Jobs cut, hours reduced at Fresno Art Museum
Published online on Friday, Aug. 14, 2009
By Donald Munro / The Fresno Bee

Fresno’s “other” museum is facing tough times, too.

The Fresno Art Museum this week is cutting its budget by a third, laying off a still undetermined number of its 15 employees and declaring furloughs for those who remain. The museum also is reducing the number of days it will be open.

Interim executive director Eva Torres said the museum had to cut $400,000 from its $1.2 million budget this fiscal year, which started July 1. The museum’s business offices, which had been open Mondays-Fridays, are now closed Mondays and Tuesdays. The exhibitions, which had been open to the public Tuesdays-Sundays, will now be open Wednesdays-Sundays.

While the community’s attention has been focused in recent months on the Fresno Metropolitan Museum and its inability to repay a city-backed $15 million loan on its downtown building, the Fresno Art Museum has struggled with the same bad economy that has hammered nonprofits across the country.

“We hope this is temporary, but it will depend on the support we receive from the public,” Torres said. “If there ever was a time for the community to step up, this is it.”
Jobs cut, hours reduced at Fresno Art Museum
MARK CROSSE / THE FRESNO BEE

Jo Anne Yada, with tears painted on her cheeks, performs an instructional protest outside the Fresno Art Museum. She is a member of the museum’s education department. She wanted to bring attention to the cut in hours at the museum and advocate for support for the museum.
Fresno Art Museum budget woes
MARK CROSSE / THE FRESNO BEE

Jo Anne Yada performs an "instructional protest" outside the Fresno Art Museum. She wants more support for the museum, which is reducing its hours and trimming programs.
Fresno Art Museum budget woes
MARK CROSSE / THE FRESNO BEE

A handwritten sign informing the public about reduced hours is posted on the front door of the Fresno Art Museum.
Fresno Art Museum budget woes
MARK CROSSE / THE FRESNO BEE

Starr Lopez, special events coordinator at the Fresno Art Museum, tells an audience that because of budget reductions, the program that screened classic films on Wednesdays at the Bonner Auditorium will end.
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* Jobs cut, hours reduced at Fresno Art Museum
* Fresno Art Museum budget woes
* Fresno Art Museum budget woes
* Fresno Art Museum budget woes

* PDF: Survival guidelines for cultural arts

The museum faces other challenges as well. Executive director Michael Mazur, who was much heralded for his business background, resigned last month after nine months. Major corporate donor Gottschalks declared bankruptcy, and others have reduced contributions. Membership has decreased.

And if that isn’t enough, a leaky roof has to be fixed before it rains.

Torres, the museum’s director of development and communications, served as interim director before Mazur was appointed and stepped into the role again after his departure. She said the staff is rallying as best it can, and she hopes to keep a positive outlook as the cuts take effect.

“People don’t typically think of the arts as essential services,” Torres said. “It’s our hope to convince them that they do.”

A 60-year legacy

The Fresno Art Museum isn’t really the city’s “other” museum, of course. Having just celebrated its 60th anniversary, it has been around a lot longer than the Met, which is celebrating its 25th year.

It calls itself the only modern art museum between San Francisco and Los Angeles. With its Council of 100, organized in 1986, the museum was one of the first in the country to create a program featuring the work of important women artists. The museum’s permanent collection includes a large inventory of pre-Colombian works and collections by such artists as sculptor Robert Cremean. Recent notable touring exhibits that have visited include a 2006 show devoted to Armenian artist Arshile Gorky and an exhibition of work by Maynard Dixon that closes Sunday.

But there are some who get it confused with its bigger downtown cousin.

“People think that the Met is the museum in town. There’s us, too,” said Jo Anne Yada, a member of the Fresno Art Museum’s education department. “Their finances and situation has been pretty public. A lot of people get us confused with them.”

But like the Met, the art museum has long had its own relationship with the city. When the Fresno Art Museum, then known as the Fresno Arts Center, moved from the Fulton Mall in 1960 to its present location at Radio Park on First Street, it occupied city land. The new building, financed with private fundraising, was given to the city. The city is responsible for maintenance of the exterior; the museum maintains the interior and outdoor sculpture garden.

There has long been something of a professional rivalry between the two museums, which don’t collaborate on schedules or fund raising. Some in the arts community question whether the Met’s mission — which includes art, science and history — unnecessarily overlaps with that of the Art Museum.

Some also have asked if Fresno is large enough to support two art museums and whether it might make more sense to consolidate.

“It has been discussed behind the scenes,” said Bill Stewart, who recently worked at the Met to help it evaluate its options. “It works well in theory. But it can be hard when dealing with egos, spheres of influence, etc. Look at how long it’s taken to try to get city-county consolidation of services in Fresno.”

