How about that Taubman Talk About?
UPDATE 6/26/12: Read this morning’s full story on the Taubman Talk About here. I feel the need to add, based on my own past reporting (note: link will also take you to financial documents), what surprised me wasn’t the financial news so much as that it was stated so bluntly.
If you attended the Taubman Talk About tonight then you got quite an earful. Here’s the opening of my breaking news post on the subject:
Tonight’s public meeting at the Taubman Museum of Art produced the direst description yet of the struggling museum’s financial predicament.
Taubman President and CEO David Mickenberg said the museum’s long-term survival depends on creating a $20 million to $30 million endowment to cover one-third of its operating costs. “Without that, we’re dead,” he said.
Mickenberg shared budget projections for fiscal year 2012-13 that predict the museum will fall $1.4 million short of the revenue needed to cover $3.4 million in expenses.
“Daunting, yes,” Mickenberg said. “If we don’t raise the $1.4 million, we will close. That’s a fact.”
I would love to hear comments from people who attended, what they took away from it, what they thought was important, what they hope the museum will do, what they hope to do themselves. What did you think?
June 25, 2012 - 10:41 PM
The hubris of this organization knows no bounds.
Having gleefully sucked the lion’s share of cultural donations out of the community to build a badly-placed, over-designed building — without realistically planning how they would triple the operating income required to maintain it — they now intend to suck even MORE money out for an endowment that, if they’re successful, will mean that upwards of 90 MILLION DOLLARS will go to ONE arts organization?
REALLY?
Anybody care to speculate how much better off the arts community would be if that level of funding had been more equitably invested?
I think it would make a eye catching parking garage or yuppie condos when the museum goes under. I don’t know which exhibit was worse, the ladders wire tied together or the monkey on the observation deck. I think a $30 Mil. endowment is a waste of $30 mil. dollars of good money. Money that should be spent on something important, like infrastructure to benefit us all or programs for the homeless and those in need instead of an ugly money pit. How much money has to be thrown away there before someone realizes it was a bad idea from the beginning? Cut the losses and move on.
I don’t believe we have a complete picture of the financial situation. Sitting near the back of the room, I had trouble understanding some of what David said, particularly his off-the-cuff remarks. A better microphone would have helped.
Mike’s article today cleared up some of my financial questions but one big piece is still missing. Is the museum ending the current fiscal year with a debt? If there is no debt, I’m sure David would have made a big point of that. Is any of the $1.4 million shortfall needed to pay off debt? Would the Board be willing to release the museum’s Balance Sheet for June 30, 2012?
Tom, I can answer part of your question. David said the museum was ending the 2011-12 fiscal year with a small surplus.
In the past the museum has released its annual audits. I’ll check to see if the audit for 2011-12 is available yet.
I agree with Melissa. I simply have been unable to find a way to feel any differently since day one.
One area the article doesn’t really cover is the exciting, engaging, significant work that has been shown there in 2011-2012 and upcoming shows in 2012-2013. THAT is why an arts museum functions. The openings I attended in the last year were seriously packed, and the children’s programs are vital to this arts starved community.
I am SO bored by this endless rant about the building. Everyone has to get over it and move on.
Where do we go from here? That’s the question I’m interested in us solving as a community.
This expected result (the slow death of the museum) is exactly what most citizens of the Roanoke Valley could foresee. The entire project was ridiculous from the beginning. The majority of citizens did not support the museum and certainly did not want the “Grand Eyesore” put in that location.
Mike, the 2011-12 audit won’t be available for several months. I’m interested in the June 30 Balance Sheet coming out of the museum’s accounting program. This should be fairly accurate by the end of July.
Has the construction loan now been paid off? I would consider that part of the museum’s debt.
@Tif: Hopefully I’ll be able to discuss more of those exhibition details in Sunday’s column.
It’s just so sad that the amount of money involved in this project wasn’t put to better use.
Many other outlets in the arts community could have been better served.
