1997 and the Phase 3 allocation of $1,660,000 was approved on June 17, 1999.
PURPOSE AND SUMMARY
This report provides a background on the Vancouver Museum, a review of the organization's 2002 activities and recommends a 2003 Operating Grant.
Once a department of the City, the Vancouver Museum is now an independent not-for profit society which exhibits the City's collection of art and artifacts. Located in a City-owned building that it shares with the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, the Museum's relationship with the City is outlined in an operating/lease agreement which has expired and a new lease/operating agreement is currently under negotiation.
In 1996, Council approved a series of actions to revitalize the Vancouver Museum including the creation of a new governing body - the Vancouver Museum Commission, an independent not-for-profit society, and capital investment in the City-owned building. The revitalization of the Museum and the retelling of The Vancouver Story is a five-year $8.75 million project. The City has contributed a total of $3 million and including funds raised from other sources, the Museum has to raise another $3.46 million to complete the project.
2002 was a particularly demanding year for the Museum. The institution continues to face operational and financial challenges throughout the course of its revitalization program, yet has been successful in moving the capital project forward with the opening the new Joyce Walley Learning Centre in November 2002. Museum staff and Commission members must now focus efforts on annual fund raising and development campaigns to stabilize operations and achieve financial stability.
BACKGROUND
The Vancouver Museum has been the keeper and interpreter of the City's history since 1894 and the City's relationship with the major exhibiting institutions originated with the then City-owned Vancouver Museum, then located at Main and Hastings (now the Carnegie Centre). With a mandate to build an understanding of the city, the Vancouver Museum collects, preserves, researches and exhibits artifacts and specimens that illuminate the natural and the human history of Vancouver and communicates this knowledge to museum visitors. From inception, ownership of collections - archaeology, ethnology, fine art, maritime, human and natural history - has been vested in the City of Vancouver.
In 1968, the City built the Centennial Museum and the Planetarium in Vanier Park, transferring custodial responsibility for collections from the older site. The Vancouver Museum, along with the Maritime Museum and the Planetarium, were a department of the City until 1972, when all operations save the building management functions were entrusted to an independent non-profit society, the Vancouver Museums and Planetarium Association (VMPA). In 1987, the VMPA dissolved and operations became the responsibility of the Vancouver Museum Association, the Vancouver Maritime Museum Society, and the B.C. Space Sciences Society (now the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre Society). In 1996/97, operational responsibility for the Vancouver Museum was transferred from the VMA to the City-appointed Vancouver Museum Commission. The Vancouver Museum employs 15 full time staff and 10 part-time and seasonal staff, with 125 volunteers providing over 6,600 hours of service to visitors and the organization. Membership, through the Vancouver Museum Association, currently stands at approximately 500.
In 1996, Council approved a series of actions to revitalize the Vancouver Museum including the creation of a new governing society, the Vancouver Museum Commission, and capital investment in the City-owned building. The revitalization of the Museum and the retelling of The Vancouver Story is a five-year $8.75 million project. The City's contribution of $3 million, disbursed in several phases, is towards upgrading the facility to contemporary building codes and museum standards, to improve the lay-out and accessibility of the museum, and to provide current and relevant exhibits necessary to attract new and repeat visitors. Phases 1 and 2 of the capital project are complete - improvements to the public areas of the museum, a new orientation gallery and upgrades to "A" wing.
Inspired by a private donation of more than $1.6 million for the creation of the new Joyce Walley Learning Centre (JWLC), Phase 3 construction began in 2001, with the opening of the JWLC taking place in November 2002. In addition to the City's contribution of $3 million to the project, $500,000 has been committed from the Department of Canadian Heritage through the Cultural Spaces Canada Program and corporate contributions total more than $160,000 to date. The Museum must raise an additional $3.46 million from other sources, including the private sector. The next phase will continue with the rejuvenation of the permanent galleries and the telling of The Vancouver Story.
