August 21, 2006
Destination unknown | The Downeast Heritage Museum struggles to revamp its flawed business model
By Chris Churchill
Hindsight being what it is, it's easy now to say the early backers of the Downeast Heritage Museum weren't thinking clearly. As they readied for the museum's 2004 opening, the founders believed 90,000 people a year would stream through its doors and provide the income needed to keep the museum afloat.
It didn't happen that way. Only 1,700 people visited the museum last year.
Not surprisingly, then, the Downeast Heritage Museum, the crown jewel of Calais, finds itself deep in the red and facing a daunting $3.2 million debt, even while the building is still shiny new. In fact, the museum wouldn't have opened at all this summer if not for a $300,000 bailout proffered in May by Gov. John Baldacci. "It's been a rocky go," concedes Jim Thompson, the museum's executive director. "I was ready to throw in the towel. Then the governor came through."
This being Washington County, where years of decline and frustration have led some to view any economic development effort with pessimism, the museum always had its local skeptics. But many here thought the handsome, $6.6 million building erected along a bank of the St. Croix River, with Canada in view from its large glass windows, would draw tourists to Calais, inform them of the region's charms, culture and resources, and convince them to travel to sights across Washington County. It was hoped the museum would help transform a struggling region with tourist dollars while boosting downtown Calais ("Heritage trust," Aug. 18, 2003).
The museum's struggles haven't completely killed that vision, but the optimism around the museum surely has been tempered. The museum is now fighting for its very survival, taking on the difficult task of fundraising in a poor part of the state with few sizeable businesses. "Private sources and foundations are reluctant to spend money on an institution that will use the money for debt reduction," Thompson says. "And they don't want to invest in something that looks like it's going to terminate."
So how will the museum raise the money it needs to survive? "Dark glasses and a tin cup," Thompson says. "And that's not too much of a stretch."
Expecting a crowd
The museum is half a rebuilt historic building, half new construction. It has a spectacular waterfront location, with nesting eagles visible from its windows. Its exhibits highlight nearby St. Croix Island, home of the first European settlement in North America; the region's Native American culture; its fishing and water heritage; and the ways residents have made a living off the land. The museum is large, bright and airy, an institution that would be the pride of most Maine towns and cities.
Leaving the facility, the center's front doors take visitors to a wide stairway that leads directly to the shops and restaurants of Main Street. Have enough museum visitors journeyed up the stairs to have an economic impact? That depends on who you ask.
Brittani Holloway-Pascarella owns Urban Moose, a trendy boutique that would fit nicely in Portland's Old Port. With her business open in downtown Calais for five years, Holloway-Pascarella doesn't think the heritage museum has benefited her store. "I'm glad it's there, because we needed something," she says. "But people thought it was going to be the answer, and it's not."
Down the block a bit, Marilyn Bernadini also owns a boutique, Chmerto's, and remains optimistic about the heritage center. "I know a lot of people are negative about it, but I'm not," she says, adding that she notices the impact on her store when the museum is having a good day. "When they're busy, we're busy," she says.
Trouble is, the museum is rarely busy. That's despite the fact that downtown Calais is flooded with car and truck traffic. More than a million people pass through the area each year, lining up to cross the border into Canada. And the museum's initial attendance estimates were based on capturing a percentage of those travelers and the money they would spend.
It was a Massachusetts consulting firm hired by museum supporters that estimated 90,000 people would visit the museum ˆ a number that today seems wildly unrealistic. After all, it's about 25 times the population of Calais and three times the population of the county. The estimate even had the heritage museum outdrawing longstanding cultural mainstays such as the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, which draws about 63,000 visitors annually.
Thompson notes that many crossing the border are destination travelers, eager to get to the Canadian Maritimes and largely uninterested in taking time to learn of a region they intend only to pass through. And Jim Porter, the assistant city manager in Calais and a member of the museum's board of directors, says that the museum, like the rest of Calais, has been hurt by Homeland Security regulations that make crossing the border arduous and discourage quick Canadian visits.
Initial plans had admissions fees essentially funding 100% of the museum's roughly $350,000 annual operating costs. Thompson, however, notes that for most museums, the percentage is in the range of 25% to 30%. "That business plan, in my opinion, was flawed," says Thompson, who was not with the museum during planning stages. "But when you're a group of community people trying to pull together a dream, I suppose there's an element of Wordsworth's 'willing suspension of disbelief.' Nobody raised the flag."
To be sure, the museum's struggles are not all the result of unrealistic expectations. The federal government promised the museum a $1 million grant, but reneged in the face of budget cuts. That money would have been used to operate and market the museum.
Instead, the museum opened its doors in May 2004 without the resources to announce to the world that it existed. And people don't visit museums of which they are unaware.