I told you so. Let me just get that out of the way from the beginning. I… TOLD… YOU… SO.
Financial irresponsibility began when the egotistical desire for a ‘showcase’ sucked up all of the $66 million in donations for the mere construction of the museum. Anybody with an ounce of financial responsibility or lack of hubris and envy of ‘metropolitan’ museums would have understood – $66 million in donations, build a museum that wasn’t a maintenance nightmare, and only spend about $30 million on construction, then factor in the other $36 million for maintenance and ongoing capital outlays.
No, you had far too many small minded envious fools who thought they could transplant Roanoke into Boston or NYC by some garish ill conceived monstrosity. Now you all want to bleat – ‘Don’t punish us for our stupidity and arrogance, just give us more money when we can’t prove we deserve it. We won’t accept responsibility, just excuse our stupidity, and allow us to continue it.’
Every single step along the way, the museum has proven they have no cognition of financial responsibility. $850K for ‘maintenance’?
I TOLD YOU SO.
Claiming you’ll shut down, when you have a surplus at the end of the fiscal year? FINANCIAL IRRESPONSIBILITY. Here’s a news flash – Roanoke is not NYC, or Boston, or Philly, or DC, or even Richmond or Charlottesville.
Roanoke is a blue collar town – always has been, always will be. Get over it and embrace your identity, instead of envying what you’re not.
Personally, I’ve got a bottle of $8 ‘champagne’ I’m saving to pop open when the Taubman is justifiably bulldozed. Hopefully, it won’t be long now. Victory Stadium, que esta?
@6 Well Tif, some of us are not only bored but frustrated, outraged, disheartened and amazed at the amount of money still required to just keep the ship afloat over there. How can we move on when it continues to be the money sink that it has always been from day one? When the paths forward are either 1) more money to stay afloat; or 2) close – Maybe some of us actually think that putting more money into it is a bad idea and that the best way forward it to find a use for that building that will work and is perhaps not a museum. Alternatively, perhaps the building needs to be used in a more cooperative manner with galleries (of local artists) downstairs and the museum exhibits remaining where they are. Arts are so pressed across the board these days that perhaps the Taubman needs to pull in a few other organizations, or a corporate partner of some kind and look at space sharing to cover the cost of the building, etc.
Gee, Mike, it’s so sweet that you and “Tif” are going to pal up and talk about the exhibits….don’t see you engaging the other comments. I suppose it’s just too hot in the kitchen when an obvious disaster is forced upon the citizens of the region by the “junior league types” of S Roanoke. This is a small town. The vast majority of citizens are basic working people. Proud and practical. When the IMAX was taken out of the original concept, I knew the $$$ would not be there for a museum with teeny-tiny exhibit space. Time for the Taub to convert to ( ? ).
@Tom: The complicated arrangement I mentioned in the story is what paid off the construction debt. I’ve added a link to the top of the post that goes to a story where I described how that worked in much more detail.
The museum has not in the past released those balance sheets. Can’t hurt to ask.
@Mike: I look forward to your Sunday article!
I think one thing that was stressed at the Talk About was that the arts are NOT free. It costs a lot of money to keep any organization open and this is no different. Sticker shock is enormous for everyone, especially because this is not a wealthy area.
Just as a reality check:
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts just expanded thier building, which alone cost over 150 Million dollars.
@Ken: Well, what Tif said is true: those matters were also discussed at the meeting, and they’re not elaborated on in today’s story. I felt that deserved acknowledgement. I’ve also engaged with Tom’s comments, as he’s asked direct questions. What you’re saying in your comment is of course a valid opinion, and has been said by many, many other commenters over the course of this blog’s history. Is there a particular thing you want to ask me?