When Council approved a series of recommendations for the revitalization of the Museum in 1996, it also granted supplemental funds of up to $200,000 per year for three years in addition to the Museum's annual operating grants. This was in recognition of the challenge in rebuilding the Museum's revenue generating capacity. The funds were targeted to marketing, education, collection management and fund raising. Revitalization has taken longer than anticipated. Recognizing this challenge, Council approved supplemental grants in 2001 for $160,000 and in 2002 for $85,000. At the time of last year's supplemental request being approved, Council also approved a staff recommendation that prior to the 2003 operating grant review, the Vancouver Museum submit a three-year Business Plan that included balanced annual operating budgets which do not rely on further supplemental funding from the City.
The Vancouver Museum continues to occupy the City-owned building in Vanier Park that it shares with the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre. In addition to capital and operating support through grants to the Vancouver Museum Commission, the City currently provides occupancy of the facility at a nominal rent, property tax exemption, utilities, janitorial services, and grounds and building maintenance through the City's Building Management department. The organization's sources of revenue and City support (63% of revenues from all sources) is illustrated in Table 1.
2002 Year In Review
In addition to the permanent galleries, which tell the story of Vancouver's history, the museum produced two new temporary exhibitions which continued the museum's commitment to developing collaborative exhibitions and programs with diverse communities:
A. Through the Eye of a Needle: Stories from an Indian Desert, an extensive collection of embroidery pieces, photos, stories and video from the tribal women of India's Kutch desert; and
B. Honouring the Basketmakers, a collaboration between the Museum and three local First Nations groups.
Both these exhibitions received significant financial support from the federal government's Museum Assistance Program (MAP), while Parks Canada and the Spanish government contributed the Museum's production of Yuquot-The Centre of Our World, an exhibition featuring the culture, customs and history of the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nations from Vancouver Island. The Museum presented the travelling Newfoundland millennium exhibition The Evidence Mounts: Full Circle First Contact Vikings and Skraelings in Newfoundland and Labrador as the feature exhibition of the year, while curators focussed their attention on the content for the new Joyce Walley and 50's Gallery exhibits.
Public programming offered 120 programs in 2002 with a variety of partnerships and themes. Partnerships with various communities are a vital component of the Museum's operations, and ten affiliate organizations work with the Museum to enrich public programming through Secrets of the City tours, neighbourhood walks and several lecture series. In partnership with book publishers, the Museum helped launch seven new books by local authors. In 2002, the Museum hosted the three-day Vancouver International Storytelling Festival, as well as partnered with the Vancouver International Children's Festival to offer complementary programs during its week-long run. The Museum's 2002 Annual Report will be circulated under separate cover to Council and is available at the City Clerk's Office.
Museum staff, Commissioners and volunteers have worked hard to secure capital funding to continue the capital revitalization project. For the first time in nearly thirty years the Museum expanded in size. Construction of the Joyce Walley Learning Centre (JWLC) commenced in May 2002 and opened in November 2002, adding a two-level, 5,200 sq.ft. education centre to the facility. This new facility includes an Archaeology Education Centre and a Local History Lab on the lower level. These classrooms open onto a patio and Native Plant garden. Adjacent to the JWLC upstairs, is a new 50's Gallery that is the first in the refurbishment of the history galleries that tell The Vancouver Story.
2003 Plans
In addition to the permanent exhibitions, the following new temporary exhibits are planned for 2003:
C. China and Beyond: A Global Legacy - an exhibit developed in collaboration with, and from the collections of the University of Victoria, the Maltwood Museum & Art Gallery, and the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria;
D. Opium: The Heavenly Demon - explores the impact, influence and prevailing stereotypes associated with this drug, developed in partnership with the Chinese Cultural Centre Museum and Archives;
E. Unmentionables - provides an in-depth look at the history of women's and men's undergarments from 1800-1960; and
F. Geisha Life - a travelling exhibit from the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria presents clothing, personal accessories and woodblock prints to illuminate the life of a Japanese geisha.