Torres said that in dire economic times, nonprofit organizations across the country are contemplating lots of options, including consolidations, but that a merger between the two museums is not on the table.

Gaining traction is the idea of nonprofit groups sharing services. Now that he’s finished with his Met mission, Stewart has been meeting with a committee led by businessman Ed Kashian, joined by such members as philanthropist James Hallowell, to find ways to make local nonprofits — including the two museums — more efficient. Among the suggestions: forming an administrative services organization combining back-office functions such as accounting, marketing, grant writing and technical support.

According to a “white paper” about the proposal provided to The Bee by Hallowell, cultural arts organizations could pool resources and share costs.
Jobs cut, hours reduced at Fresno Art Museum
MARK CROSSE / THE FRESNO BEE

Jo Anne Yada, with tears painted on her cheeks, performs an instructional protest outside the Fresno Art Museum. She is a member of the museum’s education department. She wanted to bring attention to the cut in hours at the museum and advocate for support for the museum.
Fresno Art Museum budget woes
MARK CROSSE / THE FRESNO BEE

Jo Anne Yada performs an "instructional protest" outside the Fresno Art Museum. She wants more support for the museum, which is reducing its hours and trimming programs.
Fresno Art Museum budget woes
MARK CROSSE / THE FRESNO BEE

A handwritten sign informing the public about reduced hours is posted on the front door of the Fresno Art Museum.
Fresno Art Museum budget woes
MARK CROSSE / THE FRESNO BEE

Starr Lopez, special events coordinator at the Fresno Art Museum, tells an audience that because of budget reductions, the program that screened classic films on Wednesdays at the Bonner Auditorium will end.
CLICK FOR MORE PHOTOS

* Jobs cut, hours reduced at Fresno Art Museum
* Fresno Art Museum budget woes
* Fresno Art Museum budget woes
* Fresno Art Museum budget woes

* PDF: Survival guidelines for cultural arts

“I think there is some chance that under Ed’s leadership we could make some progress,” Stewart said. “There does appear to be some ways in which money perhaps can be saved.”

Whether it’s cooperation or consolidation, Stewart said he hopes that dire times will force changes among tradition-bound institutions.

“It won’t be an easy task,” he said. “We all know that, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. But if the choice gets to be, ‘we either do it or go out of business,’ that has to be the reality.”

Recession hits funding

For years, Fresno’s cultural and monied elites have given generously to both museums. But the current recession has slowed contributions from both corporate and individual members of the Fresno Art Museum, Torres said.

In the last year museum memberships dropped 25%, from 1,359 to 1,010. That represents a $138,000 loss in contributions from members at all levels, including major corporate donors. The museum also foresees a substantial drop in revenues from school programs.

Mazur, who had more than 25 years of management experience in the oil and energy business and a master’s degree in arts administration from Columbia University, took the job of executive director but left after a disagreement over fundraising with the board of directors.

“I was asking the board to change their focus from cost-cutting and concentration on special events to revenue generation and concentrating on major giving,” said Mazur. “I just didn’t see that change was going to happen in the near future. That was a major difference of opinion between the board and myself.”

Those special events, Mazur said, include Carnival and Men Who Cook, which serve both as fundraisers and social events for the museum.

Board president Kaye Bonner Cummings declined to comment on Mazur’s departure or other issues, designating Torres as a board spokesperson. Soon after Mazur left, trustee Alfreda Sebasto said that his tenure “wasn’t the right fit for either party.”

Mazur said nonprofit boards across the country have to adapt to changing economic times and find new ways of generating revenue.

“It isn’t just a Fresno problem,” he said.

Programs also cut

For the public, cutbacks at the museum won’t just mean fewer days of operation. Wednesday afternoon was the last of the popular “Golden Age Films” program, which offered old Hollywood movies once a month. Winter camps for children also have been eliminated.

There’s good news, at least, on the roof front: because it is an exterior repair, that expense belongs to the city. Torres said bids will be reviewed and recommendations will go Sept. 17 to the City Council for approval, and once approved, the project can begin by Oct. 1.

Most affected, obviously, will be the staff.

On Monday, education department staff member Yada staged a personal vigil outside the closed museum — doing so, appropriately enough, with a piece of performance art. Wearing painted black tears and a black dress and hat, she sat cross-legged on the blistering sidewalk next to handful of plastic lilies and a hand-painted sign reading, “Without you our museum will die.”

“The general feeling in our office is kind of dim,” she said. “All of us are kind of at a loss.”

Her message: the museum needs the community, whether it be more members, donations or visitors.

“It’s hard when the arts are considered optional,” Yada said. “It seems like the more cuts that are made, the closer the museum is to dying.”