The Regions Arts Community will survive and thrive with or without the Taubman. However, the Taubman needs that Community and it’s generations of World and Regional Arts experience for it to succeed. We wanted it to work and most of us still do, but many have tried to bridge the communications and involvment gap and have been dismissed, belittled, ignored, patronised and more, to the point of being “Done”. It will take a sea change to restore that confidence if it is posible at all. Funny thing is the Arts Community is visiting Galleries and Arts events every day, both in the region and much farther a field. Does the Taubman just want our Money, no strings or involvement required? Tell us, What does the Taubman need from us? and what do we need from the Taubman? I am in position to know that we have much more to offer than we will take. We might not all be great artists, but if they took that time to look they would find that some of us are.
I am honored to work for the arts community here in Roanoke through the Taubman Museum of Art. I think what people forget is that this institution was created by the community in 1951 and this instution’s mission of preserving art and presenting art has not changed. As the organization continues to grow since 1951 I only hope that our wonderful arts community can continue to grow with it.
Thank you to those who came to the Talk About last night, thank you to all our supporters in the community (and outside the community), and thank you to the museum staff for working towards a bright future for this vital organization.
Since my earlier post was disallowed, I’ll try again, and TRY to be more of a lemming to the Roanoke art society, which is evidently what is required to have a voice in (not so) honest discussion.
$66 million allocated, the artsy crowd blew all of it on a fantasy building that was totally incongruous to the area. Building maintenance – WHICH I STATED WOULD BE AN ISSUE FROM THE FIRST DAY OF DISCUSSION – was never considered. Financial responsibility was never considered. Like I said before, and was disallowed by the editorial staff – $30 million for construction, $36 million for continuing operations. But NOOO, all of the $66 million had to be wasted on a monument to arogance, misplaced as badly as it was.
SO now you people want us to continue to fund your irresponsibility? No thanks.
Now the tab is close to a million a year just to maintain the eyesore that is architecturally a disaster?
Good luck with that, and never mind the responsibilities of an adult community.
I can’t wait for the day defeat is admitted by the irresponsible dreamers who thought Roanoke equated to NYC, Boston, Philly, DC, et.al.
Let’s see if this one gets ‘printed’ or if the editorial staff suppresses yet another dissenting voice, like they’ve done for years.
With all due respect Megan, the Art Museum of Western Virginia was around all those decades and it was part of a multi-arts building that housed various other arts organizations. It lost it’s community identity when it moved away from those other arts organizations, into a building that is unlike everything else that defines downtown, and when it lost the name that associated it with this area/state and became a monument to a family rather than a community. And I believe that is at the true heart of the matter.
I want to thank you for your optimism and your hard work on the museums behalf. Those things matter a great deal if the museum is to survive. But it is very hard for the rest of the community to watch the major renovation of Center in the Square, the financial struggles of both the Jefferson Center and the museum and not end up back at the very beginning when so many of us thought it was a mistake to divide resources this way. The community should have been listened to in the beginning…not asked for its support after these grave concerns had been ignored. I want someone to tell me why those of us who stood firmly that this was a poor idea in the first place should now set that aside and be willing to donate?
We may not be able to house multiple organizations in one building any longer but the museum’s relationships with those organizations still lives on. We have merely spread out throughout the downtown area to allow our individual organizations to grow and to inspire our community to walk around and through downtown creating foot traffic for other businesses that may otherwise remain undiscovered. However, we do house Roanoke Children’s Theater here in the Taubman Museum of Art’s black box theater.
Miriam, if you are an artist or a creative spirit you must know that everything we do in the arts is organic and changes all the time. We did not lose a name, we gained a new lease on life. As with any great idea you can start in one place and end in a completely different place allowing your experiences to inform and guide. The Art Museum of Western Virginia has had a lot of new experiences in the past 4 years and as the Taubman Museum of Art we are learning from these and shaping our future more informed and aware.