With the new Joyce Walley Learning Centre (JWLC) open, the Museum will be focussing on implementing new educational and public programs for the Centre, as well as promoting it as a rental venue for meetings, receptions and gala events. With the completion of the JWLC and the new 50's Gallery, the Museum is focussed on raising funds for the next phase of its capital revitalization program which will see the development of new exhibits focussed on Vancouver neighbourhoods in various decades. The Museum has $350,000 in place to begin this next phase and has detailed content developed for the next two galleries. The Museum currently has applications in to the Canada/BC Infrastructure Program for $2 million and the private sector for the balance of the revitalization project.
DISCUSSION
2002 was a particularly demanding year for the Museum, from both an operational and financial perspective. The construction of the JWLC was completed in record time, but many challenges arose from being open to the public while under construction, not least of which was financial. Construction disrupted the museum's revenue generating opportunities and added burdens to the operating budget and staff. Due to construction, prime rental spaces were eliminated, decreasing the museum's rental and special event revenues. Core staff were redirected to work on the capital project and external exhibition rentals increased operating costs. This concentration on the capital project also drew limited staff resources away from the operating revenue focus, all of which lead to the financial challenges in 2002.
In October of 2002, City Council approved a one-time supplemental grant of $85,000 based on a revised budget for 2002 and a break-even budget for 2003-2005. Revisions to the 2002 budget lead to the elimination of two positions, Marketing Manager and Development Director. While City staff were concerned that the cuts were being made in two crucial areas of the museum's operations and might affect the institution's long-term sustainability, the Museum planned to retain these functions by transferring the fund raising, sponsorship and marketing responsibilities to the office of the CEO. However, the impact of these cuts is already being felt as fundraising, sponsorships and donations dropped by 27% over 2001.
The VMC concluded the 2002 year with an annual deficit of ($24,906) on a budget of $1.7 million, with an accumulated surplus of $51,734. Originally, the Museum projected that it would use $42,000 of its accumulated surplus in 2002, so was successful in finishing the year in a more positive financial position than projected, despite earned revenues falling 18% short of the revised 2002 budget targets. The VMC's 2002 financial statements are attached to this report as Appendix "A". The Museum's accumulated surplus has been eroding and, in addition to depleting the organization's cash reserves, will not be available to maintain a balanced budget for much longer. Staff are concerned that this pattern is the reverse to what needs to occur, as the Museum is not in a position to reduce expenditures further without compromising operations.
School attendance has been increasing steadily over the years and staff are to be commended for their efforts in reinstating the education programming. However, combined school and public attendance decreased in 2002 to 44,843, a 22% drop over the previous year. General attendance patterns are more difficult to predict. The Museum has been experiencing a two-year attendance cycle where attendance was lower in 2000 than in 1999, and lower in 2002 than 2001 as indicated in Table 2. This attendance trend reflects how the capital project has affected the organization's ability to generate momentum and consistent increases in attendance, and consequently sufficient operating revenues.
The Museum has projected an 49% increase in paid admissions and an 79% increase in admission revenues for 2003, which are very aggressive targets. Given that the Museum is still in capital mode, and continues to be subject to external factors such as economic and travel downturns which are common to all of the institutions, staff are concerned about the Museum's ability to meet their projected attendance goals.
The Museum has committed to a three year business plan with balanced budgets and in order for the Museum to be successful, it is essential that Museum staff and Commission members focus efforts on achieving this by stabilizing operations and making annual fund raising and development campaigns a top priority.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
Staff recommend a 2003 operating grant in the amount of $662,900, an increase of 1.75% over the 2002 grant as approved by Council in the 2003 Operating Budget. Source of funds is the "Other" Grants category in the 2003 Budget.
CONCLUSION
While the Museum has been facing challenges both operationally and financially throughout the course of its revitalization program, it has also had many noteworthy successes, including the opening of the Joyce Walley Learning Centre, its reestablishment of the education program, and focussed exhibits and programs that celebrate the diversity of our City. Staff are therefore recommending a 2003 operating grant of $662,900 to the Vancouver Museum Commission.
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