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CITY OF VANCOUVER ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT |
Date: |
June 18, 2004 | |
Author: |
Karen Hasselfelt | |
Phone No.: |
604-871-6045 | |
RTS No.: |
04142 | |
CC File No.: |
2051 | |
Meeting Date: |
July 8, 2004 |
TO: |
Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets |
FROM: |
Directors, Office of Cultural Affairs and Finance |
SUBJECT: |
Vancouver Maritime Museum Society - Annual Review & 2004 Operating Grant Request |
RECOMMENDATION
THAT Council approve an operating grant in the amount of $371,900 to the Vancouver Maritime Museum Society; source of funds to be the 2004 "Other" Grants budget.
GENERAL MANAGERS' COMMENTS
The General Managers of Community and Corporate Services RECOMMEND approval.
COUNCIL POLICY
Council has approved annual operating grants to the Vancouver Maritime Museum (VMM) to support its ongoing operations since its formation as an independent non-profit society in 1971.
Approval of a grant requires eight affirmative votes.
PURPOSE
This report provides a review of the Vancouver Maritime Museum's 2003 activities and recommends Council's approval of the society's 2004 Operating Grant.
BACKGROUND
The Vancouver Maritime Museum (VMM) has operated in its current location in Kits Point since 1958 and holds the City's collections of maritime art and artifacts in trust for the citizens of Vancouver. The St. Roch, which is the premiere attraction at the VMM, is also owned by the City of Vancouver and housed in a City-owned structure attached to the VMM. The VMM also manages Heritage Harbour which is home to ten historic vessels.
The VMM was operated as a department of the City until 1971 when it became part of the Vancouver Museums and Planetarium Association (VMPA). In 1987, the VMPA dissolved and became three separate non-profit organizations: the Vancouver Maritime Museum Society, the Vancouver Museum Association (now the Vancouver Museum Commission) and the BC Space Sciences Society (now the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre Society). The VMM is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors and has 5 full-time, 7 part-time and 17 seasonal staff. One hundred thirty five volunteers contribute over 5,800 hours to the VMM's programming and activities.
In addition to an annual operating grant, 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 Facilities Design & Management department. Table 1 reflects a breakdown of the VMM's total sources of revenue, including total support from the City (43% of revenues from all sources).
2003 Year in Review
A new vision for the VMM was unveiled at a fund raising breakfast in May, where over 300 members from the business community heard about a new National Maritime Museum of Canada, Pacific. In addition to multi-year pledged contributions for the capital fund, individual and corporate donations of $90,000 were received in support of existing operations.
As part of the VMM's awareness campaign and process of public consultation on existing programs and the future vision for a new museum, the VMM launched a new Hidden Treasures tour program. These free tours give the public an opportunity to go behind-the-scenes at the museum and learn of museum work that is not normally visible to the public. The VMM gives visitors an overview of existing programs and exhibits, as well as outlines the new vision. In return, the VMM solicits feedback on and support for current operations and plans for the new museum.
The VMM featured two temporary exhibits in 2003:
· Cruising the Fabled Inside Passage: The Life and Lore of the Cruise Ship which continued from 2002 and examined the cruise ship industry in Vancouver; and
· To Boldly Go: The Spirit of Exploration an exhibit that investigated the spirit and motivation behind exploration using objects from the collection.
In addition to the two curated exhibitions, there were also three community art exhibitions in the T.K. Gallery that focused on marine art and artists. Discovering the Arctic, a new permanent exhibit on the St. Roch and her achievements was completed in 2003. A "visible storage" component displays artifacts from the collection and two audio stations enhance the visitor experience. This material provided the basis for developing a virtual tour of the St. Roch that will be completed in 2004. Another exhibit was developed in partnership with the Fraser River Port Authority and mounted at the Fraser River Discovery Centre in New Westminster. History of the Fraser Port explored early commercial usage of the Fraser River primarily through the display of ship models.
A new school program was developed to complement the exhibit, To Boldly Go, and both the education program and the exhibit were based on BC social studies and science curriculum. Eleven other school programs on a wide range of subjects were offered to teach preschool to grade 7 students about the history, science and technology of the maritime world. The VMM also continued to provide outreach programs such as Waterfront Industries in Your Backyard, and participate in community festivals and events that are held around the Lower Mainland. The VMM also co-hosted Vancouver's first Heritage Fair with the Vancouver Museum, Vancouver Historical Society and the Vancouver School Board.
In celebration of the external restoration of the submersible Ben Franklin, the VMM hosted a historic first reunion of the crew and support staff since its 1969 Gulf Stream Drift mission. They came from three nations Switzerland, United States and Great Britain and while here, contributed stories and memorabilia to the museum to enhance future programming about the vessel. In partnership with the Vancouver Film School, the VMM developed a Ben Franklin tour and interactive experience that enables "virtual" touring of the vessel's interior until the exhibit is ready for actual guided tours and school programs.
The VMM also substantially revised and expanded its collections policy which was approved by the Board in 2003. This policy will guide the museum's collection management practices and has been submitted to the City for review and approval.