As far as the architecture of this building goes and being “different” from everything else downtown, that is not really the heart of the matter. This building was designed as a monument to Roanoke. The location has decided upon as a physical and metaphorical gateway into Roanoke and into Roanoke’s future. Randall Stout, the architect of the building, created architecture that echoes the shapes of the mountains and the flow of the rivers in his design. The building itself reflects the city scape in it’s windows and steel accents so Roanoke is always a part of the museum’s image. He created a glass facade so all visitors can look out at the city’s beautiful and timeless design, and see beloved landmarks of Downtown. The building itself is LEED approved, which in it’s old dwellings this would have never been possible.
Please look to optimism as you contemplate the future of this organization.
Thank you.
Megan, thank you for the response. Just to clarify, I do not think the building itself is the heart of the matter. I expressed myself poorly there and I apologize. I was implying that all the things I mentioned formed the heart of the matter. Nonetheless, for the sake of the employees and local/regional artists that the Taubman may give exposure to and RCT, I do hope a resolution is reached.
Mike Allen’s blog has repeatedly called upon folks to suggest ways to rearrange the deck chairs on the Taubman.
“rearrange deck chairs on the Titanic”:
1) This is a situation when someone tries to futilly reform the way things are done in a failing system. (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Rearranging%20the%20deck%20chairs%20on%20the%20titanic)
2) (idiomatic) To do something pointless or insignificant that will soon be overtaken by events, or that contributes nothing to the solution of a current problem. (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rearrange_the_deck_chairs_on_the_Titanic)
@Chris: I now have an image in my head of a site-specific installation made from deck chairs.
Ohhh,Mike please stop. Oh and can we get some lovely Ladders, sit and watch or climb our way out of this hole. Got to be careful us local folks might scratch the floor.
@Gwenda, were you the one who asked the question last night about showcasing local artists like Harriett Stokes and Eric Fitzpatrick? Someone did, and I couldn’t tell who and had no time immediately post-meeting to pursue further.
Mike,
Such an installation would incontrovertibly be art. And you would incontovertibly be an artist! Ain’t it great!
I have been following this post and everyone is missing the obvious. There are numerous events that happen that have no venue that can generate
a lot of revenue. Businesses are always looking for interesting and new places to hold meetings; local musicians are looking for places to hold small, intimate performances; couples are seeking places to hold receptions; etc. By opening up to people who are not exactly “artsy” you can generate a new audience that may not otherwise come to the museum. They may even say, “Hey, I’d like to come here again”.
No Mike, I felt it best not to come, I did not like being told to submit questions ahead of time. However, I see no reason on the planet why part of the Taubman should not be dedicated to the Local and Regional Artists we have, (even if some of them might be nationally known). Good job to the person that asked the question.
The museum should not be constantly asking for people/corporations to “give” them money. They should look for creative ways to earn it. Along with the above suggestions – hold workshops with artists (both local and otherwise) teaching different ways to create art. Hold music lessons (music is art), show movies-not box office type, but like libraries do, have interesting speakers come in, do some income generating like other struggling businesses. Don’t appear to be so “snooty” and appreciate the average Roanoke citizen who can mingle with the upper crust sometimes.
If the museum is only going to make 60 percent of the revenue it needs to stay open next year, no amount of community engagement or artists on the fence or free Saturdays is going to matter. The organization is seriously out of whack and needs a complete change of direction.
You don’t generate $1.4 million by being more engaged with the community, or raise a $30 million endowment that way either–and both propositions are more than a little laughable in this economy and more than a little unfair to those of us who have experienced the “giant sucking sound” of money going into the Taubman.
I like the Taubman and want it to succeed. But the people running it need to start over from scratch and pretend they’ve been handed a brand new building in downtown Roanoke. Forget staff, forget precedent, forget current programs and exhibits, forget everything they’ve done. That didn’t work–period.
So the question is: you have a brand new building in downtown Roanoke. What can you do with it that *will* work?
I say open up the 3rd floor board room to the public, so we can all see the beautiful view from the balcony. I also agree with opening up the museum to new and different events. They had a great music program when it first opened. They need to bring things like that back.