Things were so slow in 2005 that in January of this year, Thompson and Porter held a press conference announcing that the museum could not make its debt payments and was in danger of closing. Thompson's salary was slashed in half, to $20,000. The museum's office manager, program manager and development and marketing director were laid off. The situation seemed bleak.
Then, seemingly out of the blue, Baldacci came to its rescue, dipping into the state's Emergency Contingency Fund to aid the museum. "Let me be very clear about this," the governor said in April to a crowd gathered at the Washington County Business Conference, according to the Bangor Daily News. "I am pledging to you that that museum is going to stay open. Why it's going to stay open is that it's a center point for the community here, it's a welcoming point for people, organizations, and it's a wonderful place to showcase the region."
Convincing the region
The governor's words, along with strong backing from local lawmakers, has Thompson and other officials hoping future checks from state coffers will be forthcoming. But there's realization that handouts are not a permanent solution. "It can't go on forever," Thompson says. "It would have to be for a set period of time."
Thompson says the museum is now looking reality squarely in the eye and is taking pragmatic steps to draw more visitors. This year, for example, the museum waved its $6 admission fee ˆ a move that is already paying dividends. In June of last year, 300 people visited the museum, bringing a yield of $1,500. For the same month this year, museum attendance jumped to 1,700, bringing earnings of $4,000 though money dropped in donation boxes liberally scattered throughout the museum and increased sales in the museum store.
The museum still lacks the money to properly market its attractions. Yet as it struggles to draw visitors from outside the region, the museum has tried to establish itself as an institution central to the lives of locals: Schoolchildren regularly pass through its exhibits; it hosted the Calais High School post-prom; its store is stocked entirely with area-made arts and crafts.
But some see regional support for the museum as lacking. "I thought it was vital to the region, and I was really disappointed that more people locally did not take advantage of it," says glass artist Mark Wren of nearby Robbinston, whose work is sold in the museum store. "There's a sort of mentality in this area that seems to be negative and destructive, and that's what the museum is up against."
Wren notes, however, that the admission fee may have alienated the many Washington County residents struggling to make ends meet. Wren also says he knows folks who have never visited the center, because they see no point in taking a trip to learn about the people and customs of the region. "They say, 'We don't want to go in there and learn about ourselves,'" he says.
Still, many believe the struggle to keep the museum open is worth the effort, because a closed Downeast Heritage Museum would be a major regional setback. "It would be a major blow on many different levels," says Porter. "Just the psychological part would be tough. People would say, 'Geez. Nothing can work in Washington County.'"
It didn't happen that way. Only 1,700 people visited the museum last year.
Not surprisingly, then, the Downeast Heritage Museum, the crown jewel of Calais, finds itself deep in the red and facing a daunting $3.2 million debt, even while the building is still shiny new. In fact, the museum wouldn't have opened at all this summer if not for a $300,000 bailout proffered in May by Gov. John Baldacci. "It's been a rocky go," concedes Jim Thompson, the museum's executive director. "I was ready to throw in the towel. Then the governor came through."
This being Washington County, where years of decline and frustration have led some to view any economic development effort with pessimism, the museum always had its local skeptics. But many here thought the handsome, $6.6 million building erected along a bank of the St. Croix River, with Canada in view from its large glass windows, would draw tourists to Calais, inform them of the region's charms, culture and resources, and convince them to travel to sights across Washington County. It was hoped the museum would help transform a struggling region with tourist dollars while boosting downtown Calais ("Heritage trust," Aug. 18, 2003).
The museum's struggles haven't completely killed that vision, but the optimism around the museum surely has been tempered. The museum is now fighting for its very survival, taking on the difficult task of fundraising in a poor part of the state with few sizeable businesses. "Private sources and foundations are reluctant to spend money on an institution that will use the money for debt reduction," Thompson says. "And they don't want to invest in something that looks like it's going to terminate."
So how will the museum raise the money it needs to survive? "Dark glasses and a tin cup," Thompson says. "And that's not too much of a stretch."
Expecting a crowd
The museum is half a rebuilt historic building, half new construction. It has a spectacular waterfront location, with nesting eagles visible from its windows. Its exhibits highlight nearby St. Croix Island, home of the first European settlement in North America; the region's Native American culture; its fishing and water heritage; and the ways residents have made a living off the land. The museum is large, bright and airy, an institution that would be the pride of most Maine towns and cities.
Leaving the facility, the center's front doors take visitors to a wide stairway that leads directly to the shops and restaurants of Main Street. Have enough museum visitors journeyed up the stairs to have an economic impact? That depends on who you ask.