2004 Plans
The major focus of the VMM in 2004 is the planning for a new National Maritime Museum of Canada, Pacific, and at the same time, sustain the museum's day-to-day operations and programs. The VMM has received a $150,000 grant from the federal Western Economic Diversification (WED) program to complete conceptual, business and marketing studies that will include extensive consultation with stakeholders and the public. Another $20,000 was received from Canadian Heritage for a fund raising feasibility study and $60,000 was raised from the private sector to support these studies.
The in-house temporary exhibit To Boldly Go: The Spirit of Exploration continues in 2004, along with the recently completed St. Roch permanent exhibit. There are also several displays planned for the T.K. Gallery that will celebrate marine art and artists. For the first time, the joint summer Explorepass will include admissions to all three exhibiting institutions in Vanier Park.
The VMM also plans to follow up on the on-line virtual tour of the Ben Franklin and open the vessel for guided tours. The VMM is also completing a virtual tour of the St. Roch, and plans to develop a third virtual project with the Vancouver Film School on container ships and their role in the shipping industry. Corporate sponsorships support many public and education programs, and this year the VMM will launch the Live Your Dream: Underwater Explorer outreach program that will be available to inner city schools at no cost.
In addition to revamping its website and developing virtual tours in partnership with the Vancouver Film School, the VMM is developing another on-line project that grew out of the behind-the-scenes tours. Hidden Treasures is a digital access project that received funding assistance from the BC Arts Council and will feature 100 highlights from the collection. It is anticipated that this tour will be placed on the Museum's website later this year and provide the basis for an actual exhibition of these treasures at the VMM in early 2005. Other collection activities include ongoing work to catalogue the collection and develop procedures that guide staff on implementing the new collections policy.
DISCUSSION
Two major challenges for VMM have been its aging building and its accumulated deficit. The building that currently houses the VMM is in need of major renovation to meet current museum standards and has been the impetus for the vision of building a new museum. It is anticipated that the process that the VMM has embarked upon will assist the organization in identifying realistic options, as several studies over recent years have identified a number of options, but none have proven feasible.
Before the VMM can move forward with this vision, it is necessary for the organization to address its accumulated deficit. Much of the accumulated deficit is historical as it was incurred in 1991 ($200,237). The VMM has made significant progress in both operational and capital fund raising over the past year. Recognizing that operational surpluses have not been effective in reducing the debt, the VMM has been investigating other means to address deficit reduction utilizing strategies developed with the assistance of the Vancouver Foundation. This has been implemented in events such as the fund raising breakfasts. At this year's breakfast, attendance grew from 300 to 550 guests, and $298,000 was raised in cash and multi-year pledges. The VMM has also received $1.2 million in planned gifts in the form of annuities.
However, despite operational fund raising and donations increasing by 39% over the previous year to $231,163, the VMM did not use this income to reduce its accumulated deficit. Rather, the increase in revenues was matched with an equal increase in expenditures, so that the VMM concluded the year with an excess of revenues over expenditures of $4,849 on a total operating budget of $1,016,593. The accumulated deficit at December 31, 2003 was ($224,065) or 22% of the VMM's operating budget. The VMM's financial statements for the year ending December 31, 2003 are attached as Appendix "A".
The popularity and frequency of changing exhibits has affected attendance, and as a result earned revenues. Over the past few years, the VMM has been averaging one major temporary exhibit a year, due to its limited resources. While the VMM has recently added a series of community art exhibits in the T.K. Gallery, the lack of an annual program of major changing exhibits has a cascading effect on new and repeat attendance, and this in turn affected gift shop revenues. As illustrated in Table 2, paid attendance at the VMM has decreased since 1996, with a 39% drop in paid public attendance in each of the last two years over 2001. The VMM has reported a total attendance of approximately 93,000 for 2003, but this includes free admissions of 60,000, based on a formula for calculating attendance at the Heritage harbour, community festivals and outreach programs.
The VMM has projected that it will be able to eliminate 25%-30% of the accumulated deficit in 2004, based on the performance at this year's fund raising breakfast and potential commitments that are currently being negotiated. The VMM's Strategic Plan projects that the debt will be eliminated by 2006. However, given the financial performance in 2003 and similar projections for 2004, staff continue to be concerned about the size of the deficit and the ongoing challenge for the organization to deliver exhibits and programs that will attract new and repeat visitors. In addition to a sound financial footing, the VMM will need to build organizational capacity before embarking upon a multi-million dollar capital program.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
Staff are recommending a 2004 operating grant of $371,900, based on a general inflationary increase of 2.0% over the 2003 grant as approved by Council in the 2004 Operating Budget. The source of funds is the "Other" Grants allocation in the 2004 Operating Budget.
CONCLUSION
The VMM has maintained its operations within a balanced budget and has made significant progress in its fund raising efforts. Staff are supportive of the VMM Board and staff's new initiatives to eliminate the deficit, which will place the organization in a better position to contemplate future opportunities and options. Staff are recommending operating support for the Vancouver Maritime Museum Society in the amount of $371,900.
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