Thank you Dave, some of us have been calling for a Zero Based study for sometime. A fresh start could help, there is so much pain being felt by so many, that it may well be too late to get the Community back involved with this model.
@C.K.H: There is no way new revenue generating activities, workshops, lessons, movies, speakers, etc. will make much of a dent in the $1.4 million shortfall next year. Like all nonprofit cultural organizations in this country, the museum will always depend on corporate and individual donations for a significant part of budgeted income.
The $850,000 annual building maintenance cost is a millstone around the financial neck of Roanoke. It seems clear the Roanoke area cannot support the Taubman and all of the other arts organizations we would like to keep. The Taubman sustainability grants only delayed the demise of several organizations. Not enough deep-pocket donors have moved to town in the last 2 years to make up the loss of the sustainability funds. I’m afraid the next fiscal year is going to see the closing of several well-established nonprofit cultural organizations. New programming isn’t going to help.
Sell or donate the artwork to Virginia Tech, perhaps there will be room in their soon-to-be performing arts building, and demolish the hideous Taubman building, or put a community swimming pool in it, something like that.
I love the Taubman, the look of it, and the potential it has. I am glad t see it has opened up to the community with free weekends and is striving to “make good” with a community that could do quite a bit for it.
What I worry about is if it’s too little, too late?
When I first moved to Roanoke, I moved here from an area with LOADS of museums, and LOADS of cultural events. It was a hub of pretty much everything you could possibly imagine. I remember being so excited at the prospect of the Taubman. I was one of the first to visit when it opened, and I tried to go regularly when they changed exhibits, and i was always disappointed with a half empty museum. When I tried to contact anyone, my suggestions/concerns never got a response.
I’ve gone a couple of times since, and I find it to be much the same. Not a lot of art for quite a lot of money. They have so much potential. I really hope they find the right balance before it’s too late.
• Go to http://www.metmuseum.org and ask yourselves, what do I see. You see exactly what you seem to be disgusted about, “Donate Today” “Your gift today will help the museum stay exciting, vibrant, and relevant.” This museum offers some of the following:
• Events at The Cloisters (17)
• Family Programs (22)
• Membership Events (6)
• Programs for Visitors with Disabilities (2)
• Studio Programs (6)
Talks and Tours (59)
Seems to me the Taubman is on the right track as they have many types of programs and continue to build programming. Your support and assistance, is essential, just like the Met needs, it is no different. In visiting Roanoke I found it quite refreshing to see that a visionary had landed. Most of our Impressionist painters were not recognized for their artistry, their talent until quite some time after their genius was created. “Rome was not built in a day?” As a community and a desire to spread your wings in the arts, embrace your institution and assist it to become your vision. There are always going to be negative with positive, but instead of bashing the opportunity to have an exciting, vibrant, and relevant museum in Roanoke, put your energies toward making positive suggestions. There seems to be an air of jealously about, “Why give the Taubman when “I” need the funds; “My program would be better served with that kind of money.” All of the artists and the community would be culturally better off with a renowned museum in the making, and moving forward in time, renowned museum, such as the Metropolitan Museum, in its neighborhood than it would without. Stop the bashing and make it work for “almost” everyone. There is never going to be a complete meeting of the minds, in any arena. Democrats, Republicans!!!
–Northerner with great respect for Roanoke
I find it quite humorous that the ‘exciting and energetic design’ is going to cost nearly a million dollars a year to maintain. That’s before the earlier than normal repairs are factored in, as well. Too bad the folks who were eager to prove their metropolitan worth never bothered to factor in such mundane things as maintenance when they spent the entire budget on the construction of the building, as opposed to allocating a significant portion of the $66 million for the maintenance that anyone should know would be necessary.
It’s pretty obvious that the people running the Taubman and their clique are always going to have their hand out, demanding more and more and more money to fulfill their dream, however impractical that dream might be. It’s beyond time for the Taubman to show fiscal responsibility in whatever form it takes, and to stop the constant demand for more money.
