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| 6/16/2002 | | | THE JOHNSON COLLECTION | |
| MAY/JUNE 2001 | | | | In the last two editions of my "journal for living", I predicted the end of our current recession and a return to a more normal business lifestyle. The recession has disappeared, but our lifestyle will never return to normalcy as we knew it.
The war remains in place and the world seems to be in a restless condition. It can't really decide which way to head. This is not a truly unique situation, but its presence is felt more closely by means of our electronic communication systems. Everyone is wired constantly. Even on a recent vacation in a somewhat remote section of Puerto Rico, I noticed this more than ever. Cell phones and e-mail were everywhere. But this should not be too surprising considering their close ties to the U.S.
During this visit we were fortunate to have met the founder of the Ponce Museum of Art, Louis A. Ferre'. He is 98 years old and still an amazing, vital person. His pride in the institution and having worked with Edward Darrell Stone, the Architect, shows in all of his comments. The museum is a fine example of a well-planed center with art and educational programs to benefit all.
An update on the National Lighthouse Museum was promised in a previous column - well we're still here and working hard to make this dream a reality. The recession, 9/11, and a new Mayor in New York City intent on cutting budgets have made the project anything but easy. Promised funding and general support have all but disappeared on all levels. Federal, state, local governments, foundations and corporate contributors, as well as private donors are more reluctant to give, especially to a new organization.
We have moved ahead, however, with Several outreach programs. Acquiring an excellent Lightship, The Nantucket 112, and putting a Mobile Museum Program on the road visiting schools and centers throughout the New York Area. Concurrent with this we are working on closing in one of the historic buildings on the site. This would give us the space for exhibits, which have been developed and are ready for production, as well as the ability to point to a structure and claim, "there's our museum ". It hasn't been an easy task and there is still much to achieve, but it will be done!
Despite the difficult economic times there is quite a lot of new development still happening in the museum community. The Museum of Modern Art in New York City is moving ahead with its major expansion program. They will be closing the main location soon for a period of about two years while the construction is ongoing. During this period the Museum will be operating from a location in Queens. It's a difficult task, but being handled well.
In the South, a new aquarium has been announced for Atlanta. Two Atlanta businessmen are financing this $200 million dollar project. We wish them luck and good fortune in their efforts. Major aquariums have not always proved successful financially however.
There will be a memorial center as well as rebuilding at the former World Trade Center in Manhattan. As of this time a number of plans are in the
development stages, but nothing final has been approved. General consensus seems to favor no buildings in excess of 50 stories with three or four being
considered at the site.
Back to museums again, we note that the Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation has retracted most of the $38 million gift promised to the
Smithsonian. It seems that Ms. Reynolds resented the fact that she had lost
control over a permanent exhibition entitled, "Spirit of America". Lawrence
Small, Smithsonian Director, had promised her almost complete jurisdiction over
the content of this program, much to the dismay of Smithsonian scholars.
Hopefully there is a lesson learned here on both sides. The Director must be more cautious in the methods used in fund development, and the staff curators should have a greater interest its maintaining their integrity, but not to the point of discouraging potential investors. Cash flow is important, even at the Smith.
Broadway is back after the crash of 9/11 and show business is recovering as well. It took a bit longer than anticipated for the great white Way to recover, but the situation now seems to be plays looking for houses to book into. It's amazing how quickly this recovery seems to have taken.
The other show business - meetings and conventions - has apparently bounded back, albeit at a slower pace. Part of the problem in New York's stricken area is still the lack of useable, affordable meeting space. There have been at this writing, no reports on the Javits expansion, if indeed that is to move ahead. Some of the hotels are profiting if their meeting space can prove adequate for the job at hand. The New York Hilton hosted the Association of International Photography Art Dealers in February and, with two floors of exhibit space, proved that people will come if the event is meaningful. The show organizers were amazed at the overwhelming turn out for the event, a record for the association
Reports from Las Vegas, Chicago, and the West Coast continue to indicate a rebound in activity, The major shows, while somewhat slower to respond, do indicate an upward trend. Airline travel is slowly getting back into an upswing although the Airlines have taken a terrific heating. The number of domestic flights is definitely in the down mode, which creates more crowded conditions and an obvious strain on the business travelers. The recently announced elimination of payment to travel agents has been a serious blow to the industry. We will see many of the smaller agencies closing down as a direct result of this move. Unfortunately, higher costs to the business travelers may impact on the number who would normally be attending trade shows. It ain't easy folks, and sometimes you wonder where it's all heading.
Back to the business of merchandising and marketing we see where the
Museum Company chain is going bankrupt. This is a direct result of the problems
at K Mart whose founder created the Museum Company concept. The idea of a
Museum type store at non-museum locations was an interesting and unique
marketing idea. The main problem was that it just didn't work. There's a good
lesson for Museums in this tragedy. Your store will not succeed just because of
the museum affiliation. It must be a viable business.
A few thoughts in passing, we've watched the planning and development of APEX, by CIC over the past few years. It seems to be coming into focus and the industry should benefit accordingly. Good things can happen and standard terminology and practices will make it easier.
Relative to industry standards, when will trade show and meeting organizers come to a proper decision on bringing in research companies for their show audits"? There was some movement in this direction but no one took the lead in making it happen. Marketing professionals look for and usually demand this kind of information to aid in decision making on media being considered. To date there are either no standard systems nor any apparent effort to make it happen. CEIR has spent much effort counting the number of shows currently in the marketplace. Isn't it about time that they put their expertise and knowledge into helping make show audits an integral part of the information base being passed on to users and potential users of the show medium.
The winds of change don't always benefit those directly involved, New York's Mayor Bloomberg cancelled the move of the Museum of the City of New York to the newly restored Tweed Courthouse. The building is to be used as an educational center, complete with several operating classrooms. In protest, Bob MacDonald, the Museum's Director has resigned. We wish him well in his future work efforts. Bob did a good job over the least 17 years working for the City.
That's it for now - more to come next time.
LPJ
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