Brittani Holloway-Pascarella owns Urban Moose, a trendy boutique that would fit nicely in Portland's Old Port. With her business open in downtown Calais for five years, Holloway-Pascarella doesn't think the heritage museum has benefited her store. "I'm glad it's there, because we needed something," she says. "But people thought it was going to be the answer, and it's not."
Down the block a bit, Marilyn Bernadini also owns a boutique, Chmerto's, and remains optimistic about the heritage center. "I know a lot of people are negative about it, but I'm not," she says, adding that she notices the impact on her store when the museum is having a good day. "When they're busy, we're busy," she says.
Trouble is, the museum is rarely busy. That's despite the fact that downtown Calais is flooded with car and truck traffic. More than a million people pass through the area each year, lining up to cross the border into Canada. And the museum's initial attendance estimates were based on capturing a percentage of those travelers and the money they would spend.
It was a Massachusetts consulting firm hired by museum supporters that estimated 90,000 people would visit the museum ˆ a number that today seems wildly unrealistic. After all, it's about 25 times the population of Calais and three times the population of the county. The estimate even had the heritage museum outdrawing longstanding cultural mainstays such as the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, which draws about 63,000 visitors annually.
Thompson notes that many crossing the border are destination travelers, eager to get to the Canadian Maritimes and largely uninterested in taking time to learn of a region they intend only to pass through. And Jim Porter, the assistant city manager in Calais and a member of the museum's board of directors, says that the museum, like the rest of Calais, has been hurt by Homeland Security regulations that make crossing the border arduous and discourage quick Canadian visits.
Initial plans had admissions fees essentially funding 100% of the museum's roughly $350,000 annual operating costs. Thompson, however, notes that for most museums, the percentage is in the range of 25% to 30%. "That business plan, in my opinion, was flawed," says Thompson, who was not with the museum during planning stages. "But when you're a group of community people trying to pull together a dream, I suppose there's an element of Wordsworth's 'willing suspension of disbelief.' Nobody raised the flag."
To be sure, the museum's struggles are not all the result of unrealistic expectations. The federal government promised the museum a $1 million grant, but reneged in the face of budget cuts. That money would have been used to operate and market the museum.
Instead, the museum opened its doors in May 2004 without the resources to announce to the world that it existed. And people don't visit museums of which they are unaware.
Things were so slow in 2005 that in January of this year, Thompson and Porter held a press conference announcing that the museum could not make its debt payments and was in danger of closing. Thompson's salary was slashed in half, to $20,000. The museum's office manager, program manager and development and marketing director were laid off. The situation seemed bleak.
Then, seemingly out of the blue, Baldacci came to its rescue, dipping into the state's Emergency Contingency Fund to aid the museum. "Let me be very clear about this," the governor said in April to a crowd gathered at the Washington County Business Conference, according to the Bangor Daily News. "I am pledging to you that that museum is going to stay open. Why it's going to stay open is that it's a center point for the community here, it's a welcoming point for people, organizations, and it's a wonderful place to showcase the region."
Convincing the region
The governor's words, along with strong backing from local lawmakers, has Thompson and other officials hoping future checks from state coffers will be forthcoming. But there's realization that handouts are not a permanent solution. "It can't go on forever," Thompson says. "It would have to be for a set period of time."
Thompson says the museum is now looking reality squarely in the eye and is taking pragmatic steps to draw more visitors. This year, for example, the museum waved its $6 admission fee ˆ a move that is already paying dividends. In June of last year, 300 people visited the museum, bringing a yield of $1,500. For the same month this year, museum attendance jumped to 1,700, bringing earnings of $4,000 though money dropped in donation boxes liberally scattered throughout the museum and increased sales in the museum store.
The museum still lacks the money to properly market its attractions. Yet as it struggles to draw visitors from outside the region, the museum has tried to establish itself as an institution central to the lives of locals: Schoolchildren regularly pass through its exhibits; it hosted the Calais High School post-prom; its store is stocked entirely with area-made arts and crafts.
But some see regional support for the museum as lacking. "I thought it was vital to the region, and I was really disappointed that more people locally did not take advantage of it," says glass artist Mark Wren of nearby Robbinston, whose work is sold in the museum store. "There's a sort of mentality in this area that seems to be negative and destructive, and that's what the museum is up against."
Wren notes, however, that the admission fee may have alienated the many Washington County residents struggling to make ends meet. Wren also says he knows folks who have never visited the center, because they see no point in taking a trip to learn about the people and customs of the region. "They say, 'We don't want to go in there and learn about ourselves,'" he says.
Still, many believe the struggle to keep the museum open is worth the effort, because a closed Downeast Heritage Museum would be a major regional setback. "It would be a major blow on many different levels," says Porter. "Just the psychological part would be tough. People would say, 'Geez. Nothing can work in Washington County.'"
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