An endowment of $20-30 million? That was there in the original $66 million, had the few people involved not been so determined to waste the entirety of the budget on the eyesore of a building. From the beginning rational people warned of the huge maintenance costs for the structure. You folks got your monument to vanity, now you want someone else to pay for it? Not going to happen.
I’d be curious to know what makes up the $850,000 in annual building maintenance? $850,000 per year breaks down into roughly $70,000 each month. Why so high?
“Why don’t they use it as an event venue to make money?” They do. “Why don’t they make it for local artists’ work?” They have included local artists in exhibitions — all the many area GALLERIES are for the area artists who don’t get in the ART MUSEUM shows. Some people still think of the art museum is an art gallery. They come in and say “I wouldn’t want that on my wall.” Some even say “They would make more money if they showed art people would want to buy.” Well, in my mind, the art galleries are for looking at things for people to view from their own internal abode. The art museum is for bringing me art that I can’t see in the galleries, that I would have to travel to DC or other massive metros to see. I LOVE what the curators have brought to my/our fair city. I don’t love every single thing, but I grow from hearing the lectures about things I didn’t love. The Taubman art pleases my eye, enriches my mind, and keeps me HERE more often for my art culture fix. THANK YOU TAUBMAN and all the people who work there on a shoestring staff and budget.
I want to thank everyone who’s commented so far, and I also wanted to say that I’m glad to see a discussion that’s not one-sided, and beyond that, not just two-sided but multifaceted.
Interesting comments. I like the ideas of involving local artists more. Wonder if the first floor could be used to display local work on a rotating basis and also if room could be made to rent artists studios on first floor. That would generate some income and also for exhibiting artists on the first floor a commission could be charged like galleries do now. I hope something can be worked out for the Taubman to succeed.
Jacqueline,
I for one am not offended by them asking for donations. I think a lot of Roanokers are upset by the fact they squandered a great deal of money from the original endowment. Or at least, that’s the way it appears from the outside.
They are doing a great deal to fix things. That’s fabulous. But that original hurt is still there. At least that’s my opinion of it…
-M
@Colleen: First, my apologies. Your comment and three others from “crooked road” ended up in the spam filter. These blogs are always a bit of a work in progress.
Second, from what I understand, the bulk of that cost is an annual electric bill of $250,000 to $280,000. Gas, water, sewer, insurance, maintenance and repairs also figure in.
$850K annually involves a lot more than $280K in electric bills. Not to mention, the design of the building obviously calls for a lot of expense in heating/cooling, with the garish design. Gee, with all the wall of glass, think it would increase the AC needs during the summer?
Still, $280K is NOT the bulk of $850K, and we are just now getting to the point where the extraneous expenses of building repairs will begin to surface.
What does River Laker think about all this?
$280K/$850K is less than a third. I’m still trying to understand the spin that claims less than a third is ‘the bulk of the cost’. But then again, I don’t use the same math as the Taubman sycophants. I use real math. I understand that when a building will cost nearly a million dollars a year to maintain that I should reserve some funds to maintain it from the beginning, instead of making it a monument to vanity and spending every last cent I’ve received to foster some egotistical vanity driven objective. Unlike the Taubman sycophants, I realize that. Somebody remind me again, has there been a year since construction began when they haven’t had their hand out, demanding more money?
When does accountability and responsibility begin?
I think everyone that was originally involved in the initial design of the building, the bulk of the donations, and on the board has been given a sound spanking by concerned citizens of Roanoke.
Anyone downcrying at this point is way too late, doesnt have enough money or political clout to have had made a difference, or lacks leadership abilities to channel culture towards more financially realistic ends.
At this point, go ahead and sit home basking in superiority. No one is missing you as the optimists and change makers press onwards in the trenches, trying to come up with solutions and constructive critiques to save and expand an exciting piece of our local culture.
