Editorial: MAC foray into entrepreneurship will create better museum

The Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture has exhibited dinosaurs and da Vinci in recent years, but its most important display is upcoming: in entrepreneurship.

Stuck with flat state funding that buys less every year, and rules that would wipe the smile off a Mona Lisa, the museum board and Director Forrest Rodgers are considering a change in the Spokane institution’s relationship with Olympia. With the likelihood state support will not increase anytime soon, they are preparing a plan that would enable supporters to take more control, and reverse the financial squeeze many nonprofits endured during the recession.

The challenge is complex.

The MAC plan starts with terminating its existence as the Eastern Washington State Historical Society, State Agency No. 395. As a nonprofit dating to 1916, and a state “trustee” since 1926, a “decommissioning” would leave maintenance of the museum’s galleries and the Campbell House on the five acres in Browne’s Addition up to the state, but management of the museum and its collections up to the local board.

The $1.6 million the state provides toward the MAC’s total $2.6 million annual budget would be cut by $500,000, with increased private donations backfilling for the lost state contribution. Rodgers says sacrificing the state money:

• Moderates the swings in support that frustrate long-range planning.

• Increases management flexibility. He has been trying since November, for example, to promote a part-time worker to full-time supervisor. Because of the pay increase involved, Olympia must sign off on the change, which has the support of the candidate’s co-workers. So far, no luck.

• Sidesteps an overlooked requirement the MAC buy property and liability insurance through the state. The premium would range from $40,000 to $45,000, with a $250,000 deductible. The policy the museum was buying through a local broker cost $35,000, with a $5,000 deductible.

• Eliminates the obligation to provide the state’s “Cadillac” benefits package.

The museum’s 2016 centennial will provide an excellent opportunity to rally benefactors. With a new business plan, less donated money will backfill operating costs, allowing staff to create the kind of exhibits that will drive Tyrannosaurus rex-scale gate receipts.

That can become a virtuous circle of ever more blockbuster exhibits, attendance and more donor support. Now, the museum suffers from the opposite dynamic; a vicious circle that deprives it of the resources that would make it the cultural attraction it should be for Spokane, the region and the tribes that have entrusted the MAC with their artifacts.

The transition, as outlined so far, would take four years. Gov. Jay Inslee’s budget includes an extra $200,000 this biennium for pre-planning alterations that would create more public space. Now, no room can accommodate more than 130 people.

An independent MAC would be a bold step for everyone involved. It’s a step that should be taken.

A visionary like da Vinci would certainly approve.