All the issues covered raised good questions. The disconnected been the arts community is new, reality so. It wasn’t until 3 or 4 years ago that the museum ended its 32 years relationship with the City Art Show, in conjunction with the Arts Council of the Blue Ridge. This exhibition connected artists within the community with those throughout the state. It could be easily brought back, the use of free standing standards used in most major museum would make this possible, even in a flood paln. A dedicated staff of directors and curators did not survive the flood of ’85 at Center in Square without caring deeply about the art and within showing support for the artists of Virginia and this region. If that connection could be established again, without the hubris, it might, just might begin a path toward showing some interest in artists. Temporary insurance is easily overcome as most directors know. Space through the third floor could be used, yes the mysterious third floor!
As regards sustaining the museum, why oh why did anyone think this wa possible since it was difficult to fund the arts organizations under the umbrella of Center in Square. It time to think, and think hard.
Good points Sam, Perhaps, it comes down to the definition of Museum, as to what it’s purpose is or should be. But, the model is not working, so you are quite right “Think and Think Hard.”
Perhaps we need to revisit this:-
“the Taubman’s mission to serve as the focal point of cultural engagement for residents, students and educators, travelers, and regional artists “
An interesting article about the recent expansions undertaken by arts and cultural organizations in the New York Times today, “For Arts Institutions, Thinking Big Can Be Suicidal”:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/28/arts/design/study-shows-expansion-can-be-unhealthy-for-arts-groups.html
The report mentioned in the article, “Set in Stone: Building America’s New Generation of Arts Facilities, 1994-2008″ by the Cultural Policy Center of the University of Chicago is here:
http://culturalpolicy.uchicago.edu/setinstone/casestudies/
And the Taubman is even featured as a case study in said report:
http://culturalpolicy.uchicago.edu/setinstone/pdf/taubmanmuseum.pdf
@Tif, I believe you are confusing “superiority” with pragmatism. It is not enough to say “Continue to be optimistic and donate time/money/energy” regardless of what some of us perceive to be a prolonging of the inevitable in this situation. That does not make us a bunch of superior jerks. It makes us the continued voice of reason. If the museum cannot sustain itself, then it needs to rethink the entirety of the first floor by trying to bring in one of the large local businesses (like Carilion) and as Sam pointed out – make a different use of the third floor. A large change is required that alters the use of the building overall either in connection with the museum of without it.
Further, where were you “change makers” as you title yourself at the TOP END of this project? Where was the long term vision back then? I suppose you also do not have the political clout or money to have made a difference.
What is it that parents tell their children? Never give up on your dreams. Once you start something, never stop until you are satisfied. The Taubman is someone’s dream. From the animosity in many of the comments I have read on here, I can see that it is not a dream that many in the community share. That, my friends, is a terrible shame.Yes, we understand that the building was somehting different and it was very costly. Maybe it wasn’t thought about enough. Fine. We get it. But that is the past. Is it biting us in the backside? Yes. But I feel that, as a community, we can make this work. This is the 21st century people. Suck it up and deal with it. It is time for our old-school tendencies and pent-up hate for the BUILDING and its poorly orchestrated construction decisions. MOVE ON. I come from a small town in Southwest Virginia, and nothing was more excting than getting to take a trip to Roanoke and be in what was all I knew as a city. I think the Taubman is a wonderful addition to the community and it is still young. It is a child, learning to walk, talk, and do for itself. Is it going to make mistakes? Yes. Do parents often make poor decisions for their children? Yes. But does anyone hold the child responsible? NO. Quit holding the organization that was meant to support the arts in a starving community and provide oportunities for the families in the community responsible for the mistakes that the people who were in charge of it made. If you see a child in need, you take it in your arms and you do for it what you can. Let’s take the Taubman into our embrace, as a community, and nurture it–help it grow. Never let it give up. Don’t let the dream die. I think we will see it grow into something that this small-town community can be immensly proud of.
Roy, thank you for that third link in your post to the Chicago study. It did not make me feel better but it is exceedingly informative.
I’m reading that right now myself!